Storm Chaser (Storms of Blackwood Book 3)

by Elle Middaugh

  Through the kitchen window, I saw Tristan mooring his little boat and hauling a net full of fish, crabs, scallops, and oysters onto the dock I'd recently made. All those years as a stable boy had left him stacked with brawn, and I could tell his years as a fisherman were going to be just as good to him. As I tied on my stained white apron, I watched his muscles flex and tighten under the weight of the netted sea creatures, and a lock of his dark hair dipped into his eyes. My lips part in awe. The sight of his magnificence would never get old; I would always feel like a horny little teenager when it came to him.

  Flinging the front door open, I ran over and launched myself into his arms, causing him to drop the net onto the freshly cut boards of the dock. Thankfully, he'd already tied it off, otherwise my enthusiasm might've lost him an entire morning's work. Oops.

  "Sorry!" I apologized, squeezing him even tighter.

  He chuckled and squeezed my butt, kissing my neck up to my jaw then finally my lips. "No apologizes from you, beautiful. I love seeing your smiling face first thing in the morning."

  Did I mention I was in love with him? Because I so totally was.

  "You want to check the oysters for pearls?" he asked.

  I smiled wide. "You know it!"

  Since Hydratica's currency consisted solely of pearls, it was technically illegal to fish for the clammed creatures. Only the monarchy was allowed to collect and distribute them. But we were rebels, illegal immigrants, so we may as well collect a few illegal pearls as well, am I right?

  It wasn't like we were trying to cheat their system or anything. We were just doing what we had to do in order to survive. I was sure the royals wouldn't agree with that if we ever got caught, though, so hopefully that never happened.

  "Looks like you got a good haul today," I commented, shooting Tris a flirtatious grin.

  He hefted the net back over his shoulder and led us up the beach toward the house.

  "I did find some interesting things," he admitted, plopping the net in the sand amongst the grassy dunes. "I trawled off the western coast near that one island chain, and I think I stumbled upon an old shipwreck."

  I gasped and clapped my hands excitedly. "Seriously?"

  Tris nodded, digging through the net to remove a few items that were definitely not sea creatures. A spyglass, a compass, an iron ring with a lavender pearl in it, and a small pouch of silvery coins.

  "Ooh!" I squealed, snatching the spyglass and compass. "These will be perfect on the wall next to the captain's wheel!"

  Tristan grinned. "And I figured we could pop the pearl out then melt the ring and coins into some tools to help you with your carpentry."

  Oh my gods he was amazing. "I love you, Tris. Thank you."

  He put an arm around my shoulders and kissed the top of my wavy blonde head. "I love you too, beautiful. Why don't you take those items inside while I cut these up? I know how you hate the smell of raw fish."

  I grinned. He knew me so well. "Good idea. I'll take the clams too."

  "Sounds good." He quickly sorted his catch into separate piles, and once he was done, I scooped up the clams—along with my pirate treasure—and hurried into the kitchen.

  Standing at the sink, I took a moment to stare out the window, watching the waves roll in and spread their frothy fingers across the shore, raking little bits and pieces of sand and shells back into the ocean as it retreated then rolled in again.

  Somewhere over there, across the sea, was Alexis and the harem ladies. My dad and my siblings. My friends. My family. My entire old life.

  I allowed sorrow to wash over me for just a moment, acknowledging my feelings no matter how painful they were. I couldn't change what had become of me, but I could change the way I reacted to the situation.

  Instead of crying over everything I'd lost, I smiled at all I'd gained—peace, safety, and a fresh start. Instead of wallowing over the loss of my best friend, I decided to be grateful for the gift of true love I'd found in Tristan. And instead of allowing the longing for my family to smother me, I took the love I had for them and breathed it back into the universe, praying to those deadbeat gods to bless my family with happiness and good fortune.

  It was the best I could do. After all, I was never going back to Blackwood. I'd never see any of them again.

