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

Chapter 49

“Loch.” I grabbed his face between my hands and showered him with kisses as he slowly sat up.

He was awake. He was okay. Thank the Seven Spirits.

Then his words hit me. They struck me straight in the chest and split me wide open.

Dying. That was what he said, but it couldn’t be true.

“Well, you’re awake,” my gran said to Loch, gesturing with her knotted hand. “Better get explaining.”

“I’m guessing that’s your gran,” Loch said weakly, tipping his head toward her.

I didn’t speak, waiting for him to tell me what in the spirits below was going on.

He grabbed the waterskin and took another swig, then set it down. “The blue lines don’t just represent my shadow being taken,” he admitted. “They represent my impending doom. My eventual death. When your shadow is taken, you’re bound to the place where it was taken from. Mine was taken in Sorrengard, so that’s where my body is bound. If you leave the place you’re bound to, your life slowly begins to drain away.” He tapped his chest. “The lines tell you how much time you have left. Kind of. I don’t know in terms of days or hours, but the closer the lines get to your heart, the closer you are to death.”

“What fixes it?” I asked with a shaky voice.

“Going back to where you’re bound or reuniting with your shadow.”

“Or killing the person who took your shadow,” Gran said.

I slowly reached out and peeled open the flap of his shirt, already knowing what I was going to see. I’d gazed upon that chest last night, memorized every contour and mark. The lines hovered right above his heart. I gasped. “You idiot,” I said. “You selfless, stupid, dumb, idiot.”

“That was a lot of insults in one sentence.” Loch gave me a tentative smile that I returned with a glare.

“I meant every one. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”

“I wanted to protect you.” He scratched the back of his head.

I stood. “We have to leave for the shadow court immediately. We’ll go. Now.”

“Poppy.” He tugged me back down. “We have to talk to your gran. You know that.” He tipped his head in Gran’s direction. “Your Majesty.”

She waved away his greeting. “Oh, enough of that. I haven’t been a queen in sixty years.”

A confirmation if there ever was one. Loch was right, as much as I didn’t want him to be. We’d hear my gran out, and then we’d leave. “How could you have kept that from me?” I asked her. “Is Silla Taramoud even your real name?”

“Yes,” she said quietly. “My family name before I married my husband, the king.”

Another half truth, but for some reason, it was a relief to know that her name wasn’t a complete lie. Not like mine had been.

“Priscilla is my full name. But I went by Silla for short.”

Loch reached for my hand and took it in his, a reminder that he was here to face this with me. I was still mad at him, but I was also grateful for him. “How could you have taken me from my parents?” I hesitated. “The king and queen of the sky court?”

Her eyes flashed. “Now how did you find out about that?”

I groaned and scrubbed a hand down my face. “You stole me from two loving parents.”

“I didn’t steal you!” Gran’s face twisted in anger. “I offered your mother a crown in exchange for her firstborn child, and she took the deal.”

Loch’s brows drew together. “I don’t understand how you set the price. Magic always has a price, but it’s unpredictable.”

Gran tsked. “So little is known about the shadow court and our magic. So much willfully forgotten because everyone just hoped we’d disappear forever after the Shadow War. The price can be set if you’re the one who took the shadow that produced that dark magic.”

“So you ripped away someone’s shadow, and that dark magic made a magical crown with the power to make someone a king or queen?” I asked.

Gran nodded. “The more powerful the magic, the higher the price. And I knew exactly what price your mother would have to pay.”

Emory popped into my mind, and I wondered if she knew about this. She’d probably find this conversation fascinating, viewing it from a historical perspective. I only found it disturbing.

“You took an innocent child,” I continued.

“I took what was owed after they stripped me of everything,” Gran snapped.

Rain slid down my face, and I blinked away the water, a chill seeping into my skin, my bones. “What does that mean?”

“A child for a child,” she said. “It means the sky king killed my baby, and so I returned the favor.” She met my gaze. “Except I couldn’t kill you. Not when you reminded me so much of my own daughter.”

Loch and I shot each other unsure looks, and I was having a hard time following.

“Start from the beginning,” I said.

