Page 27 of The Storm of the Empire

A crackle sounded and bright light shone from her hand as she turned to glare at me. Lightning. She had wreathed her own damn hand in lightning like it was nothing. How in the Goddess’ name did I not know she could do that? I don’t know what I assumed her magic to be, but after seeing her fight, I guess I’d assumed it had something to do with combat.

She lifted the light in her palm up to my face. “I’m a storm dragon, genius. You are not. Now follow me before you get your arse fried.” Without further discussion, she descended the stairs, and I scurried to keep up with her in case she met the priests who were all gathered below for prayer.

“What does being a storm dragon have to do with the storm and—what I felt.” I didn’t know how to describe it.

“Because we are born with storm magic in our blood, we can tolerate it. Other fae cannot.” She didn’t elaborate further.

“We really can’t go down here.” I could blend in in these robes, but she could not, and I hadn’t come this far only to be outed now. Let alone, I didn’t know what they’d do to her if she saw something she wasn’t supposed to.

However, when we reached the end of the stone staircase, her light revealed nothing but a small cellar. “It’s just a cellar. What are you going on about?”

I exhaled in relief. “It’s a temple. I don’t need to be cursed for seven years because I got on their bad side.”

She located a lamp on the shelves at the back and ignited the wick with her light, then shook out her hand, leaving us in lamplight. She set the lamp down on some crates, and turned on me, folding her arms. “Now are you going to tell me why I don’t see you for days and then find you in my home kingdom dressed as a priest?”

I cocked my head back in surprise. Was she sore about not seeing me? I felt my lips quirk in a smile. “Miss me?”

She rolled her eyes. “Answer the question.”

“Listen, I had assumed from your demeanor the next day that our night together was a one off, and that was okay. If I had known you wanted more, I would have?—”

She held up her hand. “Stow your ego in your pants with your dick. This is not the time. What I mean is that you begged entry to my class, went quite beyond propriety to secure a place, then attended a couple of times and never returned. I should be insulted.”

“Should be?” I tried to keep it playful because I couldn’t answer any of her questions. I didn’t know how much she knew about what Nyx was having me look into, my gut told me to keep my mouth shut, so I did.

“Don’t push your luck.”

A kernel of disappointment was sown in my chest, knowing she was more bothered by my absence from her class than her bed, but I ignored it.

“So you came looking for me?” I swallowed, realizing that had never happened to me before. No one ever came looking. I was very much alone.

She scoffed, quashing my hope. “No, I didn’t come looking for you. I’m home visiting my family, and I find you scurrying around the temple up to who knows what, dressed in priests’ robes, when you should be sheltering during the storm hours like every other fae here. Do you not have any sense of self-preservation?”

The lighting, the storm magic—it all clicked. How had I thought she was here for me? I winced internally. “That’s a good question.”

“Which you’re going to answer.” She wasn’t giving it up.

I glanced up the stairs, fearing intrusion, but all I heard was the raging storm above. “I was not scurrying.”

“That is exactly what you were doing. Masquerading as a holy guardian no less! Have you no shame, or do you expect me to believe you’ve taken the oath in the few days since leaving my bed?” My chest tightened, and I knew I shouldn’t care what she thought, but I realized I did.

There was that hint of something in her tone again when she mentioned me leaving her bed. Maybe she felt something more than apathy about it after all.

“I’m investigating—a hunch,” I said in a lower voice. Storm or no, I could not risk being discovered.

She frowned. “The thing you’re doing for Nyx?”

“Yes.” I needed to tread carefully because I didn’t know how much she should know. I was meant to report only to Nyx or Jaxus, but I couldn’t have her thinking ill of me.

“So Nyx sent you to the Storm Kingdom? To investigate in the temple?” She narrowed her beautiful brown eyes.

I hated her doubting me.

I cleared my throat. “Not exactly, no.”

She shifted her feet, clearly not happy with my lack of information.

“I was looking into something for Nyx, and that put me on a trail that connected with the priests in Amaya. I wasn’t sure how or why they were connected, so I needed to do a little looking around. In order to blend in, I um, borrowed this robe. And it turned out I blended in really well because the next thing I knew, I was traveling with them. I felt like doing so might give me some answers…and I ended up here.”

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