Perfect Storms (Storms of Blackwood Book 4)

by Elle Middaugh

  "Time works differently between our realms," Dion continued, "so I have no idea when I’ll be back. Until then, you need to try and procure the Eye. You must stop that stupid fucking king from opening any portals of any sort. You want the gods to leave you alone? Fine. That’s a request that seems reasonable. You want the gods to wipe your entire planet off the map? That’s probably what will happen if he creates that portal."

  Gazes darted all over the place as we silently digested his words. We’d heard him loud and clear—get the Eye back or get blown into oblivion.

  The Storm King was suddenly the least of our worries.

  Criss raised his hand, looking a little childish but totally fucking adorable.

  "What’s up, man?" Dion asked, essentially calling on him.

  "I’m just curious why the gods would ever leave such an important artifact behind. Surely an item of such power should’ve been confiscated ages ago?"

  Dion nodded before finishing off his second drink. "Yeah, I get that. It’s just an unavoidable hazard of world generation. When you pour so much magic into creating a brand-new place, you’re bound to lose a few drops here and there. We usually try to clean up after ourselves once the planet is finished, but sometimes shit slips through the cracks—worlds are fucking huge, you know?"

  Criss nodded, as if the thought had never crossed his mind.

  It had certainly never crossed mine. I mean, the Eye of the Sea had accidentally been born while a god was busy creating our world? How fantastically insane did that sound? And yet… it made perfect sense.

  Dion stood and slid back into his coat. "I have to go. Hopefully I’ll be back in time to save the world."

  Ash stood too. "Dion? What happens if Zeus just doesn’t care? What if he tells you to leave the Eye? What if he refuses to call Ares off?"

  Dion shrugged. "Then I guess you’re just going to have to save the planet yourselves. Get the Eye. It’s the only chance you have. As for the Storm King…" He shook his head and grinned. "Ares can only give him enough protective magic to last for a month. It would kill him if he received any more than that; his body wouldn’t be able to handle it. That said, you’ll just have to catch him in that brief span between protection refills."

  "And what if we do kill him?" Dan asked with a sarcastic smile. "Won’t Ares just choose another human vessel to bestow with godly protection and dreams of holy tyranny?"

  Dion stared at him, hard. "How about you just worry about the Eye, and we’ll deal with Ares when and if the time comes, yeah?"

  Dan stared right back. "The time has already come, yeah? We need Ares gone now."

  "Watch it," Dion threatened. "You're in no position to be making demands."

  Dan rolled his eyes and cut his sneering gaze over to a frosty window.

  Surprisingly, Dion smirked. "Even if you didn’t have his eyes, I’d know you were Poseidon’s son just based on your shitty attitude."

  Dan’s gaze narrowed, he turned back to the party god with a look of murder on his handsome face.

  "He’s usually not that cynical," Ash replied, a bit perplexed. "I think we’re all just concerned. We’re worried that even our best efforts won’t work."

  Dion nodded, his expression softening slightly. "We can only do our best at any given time. If it’s not enough, then it’s not enough."

  "No." My disagreement surprised even me momentarily. "Not enough is not enough. We must do our best, and if it isn’t enough, we must continue doing our best until it is. Never give up. Never stop. That’s how we’ll win in the end."

  Dion smirked at me. "Tenacity is, at times, an admirable trait, Princess. But it cannot replace or overcome sheer power."

  I shook my head slowly side to side. "I don’t believe that."

  The party god sighed heavily. "Then you are setting yourself up for catastrophic failure. There’s a possibility that this plan of ours will work. But the odds are very low. You must be prepared to face any potential outcome."

  "I am," I assured him confidently. "Either we win or we die trying. Those are the only acceptable outcomes."

  He blinked then turned toward Asher. "You picked a very stubborn woman. She will either do extraordinary things, or she will drive you utterly insane."

  Ash chuckled. "I think she’s likely to do both."

  I glared at him. He winked at me in return. Gods, those sexy winks…

  "All right," Dion exclaimed suddenly. "I’m out. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Find the Eye."

