Page 64 of King of Storms and Feathers

“Tie him up,” I told Raiden, then noticed him shaking his head in what looked like disgust at Leaf. “Hey! Don’t even look at her. I fucking told you before not to look at her.”

Raiden’s brow arched. “Actually, you said no one could touch her. And you’ve never given a damn who looked at your servants before, naked or not. Why start now?”

Good question.

Lightning magic flared over my skin, and Raiden cleared his throat and quickly got to work on Gorbinvar, my soldiers helping him truss the blacksmith up like a boar ready for the spit. For a fire troll, his men finding him with his pants around his ankles would be a fate worse than death. Their most prized possessions were their inflated pride and vanity.

Crouching beside Leaf, I tucked my cloak around her trembling body. “Looks like I got here just in time,” I murmured.

“Of course,” she said hoarsely. “You wouldn’t want anyone else to ruin me.”

I had a lot to say on the matter but only grunted in reply as I stood and swung her into my arms. Holding her tightly, I strode outside to where Yanar waited.

As I began to lift Leaf into the saddle, she said, “Wait. Please, Arrow. Set me down for a moment. I need to adjust the cloak.”

Gripping her hand, I scanned the rusted-metal buildings and the encampments of fae gathered around fire pits. They drank and talked in quiet voices, hoping to avoid my notice. My mind wandered, and I pictured Gorbinvar crouched over the human, anger heating my blood again.

“I’m ready,” she said as Raiden and the other soldiers exited the smithy and marched toward their horses.

“I’m not,” I growled. “There’s something I need to do before we leave.”

Still holding her with one hand, I clenched my other fist. My back buckled as I unleashed my rage, channeling white-hot energy through my palm until it became a spinning orb of blue light. With a roar, I threw it, and the forge exploded, the Rust King disintegrating inside a chaos of rubble and smoke.

One day soon, there would be hell to pay from the Sun Realm for killing Gorbinvar, but not tonight. Tonight, I had only two things to worry about. Leaf. And deciding how I would punish her for escaping.

Residual magic swam like angry wasps in my head, nausea churning my gut, but then a feeling of absolute satisfaction eclipsed the pain. I closed my eyes, willing my heartbeat to slow, the magic to settle. And when I opened them, Leaf was gone.

When the power had me in its thrall, I must have loosened my grip on her hand.

Fuck.

In the alley to my left, I caught a glimpse of golden feathers flashing on black material before it whipped around the corner. There she was! I bolted after her, not bothering to alert Raiden or the others.

It had to be me who caught her.

It could never be another.

Drunks crowded the narrow street, their fumbling limbs slowing my progress. I relished bowling them over as I passed, gaining upon my human with every breath. The after-affects of the lightning blast still clouded my vision, but I didn’t need sight to find her. Fragments of her sweat infused the air, a heady scent that caused hunger to pulse through my blood, demanding to be fed.

Fury honed my focus on the human.

Not the human—my human.

Mine.

She was mine and always would be.

In the distance, I saw her duck between a scorpion male’s outstretched arm and a low-swinging lantern, his pincer snapping at her brown hair. She scrambled out of his way, ducking under a long bench piled with hawker food.

When she burst out on the other side, I was waiting. I grabbed her hair, tugging her against my chest.

“Caught you, little Leaf,” I whispered against her ear. “No matter how far the wind blows you, I will find you. Always.”

“But for the love of dust, you bull-headed brute of a Storm King, why?” She turned in my arms, her fists pummeling my chest armor. Once. Twice. Three times. “I don’t belong here, Arrow. Why don’t you just let me go?”

“Because I… I can’t. I’ll never release you.”

“As king, you can command crowds of courtiers to cater to your every whim. The last thing you need is a slave who comes from the very species you claim to despise.”

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