Rivers For Storms: Twisted Blade, #1

By Teshelle Combs

"Your love will be my downfall."

A human rogue and a griffin exile are on the run from a tyrannical king hellbent on bringing them to their gruesome end. Their love is outlawed, but their attraction is undeniable. They will face every fantastical danger set before them, if only for the chance to be together in a world that wants to tear them apart.

Forbidden love, high fantasy, danger, drama, and stunning romance.

Twisted Blade Series:

Ripples For Skies (prequel)
Rivers For Storms (book 1)
Reeds For Wind (book 2, coming soon)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Teshelle Combs
• Release date: Dec 23, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223018971

Book preview

Click Here For The Rivers For Storms Terminology Guide

Before Reading

Rivers For Storms can be read on its own, but to get maximum enjoyment out of this story, read Ripples For Skies before reading this book.

For the ones who learned to run.

Episode 1: The Day The General Caught The Spy

Gua teaches us that it is not we who hold the water, but the water who holds us. Yet the greatest miracle is not that the water holds us...it is that Gua teaches.

HE WILL NEVER FORGIVE me for this.

But I didn’t need Nkita to forgive me; I needed him to stay alive. The two of us together were more than a liability. We were a death sentence.

Look up at me again, and I’ll knock your teeth right out of your mouth, muckeater! A burly Cryl hurled his apple core in my direction, spitting on the ground as I hurried past. His gray wings fullspread, he hissed until I was out of earshot.

Of course, he’d seen the metal ring in my lower lip. And of course, he despised me for it. But removing the ring could mean a worse fate. If I was found out to be a Grounded while failing to distinguish myself as such, I’d be executed without trial and without mercy. And so I wore the ring, which gave these Cryl the right to say whatever they wished to me.

I pulled the hood of my cloak tighter over my head and bit my lip in, ducking behind a rolling carriage. If only I could get through town and into the woods. The perils among the trees would prove to be quite substantial, but at least it would be more difficult for Nkita to find me.

I picked up my pace, keeping my feet light, though I was more than tired, though the soles of my boots scraped along the packed dirt of the main road.

Things had been easier in the Capital of Crylia. Playing the part of a servant had taken its toll on me. It meant spending my days on my hands and knees, but there, I had friends. There, I had a cot to sleep in and an expectation of general decency when I walked the streets.

Outside of the Capital, Cryl with no wings—Grounded as we were called—were shown little respect. No, these woodland Cryl were vile and rageful even toward their own kind. In the Capital, the elites would expect me to avert my gaze, to hold my tongue in their presence. Those tethered to the Great Cza never really cared what I had to say anyway. But not so here. In the woodlands, a misplaced word could lead to talons around my throat.

Yet, Nkita and I could not go back to the Capital. Not ever. For there was a truth we needed to keep hidden. I was less than a servant, less than a Grounded.

An icy hand gripped my wrist and pulled me to an alleyway between two slumping buildings. When at last we were in the shadows, I yanked my arm away. If anyone had seen me so defiant in the street, I would have been arrested. But the shadows were my protection. The shadows...and the General.

Where do you think you’re going?

I stared up into the face of the one questioning. Hair as black as the first darkness, skin like ivory, and lilac eyes boring into mine. I knew that beneath his cloak he had an onyx wing tucked behind his shoulder. Just the one. On his other side, he bore a scar deeper than the two I wore on my back.

Do not drag me across town and then question me meaninglessly in an alley, Nkita, I snapped at him. The weather was cold enough for my breath to come out in clouds. I began looking about, making sure no one could see us speaking.

I had few options, Emyri. I could not very well question you in the middle of the square, could I?

Do not question me at all!

His voice was low and smooth, making my toes curl in my boots. I wanted him to whisper against my temple, to run his cold hands beneath my skirts.

Well, what would you have me do with my questions, hm? Nkita asked. Because it certainly seems like you are running away from me. Again.

