Page 165 of A Storm in Every Heart
He grins, wide and a little smug, and kisses my forehead before rolling off to collapse beside me in the sand.
The sea is a wild, frothing thing just a few feet away, and the air tastes like salt and electricity. I stare up at the sky, watching the lightning fork across the clouds, and realize that every part of me is still humming from the aftershocks.
“Did you ever think,” I murmur, “that it would be like this?”
He snorts, a genuine and unguarded sound. “No. I hoped, but… no.”
Kastian reaches over and twines our fingers together, giving my hand a reassuring squeeze. I turn my face to his, and he's already watching me, eyes dark and warm.
“We should probably get dressed and go inside,” he says, though he makes no move to do so.
I close my eyes and sigh, content to let the rain wash over me a while longer. “We could stay like this. Just for a few more minutes.”
He laughs. “As you wish, Princess. I’m not going anywhere.”
And for the first time in my life, I believe him.
ODESSA, PRESENT
Finally, the rain slows and reality creeps back in.
Kastian explains briefly that Jett and Connell are here, and that we don’t need to worry about Magnus anymore. I’ve said before that I don’t like torture, but after what happened to Kastian, I hope Jett enjoys himself.
I stand up and go in search of something to cover myself with, finding the shreds of the discarded wedding dress tangled in the rocks along the water, and drape the ruined fabric around myself like a dress, securing them with a bit of discarded rope.
“You look ridiculous,” Kastian laughs, eyeing my makeshift dress up and down. “No other woman on the continent could pull off wearing that.”
I grin and spin around to show him the back. “So what you’re saying is I’m pulling it off?”
He laughs again, and picks me up, spinning us both around before he lowers me back down to the ground, letting my bodyslide down his chest, and pressing his lips to the side of my throat, nipping at my pulse.
I grin, but shove him away. “Stop. We have forever for that, we need to go inside.”
“We don’tneedto do anything. At least, not immediately.”
“We should find Jett, and Lyra, I suppose. Is she on our side?”
Kastian shakes his head. “No idea. If I wasn’t so focused on you I’m sure I’d be more shocked to see her again after so long. Did you know she’s a doppler?”
I nod. “She’s the one who helped me escape the tower—although it sounds like if I’d just waited a little longer for you to find me we could have avoided a lot of this.”
Kastian looks toward the ocean. “What do you think will happen to them now?”
“To whom? The sirens?”
He nods. “It’s ironic, but it was Magnus of all people who told me nearly everything I know about sirens. They have the capacity for independent thought, obviously,” he nods to me, “but they don’t use it. They’re a hive mind controlled by a single queen.”
I bite my lip, thinking of how the sirens reacted when I screamed—how the tentacled queen warned me over and over that there could be only one ruler of the sea. “I think…” I clear my throat. “I think I could lead them if I wanted to. I can’t hear them now that we’re on land, but I still feel them I think. They’re awake for the first time in who knows how long.”
It’s one of the many things I love about Kastian that he doesn’t immediately tell me what he thinks I should do. Instead, he just asks: “Do you want that? To be their queen?”
I laugh. “No. All I’ve ever wanted was to be right here with you…but I suppose it’s good to know the sirens are there if we ever need them.”
He cocks his head. “What would we need them for?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. Why do Daemon and Alix have an army when we’re not at war? It’s always good to be prepared.”
“Fair enough.”
