Page 83 of Conquering the King of Storms

I pressed forward. “The trauma she experienced isn’t just going to disappear. If you want her to stop hating you, to stop yelling at you, to stop insulting you, you have to stop treating her like she’s already yours. She’s not. The only person she belongs to is herself. If you show her kindness, and gentleness, and try to get to know her, maybe she’ll open up at some point. Maybe she’ll eventually want to be your mate. But maybe not. You have to come to terms with the fact that she might never want to be your wife the way you want her to, and you have to be okay with that, or else you’ll spend the entirety of your very long fae lives hating each other.”

Quake’s body trembled with fury.

I didn’t think it was aimed at me, though.

Since I’d finished my rant, I released his arm and slowly stepped back.

Margo’s king was usually playful, but hearing that shit couldn’t have been easy.

Sirus’s arm slid around my waist, and he held my back to his chest as he led me a few steps backward, giving Quake some space.

It occurred to me that the ground was trembling along with the man in front of us.

“Get out of the canyon until you’ve regained control,” Sirus said, his voice low but not cruel. “Do not risk the lives of our females.”

In the blink of an eye, the ground had swallowed Quake the same way it swallowed Ayla and Dove earlier. Though with Quake, I was fairly certain it had happened on purpose.

“We need to have a talk about you putting your hands on other men, Sway,” Sirus said in my ear, his voice still flooded with warning. His teeth caught on my earlobe, and I leaned against him more so he would feel more useful.

“What about it?” I feigned ignorance as he walked me back to the place near the wall where we had been sitting a few minutes earlier.

“It can’t happen unless you want me to kill them.” He sat down, pulling me onto his lap as he went. I leaned back against his chest, and he tucked my head beneath his chin as his arms wrapped around me.

“Well that’s a broad generalization if I’ve ever heard one. What if Dove was a little boy? Would I not be able to touch her?” I countered.

“Little boys aren’t men, so yes.”

“What if I started teaching children, and decided to hug one of my sixteen-year-old male students?”

“Then I would show up and put the fear of the fucking wind in him.” Sirus’s grip on me tightened.

We were both quiet for a few minutes, a smile playing on my lips.

I was worried about Dove, but I trusted Sirus. If he said she was going to be fine, then she was going to be fine.

Sirus broke the silence with a murmur a few minutes later. “Is that what you want to do with your future, Sway? To teach children?”

“That’s what I’ve always wanted. Children are pure and honest,” I said simply. “They say what they think, and laugh at stupid jokes, and make everything brighter. Teaching is exactly how I’d like to spend my life, if I could.”

I’d had an elementary school teacher one year who made me feel loved when I was a little girl without anyone at home to make me feel that way. Ever since then, I’d wanted to be like her. To show kids that someone believed in them even if no one in their family did.

Honestly, it would probably work even better if I did so as the queen of their land, as insane as that sounded.

“I happen to have an opening in my kingdom for a teacher,” Sirus told me, still holding me tightly to his chest.

“What age?” I asked, pretty confident this opening was a spur-of-the-moment development.

“Whichever you prefer.”

My lips curved upward. “Is that so?”

“It is.”

I pretended to consider it. “If I were to settle down in your kingdom, I would need a place to live, too.”

“Hmm. All of the homes are filled, and the rooms in the castle too as far as I know. I suppose there’s one open space though—on the other side of my bed. I could probably rearrange mycloset to make room for a few dresses, too. Earth fae style ones, of course.”

My lips stretched in a grin. “Of course.”

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