by Sofia Daniel
“Everybody return to your rooms!” she swept her arms wide, making tiny lights flare from the blossoms on the walls.
Groans and the scraping of chairs filled the room, and I wrapped my arms around my chest. Prince August and his two late-coming brothers continued arguing with the headmistress, while Prince Rory stared at me as though he wanted to burn me from the inside-out.
Ignoring the Autumn Prince, I turned to Elijah. “What you said about Sicily…”
He stuffed his hands in his pockets. “The Fated told me what to say.”
“Why would you go along with something so terrible?”
A rueful smile curled one corner of his mouth. “It’s alright for half-bloods like you with fathers rich and noble enough to qualify you to study here. Mine is a footman from the Faith district who can barely take care of his full-blooded children, let alone the bastard he had with a human girl.”
My mouth dropped open. Elijah had always acted like he was doing well in life. “I…” My throat dried. “I didn’t know.”
“Why would you?” He shrugged. “It’s not like we know each other, is it?”
Elijah spun on his heel and walked around the group of bickering faeries, through the gap between two tables of departing students, and once again out of my life. A pang of pain struck my heart. Not at his departure or his betrayal—he was nothing to me now—but at the lost opportunity to find my sister.
The dining hall emptied, but the princes and the Fated continued to argue their cases with the headmistress.
Prince Rory strolled up to me, his eyes narrowed. “What was that really about?”
“It’s as I said. Your fated mates concocted a plan to humiliate me publicly and knock me out of the trial.”
He leaned down, his eyes boring into mine. “Is that so?”
“Yes.”
“If I asked that janitor what happened, what would he say?”
“You’ll have to ask him. I only know what I thought was a dream.”
He waved a hand over my face, and all the semen vanished. “A girl as pretty as you shouldn’t stand around looking so besmirched.”
I touched my dry cheek. “Thank you, Your Highness.”
He placed his fingers under my chin and tilted my head up, forcing our eyes to meet. “Next time I get you alone, you’ll wrap those pretty lips around my hard length, and I’ll make you swallow every drop.”
“And if I refuse, you’ll have me executed?” I said, my voice tight.
Prince Rory’s chuckle was low and deep. “When you wake what slumbers within my breeches, you’ll beg to worship my cutlass.”
An image of a curved, gleaming sword popped into my head, making a laugh bubble from my chest. “Cutlass?”
His smug expression morphed into a scowl. “We’ll see if you laugh when I have you on your knees.”
“Dismissed!” The headmistress’s order cut through the chatter.
“Wait!” Prince Caulden raised his hand.
“Yes, Your Highness?” impatience hardened Mistress Ellyllon’s voice.
The blue-haired Winter Court Prince roved his cold gaze up and down my cloak-covered form. “Since you insist on keeping Unity in the trial despite her deplorable conduct, it’s only fair that we all get to assess her…” He wrinkled his nose as though I was the most disgusting creature on the Isle of Fae. “Skills.”
My mouth dropped open. Did Prince Caulden really demand a blowjob?
Lady Salix clapped a hand over her mouth and squeaked.
“What?” Lady Gala screeched.
“And the skills of the other fated, of course,” added Prince Caulden.
“What a splendid idea.” Prince Rory strode up to his brother and clapped him on the back.
Until this moment, Prince August and Prince Bradwell remained stony-faced, but their hard exteriors melted at the thought of us girls competing to suck their dicks.
I glanced at Mistress Ellyllon, pleading with my eyes to tell these entitled assholes that this was a serious contest to the death and not a cheap opportunity to get blowjobs, but she tilted her head to the side, seeming to give the suggestion serious contemplation.
“Headmistress,” snapped Lady Gala. “I must protest. Such acts are beneath my dignity!”
I nodded, for once agreeing with the spoiled faerie.
The headmistress raised her hand in a gesture for silence. “I will allow it, but only among fated couples.”
Lady Salix placed a hand on her chest. “So, I only need to do that with Prince Caulden?”
