Elemental Fae Academy: Book Three: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance

by Lexi C. Foss

  Darkness cascaded over my vision, leaving me to swim in a sea of black.

  I screamed, my throat clogged with soil. Roots. Trees. Flowers. Plants. Life exploding around me, through me, consuming every inch of my being.

  “Claire!”

  My mates were calling for me.

  My mother, too.

  I thrashed violently, fighting off the vines holding me down and the smoky cloud drowning my spirit. Warm hands grasped my bare shoulders, shaking me.

  Lips met my cheeks, my hair, my neck.

  My name rent the air.

  Words followed.

  It was all a jumble, my body tangled in a frenzy of limbs and heat and elements.

  Water.

  Fire.

  I basked in the familiarity, lost to the soothing sensations.

  Until my eyes flashed open to find the sky looming above my head.

  And two very pissed-off male mates.

  Titus

  Energy hummed through the air, seeming to zap Claire’s body back to life.

  And her eyelids flew open.

  I gaped at her, shocked by the sudden change.

  Cyrus, however, growled low in his throat before saying, “I need you to stop fucking doing that, Claire.”

  “I second that statement,” I said without missing a beat. Her lack of breath had scared the shit out of me. If Exos hadn’t been absolutely certain her spirit still thrived…

  No, I couldn’t think about that right now. We had more important things to worry about, like the Earth Fae stirring around us. An earthly essence filled the air, reinvigorating them and causing several of them to moan.

  Although, Claire didn’t make a sound. Her brow furrowed as if confused. Then she bolted upright. “I have to stop Elana!” She tried to launch to her feet, only to be wrapped up in Cyrus’s arms.

  “You need to tell us what the hell is going on,” he corrected, his bedside manner as on point as always.

  She shook her head, shoving him away, only to collapse back into him. Her chest heaved as she sucked in fresh breaths, her pallor a bit too pale for my liking. “Easy, Claire,” I murmured.

  Cyrus steadied her, his expression smoothing into lines of concern. “Your body needs a moment to adjust. You know, because your spirit somehow detached. Again.” He brushed a kiss over her cheek, the spot glowing blue with his element as he gave her the power she needed.

  I knelt beside them and grasped her hip to lend her some of my fire. It slowly breathed color back into her features, heating her otherwise cool skin.

  “Elana,” she managed to say, her voice hoarse. She cleared her throat to try again. “She has Ophelia. She’s draining her. Draining them all.” She swallowed and tried to stand again. “Need to go. Now.”

  “You need to absorb more energy,” Cyrus said, wrapping his arms more firmly around her.

  Earth Fae began to whimper all around us, their heads shifting as questions spilled from their lips. None of them were coherent, all lost to the plague that’d taken them down.

  “They’re recovering,” Cyrus said, eyeing the Earth Quad with interest. “What did you do, Claire? What did you find?”

  “Elana.” Claire shoved away from us with far more force than Cyrus or I anticipated, allowing her to leap to her feet. She bolted before either of us had a chance to grab her.

  “Claire!” Cyrus shouted, his voice catching on the wind as I took off after her in a dead sprint. I sensed him following on my heels. I had no doubt he was as frustrated as me. Our mate had a tendency to run toward danger without thinking. I wasn’t going to let her leave my sight.

  We worked our way through the recovering Earth Fae. Roots and vines wound over their limbs and lifted them up, the males seeming to grow larger and the females sprouting blossoms in their hair.

  “Is this your doing?” I asked Cyrus. He’d been trying to infuse life back into them while we guarded Claire, but without much luck.

  He shook his head as he kept pace at my side. “No. Whatever was infecting them disappeared.” He paused to head right, following Claire. “I felt the dark presence lift right before Claire woke up.”

  Sprouts formed in our mate’s footsteps as she sprinted, suggesting that she might be the one healing the Earth Fae.

  I frowned, unsure of sure how I felt about that. She couldn’t save everyone. If she expended all her energy, she’d have none left for herself.

