Page 91 of King of Storms and Feathers

I flashed my teeth. “What can I say? My upbringing was barbaric. But I am trying to progress beyond it.”

She shook her head and smiled, revealing the gap between her teeth. I stroked her lips, my thumb dipping between the moist flesh. That gap always made me want to protect her and also fuck her to the edge of violence. Two opposing urges battling inside me that felt good thrumming through my veins, like the sweetest, most addictive of poisons.

Leaf. Her contradictions fascinated me. Soft but strong. Naive and sensual. Caring but ruthless. If I displeased her by either deed or word, she would transform from a playful sprite to an unhinged Valkyrie, intent on disemboweling me, and all in the space of a breath. I would never grow bored of her company.

If it weren’t for her presence—a guilty comfort snuggled beside me—I wouldn’t be in this carriage, about to confront my past.

Ahead, I spied the fork in the road that featured in my nightmares and sent tremors shuddering through my bones. One branch led to the old Aurum Road, which was once the primary route to the mines. And the other traveled toward the obelisk erected three years ago to memorialize the exact location where my family was ripped apart.

Fury spiked in my blood, wrenching my mind from this carriage and dropping me into a different one. Inside it, an arrogant boy prince reclined, self-satisfied and foolishly confident that his life would always be one of ease and indulgence. My youthful assumptions couldn’t have been further from the truth.

The triple boom of explosions jerked my spine into a rod of steel. Then the screams started, mine and those of the spectators who’d lined the road. The courtiers had hoped to catch a glimpse of the royal family passing on their way to the Auryinnia ranges. Instead, their guts and bone fragments were sprayed across the landscape as storm clouds raced across the sky. The growl of thunder echoing in my chest was the only thing that kept my heart pulsing in slow, wet thumps.

Thunder crashed overhead three more times, and I opened my mouth to roar, but then… but then a small hand gripped mine, settling the tremors that wracked my body.

“Arrow?” Leaf asked. “Does the winged tower mark the place where your family died?”

A sound of pain brought me back to the present, and I relaxed my crushing grip on the fragile bones of her hand. “Yes,” I muttered. “That’s the place.”

“I’m so sorry. It must have been horrific to see it happen.”

Closing my eyes, I let my head fall against the leather headrest. “Because I was a privileged prick and had overslept, I was in a carriage at the rear of the procession, some distance away from theirs. But I was still close enough to see everything. It was a living nightmare, and no matter how hard I try, I will never be free of the memory.”

“We’re quite a pair, then, aren’t we? A king with too many memories and a slave with almost none.” Pulling my head down, she kissed my cheek, my lips, then cradled my face in the crook of her neck.

Apples and the scent of midnight-flowering auron roses filled my senses as I breathed her in deep, my fingers bruising her flesh. Don’t let go. No matter what, don’t let go.

“Poor little prince you were,” she said, her tone not without sympathy. “And now you are a king, the strongest and most powerful in all of the realms. You could do anything you want. Hurt anyone, hurt everyone, and make countless, blameless people pay for every single tear you shed for your family. And yet you haven’t. I admire you for that.”

Like a cool dawn that breaks after a sweltering night, relief and gratitude infused my chest. These feelings were mostly foreign to me, yet they were comforting. Addictive. And they were the very reasons that wouldn’t allow me to kill Leaf or ever let her return to the Earth Realm without me, no matter what crimes she committed.

She was precious. And I would burn all five realms to ash if it would keep her by my side for eternity.

“You’re still shaking,” she whispered.

“I’m fine.”

“Tell me about this mine visit. What will happen today?” She crawled into my lap, straddled my thighs, then ran a finger down my chest plate, the feathers tinkling softly. “Explain in detail, and I’ll distract you from your memories for a while.”

Gripping her hips, I adjusted her weight over the bulge in my pants, grunting when a bolt of pleasure shot through me. “Once a year, the King of Storms and Feathers is meant to—”

“That would be you.” She grinned, leaving moist kisses on my neck.

“Yes. That fact is often regrettable, but always undeniable.” I sighed and refocused my thoughts. “According to ancient laws and traditions, once a year, the king should make a ceremonial trip to Auryinnia to deliver feathers. The mountain is deceiving; it contains not only the mines below ground, but the reaver elves’ palace above. We will make camp around the mountain, and there will be politicking, feasting, and tonight, a revel. You will dance in my arms as gold specks rain from the ceiling and golden creatures play flutes, contorting their bodies into bewildering shapes as they hang from bars fixed into the walls at spectacular heights.”

She hummed a sound of interest against my skin.

“Is that enough description for now?”

“Yes. It will do. Prepare to be rewarded and distracted.” Her warm palms framed my cheeks, her tongue parting my lips.

My glyphs came to life, buzzing over my skin, and I groaned and pushed forward, preparing to flip her onto the seat and take her savagely.

“Oh, no, you don’t. I’m distracting you, remember.”

Distracting me? More like driving me to the edge of insanity. I ignored the reaver guards visible outside the window. They lined the road at regular intervals, their golden bows slung over their shoulders and quivers packed with arrows.

Instead, I watched my human lick her way down my body, her braid torturing my stomach muscles. She pressed open-mouthed kisses over my leathers, and then slowly unlaced them, her green eyes fixed on mine.

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