“That’s right,” said Mistress Ellyllon with a helpful smile. She turned to me. “Unity, since you’re fated to all four of the princes, you’ll have to participate in this extra challenge four times.”
I clenched my teeth and snarled under my breath. Why hadn’t I seen that coming? Judging by the horrified expressions of all the girls’ faces, this looked like a round where I had the advantage.
Chapter 15
Without a word, Mistress Ellyllon strode out of the dining hall, leaving me with four scandalized fae noblewomen and four horny princes. I caught sight of Prince Rory’s lips twisting into a rictus of disgust and recalculated my tally of horny princes to three. Something must have happened between him and Lady Gala because her cold eyes fixed on his crotch with the cruelest of smiles.
Prince August rubbed his hands, letting his gaze rove up and down Lady Aster’s curvaceous form. “Would you care to join me in my room for a glass of hibiscus nectar?”
Lady Aster’s cheeks darkened to the same shade of crimson as her hair. “August, I…” She clapped her hands over said cheeks. “It’s too soon!”
“Nonsense, my dear.” He stepped across to the circle of tables with his arm outstretched like a gentleman. “We’ll just sit together, enjoy the sunrise, and sip sundrop wine.”
I rolled my eyes. The only thing that faerie girl would be sipping was cum from the prince’s royal dick.
With a terrified squeal, Lady Aster dashed around the back of the dining tables and sprinted toward the door. Ladies Salix and Gazania’s gazes darted after their companion, looking like they also wanted to escape.
I shook my head. They could set a girl up for a public cock-sucking, but they were too chicken-shit to do it in private with their supposed fated mates.
“Good night.” Lady Gala stuck her nose in the air. “No contestant will be required to demean herself at such short notice.”
“Fine,” Prince August growled, turning his gaze to me.
I reared back and bared my teeth in a silent snarl. A minute ago, he called me a disgusting creature and wanted me thrown out of the trial. What was I, some kind of consolation prize?
Lady Gala stalked across the fire pit, wrapped a hand around my wrist, and yanked me toward the double doors. “That includes all contestants!”
Prince August chuckled, but there was no mirth in his laugh. “Anyone who wishes to win the trial will perform her duty to our satisfaction.”
The furious female faeries stormed out of the dining hall and down the hallway in silence. A combination of anger and magic must have powered their steps because I had to jog to keep up.
It also didn’t help that the black cloak trailed to the floor and kept making me stumble. When we passed the royal portrait, the girls didn’t pause to sigh. I guess things just got real.
Lady Gazania flung the door open, letting in a gust of jasmine-scented air.
Outside, the crescent moon shone down from an indigo sky. It was tinted orange by the first signs of sunlight, which peeked through the mountain and set the horizon on fire. Stepping out into the courtyard, I glanced over my shoulder for signs of the princes, but the door clicked shut.
I turned around to find all four of the Fated staring at me with glowers heated enough to make my skin burn.
“This is your fault,” Lady Gazania snapped. The dark-skinned faerie’s hair blazed like the flames of an angry drake. “If you had kept your filthy mouth to yourself, the hea
dmistress wouldn’t have forced us ladies to perform something so degrading!”
“Really?” I folded my arms across my chest and let my gaze wander toward the stables. How on earth was I going to get away with them itching to shoot another arrow between my wings? “Whose idea was it to set up a charade of a romantic liaison with an imaginary boyfriend who came to my rescue?”
“It certainly wasn’t mine!” Lady Gazania shot Ladies Aster and Gala venomous looks.
“You seemed happy enough to see me humiliated,” I said.
Lady Salix moaned, her green hair falling over her face. “Poor Prince Caulden! I heard a girl can suck out a faerie’s magic performing that kind of activity. He’s going to spend on my face and ruin my perfect skin.”
I curled my lip. Caulden was the asshole who demanded blowjobs all round for him and his brothers. “Is that why you applauded when Elijah jizzed in my face?”