Gran lips flattened into a thin line. Now I knew why she hated being bossed around so much. Of course she did. She’d spent half her life as a queen.

Finally, she tipped her head in acceptance. “This story starts long before the Shadow War. You have to understand that each of the courts operate differently, even if we’d all like to believe we’re the same.” She shook her head. “We’re not. We never were. We’re different because the spirits we worship were different.” She flung out a hand. “The frost court is the most secretive, distant, of the courts because that’s how Spirit Frost was. The fire court is the most aggressive. They like their weapons, just like Spirit Fire. And the shadow court, well, we were always the most curious. We never went along with what everyone else said, much like our leader, Spirit Shadow.”

I wondered where she was going with this, what any of this had to do with kidnapping me. But Gran always made a point with her stories, no matter how long and wandering they might seem.

“We didn’t like that the other courts dictated how we could use our magic,” Gran said, her face severe.

“You mean you didn’t like that you weren’t allowed to rip away people’s shadows?” Loch asked.

Her sharp eyes snapped to his face, and to his credit, he didn’t flinch, just held that hard stare of hers that I’d been subject to so many times over the years. “Some people don’t deserve to have shadows,” she said. “It would be like those of us in the shadow court telling you water elementals that you’re not allowed to use water as a weapon.”

“Taking someone’s shadow is a little different,” I said, thinking of Loch, of the blue lines dipping ever closer to his heart.

“Be that as it may, it’s part of us. Part of the magic we wield and no one else can dictate how we use it. At least that’s what I thought back then.”

“So you started a war over it,” I guessed.

She nodded. “We did. My husband, the king, and I decided we would fight for our right to use our magic as we pleased. We wouldn’t just go along with everyone else like silent little sheep.” She swallowed. “But there was something else. We didn’t just want to wage war. We wanted to show our power. That we were a force to be reckoned with.”

I didn’t like where this was going, not at all. “What did you do?” I asked, gripping Loch’s hand tighter.

“Unbeknownst to the other courts, we’d found Spirit Shadow’s hidden weapon.”

I gasped. “His dagger? You were going to use it in the war?”

She let out a harsh laugh. “Oh no, dear girl. Our aspirations were much, much bigger than that.”

Loch and I shot each other confused looks.

“I don’t understand. What . . .”

“We were going to use the dagger to set Spirit Shadow free.”

The ground rocked underneath me, my head growing woozy and light. “That’s not possible,” I said. “The spirits disappeared of their own accord. Descended to the Spirit World, where they rule from afar.”

I thought of Emory’s theory, that the spirits had actually been trapped.

Gran waved her hand. “Bah. I taught you better than this, girl. I taught you to be a leader, not a follower.”

“She is a leader,” Loch said, voice hard.

Gran’s gaze snapped to him yet again, but this time, instead of anger, she was sizing him up, seeing him in a new light. “No, girl, the spirits didn’t leave—they were trapped, something one of the scholars in the shadow court discovered in an ancient journal that has since been destroyed. We also discovered the only way to free them was to use their own weapons.” Her features darkened. “At the time, we realized we’d stumbled onto something huge, something that could give us leverage over the other courts, make them realize we would not be told how to use our magic. So our plan was to set Spirit Shadow free and ask for his aid in our war.”

The hairs on the back of my neck rose. I had a feeling this all went horribly wrong, but I still didn’t know how.

“We spent years before the war searching for where Spirit Shadow might be trapped.” Gran shook her head. “Used our best scholars and historians, our smartest shadow elementals—nothing. Meanwhile, we were getting sanctions against us, trade banned, not allowed to travel to the mainland because of the magic we were using. It was despicable.”

Her words were full of venom, so much anger behind them, even after all this time.

“Finally, we had a breakthrough. According to many historical texts, the people of the Old World disappeared from existence over time. It was a long and painful extinction of their race. Yet the spirits seemingly disappeared at the beginning of this mass extinction. That timing couldn’t have been coincidental.”

Emory had made the exact same argument. But it still didn’t make sense.

“But then what caused the extinction?” I asked. “If the spirits were already trapped, how did everyone die? And why, thousands of years later, would our ancestors stumble on Arathia and be granted the same powers?”

