The Queen's Consorts Box Set: A Reverse Harem Fantasy Trilogy

by Elena Lawson

  “But you couldn’t see?” Finn asked, and I saw the gears and cogs turning behind his eyes.

  I shook my head, “No, it was dark. Like I’d been submerged in a vat of ink.”

  He took a moment to string the pieces together, and we all watched as his eyes widened, “A cave, maybe?”

  I thought back to the cold, dark stone. “Could be.”

  Quick as a rat, he flew across the room, coming back with the map we’d already spent hours pouring over. Spread it across the table. Grabbed a quill and ink.

  “Here,” he said, circling a spot on the map, “And here.” He kept going—circling every mountain, big or small on the map of the Wastes.

  “There’s another there,” Kade said, pointing to a spot on the map that showed only trees, “It isn’t on the map, but I’ve flown over it.”

  When he was finished, Finn had circled every possible place there could be caves in the entire expanse of the Wastes. Eleven circles of black ink on the parchment. It narrowed our search but finding every cave would take weeks. A paralyzing fear gripped me. Finn was right, we may not find her before…

  Wait.

  One of the places he’d circled on the map stood out. Right near the center. Mount Noctis. Where the first palace of the night court was built. It lay in ruins, clinging to the side of the mountain, but—it made sense.

  Liana is strong. It would be hard to contain her without bindstone. And I knew where it came from. They mined it from the bowels of Mount Noctis. It was in the ruined palace’s cells. Veins of it ran throughout the halls. And deep below, the purest form of it could be found in dark crystals jutting out from the stone.

  Finn gasped, and I knew he saw it too. It was the most logical place. It was the first place we’d thought of, and the first we’d dismissed as being too obvious.

  But now it made sense. It was the only place she could be.

  “We need to get moving,” I ordered, and Finn rolled the map, stuffing it into the waistband of his trousers.

  I stood on still-shaking legs, wishing I hadn’t doubled the dose of elixir, and went to fetch my sword and armor.

  “Are we missing something?” Kade asked, cocking his head first at me, and then at his brother.

  Finn chucked his brothers armor at him, “She’s in the mountain, you idiot.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Kade

  Alaric was getting on my last nerve.

  We stomped through the trees, making our way over fallen leaves and uneven ground when we should be flying in. But apparently, I was wrong. Again. We couldn’t swoop in, kill them all, and take Liana—oh no, because that would be too easy.

  I got it, really, I did, even though I didn’t like it.

  We’d flown in as close as we dared, setting down once the mountain came into view. We would go no closer in the air. If the Mad King had Thana, Valin, and a Drac at his disposal, who knew how many others he could have.

  Watchmen. Guards. Gods, he could have a whole damned legion of soldiers hidden in the caverns of the mountain.

  And if they saw the queen’s guard coming, who was to say they wouldn’t just kill Liana and be done with it.

  So, I got why we couldn’t go barging in, but it didn’t make it any easier.

  A streak of silver through the trees had me stopping to see what was there. I crouched low to the ground, peering through the branches and leaves. A fell-cat prowled the woods. They were a rare sight. Nocturnal hunters.

  The beast’s long silvery fur bristled when it noticed me watching. Its light blue eyes locked onto mine. It hissed. A low growl rumbled in its chest. I couldn’t look away, even as the beast readied itself to pounce. Its thick muscle rippled, tensing for the attack. So beautiful, its pelt shimmered in the light of the moon, its eyes glowed. Beautiful, and deadly. My pulse sped. Liana would have loved to see it. My teeth clenched, and my vision blurred.

  And then it turned tail and sprang through the trees, quick as a loosed arrow.

  I shook my head, jumping back to my feet. Alaric, Finn, and Tiernan were lagging. I could barely see them between the branches of the trees.

  “Get off your asses and move,” I growled back at them—meandering around like we were on a leisurely stroll about the gardens. The fire I’d been working so hard to temper at my core flared to life again—tapping at the door of my palms. Asking for release.

  I looked back through the trees for the fell-cat, but she was gone.

  I let a small flare free—as I had every hundred paces or so since we’d left the palace hours before. It was the only way I knew how to control it—by letting out small bits of it at a time to keep from bursting. The fire Grace was revered—seen to be among the strongest of Graces, but there was a reason it was so rare. Not just anyone could handle its power.

  Which was why I would never fault Liana for burning a forest to ashes. I wouldn’t have made her feel sorry for it. If she knew how many times I reduced a forest, or a barn, or even our own home to burning embers, she’d know why she could never do enough to drive me away.

  She was so different. I hadn’t ever felt anything like it before with any of the other countless, nameless, faceless women I’d lain with. And I hadn’t even had Liana yet.

  Finn and Alaric consulted the map for about the hundredth time since they’d landed, trying to find the best place to enter the ruin—the best path through the trees. If they didn’t hurry the hell up, I’d burn them all to ground and lay out a clear path of charred earth for them to follow.

  Even though we were twins, I always felt like the older brother. Rattling the heads of those who teased Finn for his love of books or how his wings didn’t fully develop until he was sixteen. It was my responsibility to stand up for Finn even if I didn’t truly understand my brother.