  And with that final command, he clapped his hands and disappeared, leaving behind an empty chair in the inn.

  Chapter 4

  As soon as Dion disappeared, the people he’d magicked away reappeared. The inn’s tavern was once more filled with day-drinking customers, none of which paid us any mind. It was as if we’d been sitting there all along, as if nothing strange had happened whatsoever.

  I glanced from prince to prince until I’d met gazes with all six of them. "Sorry for just kind of… taking over there at the end. It’s just something I feel very passionate about."

  Cal smirked, a lock of his blond hair dipping down into his sparkling blue eyes. "I, for one, love seeing the passion in you."

  Rob threaded his fingers behind his head and grinned. "Yeah, it’s pretty sexy to see you take charge. I mean, you basically told a full-blooded god to go fuck himself."

  My face paled, and I turned to Ash. "Did I piss him off, do you think?"

  The Shifter Prince merely chuckled. "I seriously doubt it. He’s pretty chill. Plus, I think he admires your fiery nature too."

  Admires was certainly not the word I would have chosen. Resents, maybe. Disapproves. I was pretty sure he thought I was rash and stupid. Maybe a bit naïve. But whatever. I meant every word I said, and his opinion wouldn’t change that.

  I’m a princess. I’m married to four of the six heirs to the Blackwood throne. I’m the future queen.

  Basically, I was in the perfect position to start making a real change in the people’s lives—a change for the better—and I was done letting the Storm King and a petty war god ruin everything. I would fight for them; I would fight for the peasants, merchants, and nobles. Because they deserve far more than they’d been given. I would fight for Blackwood; we would end this war and make true allies out of our neighboring nations, because it was senseless to fight when we could be bringing each other up.

  One way or another, the game is over. Change is coming—I am coming—and I promise, the world will never be the same once I’m done.

  "Well," I said on a sigh, prepared to change the subject just slightly. "Now that our objective has changed, I assume we’ll no longer be traveling to Onyx Fortress?"

  Rob shook his head, glancing around the unsuspecting room. "Let’s take this conversation somewhere more private."

  Once we were back in our shared room upstairs, Rob pulled a map out of his duffle bag and spread it across the nearest mattress. The rest of us gathered wordlessly around him.

  "New plan. Let’s hunker down here for a while." He stabbed a finger at Blackdell on the map then allowed his fingers to drift further south. "Since this is King Thane’s most likely path of travel, Blackdell will be the first southern town he comes across. We’ll set up a blockade, and when he rolls on up with the Eye, we’ll take the fucker right back."

  "How?" Cal asked skeptically. "Blackdell is a small town made up of farmers and common merchants. They have no soldiers. No weapons. Last time we fought Thane, he kicked our asses."

  "Last time he had siren songs," Dan retorted, crossing his ankle over his knee with a sarcastic grin. "We’re too far inland for their songs to work here."

  So, sirens could leave the water, but they had to be near or in it for their mind-controlling songs to work? Interesting…

  Rob nodded to Cal as if the siren thing had been his idea, or at least part of his reasoning all along. "Besides, we’ll send word to my fortress, and my soldiers will come immediately as reinforcements." He then turned t
o his brothers. "And same for you. Send word to your kingdoms. Encourage anyone who’s willing and able to join the fight and help us hold our ground."

  Dan’s smile soured slightly. "Well, you already know I can’t do that. My kingdom has already been decimated in the war."

  "Neither can I," Ash agreed. "The Storm King literally has his ass sitting on my family's throne as we speak."

  Criss raised his hand. "I can’t either. I don’t really even have a kingdom to speak of."

  Cal cocked a brow at him. "I thought dear old Dad gave you the Lunaley?"

  Criss shrugged. "Is that even technically a kingdom? I mean, no one lives there, do they? It was mostly just made up of warring soldiers lost in the mist, but now I’m pretty sure it’s empty."

  Rob turned his cutting gaze over to Cal and Ben. "You two can at least send for help."

  Ben nodded, his usual grin pulling into a smoldering pout. I wanted to kiss his neck and watch those delicious lips part with lust.

