Page 42 of Prince of Storms
I had no idea how Tor was so calm. His sister was clearlytryingto provoke him. How that would do her any good, I didn’t know, but it was obvious she was trying to goad him into … something.
“Last chance, Rica. Get out.Now.” Tor’s voice was full of thunder.
“Oh,brother,” Rica tittered, stopping and facing Tor, her back to the door. “I have learned somuchbeing out here all these years. So, so much. You have no idea what I’m capable of now. I doubt you could make me leave. So, no, I think I will stay.”
She took an aggressive step forward, aiming to blow past him.
Then she vanished as brilliant light filled the hallway, blinding me. There was a tremendouscrackthat filled my ears, leaving me deaf for several seconds. I forced myself back around the corner, out of sight, while I blinked rapidly and shook my head, trying to return some hearing to my ears.
When my vision finally returned, I peeked back around the corner. The air tingled with charged ions and fresh ozone. And there was no sign of Rica. Just an empty doorway that Tor stared out through, his chest heaving.
What the fuck?
Chapter Nineteen
Tor
Istared out the front door, fighting a mixture of emotions.
Part of me wanted Rica to come back. My blast had blown her across the driveway between the two ends of the house. She’d half-tumbled, half-angled herself out of sight, but I stood ready, lightning fresh in my hand, crackling and prepared to launch.
You aren’t the only one who’s learned a lot over the years, sister.
On the other hand, I was pissed at myself for losing control. She’d tried to get me to do that from the start, to show her what sort of opposition I would put up. Now she knew. True, I hadn’t hit her with my hardest blow, not by a longshot, but it told her more than I’d wanted to about my strength and what I was capable of.
“God-King,” I cursed in irritation. How was it that she was just as annoying as she was the last time I saw her? Seventeen years, and she was still an irritating bitch. Weren’t twins supposed to be, like, extremely close? Read each other’s minds, all that stuff?
Not Rica and I,thatwas for sure. She’d hated me since we were in the womb. I was sure of it. Dragon twins were quite rare, but they ran in my mother’s family, so it wasn’t quite as big a surprise as it might have been otherwise.
The real problem had come when she was old enough to understand that dragon law stated the firstbornsonwas to inherit the throne. Ever since that day, Rica had looked at me differently, as ifIwere responsible for the archaic law. Like I could control the God-King and his commands over the entire dragon realm.
It all culminated when we were eighteen, which resulted in my father exiling her to Earth.
Why couldn’t you have just killed her, Father, and saved me this trouble?
Feet came pounding up behind me. I turned to see Ty approach.
“I saw the video cameras,” he said breathlessly.
It was the widening of his eyes that alerted me. I spun just as Rica landed on the circle of grass at the center of the driveway cul-de-sac. She had her wings out, spreading wide from her shoulders, the smaller version of her dragonic ones. Electro-energy cracked and sparked from every angular part of the wings while swirling ominously in her eyes.
She said nothing, but when Ty came to stand next to me, she knew it was over for the time being. The look on her face as she lofted into the air, however, promised she wasn’t done. She was coming for the throne.
“Fucking hell,” Ty breathed under his breath. “God-King, take that woman’s soul. She hasn’t changed a bit.”
“No, she hasn’t,” I said, glancing at him. “Where did you leave her?”
Ty stared at me, not comprehending. “Huh? Leave who? I didn’t know Rica was here.”
“Not Rica,” I said. “Mia.”
He shrugged. “I haven’t seen Mia.”
I stiffened in alarm. “What? What are you talking about? She was supposed to find you. You were supposed to keep her safe.”
Ty shook his head. “She never came to me. I saw the movement on the cameras when you hit Rica and came running. Didn’t Mia leave?”
“No, she didn’t. Come, we need to find her,” I said, turning to storm back inside but coming to a very abrupt halt as someone stood up at the corner.