“Fool,” Lady Gala snarled. “If that worthless halfling had deflowered you, it would have solved everyone’s problem. But because you’re so depraved and agreed to such a wanton act, you’ve condemned us all.”
“What will my mother say?” Lady Salix’s voice shook.
Lady Gazania whirled on Lady Gala and yelped, “My father will disown me if he hears of me degrading myself like this!”
I strolled backward across the courtyard, not daring to turn my back on these murderous creatures. Fuck those bitches. How dare they make this my fault? As soon as my back hit the remedial building’s wall, I groped around and turned the door handle.
“Enjoy sucking cock, ladies!” I gave them a jaunty wave. “Next time you think of setting me up, consider how it might backfire.”
Lady Gala bared her teeth and snarled. Fury flashed in her cold eyes, which made my stomach drop. This wasn’t the end. Not by a long shot. Even though the plot to have Elijah fuck me in front of the entire academy had been her idea, she would never forgive me that it had gone horribly wrong. I stepped into the remedial building and let the door slam closed.
I didn’t stop running until I reached my dormitory. By now, orange light streamed in through the narrow window, illuminating the hair of the girl slumbering in the bed next to mine.
“Helen,” I whispered.
She raised her head and gave me a tired smile. “Did you sleep well?”
“That janitor from last night,” I said. “The Fated set me up with him.”
“No prizes for guessing who told them you knew him,” said Flora’s sharp voice from the other side of the room.
I folded my arms across my chest, waiting for someone to elaborate. All around me, the other girls stirred. Some swung out of bed and made their way to a door at the end of the room, and others turned around and went back to sleep.
Helen sat up and wiped her eyes. “What happened? Did the Fated ask the janitor to assassinate you?”
“In a way.” I recounted the events of the night before, watching each girl’s face for signs of guilt, but they both looked shocked and scandalized. My brows drew together. If they didn’t tell the fated about Elijah and me, then who?
“Fucking pixies,” Flora snarled. “They’re usually such helpful creatures.”
“But helpful to whom?” said Helen. “They’re always loyal to the highest-ranking individual in the room.”
“That would be the princes, then?” I asked.
Helen raked a hand through her burnt orange locks and yawned. “Not exactly. If the princes don’t give them orders, then they’ll follow the directions of the next highest person.”
My shoulders drooped. I had already known one of the Fated had ordered the pixie to put something in my soup, but knowing that the wretched creature had also listened to our conversation and relayed it to the girls really pissed me off.
“What can I do?” I asked.
Shaking her head, Flora strode to the other side of the dorm and picked up an engraved bottle of what looked like green liquid soap. “Be careful what you say and be careful who you trust.”
The black-haired girl strode through the door leading to the bathroom, leaving me alone with Helen.
“What’s going to happen now?” she asked.
I told her that Prince Caulden had arranged blowjobs as part of the trial, and Helen clapped her hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle. “How scandalous!”
“Is oral sex really that big a deal?” I asked.
“Fae females only permit sexual liaisons during their heats,” she replied.
“Oh?” My brows rose. It was no wonder the male faeries were having half-bloods with human women.
“Our bodies are too delicate outside breeding times.”
My mind raced back to something Gladiolus had said when I had resisted joining the Royal Fae Academy. That a half-blood with the appearance of a royal fae could end up a plaything or working in a brothel. An image of wicked faeries demanding sex sent a shudder down my spine. Was this to be my fate if Prince Rory didn’t get me executed?
“Why are you helping me?” I asked Helen.
“What?” She broke eye contact and smoothed down her silk negligée.
“You’ve been nice to me since the moment I joined, even though I’m the enemy of all your former friends.”
“It’s…” She blew out a long breath. “I know what it’s like to fall on the wrong side of the Fated.”
My eyes narrowed. Something in the tone of her voice sounded evasive. Full-faeries didn’t tell straight-up untruths, but they could lie by omission or make others lie for them the way the fated had done with Elijah.
