Sky and Storm ( Warriors of Vis #1)(7)
When Storm made it to the great entry hall, Sky and his family were already greeting guests. He walked behind Sky, wrapping his hands around his waist. His husband stilled and forgot what he was saying. Storm knew Sky hated to be touched by him, but tonight he needed to do it, show everyone he actually belonged to Sky and have them back off.
“Oh, you’re not sitting with him,” Cloud said, grinning like a cat enjoying a canary’s sweet taste. Storm huffed and tried to follow his husband again, but his father gripped his hand and pulled him back.
“You are sitting at my table and greeting your guests,” he hissed in his ear. The king and queen always sat at a separate table, one set on a pedestal, overlooking the rest of the dining hall. On display.
“Not without my husband. I go where he goes,” Storm hissed back.
“Storm! You will do as you are told.”
Storm saw the vein on his father’s forehead pulsing, his lips trembling in rage, but knew he wouldn’t give in. “I married him, father, he’s not a dirty secret to hide. My husband will sit with me or I’ll follow him wherever he is.” Storm shook his father’s hand off and turned to face him, waiting for the king to decide. The king called one of the servants and had him fetch Sky.
They were both seated at the king’s table, Storm’s father making sure he was on the far-right side of the table, easy to reach by all the guests. It didn’t matter, Sky was there with him. He turned to smile at Sky, but froze at the anger in his husband’s eyes.
“Did I really need to have a front row seat at this sorry parade of future mothers for your babies?” Sky asked through gritted teeth.
Storm blinked, trying to understand Sky’s anger. Apparently, he had been told what the evening was about. Still, it wasn’t Storm’s fault, and it wasn’t as if Sky cared. Storm took Sky’s hand in his, raised it to his lips and kissed it.
“Like it or not, you’re my husband. It’s either both of us or neither of us. No matter what.”
Sky chuckled and shook his head. “You’ve been away for most of our marriage, my lord. What you are saying is nonsense.”
“Storm, gods be damned! That’s my name. Or have you forgotten?”
A half smile twisted Sky’s lips, no warmth showing in his eyes. “I would never in a million years be able to forget your name.”
CHAPTER IV
The Nightmare
SKY WAS PERFECTLY HAPPY with the prospect of being away from Storm for the evening. The queen had come to see him shortly after breakfast, telling him just what was going to happen during this damned feast. Women from all over their land and a princess of Estas were going to try and enchant his husband into taking them as an official concubine. It was standard practice among royal and noble families whose sons preferred to marry men. In the end, the bloodline had to be preserved. Especially one as old as Vis’s royal family. If Sky had to endure a concubine, he certainly didn’t need to be right next to his husband as Storm picked her.
Sky had cried the hurt out of his system and then had gone numb while Sera was getting him ready for the party. He had once again refused to have anything to eat at lunch time, much to Sera’s exasperation. As he was waiting for the evening festivities to begin, Sky had caught himself thinking of Thunder. Sky had never met the woman, she had been nothing more than a painting hanging in Storm’s room, but her kind, loving eyes had always stayed with him. Sky had always thought Storm’s were just like hers as they were growing up. Not anymore. No more tenderness, no more kindness, none of his mother was left in Storm. As Sky looked over the bed to the empty wall, he wondered where the portrait had been sent off to. As a child, Storm would have never considered parting with her portrait. How things had changed…
Storm’s insistence to have Sky join him at the sovereigns’ table turned Sky’s numbness into smoldering rage. How cruel of Storm to force him so close to the display of women vying for the Dragon’s attention!
For a second he wondered if Storm was going to consult him. “Husband mine, what do you think, which of these prized breeders should I choose to prolong my murderous line? He has to be strong and handsome, my future son.” The right corner of Sky’s mouth turned up in a half-amused, half-dejected smile. Blinking away the tears threatening to come out, he pulled his wine glass closer and started sipping. Sky wasn’t much of a drinker, but he decided drunk was much better than sober when some greedy woman was trying to claw her way into their marriage.
With normal marriages, a concubine was never anything more. Just a woman who agreed to have a child with one or both of the men forming the couple. She’d get money, favors, she’d be set for life. But the idea of someone permanently adorning his husband’s bed made his blood boil.
After the first course, women started stopping by and batting their eyelashes at Storm. Despite his anger toward Storm and Vis’s customs, Sky couldn’t blame the women offering themselves. They had pushy families behind them and a god-like prince before them. Storm was exquisite in every way, despite his cruelty and generally unpleasant demeanor. Storm sat there, stiff and uncaring, hardly bothering to engage the women parading in front of him. Sky had seen this behavior before, even towards those rumored to be Storm’s lovers. The Dragon’s apparent lack of interest didn’t say much about his willingness to bed someone. Sky wondered if he should envy or pity the woman who would end up having Storm.