Page 5 of Conquering the King of Storms

It was insulting.

Ivy rolled her eyes, telling me she agreed with the words I hadn’t come out and said for the umpteenth time. She repeated the question, and Tariq shook his head.

“To raise so many people off of their feet without letting the wind whip them around would require a lot more focus than Storm has at the moment. If his mate is struggling, I’m sure he’d carry her.”

That was the best option? Letting my insane fae king carry me?

I made a face, and Ivy snorted.

“I’d rather walk,” Margo grumbled.

“We know. Your king is the only one who can make this easier, yet here we are.” I gestured to all of us. Ivy and Tariq weren’t covered in mud yet, but the rest of us were coated.

“If you kiss yours, I’ll kiss mine,” Margo said bluntly.

Damn her.

We kept hiking.

The next fewdays passed by so much slower than anyone could imagine. When we finally saw the beach in the distance, I was so happy I could’ve cried. Tariq and Ivy always transported away at night, since their magic allowed them to do so, but the rest of us were filthy and exhausted.

Well, mainly me and Margo. The insane kings didn’t give a shit, and Tariq was somehow keeping Dove mostly clean. I didn’t bother asking him to use that magic on me; I knew that would be a hard pass for him.

We left the swamp behind and hurried over the long stretch of beach. The sand was light yellow, the ocean a bright blue that had purple tints when the light hit it just right. It was absolutely stunning, which I could admit even in my grumpy state.

My legs and dress got heavier as we crossed the beach, mud working like glue on my skin and the sand.

By the time we reached the water, I promptly threw myself into the waves without a second thought. Tariq hadn’t warned Ivy not to go closer, so I figured it was safe enough. Even if it wasn’t, I didn’t care. Cleanliness was more important than life at that point.

I swam out until it was deep enough to submerge myself completely, then slipped under the water and held my breath while I started scrubbing my hands furiously over my skin. I could feel the water growing grittier, even as the powerful waves dragged me around. I didn’t give a shit where I ended up though; I was a strong swimmer, and would much rather have to fight a rip current or two than another mile of swamp.

I was about to go up for air when something wrapped around my ankle.

A scream tore through my lungs—and the water—as I was ripped up toward the surface. My head dangled below me as I came face-to-upside-down-face with Storm, whose eyes were no longer glowing.

Shit.

“What are you doing?” His voice was calm, but there was an undercurrent of fury.

“Um…” I was trying not to gawk at him.

He was gorgeous, for one, but I always tried not to notice that. My gawking was because he hadn’t ever just snapped out of the insanity before, so this was most certainly a first.

I noticed he was wading back toward the shore, still holding me upside down.

“I’m just scrubbing mud off of myself. Put me back down,” I finally said to the man.

“Do you know what creatures lurk beneath the waves, Harper?” His voice was still that pissed-off calm that confused the hell out of me. I was used to being yelled at and insulted. Definitely not used to a man trying to control his anger.

And… wasn’t he supposed to come up with a nickname for me? Ivy had said that was a part of the fae culture; a male fae’s mate was the only one who called him by his real name, and he called her by a nickname he made up for her.

I didn’t know his real name.

Then again, he hadn’t spent much time in his sane state since we met. I avoided kissing him as much as possible.

“No, I don’t know what monsters live in your ocean,” I said honestly. “But I’m so muddy that I don’t care. And seriously, put me down.”

Storm’s jaw clenched, but he carefully turned me the right way around and then set me down on my feet in the water. His hand gripped my wrist though, like it always seemed to when he wasn’t insane.

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