Page 15 of Conquering the King of Storms

The man chuckled. “Flood is my older brother. I’m Crest, and this is my female, Locha. We’ve been running the kingdom.”

He didn’t say how long they had been running the kingdom, but I figured it was safe to assume it was since the kings went crazy.

“Hello.” Locha smiled, her gaze skimming our group. Her smile fell when her eyes caught on Quake and Storm, who were right next to each other, both of their eyes glowing. “Oh, no. Tell me Quake has regained power over his magic.”

“His mate keeps him under control.” Flame’s words left no room for argument.

Margo snorted at that answer, and my lips curved upward just a little.

“He needs to leave, now. You know the damage he could do here.” Locha’s eyes were now narrowed, her fist clenching a little bit. The air had started to smell like salt, and it occurred to me that I had never heard why all of the leaders were men. Did men have more magic than women? Or was it just a coincidence?

“Cool your tits. Quake and I will wait outside.” Margo pointed her thumb over her shoulder.

The woman’s eyes narrowed further. “Outside the city.”

“Obviously.” Margo’s scowl did not make me confident that the conversation was moving in a healthy direction.

“We’ll all leave as soon as we get Flood and his human female. Where are they?” Flame growled. His patience seemed to have vanished.

Locha’s expression was hard. “In the Aboa.”

“You had better be fucking kidding,” the fire king snarled.

I took a quick step back, surprised by the fury in his voice. My back met a hard chest, and Storm’s wind stroked slowly down my arm, whispering,

“Soon, mate, I’ll have my face between your thighs.”

I groaned inwardly.

Bad time, dude. Bad time.

Locha shot back, “He was a danger to our people. And even insane, he has enough magic to protect his mate from the creatures in our prison. If he can’t do that, the magic is clearly too much for him.”

Fire rippled in the air around Flame, and more wind blew over my skin.

Was Sirus’s magic trying to protect me?

“If he or his mate have been injured in any way, you and your city are going to burn to ash. That’s a fucking promise,” Flame growled again.

The rulers said nothing.

If I were them, I would’ve stayed quiet too. The bastard was scary as fuck.

Flame looked at Ivy. “Make sure Quake is woken up, and he and Margo get out of the city. Dove will need to go with them while the rest of us go after Flood.”

“Wait, what?” I spoke up. “I’m going to the Aboa?”

“Whatisthe Aboa?” Ivy checked.

I probably should’ve asked that question first.

He answered her, ignoring the rest of us of course. “A world of water and caves beneath the surface. The worst of our land’s creatures are held captive within it, and the elements reinforce it magically. Quake and Flood are the only ones who are a risk to its stability. Storm will be needed to navigate it; we’ll need the wind to sense whichever of the creatures you can’t detect, Vriva.”

Oh, shit.

I’d heard about underwater cave systems before, and I was pretty sure they were supposed to be really dangerous. And an underwater cave system, full of monsters?

If it was my call, it would be a hard pass.

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