  Just like it was my duty to protect Liana—no, not duty—it was my very purpose. I couldn’t imagine living on a land where she didn’t draw breath. Didn’t want to. I wanted her back—and I always got what I wanted.

  “We’re getting close, brother,” Finn hollered from behind. Always trying to calm me. Always the level-headed one. A part of me admired him for it, but the other part hated it. It must’ve been nice for him, growing up without a temper. Sometimes I thought our ancestors Graced me with fire just to teach me a lesson in self-control.

  Little did they know it backfired.

  “Closer isn’t good enough. The longer you waste looking at that godsforsaken map, the longer she’s alone.”

  Finn was around me in an instant, giving me a stare that could curdle milk. “You don’t think I know that? You don’t think we all know that, Kade?”

  My hands balled to fists, “Well it doesn’t seem like it, brother. With all your daisy picking back there.”

  Hurt flashed over his eyes before he traded in the emotion for anger and squared his jaw at me. Sometimes I hated how alike we could look. And right then, I could have been looking in a mirror. “None of us have ever been to the palace at Mount Noctis before,” he near shouted, “And seeing it from the sky is a lot different than finding it from the ground. So, forgive me for not wanting to waste even more time by getting lost.”

  So high and fucking mighty.

  My skin pricked with heat and I saw the steam rise from my skin in the cool air.

  “Kade.” It was Alaric, and I didn’t have time to move away before he set his hand on my arm. He jumped back and hunched over at the pain. His hand red and raw—still smoking.

  The roaring flames at my core reduced to nothing but smoldering embers.

  “Damnit,” I cursed, but didn’t move to console my captain, “Alaric, I’m sorry.”

  My lungs hauled in air to smother the burning in my throat. “We just—we have to find her. Now. Before it’s too late.”

  Alaric rose, shaking off the pain as though it was nothing more than a slight nuisance. “I know. And we will. But we’ve got to get there first.”

  I nodded, not trusting myself to speak.


  Tiernan, completely unaffected by the exchange between the three of us—as though it were completely normal, asked, “Do we have a plan for when we get there? Have any of you ever been inside?”

  Alaric set to wrapping his hand in a swath of cloth torn form the tunic under his armor, his brows furrowed.

  A piercing screech broke the silence, and Tiernan’s falcon fell from the sky, stopping mere inches from its master, hovering there in front of his face. Tiernan didn’t look surprised to see his pet, but his expression grew pensive, and then excited with each insistent caw of the creature.

  The falcon darted away through the trees, and Tiernan turned to follow it, “Arrow knows where she is!”

  Alaric and Finn shared a quizzical look, “So much for coming up with a plan,” Finn said before they sprinted after Tiernan.

  “Oh, now you’ll run!” I growled after them, the heat flaring up again.

  They wanted a plan. Well, I had one.

  It was simple.

  Find Liana. Kill anyone who gets in my way.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Liana

  “It’s time,” he said from the doorway, “The king has returned. I hope you made your peace.”

  Oh, I’d make my peace, alright. Once you’re dead.

  Two soldiers stood behind him. Neither was the Draconian from the night before, “How’s your little bat?” I spat at Valin, “He paid me a visit last night, but I don’t think he had a great time.”

  Valin smirked, nodding to the soldiers at his sides, “Take her.”

  They stepped into the room and I ignited my Grace, letting it build as big and as hot as I could. The two closed in on me cautiously as though I was a rabid animal.

  I was about to let lose what little fire I’d built when I noticed their hands.

  Covered in thick black gloves. They took advantage of the split second of distraction, each grabbing hold of one arm. I fought against them, but they were stronger. I radiated the heat throughout my skin, satisfied to hear them hiss as the burning heat met their gloved hands. But it wasn’t enough.

  And my hold over the Grace was waning.

  A shackle closed over one of my wrists. Then the other. I pulled at them—but even on the cusp of breaking my own bones, they wouldn’t come free.

  “There, there, my queen.” I heard Valin say, and I forced myself to calm. Focus. I had to focus.

  The two males still held me by the arms, though with the heat fading in my veins, I was of little to no threat to them.

  While I was still in the cell, I wasn’t.

  I glanced to the dark hallway behind Valin. Out there, they couldn’t control me. I’d throw everything I had into it. I’d burn them, just to freeze them, and then burn them again out of spite. And then I’d find the Mad King and end this once and for all.

  “I have a gift for you,” the so-called hero crooned, “From the king.” He stepped into the cell. Pulled a length of chain from his pocket. Hanging from the chain was a stone, rough and uncut—black as ash. It shone in the torchlight.

  He brought the necklace closer. Moved to place it over my head. I recoiled. I could feel it—like the feeling of the bindstone. That smothering, squeezing, suffocating feeling. That stone was wrong.

  I jerked my head out of his reach only for one of his minions to grab hold of my hair against the back of my skull. Force my head to stillness.

  He dropped it around my neck and the rough gem and fell against my skin like a boulder. Crushing. The little heat I had left cooled in my core. Evaporating entirely.

  No. “No!” I shouted at him. What had he done? I needed to get my hands free. Had to get it off. But I couldn’t. I was shackled in every possible way.

