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

by Lexi C. Foss

  Same with Ophelia—who, as far as I could tell, was completely innocent in her crimes. But two decades of rumors would be hard to assuage.

  However, it did give me an idea.

  “Walk with me,” I said, leading him along the trail back to the Academy grounds. This place brought back memories of my first days with Claire, her emotions running high due to the guilt over killing her friend and the very real impact of being uprooted from her world.

  Seeing her performance this morning had proven just how much she’d grown.

  How powerful she’d become.

  My lips curled, knowing I played a small part in her ascension. Or maybe a large part. Regardless, the majority of it was Claire. Her determination, strength, and stubbornness were what won over the elements. That they chose to favor her with their gifts merely indicated the powerful future ahead of her.

  A future I was thankful to be a part of.

  My access to the source burned bright inside me, pleased with my acceptance of my mate, while also fortifying my position as king.

  But everyone knew a king was nothing without his queen.

  Mortus stumbled over a root, the early morning sun not yet brightening our horizon. I teased a flame into the air, highlighting the ground as we moved, my mind spinning over the idea that had come to me moments ago.

  “Do you feel any connection to Ophelia?” I wondered out loud.

  I felt his wince more than saw it. “Yes,” he admitted, his voice gruff.

  “What level?” I pushed aside a low branch and watched as he moved through the passageway I’d created.

  He paused to allow me to lead once more, a sign of both submission and reverence. Good. It was high time he recognized me as his king.

  Of course, all those hostile moments on the Council weren’t him at all, but Elana playing him like a puppet.

  I nearly sighed, agitated with her once more. The image of Claire shredding her with elements, however, appeased my inner vengeance. Elana had more than deserved the pain of being ripped apart by the spirit source. Had I been able to do such a thing, I would have in an instant. But it was Claire whom our spirit chose as the conduit.

  “I… I’m not sure what level we’re on,” Mortus eventually said, drawing me back to the path we were walking upon. “I can sense our link, but it’s frayed to hell.”

  “Because she broke the vows of a third level,” I murmured, nodding.

  “No.” Mortus cleared his throat. “Because it was compelled, not willingly given. On both sides.”

  “Interesting.” I mused over that in silence for several minutes, pleased to see the grounds appearing through the forest ahead—the dimming moon still shining across the lively grass. “Elana compelling you two to bond defied the elements, which caused the rift of power.” I almost admired the clever bitch. Almost. But I despised her a hell of a lot more. “And she used that distraction to her advantage by sucking the souls of all the Spirit Fae in attendance on that fateful day.”

  “During our ceremony, yes,” Mortus said.

  “You remember?” I asked, glancing at him.

  He shook his head. “Not exactly. But enough people have told me what happened.”

  We stepped onto the path that led back to the Academy, a warm energy caressing the fields and leaving a hint of Claire’s sweet scent behind.

  She smiled into my thoughts, our connection thriving stronger than ever. You’re okay, she whispered.

  Thanks to you, my queen, I replied softly, my lips curling. I didn’t ask if she was awake. I already knew, could feel her vitality sweeping through the air all around us.

  What happened to ‘princess’? Her amusement touched my chest, causing my heart to beat in time with hers.

  My princess became a queen, I told her. No, a goddess of the elements.

  I don’t know how it happened, she admitted. It just… did.

  You were favored by the source, Claire. Thereby completing the prophecy our Council once feared. When one becomes half and five become one, a plague will descend upon the fae. Only death is the cure.

  For so long, our kind thought it meant the end to the Elemental Fae race. But that wasn’t it at all. Claire was the cure—the one to bring death upon the plague otherwise known as Elana.

  No one ever told me the prophecy. I could picture her frown matching her internal voice. Why did you all keep it from me?

  Because it never mattered, I replied. You chose your fate, Claire. Not some prophecy proclaimed by the Fortune Fae.

  It might have helped to know I was destined to absorb a bunch of energy and kill Elana, she countered, her sassiness causing me to chuckle.

  Would it have made a difference? I wondered back at her. Truly? Because I think you would have done exactly what you did regardless of some words hanging over your head. Or perhaps you would have acted differently and changed fate. I shrugged even though she couldn’t see it. Either way, you were exquisite, my queen.

  She seemed to be mulling over my comment, just as Mortus was with my earlier statement about Elana using his compelled bond to create a distraction.

  “I want you to help Ophelia,” I told him as we walked through the Academy’s iron gates. “Help her heal and I’ll consider your debt repaid.”