Perhaps you should mind your own business, oh great General.

I am not a General anymore, Emyri. And you are the only business I have left. What else should I be minding?

Perhaps I am finished with you. Ever consider that possibility? Maybe that’s why I am leaving.

If you were finished with me, you would have had a conversation. You would tell me exactly what I did that was so wrong, so evil, that now you’ve fallen out of love with me and never want to see me again. We both know I have done very, very wrong and evil things.

Perhaps I am beyond explanations—

"Emyri Izela, you are my mate."

Shh! I smacked Nkita’s broad, perfect chest and felt my hand bones crunch out of place. Gua help me, why is he built like this? Do not say such a thing out loud, Nkita! If these woodland Cryl knew that you and I were wed, that you are Teth and have married a Grounded—

I understand the stakes.

Then you will let me run very far away from you, Nkita.

Stop running from me, Em. It’s ridiculous. I won’t let anyone harm you.

If they find out I am worse than Grounded, there will be nothing you can do to stop them. If they find out you are Teth and fleeing the Cza, Nkita, they will...they will send you back. And I can’t let that—

Come. Home.

I am going to get us caught. Unless you forgot—

"I know what you are, Em, he growled. He wrapped a strong hand into my hair and tilted my head so I had no choice but to look right into those glittering eyes. You’re my mate. And we’re going home."

But no. No, we’re not going home. We’re going to a hut that barely holds against the wind. And the only reason I was his mate was because we had no choice in the matter.

What I was...what I’d been would get us both killed. Not a winged-monster. Not a flightless Grounded. But a human spy deployed to destroy the Crylia.

A human. A Tru.

A weakness.

Episode 2: The Day The Guardian Plotted

I see you brought her home, Hrogar said. He carried a deer over his shoulder, glaring at me through his good eye. And I hope you taught her a lesson for running off.

I narrowed my gaze at the stocky Crylia male, balancing my bundle of fresh-chopped wood in my arms. He wouldn’t be finished with his blabbering. Not yet.

I’m telling you, General, Hrogar continued, a high-spirited female like that? She needs a good thrashing to be kept in line. And you’re just the Cryl to do it.

I stood watching him as he spoke, my mouth shut, though not out of habit. He dropped the deer on the ground, pine needles and mud flying as it landed. You just lay her out over your knees and let her have it, he explained. And when she’s finished, she can busy herself with skinning this meat—

That was enough for Nkita. He left the doorway, where he’d been repairing the shoddy hinges, walked over to Hrogar Gray Wing, and shoved him backward so that he fell hard on his arse. Then, he made his way to me and took the bundle of wood from me. He tucked it under one of his arms and wrapped the other arm around my waist. He lifted me over to the cracked wooden deck of the house we shared with Hrogar.

Go do whatever you’d like, he said.

I cleared my throat, trying to pretend I was not blushing at the sentiment. And if what I like is chopping wood?

Well, I suppose that’s too bad for the wood.

Oh? You’ll not be putting me over your knee, then?

His lilac eyes bored into mine. When I’m ready.

Cryl be damned. When he’s ready? I headed inside before he could see how deeply my golden skin flushed. I was fortunate I’d been born a Tru-ori. Humans from my tribe either bore blue markings or gold ones. Gold meant I could disguise myself as a gold wing among the Crylia monsters. If I had been born Tru-hana, I would have been groomed for a life of warmongering instead.

But it had not always been that way. We were not always spies and soldiers. The Tru once were people of the water. Gentle and humble and honest. What would the goddess think of us now? I shook my head, banishing my thoughts. It didn’t matter what Gua would think. Not if we failed to survive our systematic annihilation at the hands of the winged Crylia.

Hrogar entered the house, shaking mud off his boots and growling at me. How a Teth like Nkita ended up with a Grounded like you is beyond me, he said. I mean you no harm, Grounded. I just don’t understand it.

