Storm Unleashed: Phantom Islanders Part III

by Ednah Walters

  “See? She’s not denying it, yet you keep defending her,” Tully yelled. “She did it. That’s why she went to the marketplace. To buy poison.”

  “She didn’t, Tully,” Lord Conyngham said firmly. “The elixir was for the queen mother. Let’s go back to your quarters and wait for the oracle. I’ve already sent for her. She can give you something to calm your stomach.”

  Tully tried to go around Lord Conyngham.

  “She must be punished, Conyn. She did this to me.” He reached for me, and I shrunk into my seat.

  “She didn’t. I saw the elixir the healer gave her.”

  “Then you are working with her. I should lock you up, too, Conyn.”

  “My prince, once you feel better, you’ll realize neither one of us could do anything like this to you.”

  “Guards!” Tully yelled.

  Footsteps approached, and the other guests scrambled to their feet and distanced themselves from us. Not one of them offered to help Lord Conyngham or me, and the servers looked too scared to intervene.

  “Guards! Seize them and take them to the dungeons,” Tully cried. “Guards!”

  Panic kicked in, and I jumped to my feet, my gaze flying toward the door leading to the Blue Room. I moved closer to Lord Conyngham. Hands grabbed a chunk of my hair and yanked.

  “I got her!” Tully screamed.

  Damn it! I started to fall backward, reaching to grab his wrist and ease the pain on my scalp.

  “Guards!” he continued to scream like a demented person. “Get her. Take them to the dungeons.”

  I tried to reach for the dagger hidden under my dress just as guards dressed in all black flew into the room with their swords drawn. I didn’t bother to look their way to know I was headed to the dungeons.

  One threw something at me. I caught a glint of the blade, but everything else was a blur. I gave up the attempt to retrieve the dagger and raised my arms to cover my face.

  A howl of pain filled the room, and I was free. An arm caught me before I fell off the table and cradled me against a broad chest. A familiar scent filled my lungs and comforting warmth surrounded me.

  CHAPTER 13

  “I’m sorry for not getting here sooner, mo ghrá,” Storm whispered, his voice gruff.

  I lowered my hand, reached up, and touched him. He was real, not a figment of my imagination. I threw my arms around his neck while he buried his face in my nape and hummed soothingly. Only then did I realize I was crying and shaking.

  “It’s okay, lass. I’m here now. I’m so sorry for failing you. I promise to do better next time.”

  Who cared about next time? I leaned back, gripped his head, and studied his beautiful beloved face. He was here. Alive.

  “I thought you’d never make it. I almost lost hope.”

  He swallowed my last word with his lips. The kiss was scorching, brutal, but I welcomed it. Like a flower opening to morning rays after darkness, I devoured him, my body curling around his, my hands sinking into his hair and gripping it to hold his head to me. I wanted to become one with him.

  The clang of a bell brought with it a dose of reality, and we tore our mouths from each other. The bell meant someone knew they were here. The guards and the army would be on their way in seconds.

  I wiggled, silently asking him to put me down. His arms tightened.

  “The bell,” I whispered. “We have to go before they get here.”

  “Not yet. One of ours rang the bell. And we want them to know we are here.” His gaze roamed my face. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

  “He tried. Tonight…”

  I couldn’t finish the sentence. Things would have ended differently tonight.

  “I’m sorry about the kidnapping, muh’Lexi. I failed you. I should have fought harder—”

  I pulled his face to mine.

  “Don’t ever say that,” I whispered. “You didn’t fail me. You fought them and were nearly killed.” I kissed him, pouring all my love, gratitude, and elation into it.

  When I lifted my head and his expression remained bleak, I knew it would take a long time for him to forgive himself. Time and me telling him repeatedly that it wasn’t his fault.

  “You are here now, Storm. That’s all that matters. Is Levi okay? Did he make it?”

  “Yes. He’s outside now.”

  The relief was sweet. I glanced around and smiled at the familiar swordsmen and shieldmaidens. I didn’t know their names, but I recognized their faces from the ships or the Great Hall. A shieldmaiden had a sword to Lord Conyngham’s neck while blatantly checking him out. With Tully around, I couldn’t tell her Lord Conyngham was on our side.

