Page 17

Chapter Seventeen

A fter another long day of traveling, we’d found a cave and settled into it as evening shadows thickened around us. Caelum surprised me yet again as he worked carefully on my cloak, sewing the edges of a tear with a steady, practiced hand. I couldn’t help but stare at his slender fingers as they deftly mended the material back together. It seemed impossible that those same hands wielded a sword as easily as they did a needle.

I wondered, with a shiver, what else those hands could handle.

I snapped my attention back as a low rumble of thunder echoed above, reminding me of something far more practical to focus on.

“Come on,” I said, springing to my feet. I gave his shoulder a tug. “There’s something I want to show you.”

Caelum handed me my cloak to put on and followed me out of our shelter. He glanced up at the sky as the first raindrops fell, heavy with warning, pinging at our feet.

“You’re pulling me out into a storm?” He laughed, but his eyes sparkled.

“Just wait,” I said, leading him into the clearing nearby. The rain grew heavier, soaking us both within minutes. Still, he grinned, his wide gaze full of anticipation.

I spread my arms, closing my eyes, and waited. The familiar, humming energy of the storm pulsed around me, the static charging the air. Lightning cracked in the distance, a stark line against the dark sky. I could feel the pull of it, the way it called to me. I didn’t have my iron bars, but it didn’t matter. They helped when I wanted to guide the lightning to a small target, but I could pull it right from the sky itself if I wanted to.

The fae had said I was pure magic, but they were wrong. Maybe I could do more than I’d originally thought—like connecting with the water at the revelry—but I hadn’t been able to do anything worthwhile when it really mattered, like when I’d thought that Caelum...

I shook my head, refocusing on the task at hand. He had never seen me use my magic, and I wanted to see the wonder on his face for something I knew I could do.

A few moments later, lightning arced across the sky, slashing through the rain right above our heads. I reached out with my magic, grasping at the bolt and tugged, directing it toward a tree at the far end of the clearing and slicing through it. The tree groaned and fell, its branches scattering across the wet ground.

“My gods, Tempest,” Caelum said beside me, his hands atop of his head, his eyes filled to the brim with that awe I loved to see.

So, I’d show him more.

Reaching for the next bolt, feeling the electric rush as it surged through me, I flung it out at another tree in the distance, cleaving it in half. On one hand it was exhilarating, the magical energy coursing through my bones while I wrestled the wild power of the lightning. Yet, with each new strike that I bent to my will, something inside felt stripped away, leaving an emptiness to claw at my core. No matter how many trees I brought down, the hollow ache only deepened.

I tried once more, frustration ripping through me. Why could I command lightning in a storm like this, but not create it on my own? Why could I not figure out a solution to the fae draining the magic if they insisted I was magic itself?

Why couldn’t I ever be good enough? Even my father had left to research on his own without me. Did my stubbornness and headstrong ways finally overwhelm him too?

Before I could grab at another bolt, Caelum’s hand closed over my wrist, grounding me. His blond hair was plastered to his forehead, falling into his eyes, but I could still see specks of piercing blue. For a few moments, his mouth hung open, as if, for once, he was at a loss for words. Finally, he smiled wide, his dimples appearing as rainwater ran down his face and off his chin. “You are breathtaking, Eedy,” he said. “I hope you know that. I could watch you day and night and never grow tired of it.”

His words made me buzz like I was still holding onto a streak of lightning. He hadn’t said the magic was breathtaking; he’d said I was. If the crown prince of Eyre told me I was enough, could I believe it?

He shivered, squeezing my hand hard as his brow furrowed. “But your mother will have my head if I let you freeze to death in a rainstorm. Let’s get back to the cave.”

I nodded, feeling the icy wind more acutely now. The numbing cold started in my toes and fingers until it engulfed my whole body. By the time we made it back to our shelter shivering and drenched, my teeth were chattering, even as I hunched by the fire. Caelum tossed a few more logs on the flames and pulled off his soaking shirt, wringing it out as best he could.

An ache formed low in my belly at the sight of his muscled torso, the firelight creeping over every hard surface of him. What did this man have, eighteen abs?

“We need to get warm,” he said, jolting me out of my gawking. “There’s no way around it—we’re going to have to huddle together next to the fire.”

I scoffed, shaking my head. “That is not necessary.”