  I pulled a knife from my apron pocket and popped the pearl from the ring, depositing the metal circlet in the pouch along with the coins. Then I set my blade to the clamshells, prying them open and checking their squishy cushions for any pearlescent treasure. Of the ten shells, two of them had pearls—one a dusty pink, the other a pale champagne brown. Neither of them were quite as large as the one from the ring, but they were essentially free money, and I sure as hell wasn't going to look fortune in the face and scoff.

  When I was finished with the clams, I pocketed my three pearls, gathered my two pirate treasures, and entered the living room. I smiled as I looked around. It really was a beautiful home, an excellent place to settle down and hopefully raise a family one day.

  Measuring the wall behind the wheel, I hammered nails into each side so that the new items would sit symmetrically above the hearth. I hung the spyglass on the left and the compass on the right. Together, the three items were absolutely perfect. Not only did they look made for one another in design, but they were also symbolic of a deeper union of ideas.

  At least, to me they were.

  It was as if our bodies were ships, each sailing our own course through the sea of life, simply trying to stay afloat until the inevitable shipwreck at the end. And these items—a spyglass, a compass, and a wheel—were tools that would help guide us along the way.

  The spyglass to see in every direction.

  The compass to know which way to go.

  And the wheel to steer us onto the right path.

  Tristan and I were on the right path. I felt it in my very bones. For one reason or another, we were exactly where we needed to be.

  I sighed and glanced out the window once more toward the sea.

  Were Alexis and the others on the right path for them?

  Only time could tell.

  Chapter 3

  ALEXIS

  The guys met me in the hallway after the servants had prepped us for breakfast and left, but the only thing I saw was a big brown chimera egg resting ominously in Cal’s broad hand.

  My eyelids fell shut. So it was true. Ash really had traded places with the fake egg.

  Son of a fucking bitch.

  Cal went back into his room, probably to re-hide the egg, before coming out empty-handed and shutting the door. “I tore my room apart after Ben mentioned the swap could have happened while I’d been showering. Sure enough, I found it tucked in the underside of my mattress.”

  No one said a word as the heaviness of his words settled in. There wasn’t much we could say. All we could do now was hope that Ash hadn’t made a huge mistake, and that he’d return to us as quickly as possible.

  Silently, Cal held out his arm and offered to escort me down to the formal dining room.

  I slipped my hand through the crook of his elbow and forced myself to smile.

  "You look beautiful, Peach," he muttered before pulling my hand up to his lips.

  I glanced down at my light and lacy, powder-blue gown, then over to his perfectly fitted navy-blue suit, as if noticing them for the first time. My gaze slowly slid from prince to prince, taking in the gorgeousness each man radiated as they strolled confidently down the wide corridor. Gods, they were sexy.

  "Yeah, Jewels," Rob added over his shoulder, hopping on the tail end of Cal’s compliment, "you look pretty and shit."

  He had a few tattoos peeking out above the unbuttoned collar of his suit, and I wanted to lick them. I forced my gaze away from his tats and up to his stormy gray eyes. "Thanks, asshole. That means a lot coming from you."

  He chuckled just as the sound of a door opening and closing echoed somewhere behind us. I turned around, surprised to find Chrissen walking alone.


  "Hold on," I said, planting my feet in the royal purple carpet. "We didn’t wait for him?"

  Rob spun around and crossed his burly arms. "Why would we?"

  Sighing, I jabbed a thumb at Rob while glancing up at Cal. "He's an asshole. What’s your excuse?"

  He shrugged, trying to remain impassive. "Chrissen's been living here for over a month. I’m pretty sure he knows his way around."

  I turned to the sweetest guy I knew. "Back me up, Ben."

  Ben smiled warmly and gazed behind us to where Chrissen was quickly catching up. "Sailor’s right. We should have waited. We’re acting like a bunch of dicks."

  "Speaking of a bunch of dicks," Dan cut in cheekily, "we still need to get that team tattoo."

  "I am not getting five freaking dicks tattooed onto my body," I argued, starting to walk once Criss reached us.

  "Oh, come on," Dan teased. "We could put the tits in the middle with five dicks radiating out around them like a star or something. Very artistic."

  Chrissen’s brows furrowed, and a tiny smile passed his lips. "I’m sorry, tits and dicks?"