  “Thank you,” I mouthed and teared up when they touched the brim of their tricorns.

  The dagger Storm had thrown was imbedded in Tully’s wrist. The prince was cursing while trying to remove his coat. The lace around his sleeve was on the floor and bloodied. At least, he was smart enough not to pull out the blade. He’d bleed out. Hell, he deserved to bleed out, the asshole.

  My focus returned to Storm. The mask he’d worn the first time we met was back in place while I wanted my cocky pirate back. He was busy issuing instructions.

  “Don’t let them leave this room,” he barked, indicating Tully’s guests. “Thank you, my lords and ladies, for the use of your carriages. Couldn’t have planned this better.” His focused shifted to his crew. “I want every room ready to burn, so grab whatever you can carry and dump it in the carriages. The four of you, bring two chests from the crown treasury. Remember what we discussed.”

  Most of his crew left the room.

  “Storm, you thieving scourge of the seven seas!” Tully bellowed. “You cannot rob us again.”

  Storm didn’t even bother to look at him. “You’re paying for the rebuilding of Vaarda, Tully. Every house, every piece of furniture, every stitch of clothing.”

  He sounded so calm and cold, yet his gaze burned when it returned to my face, his arms firm around me as though he had no plans of ever letting me go.

  “You can’t keep stealing my treasures,” Tully shot back.

  “Yet you stole mine. The only one that matters. Did you think I’d let you get away with it? Now, shut up before I ask Donnelly to slice off your tongue.”

  Donnelly was a diminutive shieldmaiden with blond highlights and a wicked gleam in her eyes. She poked Tully with the tip of her sword, her expression saying she’d have no problem whatsoever carving up the prince.

  “Stay away from me, you filthy pirate,” Tully snarled at her while she chuckled with glee and poked him again.

  “Where are the other captains?” I asked.

  “Zale and his crew are by the docks, taking care of their ships. We knew the gongs would send them running toward the palace, making it easy for us to destroy their ships with minimum loss of life. Our fight is with him”—Storm jerked his head toward Tully—“and the mad king, not the people of Hy’Brasil. Kheelan and his crew are taking care of the Royal Guards. Levi and his are manning the wall. Nerissa’s team is rounding up the staff. We want the palace empty before we torch it. Deck stayed with Ryun on the island to help with reconstruction.”

  “Torch my palace?” Tully screeched. “Because of her?”

  “Shut up, or I swear I will slice out your tongue.” Donnelly pressed the tip of her blade into Tully’s cheek. “I hold you responsible for the deaths of my sisters, you pompous pig.”

  “You can’t talk to me like that,” Tully screeched. “I am Prince Tullius, and you are nothing but a filthy pirate whore.”

  “Captain,” Donnelly called out. “I took an oath not to touch him, but he’s crossed the line. No one calls me a whore, except my ex-lovers. Please, can I punish him? Just a nick?”

  “Sorry, muh’Lexi, but I have to deal with this,” Storm said and put me down.

  Tully saw him coming and shuffled backward. The punch Storm threw caught him on the mouth. He tripped on a chair vacated by one of his guests and landed on the floor.

>   “You treat my sisters with respect, Tully, or I’ll lift the oath to hurt you.” Storm hauled him onto the chair, grabbed the handle of the dagger still imbedded in Tully’s wrist, and pushed it farther in. A bone cracked while Tully yowled in pain.

  “My hand,” Tully cried and gripped his arm. His fingers were already turning blue.

  “We’ve played this game before, Tully. I don’t understand how you never learn. You torch my home, I raze yours to the ground. You touch what’s mine, I make sure you never touch another.”

  Gasps came from Tully’s guests.

  “What do you mean you make sure I’ll never touch another?” Tully squeaked.

  “You figure it out,” Storm said softly, his voice cold.

  Panic flashed in Tully’s eyes. He’d given up on removing his coat and was gripping his injured arm. A sheen of sweat covered his face, and he had a nasty cut on his lips from Storm’s punch.

