Page 23 of Tower of Tempest
“Yes, she’s helping.” Driscoll threw up his arms. “Good spirits, man, don’t turn it down. Anyone would be a better cook than Leoni.”
“Hey,” Leoni said.
Prince Lochlan ignored them both. “I need to help you. I need to do this so I can get a sense of...” He searched for the word. “Closure.”
That made me feel better, actually. Much better than him just doing this out of the kindness of his heart. “I have to warn you, I have no gold.” I gestured to my clothes. “No spare clothes. No supplies.” I thought of my satchel that had been stolen.
“That’s okay.” Prince Lochlan’s lips quirked. “Turns out I’m rich.” And the arrogant playboy was back. “I can get you anything you need.” His gaze slid down my body. “Including more appropriate clothing for the weather. You’ve been trapped in a tower your entire life, but you’re free now, and you need to fit in a little better.”
A defensiveness rose up in me at his word choice. Trapped. Even if it was true. Gran had trapped me. I’d thought that very thing countless times in my twenty-two years. Yet hearing it from someone else, someone who didn’t know Gran, stung.
“Poppy?” Leoni’s hand touched my shoulder, and I jumped.
“Right. New clothes. Yes.” I shook my head. “Thank you.”
The prince gestured to a tall domed building across the courtyard, the round glass dome reflecting the brilliant dusky sky. “We have a few rooms reserved for tonight if you don’t mind bunking with Leoni?”
“She snores,” Driscoll warned.
Leoni elbowed him. “I do not.”
“Like a horse,”he mouthed, and once again, a smile came to my face. I hadn’t smiled in months. It felt good.Thisfelt good. For the first time since Gran disappeared, maybe I was finally one small step closer to finding her.
Chapter Eleven
POPPY
We walked along the paved road, blue skies overhead, puffy clouds haloing the mountain peaks in the distance. Leoni, Driscoll, and the prince walked on the far side of the road, away from the edge of the mountain, but I loved being able to peek over the edge and see the long drop to the bottom. It was said that Spirit Sky chose Valoris as his home because it was where the wind was strongest in Arathia, at its full force, and that rang true so far. It gusted around us, never stopping, its whistle a constant sound.
The thought of slipping off this cliff and falling should’ve been frightening, but instead, I found myself exhilarated at the thought. It had been the same in the tower. I’d gaze out the window and wonder what might happen if I simply stepped off the ledge. If my magic would flare to life and instinctively save me.
Winged lay behind us as we walked away from the green and gold domed buildings and toward the golden bridge that connected to Feathered, far in the distance. The prince seemed sure that Gran had been taken to the shadow court, so that was where we were headed. He saidhe just happened to know someone with a ship who’d be willing to take us to Sorrengard.
I glanced over at him as he chatted with his companions. Leoni said something to Prince Lochlan that I didn’t catch, and he shushed her, shooting me a smile before turning back to her and whispering. They were keeping something from me. Maybe not lying, but not telling me the whole truth, and it made me uneasy. Prince Lochlan made it sound like he knew who took Gran. He must, if it was his shadow who’d snatched her away.
Gran taught me about all the magic of the seven courts, including shadow magic. Whoever took a shadow was in control of it, was the only one who could command it. That meant whoever took the prince’s shadow was who must’ve taken Gran. I sent a sidelong look at the trio as the prince spoke in a hushed whisper.
My cloak billowed behind me in the wind.
I could ask him outright, but his shadow getting taken must’ve been traumatic. Gran had told me taking one’s shadow was a vicious violation. I’d never seen her do it to anyone—or anything. I couldn’t imagine the pain the prince felt not having his own shadow. So I’d let him tell me in his own time, or at the very least, wait until I got to know him better before I asked for the full truth. They were helping me, and he’d already told me he believed Gran was in the shadow court. That would be enough.
For now.
“Careful,” Prince Lochlan said, and I jumped.
My feet slipped on the rocks, and I stumbled straight into the prince’s muscled body. Instinctively, my hands pressed into his chest—his very hard chest—leaving my lungs empty of any air.
Spirits below, this man had been carved from stone.
His eyes gleamed as he gazed down at me, face inches from mine, reminding me of when he’d tried to kiss me. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re looking for excuses to touch me.”
I quickly put space between us and placed a hand to my own chest. “That’s the second time you’ve almost killed me now.”
A smug grin came to his face. “And the second time I’ve saved you. You’re welcome.”
We continued walking, the prince on one side of me, the steep cliffon the other. “I don’t know if it counts as saving if you’re the one who put me in danger in the first place.”
He chuckled, the sound low, like a rumble of thunder. I hadn’t interacted with many men in my life, but something about the prince, his hard edges and defined muscles, his low timbre of a voice, stirred my blood. I didn’t know how to feel about that.