  He glanced at me, his shock written in the lifting of his eyebrows. “You think I can help her?”

  “I think you might be one of the only ones who can, Mortus.” I paused on the precipice of the quad, admiring the joyous chaos unfolding among the fae with their savior, Claire, at the center. Cyrus, Sol, Titus, and Vox stood around her like warriors protecting their queen. But Claire wouldn’t be deterred, her magic spreading among the masses to offer healing and acceptance to everyone around her.

  Just like the queen I knew her to be.

  “Why?” Mortus asked, drawing me back to our conversation—one I was ready to end in favor of embracing my mate. “Why do you think I can help her?”

  “Because of the bond,” I replied. “I can see your spirits, Mortus. They’re linked in a fractured way, suggesting that not only can you assist her in healing but she can also return the favor and mend you. If you allow it.”

  “If she allows it,” he returned.

  I hid my smile. “Yes, I imagine she’ll be quite stubborn.” Like mother, like daughter. “Hence, it’s a fitting punishment, don’t you think?” Winking at him, I took my leave with a casual, “I couldn’t go too easy on you, old man,” tossed over my shoulder. “May the fates be with you.” Because he was going to need all the luck he could get.

  The circle parted for me as I approached Claire and the pink butterflies swarming around her. One kissed my cheek, earning me a flirty little smirk from the queen in the center.

  I hauled her into my arms, reveling in the spirit energy overflowing from her center, and kissed her hard for all to see. She giggled against me, her arms winding around my neck. Arrogant king, she accused.

  Glorious queen, I whispered back at her, nipping her lower lip. Have I told you today that I love you?

  Only once.

  I smiled against her mouth. I love you, my Claire.

  I love you, too.

  Thank you for being the queen we all need, I added, pressing my forehead to hers. “Goddess Claire.”

  “Our future Water Queen,” Cyrus said, adding his own flavor to the mix.

  “With air royalty flowing all around her,” Vox mused, his breeze kissing her cheek.

  Titus pressed a palm to her lower back. “And a fire that burns brighter than the sun.”

  “All that’s missing now is earth,” I said, glancing at the giant beside us.

  He wrapped his hand around Claire’s neck, his earthy gaze flaring with intent. “Not for much longer.”

  She smiled up at him, the sun in her blue eyes. “Not for much longer,” she repeated, accepting his mouth against hers as a binding promise.

  And stirring more of those beautiful butterflies all over the quad.

  We won,
I thought, taking in the light glistening on the horizon. And today is a new day to shine.

  Part V

  “In the aftermath of destruction, new life breathes restoration and hope into the most compelling of futures. And I couldn’t be more proud.”

  —Ophelia

  Claire

  “I, Claire, accept the power that binds me to Sol, born of Earth,” I said, holding my intended’s gaze. “To cherish and respect, through all the eras and time that may fall before us, until our souls do us part.”

  His smile grew with each word, the World Tree beside us seeming to hum its approval.

  Sol pressed my hand to the base of our tree, the roots thriving with my mate’s power. The influx made me suck in a breath as raw life surged through my veins.

  The musk of earth enveloped me, exploring and glorifying in our pairing. My missing piece. The one source I couldn’t access. My final connection.

  We didn’t have an Earth Fae priest to guide us through our vows, only the element itself. The earth touched my heart and gave me the words I needed to say. Although, I had most of them memorized by now.

  I opened my eyes to find Sol gazing down at me in wonder as vines danced all around us, sprouting flowers from my world as well as from his in a flurry of color. My other mates kept their distance but would witness this bond with us, the final seal on all five elements.

  Inside the oasis Sol had crafted.

  With the afternoon sun shining overhead.

  Healing energy flourished around us, the campus grounds restoring themselves from the hurt inflicted upon them by Elana’s dead army. We lost lives today. They would not be forgotten. I felt the breaths of their souls warming the spirit plane, their circle of life flowing the way it should, and blessing the union occurring today.

  The one to my earth mate.

  Flowers whispered the words on a breeze, encouraging me to continue my vows.

  But I already knew what was needed; I’d merely chosen to bask in the beautiful moment, to absorb the elemental bliss dancing around us.

  “I give unto him my unyielding promise, my vitality, and the seed of my heart, which, together, we will nurture and grow, and accept his in return. My element is now his just as his is now mine, to the fae heavens may we never part. And I shall never forsake him for another, my earth forever belonging to him and to him alone.”