  We reached Elana’s mansion—or what was left of it—and found Sol ripping chunks of rock from the earth. A boulder bigger than my head flung past, and I ducked. “Hey!” I shouted. “We have Claire. You can stop digging.”

  “There’s something down there,” Sol grunted, tossing another boulder over his shoulder.

  Focused on his task, Vox helped Sol, sweeping away debris with controlled gusts as Exos pointed toward a single spot. “There!” he shouted.

  We stopped just in time to find Sol unearthing a wad of vines and roots. Goose bumps spread over my flesh when I faintly sensed Claire’s magic inside the ball of elemental power.

  Claire dove into the pit and gripped on to Sol as tears streamed down her face. “Is she alive?” Claire glanced back at me and bit her lip. “Titus, can you burn away just the top layer? Please be careful. We have to get her out of there.”

  Her who? I wondered.

  Claire clung to what was left of Sol’s shirt as her eyes pleaded with me. “Titus. Please.”

  Right. I didn’t know what she wanted out of that heap, but it clearly meant something to her. And if she didn’t want to dismantle the ball herself, it was because she didn’t trust her own control.

  Cracking my knuckles, I prepared myself for the task ahead. In my current state, I was going to have trouble doing this without making something explode. But I’d do it for Claire and for whomever she protected inside the bundle of earth.

  Deep breaths.

  Sweat broke out over my forehead as I concentrated.

  Slowly now...

  I crafted my flame into a thin rope that I sent through the air with as much precision as I could manage. It landed on top of the nest like a saw, which I used to cut through the top layer.

  Then the second.

  As well as the third.

  Until finally a ghostly hand fell free of the opening. Working around that, I slid the fire wide, carefully lancing the side.

  And a corpse-like body fell out.

  Claire caught the woman whose bones protruded from every angle and hugged her to her chest. “Help me,” she said, looking at Exos. “Help her.”

  He jumped into the crater Sol had created and scooped her into his arms, his eyes running over the ghastly remains. “She’s energy-starved. Weak. It’s going to take a lot of work, but we’re not too late.”

  Cyrus knelt beside the hole to take Ophelia—or who I assumed was Ophelia, as it was hard to tell with her decrepit form—into his arms.

  Sol lifted Claire out of the cavern while Exos climbed out himself.

  And the Earth Fae hoisted himself onto land. “How are my people?” he demanded, looking at me.

  “Recovering,” I said. “Cyrus said the plague is gone.”

  “Not a plague,” Claire cut in. “Elana. She was using dark magic to siphon their energy.”

  “Why?” Exos demanded, his focus on Ophelia and not Claire. But his question was on point, as always.

  “She went on about being an abomination, said the Council would kill her if they knew about her birthright. She said they’ll kill me, too, when they realize how powerful I am.” She swallowed on that last bit, then shook her head. “I think she was trying to recruit me.”

  Cyrus and Exos shared a long look.

  Then the Spirit King glanced at me, Vox, and Sol. “Cyrus, Claire, and I have a lot of work to do. Ophelia is hanging on by a thread after whatever Elana did to her. I need you to check on the other fae throughout the Academy, make sure they are all okay. Because that power surge I just felt? It was fueled by the fae on these groun
ds.”

  I nodded. “Whatever you need. We’re on it.”

  “Good.” He glanced at Claire. “Let’s go back to the Spirit Quad. It’ll be a quiet, safe place for us to begin the energy transfusion. But I need you to be very careful, Claire. No more source visits without me.”

  “She shouldn’t even be able to do that,” Cyrus muttered at his side.

  “A conversation for another day, brother,” Exos returned, already walking. “Let’s go.”

  Sol seemed to think twice, his desire to snatch Claire written all over his face, but he drew a deep breath and squared his shoulders. “I’ll be on Earth Quad.”

  “And I’ll check Water and Air Quad,” Vox said.

  “That leaves me with Fire Quad.” I took off at a run toward the chaos, unsure of how to truly help but determined to find a way.

  Tufts of earth had overturned every which way, leaving scars across the ground on my jog to Fire Quad. Weakened fae staggered and held their heads as if dazed, while others screamed for answers.

