Page 92 of Prince of Storms
“I …” he fell silent. “Oh.”
My spirits sank. That wasn’t the response I’d hoped for. “It’s okay if you said it by accident,” I told him, trying to stand tall. “We all say things we maybe aren’t ready to say. I get it.”
“What? No! Mia!” he said, grabbing my shoulders and stopping me from turning away. “That’s not at all what I meant!”
“It’s not?”
He shook his head fervently. “No. I was not seeking to retract it. I simply … said it without thinking.”
“So, if you’d thought about it, you wouldn’t have said it?”
“No!” he cried. “I just wish I’dknownI was saying it.”
I chewed on my lip. “How can you mean something you didn’t know you were saying?”
“By the very fact Ididsay it,” he replied. “That it came out so easily and unthinking meant it was something I found natural to say at that moment. Something that feltright. And it would only feel right if I meant it.”
Anyone else in the room had disappeared from my awareness at that point. There was only Torrent and myself, and nothing around us mattered or even existed. He was my sole focus. And I, it seemed, was his. His silvery-gray gaze never wavered, not once. It was locked onto me with a near-fanatical intensity that sent indecipherable shivers down my spine.
“So, you did mean it?” I asked nervously.
Torrent swept me up in his arms, holding me casually just below my rump so that I was on a level with him. A fraction above, actually. It was an odd thing to be able to look down at him finally, but I found myself enjoying it. His cheeks had a pair of extremely cute dimples from my new angle that I’d somehow not noticed before.
“My darling Mia,” he rumbled, the vibrations running through my body, pressed as it was against his chest. “If there is one thing that I know at this moment, here and now, that has been made clear to me by all that has happened, it is this: I love you. Now and forevermore, I amyours. You know me, and I would level the largest mountain if it were your wish. There will never be another who stokes the storm inside me as you. Ever. I love you.”
I shuddered. The finality of that statement hit home and hit hard. It smashed against my closed-off heart like the first cannonball against castle walls. Giant pieces were shouldered aside as it shattered the stone, forever changing my world. I stiffened in his arms, held aloft for all to see as my defenses crumbled down, destroyed by the only man strong enough to make me open myself up to him.
“Torrent,” I whispered, his name tumbling from my lips. “I …”
“It’s okay,” he said softly, something flashing behind his eyes too fast for me to interpret. “You don’t have to feel the same. But I’m done hiding, Mia. Done pretending that I don’t care for you the way I do. From the very first day I met you, your presence has stirred something inside me. At first, I thought it but lust, and who could blame me.”
I blushed as he told the entire assembled crowd of dragons that he wanted to fuck me. There were worse things to hear, but that part of my life wasn't something I was overly open about.
“You were never far from my mind, and often, you were the sole focus of it,” he continued. “I wondered how you were, what you were doing, if you were happy. Then, when I looked in the Watching Mirror and saw you, I suddenly understood why I felt this way. You were more than just a seductive human. You were mymate. The one woman I will spend the rest of my life with. Things suddenly madesense, and I was free to truly let myself care about you the way I longed to. But it wasn’t until I saw you walk through those doors, nervous, scared even, and yet willing to put yourself out there, tofightfor us, that I knew I loved you. In you walked to a room full of dragons, and not once did you shy away. You may not see it that way, but I guarantee you, every single one of us saw the courage in you then. I am in awe at you, and I cannot wait to discover every last thing there is to know about you because in doing so, I know I will emerge better for it.”
I didn’t know what to say. Tor had always been a bit of a shoot-from-the-hip type, do what he thought was right and deal with the consequences as they came. But his speech, the emotions swirling in his words, they were things he’d thought about for days and had given much thought to.
He moved to put me down, but I stopped him, holding on tighter, one arm around his neck. With the other, I stroked his cheek, feeling the stubble under my fingertips.
“My Tor,” I whispered. “I don’t have a big, fancy speech for you. I have no pronouncements, no grand claims. I can only give you one thing.”
“What’s that?” he asked.
“My heart,” I said, fingers trembling. “And it’s yours. Like I am yours, and you are mine. I don’t want to hold back anymore. I don’t want to be scared. I want to love you, dammit, and I want to do so to the fullest!”
Silence followed.
Then Ty stepped forward and roared his approval, his hands clapping furiously. Thunderous applause washed over us, and I found myself laughing.
“Come here,” I said, smothering his lips with my own while dragons cheered and cat-called us, bringing a fresh wave of heat to my face.
But I didn’t let them stop me. His lips parted mine, and his tongue snaked out, strong but soft, warm, and playful all at once. By the time he set me down, my mind was mush from being kissed so well and so thoroughly.
“So, what now?” I asked nervously, my hand easily finding his, holding it tight. “What, um, what happens next? Are you the prince now? Does that make me a princess? Holy hell, that’s so wild to think about. Me, a princess?”
Torrent smiled broadly, but there was a stiffness to it that belied his nerves.
“Not quite,” he said as the dragons came toward us, Ty and Surge leading the way, big grins on their faces.