Gran gave an impatient shake of her head. “I don’t have all the answers. Those questions are for people smarter than me.” She raised a finger. “But I know this: someone in the Old World had a grudge against the Seven Spirits, and they found a way to trap them because of it. Sealed them in hidden tombs around the continent.”

I could barely breathe, and Loch had gone completely still next to me.

“That’s unbelievable,” he murmured.

“Yet we found Spirit Shadow’s tomb.”

Neither Loch nor I spoke, both of us hanging on to every word coming from Gran’s mouth.

“It was in Shiraeth.”

The star court.

“Why would it be there?” I asked.

“Well, it’s no secret Spirit Shadow and Spirit Star didn’t get along. Maybe they were fighting when they were trapped. I can’t know for sure. But we decided to go along with our plan to attack. We started in the sky court, working our way down to the frost court, and we finally landed in Shiraeth. We had forces everywhere, our small but mighty court catching everyone off guard. But the war wasn’t going in our favor. We decided it was time to release Spirit Shadow.” She shook her head sadly. “We were such fools, Poppy.”

It all clicked in that moment. Over the years, there’d been questions about how Sorrengard managed to take Shiraeth by surprise so much that they decimated them all. I’d asked Gran those very questions, which she’d always shrugged off, saying that everyone underestimated the shadow court. Many assumed they’d used dark magic to do it—at least that’s what I’d read in so many books.

“He killed them all,” I guessed. “You set Spirit Shadow free, and he destroyed the entire star court.”

Loch swore softly.

Gran nodded. “We never imagined that would happen. We used the dagger to carve open his tomb, hidden deep in a cave, and he blasted out. Nothing but shadow and wrath. He tore around the entire court in minutes and then disappeared. It was a bloodbath like nothing I’d ever seen. The other courts thought we’d used our dark magic to do it. We couldn’t tell them the truth. They’d go searching for their own spirits, would want to set them free. They drove our forces back to Sorrengard, banished us there, but we were already planning on leaving. We needed to find Spirit Shadow and figure out what in the bloody shadows we were going to do.

“We ordered everyone to pull back, to get back to Sorrengard immediately. Our next mistake.” Gran swallowed. “When we arrived with our fleet, Spirit Shadow was already there waiting, and he killed everyone. Every last person in my court. Our people gave the king and me, and the little baby in my belly, enough time to escape on a boat. They saved us before Spirit Shadow killed them all.”

“You were pregnant through that whole ordeal?”

She nodded.

My hand floated over my mouth in horror. “Gran, I’m so, so sorry.”

“My husband and I knew we had to tell the other courts about this, about the horrible mistake we’d made. We fled back to Arathia, our boat docking at isles of Valoris. We thought we might appeal to the young king. He was only eighteen, newly crowned after his parents had died in the Shadow War. We’d hoped he’d be impressionable, empathizing with what had happened to us. It was a long journey. I gave birth on the ship. A little girl. Most beautiful baby. I was in love, and she gave me hope for a better future. One where we could learn from our mistakes and work with the other courts. I realized how foolish and arrogant we’d been. Now I was ready to beg. But as soon as we stepped off our boat, they struck. The young king and one of his guards. They used lightning to kill my husband while he held our little darling.”

Her voice shook, and my eyes welled with tears at the tragedy of it all. The story played out in my mind, each piece fitting so neatly into the puzzle.

“You survived,” I said slowly. “And you wanted revenge. The king thought you had died.”

She nodded. “I ripped the shadow from his guard, then used that shadow to kill him right as the king’s lightning struck me, sending me into the frigid waters of the sea. I survived, and I had a piece of new magic in hand. The crown.”

Loch sucked in a sharp breath. “The crown appeared when you took the guard’s shadow.”

Gran didn’t acknowledge him, continuing her story. “I wanted the king to feel the same kind of pain he’d caused me. Death was too easy for him. So when I emerged from the cold depths of the sea onto the rocky shores of the isles, I vowed I would have my revenge. A new plan formed.”

