Grounding the Storm ✓

Chapter 34

After a week of brutal training, many days at my expense, I'm finally given a day off to rest my wounds. Renit and I are ready to tear each other apart and our powers are no different. I am too young and my power is not strong enough. With every Outburst, his power rejects mine. All because of my age and the lack of training I've received over the years—one of the many things Renit throws in my face.

While it was treacherous on my body to master the power of ground in the first place, every step was only the beginning until the Grounding came along. And not because of the strain but because of what Renit's power does to get me away from him. I don't know how many times I've been blasted across the clearing or knocked off my feet by a brutal gust of wind tossing me into a spiraling tornado.

The hail storm he sent down on me, the freezing rain shaped like knives, and the suffocation of clouds in my throat. The latter seems to be a favorite of his power and on over one occasion, Hallie has been called to revive me after Piper could not stop the raging storm. Never once have I received an apology for what Renit does in those moments he slips; he's still pissed I thought of me shackling him.

It was a mercy when he burst into my chambers this morning and told me there were extensive matters to deal with in the capital. Those were his only words before he slammed the door shut and left me to figure out the rest. So he didn't come back and discover I did nothing, I spent extra hours in the kitchens and helped Dalis do the weekly cleaning of the stove, the oven, and the extra scrubbing for pots and pans.

I've never seen someone wash dishes so fast but for a witch of water, Dalis can get through the easiest task at a rapid speed.

I let myself stroll around the castle and take in the sights I haven't had the chance to notice before. The depths of the library are filled with dusty sofas and old wooden tables stacked high with books and discarded paperwork. I found myself lost in the gallery amongst the portraits of the royal family and relatives—stumbling across one of the four of them—their mother included. Renit and Silas look the same as it wasn't long ago their mother lost their head.

In the portrait, she isn't smiling but the only one with the smallest hint of joy on his face is Silas with much shorter hair—shorter than Renit's. I stare at their mother's face and wonder if her eyes were always that lonely.

I force myself to keep walking and search for more recent portraits but come up short. No one really cares to do so, no one ages beyond their Lock so an updated portrait is merely a different hairstyle or a change of clothes.

After winding through the maze of portraits, I visited Mani in his workrooms and conversed about different fabrics. As usual, work swept away his focus and before long, I was modeling pieces of clothing for him and he was measuring them against my frame. Practice, he said, for the upcoming engagement celebration.

My throat went dry at the sound of it. The invitations had already been sent out and before long, visitors from around the kingdom and those neighboring will arrive at the castle to celebrate the prince and his engagement to the strange witch of ground no one has ever heard of. Not a princess, a regular girl. They will hate me as soon as they lay eyes on me.

For someone like Hallie, this is easy for her. She is from another kingdom, a princess who was sent off to wed to one of the most powerful princes in the land. I will not get the same love she has received, mainly because no one will know of my family or my name. I am not nobility; I do not stem from a lord or from a distant kingdom. I am just...me. And Roux Aimrey is not enough for this kingdom or for the next.

After I peel away from Mani and his need to find a gown for me to wear, I find myself with nothing left to do. The castle is quiet and at the end of the week, most are out spending their money in the capital or locked away in their chambers. Silas is busy with his own work and Celestine is trying to pass a training course for her power, one required by the other witches with her abilities.