  Dan grinned. "It’s our team tattoo."

  "It is not our team tattoo!" I argued again, getting a good chuckle out of the guys. "I still like the rose with five thorns, personally."

  "Don’t act like we’re not the roses," Dan teased me.

  "How about five roses in a vase?" Chrissen asked with a grin.

  I turned to him, my eyebrows raised. "That’s actually pretty accurate."

  After all, I was the one with the "hole" they were all trying to fit their "stems" into.

  Everyone laughed except Rob. "Just don’t get any cute ideas about it being six roses. You can keep your prickly little dick far, far away from Jewel’s vase, or I will personally cut it off."

  Chrissen’s eyes went wide, and his cheeks flushed a pale pink. "For fuck’s sake, I wasn’t even—"

  "Save it," Rob cut in as we reached the stairs and started descending. "I wonder what’s for breakfast, anyway? I’m starving."

  His brash treatment to our newest member was a little upsetting. I understood the fact that they didn’t really like each other. I also understood the fact that he was possessive of me and didn’t want to share... again. But he was being downright rude to the poor guy, and I was starting to feel bad for him.

  "You don't actually plan on eating, right?" Ben asked Rob and the rest of us. "After the poisoned wine incident, I certainly wouldn't trust him with an entire buffet."

  My stomach grumbled in protest, but damn it, he was right.

  Rob groaned. "Gods damn it, it'll probably be something delicious too."

  "Yeah, like brain stew," Dan teased, making me fake a gag.

  "Pig brain," Rob assured everyone.

  Cal’s grin widened. "Lie."

  "Fuck, that’s disgusting!" Dan cried, shaking his head as if to clear the cannibalistic image that had no doubt crept up. "Those demons were pretty cool though, aside from that."

  Rob grinned. "I told you demons always get a bad rap. Just because they possess innocent people and eat human flesh doesn’t mean they’re evil."

  When we reached the bottom of the stairway, I glanced at Chrissen, wondering what he must've been thinking about our strange little group.

  He merely blinked and shook his head. If his emotions were anything to go by, though, he was both worried and intrigued by us. There also seemed to be a hint of longing floating in the air around him, but I wasn’t exactly sure what that meant. Hopefully he wasn’t yearning to try some brain soup, because bleh. Gag a maggot.

  When we reached the dining room, the Storm King was already waiting for us. He watched with cunning yet amused eyes as we all found seats far away from him and stood at the backs of the chairs until he lowered himself to the velvety cushion. Reluctantly, we did the same.

  "Good morning, children," he said with a pleasant smile that was surely all for show.

  Children? If my eyes rolled any further into the back of my head, the guys might think I'd had a stroke.

  "Good morning, Father," Cal said, knowing full-well his siblings probably wouldn't reply.

  To my surprise, Chrissen added a polite greeting as well. "Good morning, Your Majesty."

  The Storm King turned to Chrissen and folded his hands beneath his chin. "How many times have I told you to call me Father?"

  "Sorry, Your—" He paused, smiling sarcastically as he caught himself. "Sorry, Father."

  Rob glared between the two of them. "Can we just cut the bullshit? What's this about?"

  "Nothing, Robert," the king said smoothly. "This is simply breakfast."

  He gestured to the side, and two servants entered carrying trays of food: glazed breads, muffins, dumplings, fruits, and nuts. After them, another set of servants rushed in bringing coffee and tea. After everyone was situated, the servants scurried out as quickly as they’d come in. The Storm King took the first bite, signaling to the rest of us that it was time to eat.

  "I don't fucking buy it," Rob said, pushing his plate away.

  The king narrowed his serpentine eyes. "I wonder what Rosemary would think of your tone?"

  At the mention of his mother's name, Rob immediately mellowed out and went silent.

  As an act of solidarity—and honestly, self-preservation—I pushed my plate away too. The other brothers followed suit, including Chrissen who seemed to be the last to catch on.

  The Storm King narrowed his eyes into dangerous slits. "Not hungry?"

  "Can you blame us?" I asked flatly. "After the episode with the wine, we'd have to be brain-dead to trust you again."