“I’m serious, Eedy. The temperature is dropping. We’ll freeze if we don’t.”

He had to be joking, there was no way. No way.

But the longer I sat in my soaking wet clothes and shook like a tree branch in a typhoon, the more I knew he was right.

Still, I had extra clothing in my saddlebags to change into. He was out of luck given that the rest of his packed garments were left in Velarune, but that didn’t mean I had to lie naked in a forest cave.

He was quick to strip and lay out our supply of blankets near the fire while I stared in every direction but his. When it was my turn, I made him look away before I peeled off my own wet clothes and changed into a simple shift and thick wool socks. I tiptoed over to his huddled form laying on the ground, tugging one of the blankets over my legs while keeping a healthy foot of space between us. He immediately rolled to face me.

“Cheater,” he mumbled, raking his eyes across my dry clothes.

“Because I use the resources I have at hand?”

“Well, if that’s how we’re going to play it...” He sat up slightly, laying his arm out to the side closest to me. I stared at it with a frown.

“Don’t be shy now, Tempest,” he said. “I’m admittedly limited in my resources, so you’re my best chance at getting warm. I need you.”

I swallowed hard at his declaration and crossed my arms.

His playful smile returned even as his shivering continued. “And you are the one that pulled me out into a thunderstorm. Was the plan to let me freeze to death right before we make it back to Naohm?”

I growled, knowing that he was right. “Your bottom half stays covered with your own blanket. At all times,” I commanded as I scooted closer.

His smile grew wider. “Of course.”

This man . This infuriatingly charming man.

With a huff, I laid my head in the crook of his arm and wrapped my limbs around him. He sighed, as if my touch alone gave him relief. He gathered me and the surrounding blankets tighter against him, cocooning us together.

“Your warmth is heavenly, but it’s going to take a bit of time to ease this deep chill in my bones,” he stuttered, reaching for my hand under the blankets. “I need a distraction.”

“Caelum, what are you—” I protested.

“Shh, let us name the old gods. We may need to pray to some of them soon.”

He held my palm open, close to his face. Running his thumb softly against my pinky finger, he muttered, “Stavos. The god who buried himself in a mountain. Known for providing healthy crops and livestock. Not very helpful.”

He touched my ring finger, and I shivered. “Vayros,” I murmured, trying to distract myself from the gentle way he held my hand in his. “Lives inside a waterfall. Known for keeping droughts at bay and rainwater clean.”

And the list went on, Caelum reverently touching each one of my five fingers for the five old gods.

Nycos. Engulfed by a storm cloud. Meant to help with good weather for travel and celebrations.

Elyros. Pulled under in the sea. Helpful in keeping the fish plentiful and the sea calm.

Favios. Consumed by the sun. Worshipped for light against the darkest of days.

“Favios seems like the one to start with,” I said solemnly as we rounded out the last of the old hallows.

“If I were a god,” he said, still examining my hand, “I’d want to be taken in by the moon. To watch over all of Eyre in the night. To make sure no one was alone in the dark.”

My heart shuddered, thinking of where that wish came from, the depths of the pain he’d had to endure to be here right now, with me.

I slipped my hand out of his grasp, but he turned toward me, our faces now inches apart, and I tried to focus on the pop and crack of the fire rather than the intensity in his gaze and the feel of his bare skin under my palms. But his voice broke the silence once more, low and probing.

“If I weren’t a prince...if you weren’t a witch,” he murmured, his voice barely audible over the rain outside, “if we were just two people whose paths happened to cross...”

He trailed off, but I understood his meaning. My heart thundered in my chest as I met his eyes behind wet lashes.

“Yes,” I whispered, my voice so soft I wasn’t sure he’d heard.

But he had. His gaze dipped to my mouth, lingering, and his thumb brushed gently over my lower lip. “So, you’d let this stranger kiss you,” he said, his voice like gravel. His other hand found my hip beneath my blanket, his fingers firm as they brushed against the thin fabric of my shift. “Touch you?”

“He would be no stranger,” I answered, my thoughts hazy with desire.

He drew even closer, his breath warm on my cheek, his eyes earnest. “I’d like to be that man, Eedy. If only for one night.”

His words left me spellbound, my heart pounding, my mind torn between desire and the consequences of giving in to it. Trembling, my hand moved to graze his cheek, and he closed his eyes at my touch.

