Page 14 of When Storms Collide

Tess needed me.

Istmere needed me.

I had lost Nik to this war but that didn’t mean I was ready to give up yet. I couldn’t go back to the mortal realm—my tail between my legs—and leave Istmere to Donika. Mother only knows what she has been up to since our last run in. She would never stop torturing and persecuting the innocent people of Istmere.

As long as she was alive, she was never going to stop.

Iwas going to stop her.

It was time this war came to an end, and Donika would meet hers at the end of my blade. A sharp pang reverberated in my chest that Nik’s gift to me, Stormslayer, would be the blade to end this all—that he wouldn’t be here to see it.

I sensed my storm magic surge within me unbidden, and I knew it was time. I had grieved longenough, and my magic propelled me out of the sheets and towards my feet as if it had a will all its own. It was storm magic after all. In a way, it did. No other magic in the realm had such sentient tendencies.

“First things first… you need a shower.” Tess exaggeratedly plugged her nose as she slung her arm over my shoulder. “I’ll set out some fresh clothes for you. Meet us outside when you are ready?”

I nodded, thankful that I would have a few more moments to gather myself before I had to face everyone. I barely recognized the bathroom. The last time I had been in here I had been in a haze. I stripped down and entered the shower, letting the hot water run down my skin until it was flushed from the heat. I turned the water even hotter, letting the sensation invigorate me. Once I had surely burned off my first layer of skin I toweled off, dragging the brush through my hair until it fell in wet, heavy strands down my back.

I found the white T-shirt and black shorts Tess had left out for me. I shrugged into them, pleasantly surprised that the clothes were baggy enough that I could still scent the salty ocean wind against my skin.

I opened the door to find that everyone had congregated a way down the beach. There was a long teak table set out on the sand, wooden backed chairs arranged around it. The sun beat pleasantly against my skin as it warmed me even further, and I finally felt as if I was coming back to life.

I wasn’t sure if I would be able to get through this war without facing Nik as Noctani, but I was praying to the Mother that I could. If I could end Donika and thus end her Noctani as well… all the better. I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t falter beneath his cold, dead eyes. I didn’t think I was strong enough to face him when he was in this form.

Zion sat at the head of the table, his leg propped up on his knee as his head fell back, soaking in the sunshine. Annelise sat to his right, her gaze never leaving mine as she watched me approach. Tess and Puck were on his left, and Puck followed Annelise’s gaze to where I stood, a smile crossing his lips.

“It’s good to see you up and about, Diana.” He pulled the chair out next to him and offered for me to sit.

Across the table sat Saanvi and Kenna, Amiyah at the other head of the table. I sat, my bare feet burying themselves in the warm sand as I rest my hands across the tabletop. The rays of sun beating down on me had already begun to dry my hair—frizzy wisps curling against my cheeks.

“What are you all discussing?” I asked, my gaze meeting each of those seated at the table. When my gaze fell on Amiyah, it lingered only a moment before falling to my hands folded before me.

I couldn’t help but drown in guilt when I met her honeyed gaze. Her only son was dead, and if it weren’t for me and this war, he would still be here. With her.

“We were discussing what to do next, but only as your advisors,” Zion spoke, his gaze boring into mine.

A pang resonated in my chest as I realized the one advisor I truly needed wasalsoNoctani, trapped in Donika’s clutches.

Isaac.

I pressed my eyes closed, my hand moving to my chest as if it could quelch the physical pain I was experiencing there.But it was no use. The sun stung the back of my eyelids and all I could see was red as the light bled through.

“And what, exactly, do you advise?” I asked, my jaw tight as I opened my eyes once more to meet his gaze.

In Isaac’s absence, Zion stepped up to take on the lead advisor role in the resistance, though our forces were scattered across Prins at this point. I was thankful that it was only a small group of us that had been ambushed in Siraleth, and the majority of the resistance was still safe in the city.

“Our initial plans will need to be… revised… but the fact still stands that we need to march against Donika, not wait for her to come to us,” he responded. He leaned towards me, inclining his head. “We are down two of our strongest Shades, but we still havehundredswilling to march. Maybe even thousands.”

“Aren’t you forgetting one key detail?” I asked, shielding my eyes from the sun as my gaze squinted beneath the rays.

“And what might that be?” he asked, raising a brow.

He would listen to whatever it was I had to say, and I was thankful to have his support in a time like this. He couldn’t replace Isaac, but someone needed to step up to take the charge alongside me. I couldn’t do this alone, and I was thankful that I didn’t need to.

“I’m unbound,” I bit out.

Without the binding, I had no control of my storm magic, and thus, no hope of controlling my magic against Donika. A storm could easily turn on me and kill me. Or steal my magic for itself if it chose to do so. Without the bindingI wasuseless,and it wasn’t as if I could simply bind to another. A magical binding was a one time thing.

Puck shot to his feet as realization crossed his features. He leaned over the table, his gaze hardened on Annelise. “But she isn’t dead…”

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