Roar (Stormheart #1)(111)

The light in Roar’s chest flickered, went soft, and disappeared. Then Duke turned to her. “Roar—we need to know what you can and cannot do so that we can decide how to move forward.” Locke tensed, and Duke added, “Together. Perhaps we can take her back to the witch for advice.”

“We can’t,” Jinx cut it. “Avira told me she was leaving, and she would not tell me to where.” The earth witch turned to Roar and said, “She told me to tell you—listen to the souls, but do not let them in. And whatever you do, hold tight to your own.”

“What is that supposed to mean? Why didn’t she tell me that?” Locke asked.

Jinx lifted an eyebrow. “Because you were out the door as soon as she said Roar would wake.”

“I know what it means,” Roar whispered. But she wasn’t sure she knew how to accomplish that last piece of advice.

Her eyes strayed to Duke, who watched her with curiosity tinged by sadness. “Well?” he asked. “Can you do it? Call a storm?”

She brushed away Locke’s protective hands. “I can.”

“How?” he asked. “What do you have to do?”

She glanced at Sly, uneasy with revealing the information in front of the hunter, but they would have to know eventually.

“I only know how I did it before. I’m not sure if there’s another way. But in Toleme, I did it unintentionally. When my blood touched something connected with a storm.”

“The altar,” Jinx said. “It was made of fulgurite. Formed by skyfire.”

Roar nodded. “It works with Stormhearts too.”

“How do you know?” Duke asked.

Rather than explaining, Roar asked, “Where are my things? The clothes I wore before?”

Jinx retrieved her pack for her, and Roar dug through the contents until she found the pants she’d worn before, and inside the pocket, her fingers closed around the twister ring. Souls brushed against her again, and she imagined her skin as armor, blocking them out and trapping her own soul inside. Her heart glowed solid again, and she heard the others shift nervously around her.

She pulled out the ring, and let it dangle by the chain.

“Twister,” Ransom breathed. “That was you?”

“Not the first,” she said. “At least not that I know of. But the second, the one in Toleme, yes, I believe that was me. I was not aware of what I was doing, I promise. I’m sorry. So very sorry.”

Locke moved behind her, curling a hand around the back of her neck and whispering in her ear, “It’s not your fault. You don’t have to apologize.”

“If it was an accident before,” Ransom said, “how do you know you can do it again?”

She turned her head to look at Locke, wishing she had made time to tell him before, when they were alone, but there was nothing to be done about that now.

“Since I woke, I have been even more … sensitive.” When they continued staring at her, she sighed and explained, “There are souls around us. Everywhere. They’re part of the earth, of nature. But I’m aware of them and am able to interact if I choose.” And sometimes without her consent. “I believe I could consciously choose a soul to tie to a storm.”

They were all silent, and she was hesitant to meet their eyes. She would rather look at the ring, spinning at the end of the chain she still held. But she could not stop herself from looking at Locke, worried even now that he would change his mind about her. “I hate it when you look at me like that,” he whispered. “Like you’re afraid of me.”

“Only afraid you’ll stop being so blind to my faults.”

“Not blind, princess. Realistic. It’s you who doesn’t see yourself clearly.”

She wanted to kiss him, wanted to crawl up his body and wrap herself around him, and let him block out the world.

But she couldn’t. “You said Locke was destroyed. Do you know when?”

Did the Locke family even know? What if even now they waited in Pavan, searching for her, while their home and all their loved ones who remained behind were gone?

Duke looked to Jinx and Locke, and the former said, “Avira did not say when. She only confirmed that it happened. Considering it’s the Rage season, communication between cities is understandably slow, and with Locke communication was frequently nonexistent, so the absence of it would not tell us much. Could have been recent or months ago. Who knows?”

“Surely, it was a recent development,” Roar said, “or we would not have run into a company of Locke soldiers only days ago. Nor would the entire royal family be visiting Pavan.”

“What do you mean the entire family?” Locke asked.

“In Pavan. For the wedding. The king, queen, and both princes were set to attend.” Quickly she lied, “I saw them when the processional came through the city.”

“That can’t be right,” Locke said. “Why would the entire family attend the wedding and leave Locke unprotected? Surely only Prince Casimir would be needed.”

“You mean Cassius,” Roar corrected.

“No, Cassius is the firstborn. As heir he should have stayed in Locke.”

Roar started to argue again, but held her tongue. Locke had been destroyed. The entire royal family was in Pavan. She remembered the mocking tone of Casimir’s voice when he called Cassius little brother. She’d overheard Cassius’s plans to manipulate her; he’d even mentioned something about his father and a plan. She collapsed, retching with horror; her stomach twisted and jerked, as if trying to wring itself out, but there was nothing in it to expel.