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

Chapter 52

My body and mind were not on the same page, it turned out. Not when I was cuddled up next to Poppy, her ass pushed right into my cock, her curves pressing into my body, her heat seeping into my skin. I wanted to roll her on top of me and slip right inside of her.

But we had company. I was starting to wish I’d told Driscoll and Leoni to go sleep at the bottom of the tower. I wanted this woman. I wanted her now.

She rolled over in my arms. “You’re doing it again,” she whispered.

“And what is that?” I asked.

“Nuzzling my neck and . . . other things.”

I chuckled. “Not my fault you’re so damn tempting.”

“I’m just sleeping,” she pointed out.

“Very sexily.” I inhaled the sweet floral scent of her hair.

She laughed. “There’s a sexy way to sleep?”

My voice rumbled through my chest. “When it comes to you? Yes, yes there is.” I paused. “Besides, I never properly thanked you for saving my life.” I rubbed my cock against her round ass, and a gasp escaped her lips.

“Loch,” she warned.

“But I really think I need to thank you,” I said.

She elbowed me in the ribs. “We have plenty of time. You need to rest. Your body has been through a lot. Plus, Driscoll and Leoni might actually jump from the tower if we wake them.”

I could’ve said something really mean, but I chose not to.

“I do want to thank you, though,” I whispered, voice growing serious. “What you did... no one’s ever done anything like that for me before. You’re amazing, Poppy, you know that?”

“Like I said.” She pressed a kiss to my cheek. “We saved each other. You came for me over and over. You reminded me I’m worthy of it.”

“Of what?”

“Everything,” she said. “Your love, my magic... my crown.”

I stiffened at that. “Are you saying you want to be queen?”

She snorted. “If my father will let me. Yes, I think I do. I spent my whole life believing myself worthless unless I could prove I was useful, but I’m done thinking like that. Now I’m thinking about what I want for myself.”

Pride swelled in me. “And what’s that?”

“Well, first and foremost, I want a prince. Know anyone?”

I drew her tighter against me. “Don’t tease me like that, or I might just have to kiss you. Now tell me: what else?”

“I want to be a leader,” she said. “Now that I look back, knowing who Gran was, I realize she was always raising me to be a queen. From the books she had me reading to the conversations we’d have about the world, the way she challenged me. Whether she meant to or not, she was instilling in me everything I needed to be a good leader who thinks about others, who questions the norm, who cares about history and how it affects our future.”

This woman truly astounded me.

“You will make a brilliant queen.” I hesitated. “How are you feeling after everything that’s happened? It’s been a lot.”

Driscoll’s snores echoed around the room.

“I’m happy you’re alive,” she said slowly, “but I’m also sad. There’s so much I couldn’t ask Gran. I wonder why she never told me about certain parts of her magic: about how the magical items are made, the price for using them, why she never told me the cost of ripping someone’s shadow.”

She trailed a finger down my chest like she was tracing those blue lines, and it sent a shudder through me.

“I think she was trying to protect you in her own misguided way.” I took a deep breath. “Protect you from the parts of her magic, her past, she was afraid of. Maybe it was a little bit about protecting herself, too, trying to forget the bad choices she’d made.”

She pursed her lips. “That makes sense, but with Gran gone, I guess I’ll never know. Now I’m just grieving. Grieving a mother I never got to know, a grandmother who I wish I’d had more time with.”

“I know,” I said. “I still don’t think I’ve fully processed my father’s death, and I’ve known about it for months, but we’ll get through it. Together.”

She wriggled against me.

“What are we going to do about this bolt?” she asked. “Do you think we should go back to Emory and ask her about it? She’s looking for it, too, and so is this rival of hers, this bone collector. I’m worried about it getting into the wrong hands. If Spirit Shadow already has three weapons, it’s only a matter of time before he gets them all. Especially with all those shadows doing his bidding, searching for them all across the continent.”

I hated the worry in her voice, but she was right. We needed to find that bolt and make sure it was secure. “We have to get to the conclave first,” I said. “Tell everyone what’s happening, make them face this threat. Then we can create a plan to find the bolt, to find all the weapons. There’s still Spirit Fire’s hammer, Spirit Starlight’s scythe, Spirit Frost’s axe... and Spirit Sky’s bolt.”

“I don’t like it,” she said. “I don’t like leaving this place without the bolt. I have a feeling it has to be somewhere near here. Gran knew where it was. She was trying to tell me before she died. But why didn’t she just come out and say it?”

“Maybe she was worried the shadows might relay that information to Spirit Shadow. He’s not an elemental, so his powers span far greater than ours. Maybe he has that ability, can communicate with them, or even worse, see and hear through them.”

She shuddered. “I don’t like that.”

I didn’t either, especially not after what Poppy’s gran had revealed about his plans.

“She said to remember that lightning never strikes twice in the same place,” Poppy murmured. “Those were her last words to me.”

“Do they mean anything to you?” I asked, shifting my body to relieve the soreness in my muscles.

“It was a joke between us,” Poppy said. “Lightning struck this tower one night when I was little. It shook the entire structure. I’d cried out in terror and woke up Gran. She’d been grumpy, told me she needed her sleep, and of course I felt awful, like a burden. But then she’d patted the spot next to her, and I’d crawled into her bed beside her. I told her that I’d read in a book that lightning never struck twice in the same place. I was hoping she’d tell me it was true, that lightning would never hit our tower again. But instead she told me that was a myth, one created by Spirit Sky himself so his enemies wouldn’t fear him striking them in the same place more than once. Over the years, lightning struck our tower many times. Always in the same place. This one stone on the west side. Gran told me it was a sign of divinity, of luck. After that night, every time the lightning would blaze down from the sky we’d look at each other and laugh, saying how divine we must be for the lightning to choose us over and over.”

“Divine, huh?” I loved hearing these stories about Poppy and her gran, each one like a gift. “I didn’t know that’s what lightning symbolized.”

“I didn’t either until Gran told me.” Poppy gasped and jolted up in bed beside me. “Lightning never strikes in the same place twice. Spirits below. Loch, I think I know where the bolt is.”