Storm Princess Saga- the Complete Series

by Everly Frost

  “No need.” I take the piece she offers and choose one of the Rath stones. Then I remove my tiara. There is enough space on each end of it for one more stone. Closing my eyes and letting my Prime power flow through me, I press the Mercy stone into the tiara, manipulating the golden band to embed it, following it with the Rath stone.

  Then I gather the remaining pieces of the Mercy stone into my hand and ask Mom to place all the Rath stones into my other, closing both fists around the pieces. I’d separated the gargoyle heartstones with my power. Surely, I can reconnect the elven heartstones too? I concentrate because this is harder. Why is it easier to break something than to put it back together? These fragments are like Baelen and me right now, breaking further and further apart. I dip my head to hide my tears. Somehow, I don’t think this task requires Incorruptible, Prime, or Lightsworn. For the first time, I deliberately seek out Virtuous’s compassion, allowing it to flow through me.

  Mom gasps.

  I open my eyes to find the heartstones whole again. I hand them both to Mom. “They need to be kept somewhere safe.”

  “I understand.”

  Halfway through the end of the meal, a group of male gargoyles enters the room. The elves around me all stop eating for a moment. I guess they’re still getting used to having gargoyle allies. One of the males is Erit. As soon as he sees us, he heads in our direction. His gaze flickers to Indira for a moment and the smile he gives her warms my heart. Reaching my position, the males all take a knee.

  “Supreme Incorruptible, we honor you.”

  I stand, ignoring the astonished stares from the elves. I’m guessing the gargoyles haven’t shown deference to anyone since they got here. My tiara glows in recognition of the gargoyle’s fealty. “I am honored.”

  As the other gargoyles disperse to eat dinner, Erit says, “We’ve just come off patrol. We rotate on and off so we keep our energy up.”

  “Was Baelen with you?”

  He shifts a little, suddenly uncomfortable although I’m not sure why. “He was, but he’s headed to the furthest outpost to make sure they’re prepared if there’s an attack in the night.”

  My heart sinks. The furthest outpost is miles away. It’s the smart thing to do, but why does it feel like Baelen is avoiding me? I try to focus on the preparations. “What about the remainder of Erador’s border further south?”

  “Llion, Roar, Welsian, and Arlo have that covered. There are patrols up and down the border at all times and multiple outposts in the places most vulnerable to an attack. The villages close to the border have been evacuated and the army is gathered at strategic points further inside the border, ready to defend any attack. Also, Senturi has gathered Outliers to guard the wastelands on either end of the border.”

  The gargoyles’ resilience and determination constantly amazes me. A little over a week ago, they were devastated by Howl’s treatment of them. Now, they are fully prepared for war. “Thank you, Erit. I’m impressed with everything you’ve done.”

  He gives me a smile. “It’s good to see you safe, Lady Storm.”

  His gaze falls on Indira. She clears her throat and rises to her feet. “Please excuse me, friends.”

  Soon after she leaves with Erit, I’m surprised to see the former Elven Commander, Teilo Splendor, bring food around for the newly returned gargoyles. He’s wearing a cook’s apron and carrying a large plate of boiled potatoes. When he reaches me, he gives me an acknowledging nod but I can’t keep my surprise to myself. “You’re working in the kitchens.”

  He says, “I’m doing what I should have done when I was an Elven Commander—serving my people.”

  Sahara, his daughter, gives him a genuine smile. For a while their relationship was strained by the Elven Command’s treatment of me, but it looks like they have mended bridges.

  Soon after, Sebastian and Eli return from patrol, heading for us first. They bow to me. “Storm Princess.”

  Like Erit and the gargoyles, they appear tired but focused. “We’re pleased to report no incidents at the outposts this evening.”

  “Thank you, both.”

  Jordan is already on her feet. I give her a smile as she joins her husband at his table. Instead of heading toward the food, Eli hovers for a moment at my side. “What is it, Eli?”

  His crystal clear blue eyes remind me of Cassian for a moment, serious and stern. “I understand you encountered my grandfather while you were held against your will.”

