Page 69 of Prince of Storms
“Okay, good. Because with humans, at least, this is the sort of thing youtalkabout beforehand.”
“I know,” he moaned. “I know. But listen, Mia, it’s not quite that simple.”
“How so?” I said, arms still crossed. “You like someone, you spend time with them, ask them out, eventually you ask them to marry them, and you start a life together. Just like that.”
The ghost of a smile crossed his drawn face, his gray eyes never wavering from mine. “I know, Mia. However, with those of us who are of royal blood, closer to the God-King than others, it’s different.”
“God-King? He’s real? Not like, a Jesus, who we think might have been real?”
“Oh, no, he’s very much real,” Tor said, pointing to the horizon. “He lives at the top of Mount Drakonus. He’s our immortal ruler. That’s why, though I’ll lead the Storm Clan, I am a prince, not a king. A reminder that we are all subordinate to him.”
I watched as he twisted the ring around on his right hand as he spoke.
“Anyway, as I was saying,” he continued, sliding the ring back into place and ceasing his fidgeting with it. “Those who have royal blood, we’re different.”
“Different how?”
“Stronger, faster, with more powers,” he said. “But also more responsibility. It’s expected of us that we won’t just find someone we can put up with to mate with for life. We are matched, from birth, to find an Eternal Mate. Ourtruesoulmate.”
“Uh-huh. Right. So, what, Liz thinks that I’m your, what did you say, Eternal Mate?” I said, laughing. “Shedoesknow I’m a human, right? That’s impossible.”
Tor wasn’t laughing.
My smile faded. “It can be a human?”
“Until recently, our mates were dragons. We would find them, and, according to those who came before, we wouldknowwe had found them. The connection was deep and strong and immediate. A near-physical call to be with the other person, insatiable desires to be around them, to need them, want them, and the craving to do whatever it took to start a life with them.”
“I see,” I said, my throat closing up as I recalled the insane, intense urges that Tor had awoken in me when I first saw him. They had never gone away entirely. In fact, they were always there. I’d just learned how to tame how he made me feel with his touch or the longing in his eyes. I had put up walls, not wanting to let him in. Even when I went to his bed, I never really let my guard down. Not entirely.
“This time, it was different, though,” Tor said. “When it came time for the four of us to take their places, well, none of us had mates. We knew something was wrong, and—”
“Wait. Hold on, slow down,” I said, raising a hand to stop him as he spoke faster and faster. “Fourof you? No, no, Tor. I don’t do that. That’s too many to handle. I’m a one-man sort of girl. I don’t know what you think you know about me, but that’s not it. I’ll support the girls who want and can handle that. You go get it, but not me.”
Tor frowned, then his face exploded in horror. “No! No, Mia, that’s not what I meant. Not like that. I meant the other princes!”
“Oh,” I said, sagging slightly in relief.
“Yes, yes, not … notthat.”
“Okay, good,” I said, breathing a bit easier. “But that doesn’t make any sense. Why would the four of you have to take your throne at the same time? Is that what you meant? Because that’s how it sounded.”
“Yes,” he said. “It is.”
“All the other princes just died? At the same time?” I asked. “That sounds … suspicious.”
“Every one hundred years, the cycle begins anew,” Tor said. “The ruling prince and princess of each clan, Eternal Mates to the end, fly to meet the God-King. He calls them, I gather, and they simply know it’s time. They go to him, and then the firstborn sons ascend to the throne.”
“What happens to the others? Your parents, Tor, what happened to them?” I asked nervously.
“Nobody knows,” he said heavily. “The God-King, he calls them, and they answer. But nobody ever returns. The only sign we have that we are to take over is when we find their totem. It appears on our beds.”
He lifted the ring to show me the sapphire worked into the dark metal band. At the very heart of it, a single flame glowed.
“A piece of the God-King himself, so it is rumored,” he said, spinning it around his finger. “I found this on my bed the day after my father and mother were called. It was a sign that I was to ascend to take the throne.”
“But your mate?”
He smiled. “I didn’t have one. The entire clan has been in limbo since, unable to do anything. We had no idea how much longer it would go on. Not until Ember found his mate.”