How Nkita ended up with me? Perhaps I should just tell the grumpy Cryl. He had been assigned by the rebels to keep us safe, after all. Perhaps I should just tell him that Nkita caught me spying for the Tru and fell in love with me. Perhaps I should just tell him that the Great Cza used me to bend Nkita to his will, nearly killing him in the process. Perhaps I should tell him that Nkita gave up his entire life—his standing as a Teth, his occupation as a General, his honor as a Cryl—to run away with me. To keep me safe.

Perhaps I should just tell him that he was right. I would be the undoing of the black wing Cryl who called me his mate.

Mind your business, Hrogar, I said. You speak of things you don’t know.

You’re right, he said. I don’t know. I was ordered to hide the General from the Cza. And that was going to be hard enough. But now I have to hide his knobholder as well.

If you hate having me here so much, Hrogar, you could help me escape instead of telling Nkita I’ve run every time.

Hrogar scoffed. If I don’t tell him you’ve run off, he will spend the rest of his life looking for you. And you won’t be found. You’ll be dead in the shack of some red wing who thought you looked pretty and took you for his plaything.

And then your rebel mission will be derailed?

Exactly. Now you have some brains between those wings.

I don’t have any wings at all, Hrogar.

"Wouldn’t be much of a problem if you did. Wouldn’t even need the brains. You’d be an acceptable gold wing, and no one would take notice of the two of you together. He sat down on one of our shaky chairs and smacked his boots onto the table that was meant for eating. At least you got creative this time. Cutting through the town. Took him a minute to realize you’d gone a different way."

I should try leaving at some other time of day. Maybe the dead of night. If I can get far enough, fast enough. Maybe keep to the rivers—

I see you over there plotting and planning, Grounded.

Leave me alone, Hrogar. Don’t you have a deer to skin?

That’s a female’s work.

You wouldn’t catch a Teth-wed doing something like that in the Capital. Images of jewel-encrusted females with white wings and sparkling Crylia eyes filled my mind. I had left some of those beautiful females behind when I ran from the Capital. And none of them, not even servants like Nolyen, would be found skinning anything.

Hrogar spit on the floor and dragged the back of his hand across his scruffy, bearded mouth. There aren’t any fancy Teth-wed females here, Little Talon. Just gray wings with work on their minds and red wings with madness in their heads. He paused. And you.

The worst of the worst. All because he thought I’d lost my wings. But if he really knew that the scars on my back were given to me by my own people...that I was the enemy of all Cryl...he wouldn’t think I was the worst of the worst. He would act on it.

Worse than the worst of the worst, Hrogar clarified. Because that gorgeous Crylia is all we rebels have left to hope in. But you’re going to get him killed.

I sighed, throwing my hands in the air. "I know that, Hrogar. I had to marry Nkita! There wasn’t an option. The Cza made sure we had no way out of our union, and now I’m here. What am I supposed to do? Die?"

Hrogar grew very serious, his scarred face still, his brown gaze steady, even if only one of his eyes peered at me. We could have it arranged.

My blood grew chilled, every vessel and every vein freezing over. You...seem serious.

I am. He crossed hardened arms. I could do it in your sleep—

I jumped as Nkita walked in, carrying the deer Hrogar had left in the mud. You, he said. Go and finish your work out back.

Out back? Hrogar shivered. But the cold is setting in. And I’m too old to keep up with these storms.

Ha! The cold is always setting in when it comes to Crylia climate.

Get out, Nkita growled, shoving the deer into Hrogar’s lap. And then, he turned to me. And you? Come here.

Episode 3: The Day The Spy Ran

Iswallowed, wishing to Gua I wasn’t blushing so fiercely. Spies ought to be able to hide things better than this. I thought you were stacking wood.

Finished with that.

Oh. I looked at him. Cryl be damned, he is just staring. Perhaps a rest is in order? I can go help Hrogar with the deer—

Nkita crossed the room and put his hand on my waist. He gripped