Grounding the Storm ✓

Chapter 40

Light streams in from the windows in Renit's chambers and I look down onto the floor to see clothes streamed over the wooden boards and onto the desk. But none of them belong to me, we pulled them from the armoire last night; that much I can remember. The daggers are still in their holds against the door, luckily, as we didn't find it in ourselves to go on a stabbing spree. Things might have gotten out of hand if we took those daggers out to play with them.

I'm laying on my stomach and there's something warm pressed against my back. I turn around as much as I can, enough to make my head spin, and there is Renit...cuddling with my ass. He wears not only his crown but my own on top of his head. His shirt is gone and so are his boots—the only thing left being his pants.

"Renit," I groan. He doesn't shift. I reach back, straining, and shove my hand against the side of his face. He snorts himself awake, blinking wildly, and takes in the room. The first thing he sees, of course, is the ass he was cuddling with and he slowly rises, wiping the drool from the corner of his mouth as he does so.

"Why was I cuddling with your butt?" He slurs.

That is one question I cannot answer, along with the many pertaining to last night. It was a night to remember and yet, I can hardly place anything. Flashes of faces, of desserts, wine, and Renit. Laughter against my neck, lips kissing their way behind my ear...it's all a blur.

From the indistinct memories, I can recall the night went smoothly. Renit and I danced, our only moment of close attention to the crowd as we stood alone on the dance floor and displayed the moves we practiced time and time again. With everyone watching, there was a different twitch in the air, which made the dance actually mean something compared to when we practiced.

After our formal dance, the celebration shifted as the music turned upbeat and it was time for all the drunks—including Silas—to lose themselves in the music and their partners. I've never laughed so hard in my life, to the point I nearly vomited into someone's discarded ankle boot. Song after song, our boots slammed against the marble floors as we spun together and laughed, the music a ploy for our escape. At one point, I abandoned my shoes and twisted around the Great Hall on my bare feet. The cold marble seeped into my toes.

I don't have time to answer Renit's question and neither does he as the vomit hits us at once. We slide from the bed, stumbling into the bathing room, where I vomit in the toilet and he takes the nearby trash bin. Everything hurts. My entire body aches, my head is pounding, and all I want to do is empty my stomach.

Renit groans from where he slouches against the tub, his muscled arms wrapped around the trash bin. My throat burns but I look back at him, at the tousled hair and black-rimmed eyes. The imprint of one of my lace flowers is on his cheek, traced in red lines and indentions. It wraps through his messy brow and into his hairline. I find it in myself to laugh before vomiting again, as Renit does the same.

Last night, we drank and stuffed our faces to the point we couldn't walk, even Celestine, who hung over Silas at one point during the night before he took her back up to her chambers so no one would think of taking advantage. To say he took longer than he should is an understatement but I was too busy forcing Renit to eat chocolate truffle after chocolate truffle to care. And the chugging of wine had been a treat to watch. As they are three hundred years old, the princes can drink much more than myself.

After our fourth chalice of wine, I remember little. Just Renit and his smiling face and at some point, spinning in his arms and laughing hysterically until we fell, crashing into another group of dancers on the wide space of open floor. I wasn't allowed to drink in Arego but in that celebration; I let myself go for once. Everyone did. At the end of the night, Hallie ended up with Silas, a testament to their engagement and Renit and I were the last ones to stumble out of the Great Hall. It wasn't because we didn't want to leave but simply because we couldn't, everyone wanted a chance to talk to us before they were sent back off to their chambers for the night.