by Rachel Angel
Colin and Ethan nodded.
Harley also knew that if the fighting started again, she’d never be able to get Oak, Red and Zed back at the Academy to help her fight off the new recruits. She desperately wanted to see the Fallen Fae Boys back at the Academy, working together and fighting as a team.
She thought back to when she’d visited Oak at his encampment. He, too, seemed eager to put an end to the fighting and resume the friendship he’d had with Kingsley and the Twins of Fall. When she’d then gone on to the Kingdom of Fall, Red and Zed had expressed the same sentiment.
She let out a cynical snicker and looked at Colin and Ethan. “Everyone in the Faery Realms is eager to see the wars of the kingdoms come to an end,” she said with finality. “I want you two to stay here and help me rid the Academy of these new dark 114
Disruption (Fallen Fae Academy #5) faes. Hopefully, soon enough, I will have Oak and the twins here as well. Are you with me or not?”
She delivered the ultimatum with such authority and conviction that Colin and Ethan were stunned silent.
“I need you guys,” Harley said, fearing they might refuse her request. “We all need you.”
“Or course we want to help you, Harley,”
Ethan said.
“But we are also best friends with Prince Harris. We are his two noblemen,” Colin added. “If we abandon him…”
“I will vouch for you,” Harley said with a warm smile. “When the day comes that my brother is released and the wars have ended, I will tell him of the bravery of his two aristocratic noblemen. I will tell him of the great things you did in order to save him and his kingdom. I will tell him how you were there for me and you help to save the human realm.”
“In that case, how can we refuse?” Ethan said with a regal bow. “We are at your service, Princess Harley.”
115
Rachel Angel
Harley smiled. “Very good. I’m happy to hear that. I could really use your experience.” She looked at them and suspected they were even more experienced than Red and Zed. They probably knew more about Dark Fae magic as well.
Colin looked beyond her at the Academy campus. “Do you want us to stay here? On campus? Like a student?”
“Sure,” Harley said. “I heard that there are still a lot of dorm rooms available in the guys’ dorm.
You guys could share a room.”
They looked at one another.
“I’ll admit,” Colin said. “As much as I like Ethan, sharing a room… Well, it’s not the type of accommodations we’re accustomed to.”
Harley smiled. “You’ll get used to it. In fact, I’m sure that in just a little while, you’ll love it.”
“We’d love it even more if you shared that room with us.”
“Hmm.” Harley thought about it a moment.
She had been looking to move out of the apartment she shared with April. This could be the perfect way of still officially residing with April, thereby 116
Disruption (Fallen Fae Academy #5) allowing her to check in on her every once in a while, but she wouldn’t have to spend every night sleeping in the room next to her. “I think I might like that,” she finally said.
Colin made a grand gesture and bowed.
“Then, lead the way, milady. Show us where you wish to have us stay.”
Harley led them to a string of cottages set up at the farthest portion of the property. Built atop a rocky outcrop, the series of a dozen cottages offered a magnificent view of Las Vegas to the east, Gas Peak to the north, Pahrump to the west and the forests of Lovell Canyon to the south.
“Nice place,” Colin said as he looked around.
“You led us to believe it would be a small dorm room.”
Harley smiled. “That way you’re happily surprised when you see this place. Worked, didn’t it?”
Ethan grinned as he nodded. “This human world isn’t as bad as I thought it was.”
Harley chuckled as she opened the door.
117
Rachel Angel
“Wow,” Ethan said as he got a look at his new home.
Black tiles led the way to a vast living space that was entirely furnished in white, complete with leather sofa, white curtains and several paintings of the sun drenched sands of the southwestern deserts.
Huge windows offered a grand view and the high ceiling made the space look even bigger than it was.
Harley walked over to a large teak cabinet, pressed a button and a large television screen came up out of the cabinet.
“Isn’t that great,” she said. “It’s a smart tv.
Everything at your fingertips.”
Colin and Ethan looked at the black screen with a complete lack of interest.
“I guess you have to be human to appreciate it,” Harley said with a grin. “Well, maybe you appreciate this.”
She led them to a state of the art kitchen offered everything a chef could hope for; double refrigerator, gas stove top and dozens of cooking gadgets hidden in the cabinets.
118
Disruption (Fallen Fae Academy #5) Ethan frowned as he examined a few of the modern features. “You humans sure do rely on a lot of fancy gizmos to cook a meal.”
“That’s because we don’t have magical powers to rely on. Some of these things just make it easier and quicker to cook.”
“Then explain to me how this thing helps you make a meal,” Ethan said as he pulled out a heavy-duty blender.”
Harley laughed. “There’s a little blade in there and it can do a lot of things. Chop up vegetables, blend soups, or make nice frothy smoothies.”
“Smoothies?” they both said in harmony.