  He stared at us, and we stared right back. It was yet another tiny act of defiance on our part, but it seemed like we were gaining ground with each small step we took.

  Eventually, the Storm King leaned back in his chair and crossed his hands at his core. "Very well, then. I'll just cut to the chase. I have another mission that needs completing, and this time, I want Chrissen to lead it."

  Criss's eyes went wide, and his lips parted. "Me, Your Hi—I mean, Father?"

  The king rolled his cold blue eyes. "Yes, you. You're the only Chrissen in the room. Hell, you're probably the only Chrissen in the entire kingdom. Who the hell names their kid that? Your mother was a ridiculous fucking woman."

  Criss's jaw tensed, and I felt mine do the same. He seemed like a really nice guy. I didn't understand why people were always being mean to him.

  "What's the mission?" Cal asked from my left. His voice and expression were perfectly neutral, but I knew how edgy he felt. His tension rode the air around me.

  Having empathy as my extra power was pretty damn convenient.

  "I want you to find the Eye of the Sea," the king drawled cunningly.

  "And what's that again?" Dan asked.

  "I don't know, Daniel," he said, giving him a scathing look. "You're the Sea Prince. Shouldn't you be the one to know?"

  This time Dan went silent.

  Cal cleverly changed direction. "Where is this item located?"

  The king shrugged nonchalantly. "Hydratica, I believe."

  "You mean to tell me," Rob began, his temper rising once more, "that you want us to go into the heart of enemy territory, in the middle of an international war, just to retrieve some stupid item you want?"

  The bastard didn't deny it, so I was sure Rob had been correct—Timberlune and Hydratica had already declared war.

  "What happened to the last item?" Ben asked in his deep voice. "The chimera egg. Where is it?"

  The Storm King cut him a glare. "That's none of your concern, Benson."

  Fear for Ash overcame any rational sense, and my temper flared.

  I put both palms on the table and leaned a little closer. "What makes you think we'll ever go on another mission for you again?"

  "Concern for your mothers?" he asked innocently. "No? That's not good enough anymore?"

  We all stayed silent, staring at him with angry stone-like faces.

&n
bsp; He grinned. "That's what I thought. So, I took the liberty of setting up a backup plan while you were all... sleeping."

  "You mean, while you forced us to stay unconscious," Dan corrected.

  The king shrugged. "That's neither here nor there."

  "What's the backup plan?" Cal asked, keeping the conversation on track.

  King Zacharias sat up and took a long sip of his coffee. "Did you know that orkyda blossoms emit a pollen that is highly combustible when mixed with alicorn dust and dragon fire?"

  "Orkyda blossoms are rare," Ben argued. "Found only on the tallest mountain peaks."

  "Not anymore." The Storm King smirked.

  "Also, alicorns and dragons are both extinct," Ben added.

  The Storm King merely narrowed his gaze as his smile widened. "Are they?"

  The tanned skin of Ben's jaw ticked, and his nostrils flared. "What are you planning to do with them?"

  The king shrugged, making me want to slap that smug-ass grin right off his face. "I've been doing a little renovating. Sprucing up the villages across the kingdom. Planting flowers..."

  My mind whirred, making me dizzy. If he'd planted orkydas all over the kingdom, and he'd somehow gotten a hold of alicorn dust and dragon fire, then that meant... he was planning on blowing up his own people. Burning his own villages to the ground.

  We could not, under any circumstances, allow that to happen.

  "When do we leave?" Cal asked, apparently coming to the same conclusion as me.

  "We?" the Storm King asked humorously. "Did you not hear me earlier? This is Chrissen's task. The princes of Blackwood need to return to being lords of their castles. We are, after all, at war."

  Rob shot his father a disbelieving look. "We're not trusting that dipshit to complete a mission on his own, especially one of this magnitude. He'll fuck it up for sure."

  The king scoffed. "As if you five don't fuck up all the time yourselves."

  "Go to Tartarus," I sneered through gritted teeth. I couldn’t help myself. He deserved to suffer in an everlasting dungeon of torment for all of eternity.