  I recall Elwyn Elder raging at Grayson about not taking me to prison. “Only from a distance.”

  “Whoever he was before, his soul is gone now. He is nothing more than a predator.”

  I contemplate Eli. He was always quiet, thoughtful, a lean fighter. He helped me when I was Howl’s prisoner by giving me information about my Storm Command. “What are you trying to tell me?”

  “I will not hold it against you if you kill him. The grandfather I knew no longer exists. He killed himself a long time ago.”

  I swallow against the lump in my throat. I can’t imagine what he’s going through to be fighting against his own people. Against his own family. He spins on his heel and I return to my seat, feeling subdued.

  Neither Baelen nor my brother appears during dinner, and afterward, I want to go out and find them, but Mom orders me to go to bed. “A Queen is no good to her people if she’s asleep on her feet.”

  She orders me to my room, waits while I change, and kisses my forehead, extinguishing my lamp as I snuggle into my old bed. “I promise you, we will wake you if you’re needed. Sleep well, sweetheart.”

  My father waits outside the room and before Mom closes the door behind her, worry passes between them.

  “Macsen is at the eastern outpost with Baelen,” Dad says as their footsteps recede. His voice is low and moving down the hall, but it’s amazing what I can hear when I want to. “They want us to make sure Marbella stays here where she’s safe.”

  Mom’s voice cracks. “Our baby girl has been through so much.” The heartbreak in her words makes my chest ache. I suspected she was putting on a brave face for me, not wanting to show the full extent of her worry about my safety.

  Dad replies, “We can’t risk that she’ll be captured again.”

  I understand their motives but I sigh into my pillow. It looks like I’ve swapped one sort of cage for another. I shouldn’t be angry. I’ve missed my family. I’ve missed my ladies. If I have the chance to spend time with them, then that is a gift. But it’s not my role to be wrapped in cotton wool and put on a pedestal. That’s not who I am. I’ll do what they want tonight—I’ll sleep and stay safe—but tomorrow I’m going straight to Baelen wherever he is. I won’t let others fight my battles for me.

  For the first time in many years, I sleep in a room alone. For so many years, my Storm Command slept right outside my door and often one of them would sleep on the floor of my room. That was mostly in the beginning when the nightmares were bad. Then in the mines, I was surrounded by gargoyles. And for the last week, Grayson was always there.

  It’s only when I’m about to fall asleep that I remember I left Cassian’s bone lash in Grayson’s room.

  28. Baelen Rath

  It kills me to walk away from Marbella outside the house.

  I want to tell her how beautiful she is, make sure she feels safe, listen to everything she needs to tell me. I want to tell her how much I missed her. Damn, I missed her. Having her back is like finding my heart beating again. But I have to give her the time she needs with her family. She needs them and they need her. Reuniting them is a gift I can give her. I have to prove to her that she comes first. To give her that, I’ll make sure Rath land is defended and I’ll take care of our war preparations—so she doesn’t have to.

  My feelings right now aren’t important.

  Macsen catches up to me before I can take to the sky, forcing me to remain on the ground. “Night patrol?” he asks.

  “I’ll do it.”

  He is quiet beside me, keeping pace despite m
y hurried steps. “Sooner or later, you’ll need to sleep, brother.”

  “I’ll sleep tomorrow.”

  “Hmm.”

  I glance at him. He doesn’t believe me. He’s right to distrust my word on this. Exhaustion has become my constant companion. I don’t know when I last slept for more than a few hours. Fortifying Erador’s borders and evacuating the nearby villages was my first goal; ensuring weapons supply and organizing the army into sections was next. Every other spare moment, I searched Erawind for Marbella’s location, every failed attempt widening the painful cavity in my chest. I remind myself that she’s safe now. My goal is to protect her until the fight. Even if that means I can’t be where she is.

  I spend the afternoon and well into the night traveling the width of Rath land with Macsen, checking the outposts to make sure they’re secure.

  At midnight, I’m called to a scuffle at the southern outpost. One of the gargoyles holds an unknown elf by the collar of his shirt. “I found him creeping through the field during surveillance,” the gargoyle says.