  “You’re talking about killing me over her?” Tully waved toward me. “This spineless Tuh’ren? I had her bowing and sniveling like a simpleton before you got here. I already sampled what she has to offer, and she’s not worth it.”

  Storm growled, grabbed the blade in Tully’s wrist, and twisted it. Tully screamed, other sounds mixing with his. The stench permeated the air.

  “You won’t just be losing a hand tonight,” Storm snarled in his face. “I will chop off your tongue and any part of you that touched her.”

  I caught Storm’s arm. “No, allow me.”

  For a beat, I was sure Storm wouldn’t listen to me.

  “Please,” I added. “I need this after what he put me through.”

  Taking a deep breath, Storm released Tully and glanced at me. The anguish in his eyes was too much. I touched his cheek.

  “It was nothing I couldn’t handle. I promise.”

  That was obviously the wrong thing to say.

  “His hand and tongue—”

  “Are yours to do with as you please,” I finished.

  The horror on Tully’s face was comical.

  “Tell him the truth, Tully. If you are capable of it. You didn’t sample anything, because your attempts at seducing me failed.”

  Glazed eyes followed my hand as I lifted my skirt and pulled out the dagger Banan had given me. Surprise then fear flared in his eyes in a quick succession.

  “Where did you get that?” he asked, his speech halting, sweat pouring from his face.

  “Did you think I’d spend an evening in your company without protection?” I asked, pressing the tip of the blade against his cheek the way Donnelly had done. Mine drew blood.

  He leaned away from my blade, loathing blanketing the fear.

  “I’d decided you’d never twist my arm or nearly break my jaw like you’d done before you shoved your disgusting tongue down my throat.”

  Storm growled.

  “You deserve to lose more than your hand and tongue, Tully.” I moved the blade lower to his chest and kept going. “Did you know I threw up in my mouth because you disgust me? You are a sadistic bastard who enjoys hurting and subjugating women.”

  The growl behind me grew louder.

  Any second I expected Storm to rip Tully apart. I didn’t want that on his conscience just like I didn’t want Tully going after his staff for the poisoning.

  “And tonight”—I stopped in front of his breeches, and Tully twisted as though to move away from the blade—“I would have gutted you if you’d touched me. And I would have enjoyed it. How is that for a spineless Tuh’ren?”

  A chuckle replaced the growl.

  “As for the bowing and sniveling, you pompous piece of shit, it was all an act while I slipped poison into your drink.”

  Storm laughed while rage darkened Tully’s eyes.

  “That’s right, you psycho. The reason you can’t keep down food, the reason you smell like a privy is me. You see, I’d rather hang in the gallows for killing you than allow your filthy hands to touch any part of my body. And I really do hope Storm chops off your hands so you’ll never hurt another woman again.”

  Tully knocked aside my hand with the dagger and lunged for me. I’d been expecting him to attack and jumped back.

  A fist moving so fast it was a blur connected with the side of his face. A sickening crunch filled the room, and Tully’s head lolled to the side, his eyes rolling in the back of his head. Storm broke his nose.

  “You’re not fit to touch her,” Storm growled in a low calm voice, then straightened, silver eyes churning with dark emotions. His tense jaw said it was taking all his efforts to contain his rage. Outside, lightning and thunder chased each other across the sky.

  I put my dagger away and slipped my hand through Storm’s, wishing he’d link with me. Sharing his anger might calm him down.

  “You poisoned him?” Nerissa called from the doorway.

  I turned. She and two of her crew must have entered the room while I was talking. She closed the gap between us, and we hugged.

  “I knew you’d kick his ass, little sister,” she said, laughing. “I told Storm over and over, but he wouldn’t believe me. You are an islander. And we don’t take shit lying down.”

  “If the poison hadn’t stopped him, I had a dagger for backup.”

  Nerissa laughed while Storm pulled me into his arms again and held me tight.

  “It’s going to take me a long time to make this up to you, mo stór,” he whispered against my hair. “A very long time.” He leaned back and studied Tully’s guests. “Did anyone else hurt you?”

