Tower of Tempest: A Steamy Fantasy Romance (Stolen Crowns Book 3)

Chapter 45

Iwas falling. The wind rushed past me, hair blowing wildly this way and that. For a moment, I felt free. Then, inky arms curled around me, snatching me from my free fall and cradling me into a wispy chest. Loch’s shadow.

Far below, I heard Loch, Driscoll, and Leoni shouting.

I knew I was wallowing. Could hear Gran’s voice in my head.

Pick yourself up, girl. This is just pathetic.

She’d said that one time after I fell while running through the forest. I’d sat there in a heap, crying while staring at the scratches on my knees. She’d frowned down at me and told me that I’d never get anywhere if I didn’t get up. She was right. I looked back at Loch’s shadow, all wisps and darkness, red glowing eyes. I might not get the answers I wanted, but I would get Loch’s shadow back.

The shadow carried me over the forest, trees whisking by in a blur. The sun peeked out between the clouds, and the shadow hissed and darted for the forest.

My stomach shot up to my throat as it took a sharp dive. I shrieked and clutched it tighter. The shadow darted into the canopies, and branches and leaves scraped my face and snagged at my clothes and wings, making me wince. A few of my feathers floated up in the air, sun lancing through them. The shadow hissed again and flew deeper into the forest, keeping to the slices of shade.

It slowed its descent until we hovered right over the ground, and it opened its arms, letting me out.

I eyed it warily. “I’m going to trap you, you know. Probably not smart to just let me go.”

The shadow flew around me in circles, and I wondered what it was doing.

“You just so happen to be connected to the man I love, and that means I can’t let you leave.”

“So you love me too, huh?” a voice said.

I whipped around as Loch stepped out from in between the trees.

The shadow let out a shriek and shot out an arm, snatching me and flying up and into the trees. This time, it didn’t take care to shield me or cradle me to its chest, and I kicked my legs wildly, screaming while it held onto one arm, dragging me up and away from Loch.

“Hold on,” Loch yelled, “I’m coming for you.”

The shadow lurked under the shade of a tall tree as the clouds parted farther, allowing more sun to spill into the forest. Gran had taught me that shadows did not want to be reunited with their bodies at any cost. So if it came down to it, would the shadow choose to hide from the sun or from Loch? It still held me only by one arm, and its tight clutch burned painfully through my skin.

Magic. I needed to use my magic. I’d trained with Leoni, Loch, and Driscoll for weeks. Now was my chance to finally put all that training into action.

I held out my hand, summoning a gust of wind that pushed the shadow toward the light. It screeched, and in its panic let go of my arm. I dropped like a rock.

Well, I certainly hadn’t thought this all the way through. A scream wrenched from my throat as I fell, hands grappling for anything to catch onto. Branches, pines, and thick green leaves flew by in a blur, and I snaked out a hand and caught onto a branch. Relief swept through me until I looked down.

The shadow was now stuck between two swaths of sunlight. It flattened itself into the little bit of shade, red eyes frantically shifting back and forth.

“Of course I love you,” I called down to Loch like all of that hadn’t just happened. It was clear he loved me too. I wasn’t sure how I ever could’ve doubted my worth to him. How I could’ve doubted his feelings for me. In every touch, in the way he looked at me, the way he came for me over and over. Of course he loved me. I’d never question it again.

My legs flailed beneath me, and I held on to the thick branch with all my might. “After last night, how could you doubt that? Now, go get your shadow. It’s trapped. Nowhere to go.”

“Poppy,” Loch said as he climbed a tree. “Shut up.”

I bristled, my fingers digging deeper into the branch that I held onto. I didn’t have the muscle strength to pull myself up. He continued to scale the tree where I was currently stuck. “What are you doing?”

“What does it look like I’m doing?” he asked through labored breaths. “I’m saving you. What I will always do.”

“Loch, your shadow is going to get away. Probably will flee back to Sorrengard.” Panic filled me. He couldn’t go to the shadow court. From everything he’d told me, if he went back there, he might never leave, and then I’d never see him again. No, he had to get his shadow back now. “I don’t need you to save me,” I said as my fingers slipped just a hair more. “I’m fine.”

I clearly was not fine, but that wasn’t the point.

“Yes, you look fine. Not at all like you’re hanging for dear life to that branch. Then again, you could flap those wings and fly, save yourself.”

He heaved himself up onto a branch below me, still so far away.

“You know I can’t fly,” I said, voice shaky, breathing labored. If I could, we wouldn’t be in this mess, me gripping this branch and praying to Spirit Sky I didn’t fall before Loch could get his shadow and help me down.

“Yes you can.”

“We almost died because my magic failed me,” I pointed out, sweat gathering at the base of my neck.

“We lived because you used your magic to hold us in the air. Do you know how difficult something like that is? The concentration it takes? The years it takes to learn that skill? You’ve been practicing your magic for a month. You have the skills, you have the power, so what’s holding you back? Use your magic, and I’ll go get my shadow.”

Stubborn, stubborn man, but I could hear the challenge in his voice.

He was only a few branches below me now, looking up at me. “You can do this. I know that you can.”

“What if I’m not worthy of my magic?” I asked in a small voice. “What if I don’t deserve it?”

I thought of Gran’s voice in my head, all the times she’d told me that I had to earn my magic. That I had to prove to her I was ready. And I’d never accomplished that.

“Poppy, your gran was wrong. So, so wrong. She wasn’t keeping you from using magic because you weren’t deserving of it. She kept you from using magic to control you. Take back that power she has over you. Banish her voice from your mind and replace it with mine. You are worthy. You are deserving. Don’t you get it? You were never meant to be trapped in a cage. You were always meant to fly.”

His words filled me with a light so bright I was surprised it didn’t chase the shadow away, set the whole forest on fire. It was the opposite, actually. Darkness spread over the forest, and I realized the clouds had once again moved to cover the sun.

The shadow lunged for me, but Loch jumped up onto the branch that I gripped. It wavered under his weight, and my fingers slipped farther. “You won’t touch her,” he growled.

He was choosing me again. Protecting me instead of saving himself. Stupid, yes, but also romantic.

My arms shook, muscles fatigued after holding onto this branch for so long. I might not die if I let go, but I would definitely injure myself, possibly break a few bones, break my wings. Loch jabbed his sword at the shadow, but he wouldn’t be able to hold it off for long.

“You were meant to fly.”

Loch was right. I didn’t need him to save me. I could do it myself.

The shadow dove toward the prince, and he ducked, making the branch bounce.

I reached inside myself and tugged at that thread of power. The same one I’d pulled to summon all my other magic. Except this time, I asked for something different: I asked for the power to fly. Power I deserved.

My wings twitched in response like Spirit Sky had heard my request. Slowly, my wings flapped behind me.

“Poppy,” Loch breathed, looking down, pride shining in those blue eyes. “You’re doing it. You’re flying. My little bird.”

I flapped my wings harder and let go of the branch, heart swelling at his nickname for me. My body floated in the air. Spirits below. I was actually flying.

“That’s it,” Loch said, a grin splitting his face as clouds drifted closer, blanketing the sky and dousing the forest in darkness.

“Loch.” I pointed. “Your shadow!”

It flew off toward the canopy and disappeared through it. And then it was gone. Loch had saved me, but in doing so, he’d doomed himself.