  Utter insanity.

  But one fae caught my attention above all the others.

  Mortus.

  The old fae staggered back a step, his expression one of bewilderment and confusion.

  I reached out to steady the professor and noted his lack of fire. “Mortus,” I said slowly. “What’s wrong?”

  He blinked, his dark eyes focusing and unfocusing all at once. “I… I don’t know.” He leaned in and lowered his voice. “C-could you tell me…? What year is this?”

  Sol

  When I came upon the Earth Quad, I paused to assess the damage.

  Not as bad as I’d feared. Likely due to Cyrus’s glittering blue streams he’d woven through the grounds. Previously wilted trees now stood up straight and boasted fresh leaves and fruit, along with solid branches that reached for the sun. And the soil breathed with vitality, happy to have absorbed liquid nutrients from the Water Prince.

  I spotted Aflora tending to another Earth Fae in the shade of one of the larger trees. She pressed her palm to the trunk and drew in its copper power, glowing as she fed on the source of our element, and gifted it to the petite female beside her.

  Relief lightened my chest.

  She’s alive.

  “Aflora,” I said, and she glanced up at me, her blue eyes flashing with specks of emerald magic. I smiled and rested a heavy hand on her tiny shoulder. “You shouldn’t be using your magic right now. Just moments ago you were unconscious.”

  Almost dead.

  My gaze ran down her neck, searching for those black streaks. Aside from some lingering soot, I couldn’t detect the illness that had taken her so suddenly.

  She shrugged me off. “I’m fine, Sol.” She flashed me a confident smile. “Can’t keep this Earth Fae down.”

  I frowned, not wishing to downplay how close to death she’d come.

  The female fae beside her groaned as black lines retreated under Aflora’s magic.

  “There,” Aflora murmured, seemingly pleased as she rested the Earth Fae against the sturdy trunk. “Draw on its power,” she instructed. “You’ll feel better in no time.”

  Even though Cyrus had bolstered the Earth Fae, Aflora’s miraculous recovery didn’t settle well with me.

  I glanced around the quad again, noting how many of the others resembled the female fae Aflora had just treated, all of them leaning on the coppery substance of earth for survival.

  But someone had given them a kick start.

  Was it something Claire had done, or was Aflora’s grasp on the source stronger than I had previously imagined?

  Aflora wiped her hands together as she stood and rolled her eyes. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

  I pinched some of the soot remaining on her shoulder and rubbed my fingers together. “It doesn’t feel right, Aflora. You need to reserve your magic, not spend it.”

  She chuckled. “Well, aren’t you the bossy one? I knew there was a royal in there somewhere.”

  Now it was my turn to scoff. “You’re the princess, Aflora. In time, it’ll be you who leads our people back to the fruitful civilization it’s meant to be.” I knew she had always thought we’d do that together, but I could never mate Aflora. Not just because she was like a sister to me, but also because of the scars on my soul. I didn’t know who or what had put them there, but it kept me walled off from the darkness that infected my people.

  Not that it mattered. I wasn’t a leader. I’d spent my entire life trying to figure out my own shit. However, I was making progress thanks to Vox, Claire, and the rest of my mate-circle. Today confirmed that, as it was the first time I’d been able to trust someone else to carry my burdens with me.

  I’m no longer alone.

  Aflora and I made our way through the recovering Earth Quad, and I marveled at how the fae seemed to be stronger than before, as if experiencing another bout with darkness had shaken them loose from the long years of suppression and now they could take in a full breath for the first time.

  I told Aflora what I knew so far, about Elana and how we suspected her to be a Midnight Fae Halfling. Claire mostly confirmed it with her comment about dark magic, but I didn’t know what else was said.

  “Death magic?” Aflora squeaked. “Do you think she’ll bring the dead here?”

  “I don’t know,” I admitted. “But we need to be ready.” I surveyed the stronger Earth Fae, noting their growing vitality, and nodded.

  It might be enough.

  Enough for an army.

