Page 101 of Prince of Storms
I frowned, then rolled over so I could look at him. It was the first time he’d vocalized anything to that extent. “Why’s that?”
Tor’s face was drawn and serious as he looked at me, an expression he didn’t normally wear. “Because it means you aren’t taking this seriously, darling.You are royalty now. As hard as that might believe, it is the truth, and you have to accept that. You have to believe it in your core and act on it without joking about who you aren’treally. Because you are.You, Mia Cherryson, are aprincess. The crown sits on your head, which means you rule at my side. But if I am away,youare the ruler of the Storm Clan, my dear. That needs to sink in on a level I don’t think it has yet.”
“You might be right,” I admitted, my mind whirling.
Me?Rulerof a clan of dragons? Sure, it wouldn’t happen often, but I had never really contemplated that aspect. That I would actually have to be in charge at times. That dragons, actualdragons, would have to listen to me.
“I don’t know the first thing about leading dragons,” I said. “I know furniture.”
“That’s why you have to take this a bit more seriously,” he said, stroking my cheek. “I haven’t pushed too hard because I know it’s all extremely new to you but also to me, so we’re figuring this out together.”
I smiled.
“What?”
“Nothing,” I told him. “I just like that part of everything a lot.”
“What part?”
“Doing it together.”
He smiled and leaned in to kiss me, drawing it out despite his feather-light touch, a tease more than anything, with a whispered promise of more to come later.
“Everything I do is with you,” he said, his chest rumbling as he spoke, tickling my skin enough to produce a pleasant shiver.
“And I enjoy it,” I said, laughing. “Now, come on, let’s get up. We’ve got things to do! Fun things!”
He chuckled. “But I’m comfortable.”
“Too bad, mister, let’s go!” I said, yanking the sheet off us.
Groaning, Tor rolled over. “One condition.”
“What’s that?”
“You get out of bed first,” he said, leering at me.
“Perv!” I said, but I was already getting out of bed, and I purposefully paused while facing him, stretching big with hands over my head, while his eyes drank in my body.
Then I spun around and bent over to touch my toes.
The rumble that followed threatened to knock things off the walls. I grinned and slowly stood. “That’s what I thought. Now get moving.”
“Much more of that,” he said abruptly behind me and running a finger up my spine, “and we’re going to be even later, for reasons out of my control.”
“I think you can handle it,” I said, going up on my tiptoes and kissing him on the cheek.
It was a whirlwind to get ready. We had to tie up loose ends that had come up overnight and then depart Storm Keep, with me astride his back, now quite familiar with the whole process. I’d feared that by doing so, it would lose some of the luster, but the truth was, the less I had to focus on staying seated, the more I could sit back and enjoy the vistas, which were beautiful.
We made good time to Mount Drakonus, a tail wind pushing Torrent along to speed our journey. I glanced up at the mountain's peak, wondering if the God-King knew of and approved of what we were off to do. I doubted it, but it was a fun thought anyway.
Our journey was unimpeded, and we quickly emerged into the basement of Fulmen Manerium, which, as I’d discovered, was the formal estate name. From there, we went to the garage.
“No, no, you drive,” he said, tossing me back the keys. “You brought it here. It’s your present. You get behind the wheel.”
“Okay!” I said warningly, getting in and firing up the engine.
The 1971 Chevelle SS came to life with a throaty roar that filled the interior and rattled me down to the bones. I grinned at Tor, who gestured for me to go.