  I blinked. Well, that escalated quickly. Pretty sure I hadn’t been getting laid as much as usual. Clearly the lack of sex was fucking me in the head, since you know, I obviously wasn’t getting fucked in the vagina.

  "Have we heard back from Valinor or Werewood?" I asked, trying to get my sex-deprived brain onto a more important topic. "Rubio came to our aid already, but they clearly stipulated that the sea would be the only place they’d help us. That only leaves the other two."

  Cal shook his head. "There’s been no word as far as I know."

  "I haven't heard anything either," Rob grumbled. "Better to assume that they’re not coming, just in case. Let’s plan for the worst and hope for the best."

  "Or we can make damn sure that they do come," I argued sternly.

  I hated this “maybe we’ll win, maybe we won’t” mentality they had going on. Like, no. We were going to make this happen no matter what, because we wouldn’t stop—and part of not stopping meant exhausting every single resource. Personally, I didn’t think we’d even begun to use Valinor or Werewood as resources, let alone exhaust them.

  "And how do you propose we do that?" Rob asked, crossing his burly arms with a smirk on his luscious lips. It was like he was just waiting for me to say the wrong thing.

  "Send another letter," I suggested. "Send a messenger. Send one of us. Offer them a new bargain, a sweeter one. Ask them what it’ll take and then make it work."

  But Rob merely shook his head. "We can’t, Jewels. We literally have nothing more to give. The Storm King has run our kingdom into the ground. Either they help us or they don’t. There is no more negotiating."

  I pursed my lips and tore my gaze away from him, staring out the frosted window to where blurry snowflakes drifted around outside.

  Eventually, Ash sighed. "So, we can’t renegotiate. But she’s right. We can at least send another letter requesting aid as soon as possible."

  Dan nodded almost absently, his pale green eyes fixed on nothing in particular. "I wrote to them before. I’ll write them again."

  Rob let out a sigh that was basically a half growl. "Fine. But the rest of the plan… we agree on it, yeah?"

  Everyone took turns muttering their agreement—even me. I was determined that, if this letter thing didn’t work out, we’d try something else. Even if I had to travel to those kingdoms myself, I would find a way to save Blackwood.

  "Good." Rob folded up the map and put it back in his bag. "I’m going to talk to Malik and Peter about setting up a blockade. Cal and Ben are writing messages to their kingdoms looking for soldiers. Dan is writing a letter to our supposed allies asking for aid. The rest of you…" He trailed off, shaking his head.

  I crossed my arms. "How about the rest of us figure out where Tia is?"

  Rob’s gray gaze narrowed. "No."

  My gaze narrowed too. "You can’t just tell me no, Robert Storm."

  "I mean it, Jewels. Tia is no sister of mine, and we do not need her help in any way, shape, or form, especially to save this kingdom."

  "You do not know that." My words came out in a deadly whisper.

  Hell, Tia could be the difference between winning or losing this war. We didn’t know. Better to be safe and try everything though. Exhaust every resource. That was almost becoming my new motto.

  "You three," he said with gritted teeth, "will not leave Blackdell. It’s too risky. I need to know you’re safe—especially in my kingdom. If something happened to you on my watch, I’d never…" He shook his head, but I knew what he was thinking. He’d never forgive himself. Well, lucky him, I wasn’t actually planning on leaving town.

  "Fine." I stared at my fingernails as if they were extremely interesting all of a sudden.

  "Fine?" Rob asked, stomping closer. "What the hell’s that supposed to mean?"

  "It means we won’t leave Blackdell, you big, brooding asshole." My words held more bite than they had in the past, but honestly, Rob was being way more difficult than he usually was.

  Maybe it had something to do with his mother…?

  Guilt and shame instantly sucked me down into a sea of misery. Fuck. Now I was the asshole.

  "I’m sorry," I apologized before anyone could say anything more.

  Rob shrugged, a small grin curling the corner of his mouth. "For what? I kind of like it when you call me an asshole. It’s like a term of endearment really."

  A couple of the guys snickered while I rolled my eyes.