Harley laughed again as they continued to rummage through the cabinets, discovering one cooking item after another.
She then showed them the breakfast nook that overlooked the patio and yard, then the formal dining room that had the grandeur and opulence fit for a king.
“Upstairs is the mezzanine with two bedrooms and a full bathroom,” she said as she led 119
Rachel Angel
them up the stairs and looked down at the living room below.
“This is pretty impressive. I never would have thought that campus living could look like this,” Ethan said.
“I wanted students to have the option of living together in a real home environment instead of just having small dorm rooms.”
Colin looked at her. “Are you saying that you did this?”
Harley nodded, smiling at their looks of astonishment.
“You’re even more talented than we assumed,” Colin said.
“Yeah,” she said with a shrug. “I’ve been hearing that a lot lately.”
120
Disruption (Fallen Fae Academy #5) Chapter 9
After Ethan and Colin settled into their new home, and learned how to operate some of the modern conveniences of the human world, Harley asked if they would escort her back to the apartment she shared with April.
“Not that we mind,” Ethan said. “But why, exactly do you need us on this errand?”
“I just want to avoid a confrontation with my roommate,” Harley explained. “I don’t know how she’s going to react to my leaving.”
“You seem inexplicably nervous, Harley,”
Colin noted.
“I, too, sense it,” Ethan added. “Is there something you’re not telling us?”
Harley turned to them. She couldn’t explain why she was reluctant to tell them about April. She 121
Rachel Angel
suspected there was a bit of shame if not having seen through April’s trickery, but there was more.
“April has been my very best friend since the first day I arrived here,” she finally said. “She was absolute…” She teared up as she thought of her lost friend. “My first year here was so awful. I don’t know how I would have made it through without her.”
“But something has happened to change that,” Ethan offered.
She nodd
ed. “She is a dark fae.”
Their eyes widened and they were shocked silent.
She had nothing more to add. Her friend was gone, and that was that.
She walked on with Ethan and Colin following close behind her. They reached the door and Harley knocked. She silently prayed that no one would answer the door. When there was no answer, she unlocked the door and entered, relieved to find April gone.
122
Disruption (Fallen Fae Academy #5)
“Wait here,” she told the guys as she hurried off to her room and called over her shoulder, “I’m just going to grab a few things.”
She threw some clothes into a bag, grabbed her books, and laptop and returned to the door.
“Okay. Let’s get out of here before she returns.”
“Don’t you want to bring more than that?”
Ethan said looking at her little bag and armful of books.
Harley shrugged. “No. I don’t want April to think that I’ve completely moved out. I want to be able to come back here and check up on her every once in a while to see what she’s up to.”
“You’re a devious one, aren’t you?” Colin said.
“When I need to be, yes,” Harley said.
They hurried out and headed back to the cottage.
“What are we supposed to do while we’re here?” Ethan said when they re-entered the luxury home.
“Well,” Harley said. “If you really feel like it, I would love to have you guys in my classes.”
123
Rachel Angel
“Sounds good,” Colin said. “That way we could keep an eye on you at all times.”
“I like the sound of that.” Harley looked at her watch. “In fact, you could accompany me now.
I have a class that starts in five minutes… Magical Devices.”
Colin and Ethan looked at each other.
“Magical Devices,” Colin said. “It sure makes a long time since I studied that.”
Ethan grinned and shrugged. “I guess it could be interesting to see what they’re teaching the kids these days.”
Harley laughed as she grabbed her textbook and headed out with them right behind her.
The class was nearly full, but they found three seats at the back of the room. No one questioned the presence of the newcomers, but a few of the girls did give them the eye.
“I think you guys are a hit with the young ladies,” Harley said when they headed out at the end of the class.
“I only have eyes for you,” Colin said.
“Same here,” Ethan added.
124
Disruption (Fallen Fae Academy #5)
“So, how do you find school?” Harley said with a playful grin. “I hope the lesson didn’t bore you too much.”
“Not at all,” Colin said. “I mean, it’s been a few years since we studied this stuff and a few things have changed. I think in the long run, it could be interesting learning about some of these new devices.”
They all filed into the next class, but Ethan and Colin were suddenly more on edge.
“Are you guys okay?” Harley said as they sat in a row up against the windows.
Ethan sat in front of her while Colin took the seat behind her.
“Something smells foul in here,” Colin said.
Harley sniffed. “I don’t smell anything.”
“It’s faint,” Ethan said. “Very faint, but it’s definitely there.”
“Dark faes?” Harley said softly.
They nodded.
Harley pulled out her class schedule and saw that Kingsley had flagged this teacher as a dark fae.
125
Rachel Angel
“I think you guys might be right. This professor could be trouble.”
The professor rose from his desk and sniffed the air. As he followed the scent, his eyes came to Colin and Ethan.
“I think we’ve been found,” Ethan whispered.
