Page 37 of Conquering the King of Storms

I didn’t know, so I remained silent as I continued taking care of her, praying she would see the way I cared for her through my actions since I had failed so spectacularly with my words.

Chapter 10

Harper

I thoughtI was going to lose my mind by the time Sirus finally murmured, “We’ll reach them momentarily.”

Though I considered asking him to put me down for my pride’s sake, I knew he was going to have to carry me back out the cave the same way we had come in, so my pride was in the toilet anyway.

I heard Ivy’s cheerful voice—and smelled something awful—a minute later, and hope swelled in my chest.

Finally.

Fuck, it had been a long… however long it had been.

We came across the corpse of some kind of sea monster a moment later, and my stomach churned as my eyes followed the massive length of the slimy-looking emerald beast.

It went on, and on, and on, and on, through the small tunnel we were walking through. Sirus barely fit through the thing with themonster taking up so much space, and had to duck his head to avoid crashing it against the rocks.

The sea creature was definitely the stench I was smelling—and I hoped Ivy and all them had some kind of air freshener, because I was legitimately going to vomit if the smell got any worse.

The sushi we’d been forced to eat suddenly sounded even worse than it had started to taste.

We finally found the beast’s head at the same time we found the others. Sirus set me down in front of him, and I ignored the feelings he dredged up when one of his hands landed on my hip.

“Harper!” Ivy grinned, waving from her seat on Tariq’s lap. The two of them were snuggled up against a smooth wall, and there was a small fire burning in front of them.

Finally, no more sushi.

I attempted a smile, and probably half-succeeded. Why did Ivy not look like she’d barely survived hell, the way I did? “Hey girl.”

My gaze moved to the other woman. She looked about the same age as the rest of us and was about average-sized for a human, with light skin and a ton of freckles. Her hair was a thick, red, half-wavy bush that fell to her collarbone. I felt a moment of relief that I wasn’t the only one whose hair Bluhm had attacked, since Ivy’s and Margo’s always looked so damn perfect, but then felt guilty for my relief.

“Hi. I’m Harper, obviously.” I flashed her a slightly-bigger smile, trying a little harder for her sake. She was wearing a soft-looking black cropped tee, and a pair of brightly-colored floral-print leggings. Since I’d woken up in Bluhm in one of Steven’s old t-shirts, I assumed the clothes were the same thing she’d fallen asleep in back on Earth.

She gave me a tiny wave, but didn’t smile. “Ayla.”

“Nice to meet you,” I offered.

She gave a tiny nod.

Apparently she liked the world about as much as Margo did. Seemed less bitter, at least. I wasn’t sure our group could handle another chick as furious about our situation as Margo was.

My gaze moved to the water king, who was sitting next to Ayla with his eyes glowing and his body still. He was just as massive as the other guys, but had pale skin and silvery-white hair that fell to the middle of his chest. Tariq was the only one with short hair, I realized—and I was pretty sure his fire was responsible for the haircut.

“We have a problem. The kissing doesn’t really work for Ayla,” Ivy said.

My eyebrows lifted, and I looked back at Ayla.

She scowled. “His eyes only stop glowing when a monster nearly eats me.”

Ohhh.

Yeah, that had worked for Sirus too but with water, when he thought I was going to get sucked under.

Ivy spoke up again. “When she kissed him, the glow only stopped for like half a second. Anyway, I’ve tried to figure out how to get back to the cave’s entrance through the water, but I can’t see that far. Flame tells me I’ll get stronger if I keep trying, but I think he’s just hoping I’ve got as much magic as he does.”She rolled her eyes toward me. “Plus, Ayla can’t breathe under the water without Flood’s help, and we can’t get him sane.”

“Storm can get us back through. He has a mental map of the Aboa’s whole system.” I tapped the side of my temple, not allowing myself to glance at the man behind me. Letting him see how much I relied on him would make me feel weak, even though he undoubtedly already knew.

---