I lowered myself onto the mattress next to her. “There’s something you’re not telling me. What is it?”
“Something happened when I lost my magic,” she replied in a voice so low, I had to lean into her and strain to make out her words.
“You were cursed?”
“Maybe. It’s rare for a faerie to wake up one day leached of power.” She let her words hang.
I placed a hand on Helen’s and gave her what I hoped was a reassuring squeeze. “Sorry if I’m prying, but I would like to know more about what happened to you.”
Her shoulders rose and fell in a slow shrug. “I think I can sense destinies.”
“What?”
“It’s a feeling I get when I see a person, like a surge of power. The four princes are destined for greatness.”
“Okay…” My brows drew together. Even a human could tell that. “Can you sense it with anyone else?”
“You,” she murmured.
I snatched my hand away and shot to my feet. “What?”
“It changes every time. When you first walked into the dining hall, it was the same surge of power as the princes.”
“Like I’m destined to marry one of them?”
She spread her hands, still not looking at me. “But when…” Her breathing became ragged. “When…”
A spike of fear lanced through my gut, followed by roiling nausea. What on earth had she felt that had been too terrible to mention? The first of the girls returned from the bathroom with wet hair plastered to their damp faces. If we didn’t finish this conversation now, I doubted I’d be able to function for the rest of the day.
I sat next to Helen and took hold of her hand. “What is it?”
She shook her head from side to side. “Sometimes I feel the most terrible of destinies, flashes of being burned alive, ripped to shreds, left in the dark to rot, trapped in frost, I could go on, but it’s so horrible.”
“Right.” Thousands of ants crawled across my skin, and I forced slow breaths in and out of my nostrils to avoid spiraling into a full-blown panic attack. “Does your power say how I can avoid a painful death?”
“Unfortunately, it only tells me that your destiny has two paths: one great and one grisly.”
Rocking back on the firm mattress, I rolled my shoulders, the cloak suddenly feeling itchy and heavy. “If I can’t change my future, I may as well look for my sister.”
Helen raised
her head. “How can you remember a sister?”
“It’s something Elijah told me. I think dark faeries are holding her in the Mound.”
“Brothel-keepers?” she asked. “That’s where all the half-bloods go who don’t attract a patron.”
“She’s a human,” I replied.
“Oh.” Helen tilted her head to the side in question but shook off her curiosity. I guessed she thought my mother had children by both a fae and a human. “If we sneak off now, we can make it to the Mound before Mr. Whittaker notices we’re not in class and sends out a search party.”
A breath caught in the back of my throat, and I twisted around on the bed to face Helen. “You’d take me there?”
“Of course.” She stood and walked toward the bathroom door.
I followed after her, the first surge of hope lighting my steps since uncovering Elijah’s latest deception.
After washing and dressing, Helen and I donned cloaks over our uniforms and left the remedial building through the back entrance, which led to an outdoor space paved with white stones and bordered by red and pink roses. A large barbecue took pride of place, surrounded by wooden tables and chairs.
Beyond the garden’s low walls, a vast meadow stretched out to the woods, and wingless horses, goats, and golden sheep stood around in groups and grazed. Helen whistled, and two dappled horses trotted to the bottom of the garden, both staring at us through their long lashes.
“Where’s the nearest entrance to the Mound?” I asked as we walked through the tables.
She patted the paler horse on its snout. “There’s a gatehouse about half an hour into Prudence Woods on horseback. Can you remember how to ride?”
“Um…” I stared into the black eyes of the darker horse, whose pale mane reminded me a little of Coltrane, the horny centaur. “I shouldn’t have any problems.”
We climbed over the low wall and mounted the horses, which were surprisingly tame. As we cantered through the meadow along a path that cut through patches of assorted wildflowers, bluebells that tinkled a merry tune in the breeze, and silver petaled plants that resembled moonflowers, I turned to Helen and asked, “Won’t the wards stop us from leaving?”
