Page 70 of Prince of Storms
“Ember?” I asked.
“The Prince of Fire,” Tor explained. “He accidentally found his mate, and she was human.”
She was human.
I felt like I’d been gut-punched.
“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” I asked, my throat dry and hoarse.
“Yes, Mia,” he rumbled with a confidence I didn’t understand. “You are my mate. MyEternalMate. The woman who will stand by my side for the rest of my life.”
I didn’t know what to do. There were all sorts of responses to that. None of them felt right. I didn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe it. There was no way he could possibly know that, not after such a short period of time! That was absurd. So very absurd, it was laughable.
So that’s what I did. I laughed.
Tor’s face darkened so swiftly that I took an involuntary step backward. But it wasn’t anger that formed on his face. It was pain. He looked down and away, expression clouding over before he pulled his gaze away.
“I’m sorry,” I said automatically, feeling bad. “But I mean, come on, Tor. There’s no way you can know that I am this, what, Eternal Mate, already. I’m sorry, but no. This is too much. I would like to go home now, please.”
I turned away, both to hide and to avoid seeing his reaction. It was the right decision, though. I knew that.
Yes, if I was honest with myself, there was something between Tor and me. Denying that would be lying to myself. Which was why I would stick with my original plan and cut things off between us. End it, whatever “it” was. No more. It was far easier to let myself hurt now and move on than it would be to give any more credence to the thought that I might be mated to a dragon.
“Very well,” Tor said quietly, seeming to cave. “I’ll take you home.”
“Thank you,” I said. “I appreciate it.”
Yes, it’s time to go home and get back to normal. Whatever that looks like now.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Tor
Istormed out of the tower, sparks of fury slipping through the cracks in my exterior, tipping everyone off to my mood.
“Surge,” I said, nodding sharply at the waiting dragon shifter. Behind him stood four other dragons, each handpicked by their leader, one of the best fighters in the entire storm clan. Like Surge, they all wore black from head to toe with few markings on the tight clothing.
“Torrent,” Surge replied respectfully, “I hear we have an issue?”
“Yes.”
Ihad several issues, but I wasn’t there to discuss my troubles with Mia. She was my mate, and when we returned to the Manerium on Earth, I would show her. She would have to see, then, that we were made for one another and cease her statements otherwise. I would show her the mirror. Then, she would not be able to deny it.
To do that, however, we would have to deal with my sister.
“Rica has returned,” I said. “She severely wounded Ty while killing Tempest and the others. Perhaps she’s even returned to finish the job with Typhoon by now. What’s more, she had a Vorgan.”
I raised a hand to cut off his question. “I don’t know. Somehow, she had one. I chased it back through the Rift and pinned its corpse to the wall with a bolt of lightning. Nothing else would kill it.”
Surge nodded slowly. “That’s how your father killed the first one she brought.”
“The Vorgan is dead, but Rica is still out there. Who knows what other things she has set in motion. I don’t believe she would have done anything if she didn’t have a backup plan ready. This was a long time coming for her. She won’t accept failure.”
Surge nodded. “I understand.”
“Good, I’m glad. If it’s just Rica, this should be fairly easy. But something tells me it’s not.”
“It’s never easy,” Surge agreed. “If it is, something is about to go horribly, horribly wrong.”
