Sky and Storm ( Warriors of Vis #1)(19)
Sky tried to smile, but the tears were already falling down his cheeks. Storm’s strong hand pushed his chin up and Sky could not resist the nudge. He locked eyes with Storm, waiting to be let down.
“My love, what the hell does Eagle have to do with anything?”
The choice of words threw Sky off. Why would Storm call him that? Why be so gentle and act so clueless about the true love of Storm’s life.
“Don’t just throw words at me, Storm.” Sky slapped Storm’s hand away. “You two are together. I saw how you cared for him, how you punished those men for hurting him. It’s obvious!”
Storm cupped Sky’s face with both his hands, squeezing it when Sky wanted to push away. “You fucking listen to me now! I’m not with Eagle or with anyone else for that matter. I care for him, I promised his father I’d watch over him when he died in my arms.”
Sky closed his eyes, the amusement on Storm’s face too much to bear. He felt Storm’s hands slide to his shoulder and shake him. “I’ve loved you every second of my life since the moment we met. You could never do anything to make me stop; no one could, although they did try. Everywhere I went, word of you and your new conquests made its way to my camp. It was so fucking difficult not to leave the battle ground and rush back here to kill whoever dared touch you!”
“There was no one,” Sky yelled. Storm laughed and pulled him into his arms.
“I know that now. I just… after our exchange on our wedding night, I had no reason not to believe everything I was hearing about you.”
Clinging to Storm’s shirt, Sky sighed deeply, feeling nauseated, but he had to know. “How many lovers have you had, Storm?”
“Since we got married? None. Before that? None. I did have… how do I put this? An Estas trainer of sorts.”
Sky pulled back enough to see Storm’s eyes. “You had one of those women who teach you all about sex?”
“A man, not a woman.” Storm shrugged. “I never cared for women in that way. I just didn’t want to disappoint you, so he taught me a few things.” A pinkish blush colored Storm’s cheeks. Sky thought it was the sweetest thing he’d ever seen.
“But you sent me away. You made me leave and I never heard from you again until your elite guard came to my home and told me I was to marry you. Why should I believe you won’t send me away again?”
A strangled noise came out of Storm’s throat and he looked pained, Sky started shaking. His husband stood up and extended his hands, waiting for Sky to take them. When Sky gave in, Storm helped him up, then walked him to their bed chamber. Storm pecked his lips with a warm smile, then put pressure on his shoulders until Sky sat on the bed.
“We’re both going to need to be sitting for this, I believe,” Storm whispered and then got onto the bed, leaning against the headboard and pulling Sky into his arms. He took a few deep breaths, and then relaxed into the pillows, closing his eyes. Sky couldn’t look away from Storm’s gorgeous face. Even now, tired, tormented, and stained in dried tears, Storm was still the most beautiful sight in the whole world.
“I never wanted to be away from you,” Storm started on a shaky voice. “I fought him for it, but he wouldn’t budge. In the end, I had to give in and do as he asked.”
Sky didn’t have to ask who it had been. Storm’s voice always got a cold, unmistakable touch whenever he spoke of his father.
“He requested a meeting early in the morning. He told me I was to marry an Estas princess to forge an alliance.”
“The whore they are trying to make your concubine now?”
Storm shook his head. “Her sister. They’ve already married her off. I said I wouldn’t. I was in love with you and would never marry anyone else. We’d just had our first kiss the night before, do you remember that?”
How could he ever forget that?
“Father threatened to have you killed and end ‘this nonsense’ as he called it. I said I’d rather follow you to the grave than marry anyone else. He threw duty at me, said he wanted the lands an alliance with Estas could win him. See, he wanted to go to war and have his own little empire…
“I knew he’d do anything to get his way and I wanted you to be safe. So I told him I’d win it all for him. All the countries he wanted bowing at his feet, I’d serve them to him on a silver plate. He agreed, with one condition: for you to leave.”
Storm tilted Sky’s face up and kissed his lips. “I swear, I did not know it would be so soon. Had I known you’d be taken from me in the middle of the night, I would have told you everything. Hell, I wouldn’t have fought with you over a stupid book!”
Sky chuckled and snuggled closer to Storm. “I’m sorry for always thinking the worst of you. I knew you better than that. I guess I did not want to trust the instincts of a teenage boy.”
“Please, don’t apologize. If the roles were reversed, I might have thought the same of you. It does not matter now. I don’t care how long it took us, we’re finally here, baring our souls to each other. I love you, Sky. Always have, always will. Nothing and no one will ever change that.”
The enormity of what he’d done hit Sky full on. The fighting, the bloodshed, it had all been for one purpose, to win Storm his freedom. To allow Storm to be with him. Would his marriage to the Estas princess have yielded a different outcome? Unlikely, except Storm might not have been a fierce warrior and he would not be married to Sky right now. The king would have still wanted the entire world to bow to him.