I thought about my mother’s story of the strange woman who offered her a crown in exchange for her firstborn child. But my mother didn’t have me until she was fifty years old.

I peered at Gran. “You waited thirty-five years to kidnap me?”

She waved away my words. “Time is nothing when you’re alone. Days, months, years—didn’t mean a thing. My revenge was all I had to live for. I couldn’t go home to a spirit who would kill me. I couldn’t go anywhere else. So I hid. I hid, and I bided my time. I wanted to make the king pay. But that wasn’t all. I also wanted revenge on Spirit Shadow for taking my court, my life, from me. I didn’t expect it to take the young queen thirty-five spirits-damned years to have you. But I kept busy. I learned. I found out about the Tower of Terror built by Spirit Sky. Many knew of it, but no one knew of its location. Some even thought his tower to be a myth. Those who did know of it believed it to be cursed.”

“So how did you find it?”

She spread out her hands. “By exploring. I had nothing but time now. Everyone thought I was dead. I might as well have been. I felt dead. The years went by, and I became obsessed with learning more about the spirits, learning about why they might’ve been trapped in the first place. Learning about why Spirit Shadow wasn’t attacking the other courts, why he was hiding out in Sorrengard. And then, the announcement came: the queen had given birth to a baby girl.”

Loch pulled my hand into his lap, covering it with both of his as if I might need the extra comfort for this part of the story. But of Gran’s entire twisted tale, this was the least horrific part.

“So I took you. I came upon the queen one night, singing that lullaby to calm you.” Her voice shook as she looked at me, tears in her eyes. “I took you from her, the debt that she owed for her crown. I was going to kill you. That was the plan. But I fled with you to the little tower I’d made into a home, and for the first time in thirty-five years, I wasn’t living for revenge.” She cupped my cheek. “I was living for you. I fell in love with you, Poppy. I’m just sorry I wasn’t better at showing it. I guess... I guess I was afraid you’d grow up and leave, so I always made you feel like you owed me so you’d stay. It was wrong.”

“It was manipulative,” I said as tears spilled down my cheeks.

“I know. I never said I was a good person. Just that I loved you. You gave my meaningless life purpose, but I know that doesn’t excuse any of my behavior.”

No, it didn’t.

“But I wasn’t just afraid of you leaving. I was afraid if Spirit Shadow found out about my existence, he’d come after me, come after you.”

I sniffled. “So that’s another reason why you hid us away.”

She nodded. “I swear I did the best by you that I could.”

“So then,” Loch said slowly, “the question remains, why is Spirit Shadow after you?”

Gran’s fingers twitched. “Because I’m a threat. I know about his existence, know what he’s done. Know what he’s planning on doing.”

Loch and I both tensed at that.

“I eventually found out that when I freed him from his tomb, he had to go back to his court, and there he remains trapped. Until all the other spirits are freed from their tombs. He’s spent the last sixty years sending his shadows around the world trying to find their weapons, trying to free them so he can be free—and if that happens, well, then I fear for us all.”

“Holy fucking spirits below,” Loch said, dropping his head into his hands. “But then why wouldn’t he just have had his shadows kill you? Why even bring you to his court?”

“Because his shadows discovered I have information he seeks. Valuable information. I can destroy him, but I can also help him.”

This was so much worse than we’d thought. The shadow king was actually Spirit Shadow. It was... unbelievable.

“What does he want?” I asked Gran. “What is his ultimate goal? What do you know?”

She grabbed my hands. “He seeks to make us all pay for our ancestors trapping him in that tomb.” She hesitated. “He already has some of the weapons he needs: Spirit Earth’s bow and arrow, Spirit Water’s trident, and his dagger.”

Loch shook his head. “No, no, the sea folk have that trident.”

“Not anymore,” Gran said.

Loch swore. We had to bring this information to everyone else, to all the other leaders. I looked at Loch. But we had to get his shadow back first.

“There’s something else you need to know,” Gran said, looking at me. “About the information I have, about Spirit Sky’s bolt?—”

Just then, shadows swooped down into the forest.

“It’s too late.” Gran squeezed her eyes shut. “They’ve found me,” she said, and then they descended.