Page 2 of Conquering the King of Storms

“You okay?” I asked Dove quietly.

She nodded and gave me a tiny smile.

I’d been about to start a job as an elementary school teacher when I got transported into Bluhm, so I liked kids, but I hadn’t really had the chance to get to know many of them. The memories of my time as a student-teacher during my last semester of college made me smile, but the accompanying memories of other things that had happened around that time? Not so much.

My life on Earth… the memories were enough to make me shudder.

Ivy thought I’d been quiet about it because I had loved it, but that wasn’t the case. Margo didn’t ask about it, because she didn’t want to talk about her own past other than dropping the occasional bomb about the hell she had survived.

I focused my gaze on Dove, trying to push those memories away. With a few months of being away from my old life under my belt, I felt like I’d mostly managed to put my past behind me. Desires for the life I’d used to want were coming back more strongly than I’d expected, and that felt good even if it was confusing, too.

Dove lifted her head a little and peeked past me, over to where I knew Storm was standing, and a sad expression flitted across her face.

My heart hurt for her.

I pulled her closer, holding her a little tighter. She gave me another tiny smile, but her gaze moved back to her uncle.

She missed the man, and I felt really fucking bad about that. When I kissed him, at least she had a parent for a few minutes. Kissing the kings always led to their sanity, but it didn’t last long.

Maybe if I was a better person, I would’ve kissed him more often so Dove wasn’t so alone.

But I wasn’t a better person.

And I wasn’t going to do anything that would lead to Storm believing our relationship was anything more than the arranged marriage already was to me.

The man’s magic was already driving me insane. His wind was constantly whispering to me, touching me, brushing against me…

I couldn’t fucking take it.

A breeze blew lightly over my skin, and I felt a phantom hand trail up my abdomen.

My whole damn body clenched.

“Soon, mate,”the voice on the wind whispered.

It was Storm’s voice.

I didn’t know if he was actually speaking, or if his magic was responsible, but fuck, the way it affected me wasn’t a joke.

If I’d been able to control the wind too, I’d have yelled a few unpleasantries back, but I couldn’t. Until the other humans and I stepped foot in the center of the land that belonged to whichever element had chosen us, we were just plain old humans. Supposedly, the magic was going to make us fae.

I’d believe that when I saw it, though.

“Wish I knew how to start a fire,” Margo grumbled, dropping to the grass beside me. While I was built skinny and had the palest of pale skin, she was thicker, stronger, and tanned. Her hair was reddish-brown and had gorgeous natural waves; mine was dishwater blonde, with curls that never looked right. My fiancé had constantly told me to straighten it and lighten it, and for a while I’d had it done chemically just to please him, but I couldn’t afford the amount of time the upkeep took. My curls had been wonky since I stopped going to the salon, slowly coming back and looking strange when they did, but there was nothing I could do about that.

Hence the puffy buns and ponytails that probably made me look all of twelve years old on a good day. Maybe eight on a bad one, even though I was twenty-three.

It hadn’t scared off Storm yet, but he wasn’t sane very often. And when we’d walked through the earth fae city, I’d seen that the women came in all shapes, colors, and sizes. So maybe Storm was used to banging tiny chicks without much boob or butt.

Tariq had told Ivy that most of the elemental fae believed in saving themselves for marriage, but I didn’t really believe that.Mostly because of the constant dirty things Storm and/or his magic were whispering to me through the breeze.

“Do you think we’ll ever see Ivy again?” I asked Margo.

I knew she’d come back to us if she could, but her king was an asshole. And a possessive one at that. Sure, he had been the one to instigate the wholegathering all the kings togetherthing we were doing, but he was legitimatelyalwaystouching her. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if the bastard locked her up in some kind of flaming cave and fucked her right to death.

She’d probably die willingly if that was on the table though, because the two of them had been all over each other, constantly.

“Doubt it.” Margo stared up at the sky. We always ate whatever fruits and vegetables we found while we walked, so none of us were hungry or anything, and we couldn’t make a shelter worth shit so we didn’t try.

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