Page 53 of Tower of Tempest
The male stepped forward, as did the others, all of them wearing those gleaming silver chest plates. They closed in around me until I was completely trapped. I couldn’t fight even him off with my magic, let alone all of them.
I held out my hands. “Please, I assure you, I mean you no harm. I’m just trying to find my gran. I’m leaving Winded within the next few days. I swear it. You’ll never see me again.” I winced. Maybe it was stupid to tell them the truth, but they had to know I wasn’t a threat.
He took another step closer. “You’re not going anywhere.”
Anger flared in me. I was so tired of others telling me what to do. I raised my hand and summoned flickers of lightning that I threw at him. Surprise flashed in the man’s eyes as he leapt back, brown-spotted wings spreading wide as the lightning seared the spot on the ground where he’d just stood. An ashy black spot marred the stone.
I wasted no time, using the element of surprise to rush forward, striking out my hands as wind pushed outward, keeping the others from being able to grab me. I pumped my arms and legs, gaining speed as I got closer to the road, closer to escaping into the darkness of the streets. I’d slip into an alleyway, hide, and then get out of this city and these people who wanted me.
But before I could take another step, a sharp pain seared through my head, and I crumpled to the ground as darkness sucked me under.
Chapter Twenty-Two
LOCHLAN
My head pounded as light seared into the room, far, far too bright.
“Please close the curtains,” I muttered, massaging my temples, not even knowing whom I was speaking to.
“Well, looks like someone had a fun night,” Driscoll said.
Not the voice I wanted to hear. I slowly sat up, both Driscoll and Leoni frowning down at me. Not the faces I wanted to see either. I glanced around the room, looking for Poppy.
“Where is she?” Leoni asked, an edge to her voice.
“I imagine she’s in the bath chamber, cursing you and your voice.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Do you have to speak so loudly?”
“I’m speaking in a perfectly normal tone,” Leoni said. “And she’s not in the bath chamber. We already checked.”
The words cleared the remaining fog from my head, and I sat up straighter. “What are you talking about?”
Driscoll stepped forward. “Let me help,” he said to Leoni. “I speak hungover. Specialize in it, actually.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “Poppy. Missing.”
Leoni rolled her eyes. “How much did you drink last night?”
I shot to my feet, ignoring the hammering in my head. “She’s missing? Did you look for signs of a break-in?”
Spirits below. What had I been thinking, getting so drunk like that? Bits and pieces of the night flashed in my mind, but I couldn’t even remember what had happened. Conversation, laughter, flirting. So much flirting. A kiss, maybe? I shook my head. No. There was not enough wine in the world that would make me forget a kiss with Poppy.
I searched the room, but it was nothing like two days prior, everything in order.
“What about the lock?” I asked, nodding to it. “Was it broken? Any signs of an intruder?” I ran over, inspecting the silver lock, but nothing was amiss. It didn’t look like it had been tampered with at all.
“The door wasn’t locked,” Driscoll said.
“And surely if someone kidnapped Poppy from this room, you would’ve woken up,” Leoni said. “I mean, really, how much did you drink?”
Driscoll gestured to the three and a half empty bottles of wine on the floor. “I think we have our answer.”
Leoni turned wide, horrified eyes on me, and I flinched. “You were supposed to be guarding her! That was the entire point of keeping her in her room. Against her will, might I add.”
Oh, fuck. I’d really messed this up. Now Poppy was gone.
I sank onto the edge of the bed. “It was Poppy’s idea. She was so mad at me for locking her in this room. She wanted to drink, so I figured why not? Keep her occupied and not angry with me. Win, win.”
Leoni groaned and sank her head into her hands. “Not everyone has to like you, Prince Lochlan. Sometimes people are going to get mad at you for things you do.”
Driscoll lifted one of the empty bottles, studying it. “To be fair, I would’ve been angry too if I were her. I mean she spent her entire life trapped in a tower, then finally gets free, and this schmuck over here traps her again.”