  I don’t recognize this elf. He couldn’t be more than fourteen years old. His golden hair indicates he’s a member of the House of Glory but he’s too young to be a threat. He doesn’t even have his tattoos yet.

  He squeaks, “I bring a message for Marbella Mercy. If I don’t deliver it directly to her, Grayson Glory will kill me.”

  It’s best to make sure he remains afraid, so I narrow my eyes at him, lightning curling around my torso. “Give it to me.”

  “No, sir. I can’t, sir. I must give it only to her.”

  I peer into his eyes. “How do I know you aren’t bringing a weapon onto my land?”

  The elf’s eyes water as he dangles in the air. Considering the threatening warriors surrounding him, I have to admire that he’s still coherent. “Grayson Glory said you wouldn’t trust me. He said to remind you that a warrior as intelligent as yourself will know the difference between a threat and a simple message.”

  I narrow my eyes at the boy. Once again, Grayson is proving unpredictable. I close my eyes briefly, remembering the way we spoke before our enmity began. I thought we could be allies then. Friends, even.

  There isn’t any hope of that now. I’ve promised that next time I see him, I’ll kill him.

  “Very well.” I take the boy from the gargoyle and disappear in a whirl of wind.

  29. Marbella Mercy

  I awake to a commotion outside my door. It rattles hard as wind rushes underneath it. I leap out of bed, snatch up my tiara, and race to the door before it breaks in half. I throw it open to find Baelen about to thud his fist against it. His other fist is busy gripping a disheveled elf by the scruff of his neck. It’s one of the messengers from Grayson’s place.

  I’m fully awake now. “Baelen?”

  Baelen is a tower of stone and rage. The circles under his eyes are even darker tonight. Smudges of dirt cast shadows across his forehead. His arms are bare and his muscles bunch, glistening with sweat. He glares at the messenger. “Speak!”

  The elf squawks as electricity crackles around Baelen’s shoulders and arms. The elf stutters, “I-I-I have a message for you, Marbella Mercy.”

  Baelen growls. “The parchment will only open for you.”

  I take the scroll that the elf holds out to me in his shaking hands. It has my name written on it. Simply: Marbella.

  I’ve seen Grayson’s handwriting on enough documents in his room to recognize it. Taking glances at Baelen, I carefully pry the parchment open.

  Marbella,

  I warned you about acts of mercy. I may not be able to use the heartstones now, but my injuries healed much faster because of what you did. In fact, I’m completely well, which means I am in a position to annihilate your entire gargoyle army immediately.

  However… the other Commanders don’t know this. They think I’m still wounded and they won’t go to war without me.

  So your act of mercy has bought you a week.

  Use it wisely.

  P.S. This is yours. I sense it means something to you.

  The paper disintegrates in my hand as soon as I read the last word. Fine dust falls between my fingertips. He definitely didn’t want anyone else to read it.

  I’m not sure what the last part of the message means until the elf reaches into the satchel at his waist and pulls out Cassian’s bone lash. I take it, dumbstruck. It does mean something to me. Now Grayson has returned it to me and given us a week. Use it wisely.

  Baelen is all business. “What did it say?”

  I take a moment to study him before I respond. He focuses on a spot on the wall right beside my face. I’m suddenly aware that my nightdress is not exactly opaque. Indira wasn’t joking about elven lingerie. I fold my arms and pull the translucent material a little closer around myself. Baelen didn’t want to be standing outside my bedroom door tonight, that much is clear.

  I’m wary of the listening messenger who will no doubt report everything I say back to the other Commanders. Grayson cast a spell on the message so that nobody else could read it—including them. I clear my throat. “Grayson made a lot of threats, but it sounds like he was hurt very badly. We have a week before they can meet us in battle.”

  “I don’t trust him. We’ll triple the patrols and prepare for imminent attack.” Baelen swings away from me, spinning the elf with him like the male is a sack of vegetables. He drags the elf back along the corridor, striding away from me.