“Caelum,” I said. “We will be in Naohm tomorrow.”

“Yes.” He turned his head enough to brush a kiss against my wrist. “ Tomorrow . Not tonight.”

The fluttering feeling was so familiar, and I knew now for certain he had done it while we’d slept in his fae room the night of the revelry. He was the moth drawn to lightning.

And I understood the feeling all too well. Every part of me was drawn to him. Burning to touch him, taste him, feel him in every way. In all ways. I was standing on the edge of a cliff, and I’d fall so hard and so deep, I’d drown.

“Will you still be getting married in the spring?” My own heart shattered as I said it, knowing I was breaking the spell.

“And if I wasn’t?” His fingers curled possessively into my hip, wet tendrils of his blond hair falling over his eyes.

My resolve wobbled like a drunk on a tightrope. “But you are .”

He didn’t reply, his jaw clenched, his bright blue eyes dimming down into a murky shadow of what they were moments before.

With a shaky breath, I rolled over, turning my back to him, trying to settle my fraying mind.

“Storming away from me again?” he whispered.

I didn’t answer, pressing my lips together painfully, holding in all the things I longed to say. To do . Being a highborn was never something I’d wanted, but what I wouldn’t give to be the daughter of a duke right now.

I was a jealous creature. I wanted to claim him as mine and mine alone. But he couldn’t offer me that, and it was like a dagger in my side.

I curled in on myself, the phantom wound radiating from my core. A single tear snaked down the ridge of my nose, and I put my fist against my mouth, desperate to stay silent. He was a prince with obligations to Eyre, and no amount of my whimpering was going to change that.

But when I tried to quietly suck in a single breath, it was needy and ragged, like I really had been stabbed.

“Gods, I shouldn’t have said all that,” he murmured, shifting closer again. “I’m sorry, Eedy. Truly, I’m an idiot.” His chest brushed against my back, and his hand ran up and down my arm in soothing strokes. “I could take a beating every night for the rest of my life without issue. But hearing you cry? I can’t bear it.”

I still didn’t trust myself to reply. I was embarrassed. Helpless. Falling for a man I couldn’t keep. But he continued rubbing my arm. He gave me time. I took in a few deep breaths, piecing myself back together, focusing on his touch and a solution to this turmoil.

A compromise I thought I could live with rose to the surface of my dreary thoughts.

“I’m a wretch for asking it,” I forced out, my throat still tight, “but maybe you could hold me tonight.” I steeled my face before turning to look at him over my shoulder. “Can you do just that?”

He held my gaze, his eyes dark pools of blue. “I’ll do whatever you ask of me, Tempest.”

Ride back with me to Naohm tomorrow and never leave.

But instead of saying that, I turned away from him once more and stared at the fire. My heart flung itself against my chest over and over, either desperate for me to move forward with this plan or warning me not to.

I took one more deep breath. “I want you to hold me, Caelum.”

For a few moments, he didn’t move, and I tensed in uncertainty. Then a brief chill skittered across my back as he lifted the edge of my blanket. His hand brushed along my side and rested at the natural dip of my waist. Heat sprinted through me, his touch awakening every inch of my skin, every drop of my blood.

His hand continued forward, stroking over my stomach until he reached my other hip that was resting against the hard cave ground. With a quick tug, he pulled me flush against him.

Scents of cool pine and sweet rainwater drifted over me. The tension in me evaporated. Every rattling nerve and despairing thought dissipated in his embrace. I relaxed, melting into him, his presence overwhelming every one of my senses. With both hands, I clung to the arm he had wrapped around me, not sure that I’d be able to let go after this.

“Is this okay?” His lips brushed against the edge of my ear, sparking a shiver to race down my spine.

I nodded my head, my whole body vibrating in relief at his closeness. He nuzzled into my neck, breathing deeply.

“Good,” he said, and I could feel him smiling against the curve of my shoulder, “because even the gods couldn’t pry me away from you now.”

A small chuckle escaped from me, and he squeezed me tighter.

“That’s what I like to hear,” he murmured before placing a quick kiss just below my ear. “No more crying now, Tempest. Sleep. I have you.”

He had me.

As I drifted off, I wondered if he knew how true that really was.