  “We didn’t do anything,” one of the lords said before I could speak, and the others nodded. They cowered in one corner of the room.

  “We’ve never met her until tonight,” another added, which was the wrong thing to say.

  “That’s the problem with you,” Storm ground out. “You’re deaf and blind to atrocities happening right under your noses.”

  “I helped clean her up and clothed her when she first arrived here,” Lady Morgana said. “She arrived smelling…”

  She stopped when she realized Storm was getting even more pissed.

  “Escort them downstairs,” he told the shieldmaidens and swordsmen. “Two of them can carry him.” He indicated Tully with a slant of his head.

  Lord Conyngham and one of the other male guests hoisted the unconscious prince between them and left the room.

  “There’re people in the dungeons,” Lady Morgana said while shooting me a beseeching look. I knew what she was asking, but I couldn’t help her. Her brother might have been obeying orders, but he was accountable for what happened in Vaarda.

  “We’ll release them,” Nerissa said.

  “Don’t go yet, Nerissa.” I waited until Lady Morgana left the room with the others. “Captain Ren is down there.”

  Nerissa went pale under her tan.

  “The asshole who kidnapped you?” she asked. “The one who killed three of our shieldmaidens?” She growled and pinned Storm with a daring look. “He’s mine, Cap’n. I know you said we wouldn’t fight anyone except in self-defense, but he deserves to pay for what he did. I’ll give him a fair chance, but his head is mine.”

  She started out of the room.

  “Nerissa, Captain Ren knows the identity of the traitor on Vaarda, so don’t kill him until he gives you a name,” I called after her.

  Nerissa stopped and slowly turned.

  “What traitor?” she and Storm asked at the same time.

  “The one who showed him how to get in and out of the island.”

  “Are you saying someone from my island betrayed us?” Stormed bellowed.

  I’d known he wouldn’t like that.

  “I was close to blanking out, but I overheard Captain Ren discuss it with one of his men. And before I passed out, I heard the man beg them to take him. He has a relative here or something, and they might have used that to get to him.”

  My explanation didn’t help diminish their outrage.

  “Captain Ren left him behind, tho
ugh. He claimed since the person betrayed the islanders, he couldn’t be trusted. Ren is the only one who survived the attack in the basement.”

  “He’s the only one who survived the invasion,” Storm ground out.

  “And he’s mine,” Nerissa snarled and took off, leaving the two of us in the room.

  Fury churned in the depths of Storm’s eyes as he reached for my hand. The news about the traitor had hit him hard. Learning about his mother would hurt even more.

  “Let’s go. I want Tully to watch this place go up in flames before we leave.”

  We left Tully’s private dining room and crossed the Blue Room and the rotunda, the emptiness jarring. Laughter came from the other rooms, so I knew the crew was picking and choosing what to pillage. More sounds came from the front hall as we got closer to the hallway running from the front to the back of the palace. I glanced at Storm.

  His face was an unreadable mask, his eyes a dark pool of emotions. If he could share my pain through a link, I should be able to help him.

  “Link with me, Storm,” I said.

  He glanced down at me and blinked as though surprised by my request.

  “Please. When I saw lightning earlier today, I knew you were close. I searched for you with my mind and was devastated when I couldn’t feel you. I don’t know how to link yet, and I didn’t like knowing you were around but not being able to reach you. So link with me.”

  His eyes darkened. “I can’t, lass. What I’m feeling right now… What I’ve been feeling since I woke up is so destructive, if I linked with you, you’ll be paralyzed by the sheer force of it.”

  “I can handle it.”

  He smiled briefly and pressed a kiss on my temple. “No, muh’Lexi. You’ve been through enough without shouldering my burden. I’ll teach you how to link as soon as we get out of here and my head is in the right place.”

  I sighed, not sure how to bring up his mother. Storm’s rage was going to spill over once he learned about her. Tully might lose more than a hand and a tongue tonight.

  The voices grew louder with Tully’s dominating. He was threatening someone. From Storm’s expression, he couldn’t wait to shut him up again.