  “Baelen! Wait…”

  My arm drops back to my side. Baelen is already gone in a rush of wind that whips my hair into my eyes.

  There’s no way I can go back to sleep now. A glance out of the window tells me it’s almost sunrise anyway. I race back into my room, search the closet for something decent to wear, and come up with a sturdy pair of slacks, a black singlet top, and a cropped jacket. I braid my hair, falling into old habits by braiding it down one side of my head and tying a ribbon in it. My fingers linger on the dressing table where Mom has laid out ribbons for me just like she did when I was a girl. We had nothing, but she always helped me feel pretty.

  Creeping to the kitchen, I locate an apple and a chunk of cheese to eat on the way.

  A voice from the shadows makes me jump.

  Indira slides into the light. “They don’t want you to go outside.”

  I grip the edge of the table. “Why not?”

  “They’re worried about talon crows. Elves can’t fly but the crows are everywhere, spying on us.”

  “I can burn a crow out of the sky in an instant.” I grit my teeth. “I’m going outside and you’d better not try to stop me, Indira. Or you and I will have a serious problem.”

  Not that I’d think of beating her up in her pregnant condition, but I’d have some serious words to say.

  She throws her hands up, making a gesture at the tiara. “Absolutely not. But I can tell them I tried.”

  I spin away from her, but she says, “I thought you should know: Baelen never comes back to the house. He doesn’t eat or sleep here.”

  “But… he does sleep, doesn’t he?”

  “I honestly don’t know. That male hasn’t stopped since you were taken.”

  I frown, remembering the dark rings under his eyes. “Where would he usually be at this time of day?”

  “Right before sunrise? He’d be at the south-western outpost. I can take you there if you like.”

  I shake my head at her. My power flares a warning if she tries to insist. “I don’t think so.”

  “Okay, okay. Be careful out there.”

  I stride away from her. As I exit the house, I dare the elves guarding the door to stop me. I plot a path south, take off the jacket, and jog the half-mile to the southern outpost that is nearest to the border with Erador. The outpost consists of a sprawling wooden building with a wide verandah and multiple high turrets on its roof where elves stand guard.

  When I reach it, I approach the elf standing guard at the door to the building.

&n
bsp; He salutes me. “Storm Princess?”

  “Where is Baelen Rath?”

  “I’m sorry, Storm Princess, you just missed him. He went to the north-western outpost.”

  I spin. That’s miles in the opposite direction. Surely I would have passed Baelen on the way? Oh, where is Hideaway’s Heartstone to give me flight when I need it? I wonder if I can try that hot-air-cold-air thing I did a while back but that seemed to be more of a floating thing than a flying-somewhere-fast thing.

  Fine. I jog the distance, keeping an eye on the sky and my surroundings. When I finally reach the north-western outpost, I get the same answer, except this time they tell me to go south again, back to the very outpost I came from. I pin the soldier in a glare before he dares to turn away. “Did Commander Rath tell you to say that?”

  The guard shifts uncomfortably. “I’m afraid so, Storm Princess.”

  “Which means he doesn’t want me to go east.” I shake my head. They want to keep me as far away from the eastern side of Rath land as possible—that’s the side most vulnerable to the Elven Commanders. “Well, tell him if he wants to protect me, he’d better come find me at the far eastern outpost.”

  I spin on my heel, but I haven’t made it two steps from the building before my brother stops me. Macsen steps out of the shadows at the side. “He’s not there either.”

  “Well, then, where Macsen? Because I am not going to let him fight without me.”

  My brother’s usually good-humored expression is nowhere to be seen. “I don’t think that’s what he’s trying to do.”

  “Then what? Annoy the hell out of me? Cut me out of his life? What?”

  Macsen is deadly serious. “He said he needs to show you his worth.”

  Shock slams through me. I stumble backward, trying to brace myself. The females who were forced into Howl’s harem could only return to their husbands by starting fresh. Part of that process involved asking their husbands to prove they knew their wives’ hearts. Baelen saw me step into Grayson’s arms and he knows I would never do that willingly. He’s trying to follow the gargoyle way by showing me he knows my heart.