  Vox

  I’m going to kill that bitch, I thought, picturing Elana.

  She’d absorbed air from several of the fae. Enough to create her giant vortex that had swallowed her entire home.

  It left debris and terrified fae all over campus. I’d met with several of the professors, told them what had happened, and warned them that this was only the beginning. Because Elana? Yeah, she was alive. I knew because I’d seen her energy go up into that damn cloud before everything vanished.

  A neat trick, sure.

  One I’d love to replicate with fire and watch her burn alive.

  A task for another day. Because I needed a damn nap first.

  No, I needed my Claire.

  All the Air Fae and Water Fae were managing themselves beneath the supervision of professors, leaving me without much left to do other than go home.

  Using a gust of wind, I propelled myself back to the Spirit Quad and nudged open the doors.

  Claire startled against Exos’s chest, her gaze flying to mine.

  Cyrus merely slammed his palm down on the table to stop the papers from flying, his gaze on an open textbook.

  “Necromancy doesn’t even begin to describe what Elana did today,” Cyrus said. He flipped a page and frowned. “Kols gave us a shitty book. I swear this thing is useless.”

  Based on Cyrus’s sour mood, I decided not to even ask what he meant by that and went to my mate instead.

  Claire rubbed her eyes as Exos helped her to her feet. “How’d it go?” she asked groggily as she slipped effortlessly into my arms. “Are the Air Fae all right?”

  I nodded as I tucked my chin beneath her ear and indulged in her elements surrounding mine. “Only a few were weakened by the momentary leech of power,” I said, reluctantly pulling away. “Elana seemed to focus mostly on the Earth Fae, minus her finale at the end.”

  “I hope Sol’s okay,” my mate lamented. Her pain swept through our bond, and I clutched her to my chest.

  “He’ll be all right,” I promised, although I knew the Earth Fae was thoroughly shaken. I cupped Claire’s face. “Everyone is okay, Claire. Thanks to you.” And whatever the hell she’d done to Elana. I wanted to hear more, but I also didn’t want to press her right now. She looked ready to collapse with exhaustion.

  Her lips curled into a small smile as she rested her hands over mine. “I hope so.”

  I brushed my lips over hers. “Trust me.”

  She began to nod just as Titus
and Sol entered the dorm.

  “Fucking Mortus,” Titus said by way of greeting, rubbing his temple. “I left him in the care of some of the other Fire Fae, but we’re going to have to do something about him. The guy has absolutely no recollection of anything after mating with Ophelia.”

  My eyebrows rose. “What?” That was news to me, but the lack of surprise from the others suggested they already knew.

  “Did he say what the last thing he remembered was?” Claire asked.

  Titus shook his head. “His last memory is of his time here. As a student.”

  Exos whistled. “That was over two decades ago.”

  “So he’s been under Elana’s control all this time?” Claire looked stricken. “That’s horrible.”

  “It’s the power of a Spirit Fae,” Sol muttered, collapsing on the sofa. “How’s your mom?”

  Cyrus finally parted from his texts and rested a fist on the table. “We’ve stabilized her for now. She’ll remain in a coma until she’s recovered enough to break free of what Elana did to her.” He shrugged. “We can cure her body, but she’ll have to be the one to cure her mind.”

  Claire shivered and leaned into my chest. “How much do you think she can tell us about Elana?” Her fingers slipped under my shirt and ran slow circles around my abdomen as if the contact gave her comfort. I released a sliver of my connection to the source into Claire’s touch, attempting to rejuvenate what she’d depleted.

  “She’ll have many of the answers we seek,” Cyrus confirmed. “But it’ll take time.”

  “If that’s even possible,” Exos added with a frown. “Two decades of torture. Do you really think she can bounce back from that?”

  “Only one way to find out,” his brother replied.

  Which meant we were going to have to wait, and time was the one thing we didn’t have on our side. I pressed a light kiss to Claire’s hair. She smiled up at me, no words needed to express that she knew we were all here for her, that I loved her.

  “Let’s hope she wakes up soon,” Titus said, joining Cyrus at the table.