  There was no way out.

  There had to be a way out. There was always a way out.

  “Let’s move,” Valin said to the males, “Don’t want to keep him waiting.”

  The shackle around my ankle vanished, and they were dragging me from the cell. It all seemed so far away. Like it was happening to someone else.

  Distantly I heard Valin bark an order, and one of the males let go, the other one gripping tighter around my bicep until Valin took up the other’s position. Blocking me in from both sides again.

  A click. A groan. “Liana,” I heard her say, and I broke free from whatever force had my mind slogging through haze.

  “Aisling,” I turned my head back, watching the soldier drag her from her cell. Her eyes glistened in a face covered with layers of dirt. Her reddish-brown hair looked dull—muted. My breath caught at the sight of her gown. My gown. The one I had lent her to go see Valin. Stained with blood and torn—one of the shoulder pieces detached, left to hang over her breast with frayed edges.

  What have I done?

  “What’s happening?” she cried, needing little prodding to fall into step beside the soldier shoving her down the hall.

  My chin quivered, and I didn’t take my eyes from hers as I said, “I’m so sorry.”

  Aisling eyes widened. She hung her head and cried. And I couldn’t look anymore. Couldn’t bear to see the pain I’d caused written in each tear that fell.

  I reigned in my urge to sob. That wasn’t how I would go down. They wouldn’t want that.

  Alaric. Kade. Tiernan. Finn.

  They’d want me to be strong. To stare the Mad King in the face when he killed me. So, I would. And I would smile because though my males couldn’t save me—they’d make damn sure they avenged me.

  Chapter Thirty

  Tiernan

  There. It was her. Between two pillars of jagged, decaying stone. I watched as she walked, her chin up in defiance even though she was manacled and being dragged down the corridor. They were moving her somewhere. Now was their chance.

  “There,” I pointed from our cover under a dense needled tree. “I saw her pass just through there.”

  As one, the other three looked up. Finn gasped as another male emerged between the two pillars, prodding a female who could only be Aisling. I watched the young healer cross the opening, her skin glowing in the light of the setting sun. Her head in her hands.

  They had been right. She had been taken by the Mad King, too. If they did everything right, they would save two lives this day.

  Thank you, Arrow, I thought to myself, looking to where the falcon sat perched high in the branches above us. Without him, we may not have made it in time. He nodded to me as though he understood.

  “You’re certain it was Liana?” Alaric asked, his eyes hard.

  “Yes.”

  “Then there’s no time to lose. There’s only one reason they’d take her from the bindstone cells.”

  He didn’t need to finish the thought. If they were willing to risk her being able to use her Grace against them, it could only be so the king could kill her himself without having his own abilities marred by the stone in the cells.

  But why didn’t she fight? She could have already killed them. There were only three males. With her power, she could take on a hundred.

  “… but the archers,” Finn was saying as I turned from the ruined palace.

  Alaric nodded gravely, “I saw.”

  There were five archers spaced evenly on still standing turrets of stone. I had counted them, too.

  “Let me take them out,” Kade implored.

  Alaric shook his head, “We need to be stealthy. We don’t know how many more they have within the palace’s walls.”

  “We fly then,” Kade said, stretching his wings.

  Finn pointed up at the sky where a Draconian circled the mountainside. One of two I’d seen. “And even if they weren’t there, the sun hasn’t set. We’d be pin-cushions for the archers.”

  “Then what? We can’t just walk up the main steps.”

  No, we couldn’t. But maybe we could make our own.

  Alaric shook his head at the mountain, his teeth clenched in a grimace. “We’re wasting time.”

  “I have an idea,” I offered, and looked around m
y boots, readying for the task to come. I studied the slope of rock. It was perhaps two hundred yards to the base of the palace, and there was one spot—path that would be concealed from eyes in the sky or the palace itself, hidden in shadow.

  All they needed were the steps.

  “What are you thinking?” Alaric asked—near pleaded.

  I gave the captain a look that left no space for rebuttal. We needed to get up there, and this was the best—the only viable option. Even if it drained me beyond anything I’d ever managed to do before. “We climb.”

  I let the Grace awaken in my core. Felt the earth stir at my feet. The root shot out from the earth. I bent it to my will, forcing it to defy gravity and crawl up the side of the mountain. Molding it to the rock face. Thick and sturdy.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Liana

  We entered the throne room. Or what had once been the throne room. Now it was a ruin. More a courtyard than anything else with its missing roof and a floor of tile overgrown with moss and weeds.

  At the other end, a big chair—one arm missing. And sitting in it was the male, himself. The former King Ricon II, the Mad King.

  It’s true. He’s alive.

  Gooseflesh rose on my skin at the very sight of him. Silver hair. Eyes like polished sea-glass—cloudy, almost transparent. With a face so young—and yet you could tell he was ancient. Wearing nothing but trousers and a simple white tunic. A thick black fur cloak over top of it all. Barefoot.

  He looked like a phantom. Something from a childhood nightmare. He was giddy, rubbing his hands together in front of him, his eyes widened so I could see all the whites. A wide smile sliced across his face from ear to ear.