“Ignore him,” Colin whispered back. “He’ll realize he’s mistaken.”
Indeed, the professor sat back down and after all the students had settled in, he began the class. It was dreary and dull. The professor’s monotone lesson left many of the students yawning and eager to get out.
“A day with a guy like that is enough to drive anyone off the deep end,” Colin said.
“Where to next?” Ethan said, appearing exceptionally chipper and enthusiastic.
“That was the last class for today,” Harley said.
They headed back to the cottage, discussing points brought up by the dreary professor.
126
Disruption (Fallen Fae Academy #5) Harley was impressed by just how knowledgeable they were. They even broke down a few of the points that she’d not understood.
“I think I’m really going to benefit from having you guys around,” she said. “Sometimes the professors just have a longwinded and tiresome way of putting things that can otherwise be explained in concise terms that are in plain English.”
They entered the cottage and Harley headed to the kitchen where she flicked the stove on, pulled a frozen pizza from the freezer and popped it into the oven.
“Dinner should be ready in twenty minutes,”
she announced.
“Good,” Ethan said. “That’ll give me just enough time to take a shower.”
As he headed up, Harley pulled out her textbook and plopped it down on the dining room table and sat down to re-read the chapter.
“Want any help with anything?” Colin offered.
“I’m not sure,” she said as she twirled her highlighter between her fingers. “There’s 127
Rachel Angel
something the professor mentioned in a class this morning that I didn’t understand.” She flipped through the pages. “Here it is. He said that light faes tended to hide their true darkness and that only dark faes showed their true selves. But right here in the book, it says the complete opposite.”
Colin sat down beside her and for the next ten minutes they went over the various points that made a dark fae or a light fae.
The oven timer went off and Harley jumped to her feet. “There’s dinner. I’m starving.” She slammed her book shut and headed to the kitchen as she called out, “Ethan, dinner’s ready.”
She pulled the piping hot pizza from the oven and brought it to the table where they all grabbed a slice.
“This is good,” Ethan said. “But tomorrow, I’ll fix you a real dinner.”
“Great,” Harley said. “Because I hate to cook, and this is about as good as it gets from me.”
They laughed and finished dinner amidst light conversation. They talked about the weather, the differences between the human realm and the 128
Disruption (Fallen Fae Academy #5) faery realm and they even talked about the classes she would be going to the next day.
Harley noticed how they seemed to deliberately stray away from any talk of the wars between the kingdoms. On the one hand, she was happy not to talk about it. There was little they could do about it anyway. But a part of her wanted to know how things were really going. She also hoped to gain some insight as to why the war was being fought at all.
Kingsley, Oak, Red and Zed had given her their point of view on the war, but she wondered if Colin and Ethan shared those views.
But on the few occasions when she steered the conversation in that direction, Ethan and Colin quickly steered it back to lighter topics and Harley decided to let it drop… for now.
After dinner, Colin headed up for a shower while Ethan helped Harley with her lesson. But after only a few minutes, she felt the stress and the strain of the day catch up with her. She rolled her shoulders back.
Her neck was in a knot and her head ached.
129
Rachel Angel
“Would you mind if I took a look at that?”
Colin offered.
Harley rolled her head back, hoping to release the tension. “It should be okay.”
“Here,” Co
lin said as he stood and came up behind her. “Let me just see if…” He set his strong fingers on her shoulder and pressed. “Yes… there it is. All the stress of the day is collected in that tiny spot.”
“Oh,” Harley let out as she closed her eyes.
“That is good. It almost hurts, but in a good way.”
She let her hands fall to her sides and just enjoyed the workings of his fingers.
“If you’re feeling tense, I have an even better idea,” Ethan said when he came back downstairs and saw them. “After my shower, I started running a bath for you.”
“That sounds perfect,” Harley said tiredly.
She turned to see Ethan standing there with only a small towel wrapped around his hips. He was exquisite. Every muscle was perfectly sculpted, and she was tempted to run her hand down his chest and over his abs.
130
Disruption (Fallen Fae Academy #5) But her fatigued dragged her down.
“Come on,” Ethan said, offering her his hand.
She set her small hand in the immensity of his and allowed him to guide her up the stairs to the aromatic bath.
He helped her take her cloths off, but refrained from any leering glances, obscene remarks or inappropriate touching.
Harley was both impressed and surprised.
She stepped into the tub and sank down into the fragrant warm water.
“Oh, Ethan,” she let out. “This is just perfect.
Thank you. I really needed this. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner.”
“I think you’re stressing yourself out more than you need to.”
“Well, I won’t be stressing out anymore now that you guys are here.”
“Good,” he said. “I’m glad we could help.”
She looked at him and noticed that he was gazing at her breasts, but he quickly looked away when he saw he’d been caught.
131
Rachel Angel