  "You really won’t try to leave Blackdell?" Rob asked again, his tone gentler than before which made his request even more effective.

  I shook my head. "I won’t leave. But I will do my best to locate Tia while I’m here."

  Another growl reverberated up Rob’s throat, but Cal quickly stood and put a broad hand on his brother’s shoulder. "Let her try, bro. She might not even succeed, but at least you’ll know she’s safe."

  Rob paused, staring at me before eventually nodding at Cal’s words. "After I’ve spoken with Malik and Peter, and you’re done with your letters, I’m probably going to need you guys’ help in setting up this barrier. It’ll take a few days at least."

  I nodded along with the rest of the guys. I’d worked the jewel mines for six years, I’d survived the trek across the Obsidian Desert and the journey into the Lunaley, I’d helped remove multiple cartloads of Orkyda blossoms, and I’d literally gone into a burning village to help save as many citizens as I could. Pretty sure I could handle helping set up a blockade.

  Dan reached up into the air and stretched out his arms and torso. "You guys want to meet back up for dinner at the inn’s tavern?"

  I found myself nodding even harder at that. Food and sex, two things I was seriously lacking lately. Two things that could probably fix this irritated attitude I seemed to be developing. And, of course, two things I wouldn’t be able to get for at least a few more hours.

  Damn it.

  "All right." Rob immediately moved toward the door, pausing just briefly to look back at us. "Let’s get started."

  He disappeared through the archway while Cal, Dan, and Ben got to work on their letters. I glanced at Ash and Criss, uncertain of where we should start on our “Tia task.”

  "Let’s explore the village a little bit and talk to some of the people," I suggested, leading the three of us into the hallway. "Maybe we’ll notice something out of place? Or perhaps the people will mention something odd?"

  Ash shrugged. "Sounds like a start, at least."

  As soon as the winter air stung my cheeks, I clutched at my fur-lined hood, desperate to keep some of the warmth from escaping. The chill was biting cold, digging into my fingers and toes without mercy.

  "How the fuck does he stand it here?" Criss asked, rubbing his hands together before breathing hot steam between his palms.

  "Rob?" Ash asked as we strolled through the street. "He just got used to it. He always felt so ostracized as a kid, just like the citizens of Southern Blackwood were from the rest of the kingdom, and he really clung to that. He wanted to be am
ongst them, to lead them and keep their company, so he learned to suck it up."

  I smiled at Asher’s words, even though I was still a little grumpy at my Spirit Prince. I loved how he’d adapted, how kind and generous he was to his people… all because he hadn't known kindness and acceptance, himself. It sucked that beautiful people had to be carved from the hurtful actions and words of others. I got the sudden urge to hug my brooding badass, even though he was off caring for and protecting his people, as always.

  Zombies shuffled about, mucking barn stalls and pulling carts. Vampire swordsmiths darted around a nearby forge, pouring molds and hammering metal at superhuman speed and strength. Demons roamed the streets, simply looking for playful trouble. Every once in a while, I even spotted a cyclops or a minotaur.

  A banshee led a group of children across the street and into a steepled building. I had to admit, baby zombies were way cuter than I ever imagined. There were a few little banshees in line and a couple shadowy demons looking absolutely suspicious in the back. They all filed into the building and shut the door behind them. I assumed it must’ve been their school.

  "What do you think they learn about down here?" Criss asked curiously.

  I sniffed out a laugh. "Probably not the bogus bullshit they teach us up north. The Storm King is a good king. He united the kingdoms. Blah, blah, blah."

  "Well, he did technically unite the kingdoms," Ash commented. "They didn’t necessarily want or need to be united, but they got a union just the same."

  Yeah, thanks to Zacharias Storm killing the true kings, kidnapping the queens, then forcing them to bear his heirs—or at least, trying to.

  "Well, now they do have a need for it," I said softly. "The six of you are brothers. Blood-born heirs to the old kingdoms and rightful inheritors of the Blackwood throne as well. Aside from splitting us up—which we will never allow to happen—this kingdom has little choice but to accept our joint rule."