  He palmed my cheek, his opposite hand remaining above mine and pressed to the base of our tree as we lounged in the flower bed he’d created for this moment.

  Water trickled nearby, courtesy of Cyrus’s fountain.

  Flames twirled in an arch several feet away, one we’d walked beneath to reach this special place in our oasis.

  A light breeze filled with love tousled our hair.

  And the Spirit King blessed our union in the plane harboring our souls.

  My earth mate grinned, his happiness an aphrodisiac that heightened the moment almost as much as his vows did. Each word was low, purposefully uttered, and rumbled across the ground beneath his intense power.

  I shivered.

  Smiled.

  Leaned into him for more.

  And closed my eyes as the sweet embrace of energy from the earth flowed over me, encasing me in the element I so craved.

  It was the piece I needed all this time, its healing essence making me one with this world.

  Fire.

  Water.

  Air.

  Spirit.

  And finally, earth.

  Sweet, sweet earth.

  I sighed, reveling in the finality of the bonds, my lips seeking Sol’s with a hunger only he could sate. My mates would protect us, would give us this moment, would allow us to prosper beneath the bright blue sky.

  Our bond slid into place like two pieces of stone carved for one another.

  The butterflies clothing my being fled, revealing all of me to Sol’s gaze. “Don’t make me wait,” I whispered, my fingers sliding through his thick hair as I pulled him down on top of me, my head cradled by the flowers decorating the tree roots. “Take me, Sol. Don’t hold back.”

  His mouth responded without words, his tongue parting my lips to devour me.

  I love you, he said into my mind, his voice a welcome presence that had me clinging to him more.

  I love you, too.

  His clothes seemed to disappear beneath my hands. Or perhaps magic. I couldn’t tell, too eager to consummate our mating, to slide that final piece into my soul.

  It’d been missing today when I danced among the elements.

  My earth felt so far away and still did.

  Something was holding us back.

  A broken quality that required healing.

  “Sol,” I whispered, my thighs parting to accept him. “Please.”

  I needed all of him. His heart. His mind. His soul.

  I opened everything of me to him in return, urging him to let go, to find his peace and accept our mating. But I could feel his struggle, the part of him with errant control that required soothing. Jagged spikes littering his spirit, caused by an unknown fae.

  My heart longed to soothe them. To smooth out the rough edges and help him recover.

  He pressed his forehead to mine, his breath harsh. “What are you doing to me?”

  “Loving you.” I laved his bottom lip, my gaze finding his. “You’re mine, Sol.”

  His palm encircled my throat, his erection prodding the entrance of my waiting heat. “And you’re mine.”

  “I am,” I agreed, my back bowing off the ground as he slid all the way inside me, his penetration perfect, demanding, and so very powerful. “Take me,” I urged again. “Give me everything.”

  Because I needed to feel him. His strength. His force. His pain. His happiness. His fears. No more hiding. No more fighting for control. We were in this together now, and I showed him that with my element, the ground quaking beneath us in affirmation.

  More flowers blossomed.

  Life sang all around us.

  Peaches ripened.

  Trees sprouted fresh leaves.

  And not just here, but all over campus, our power lending healing energy where the Academy required it most.

  “Mate me, Sol,” I told him. Because I felt him holding back. Knew this wasn’t the best he could do.

  He trembled, his restraint causing the ground to shake beneath me. “I don’t want to break you, Claire.”

  I drew in some of his magic, mixing it between us so that there wasn’t just Sol or Claire, but two branches of a single tree that needed nourishment. “You can’t,” I assured him. “Fuck me, Sol. Show me that you trust me.”

  His eyes widened, the bronze irises flecking with the emerald magic of his vitality and life. “You really are a goddess,” he whispered, his expression one of reverence as our bodies joined below in a matrimony as old as time itself.

  I felt like a nymph come to life.

  Bedded in flowers and earth, my screams echoing off the branches around us, vines growing and flourishing beneath the power our bodies created as one.

  He pulled out, then drove in hard, making the World Tree shake under the impact. My body blossomed with pleasure as I took his brute force. I was just as much an Earth Fae as any other element, and my body attuned itself to his.

  “So delicate and strong,” he praised as he thrust again, this time with more confidence.

  I clawed my nails down his arms, leaving marks that sparkled under the sun. I closed my eyes and threw my head back, enduring the pleasure that filled me up from the inside. “More,” I pleaded, and Sol gave it to me, pounding into me until my words turned into screams of ecstasy.

  His climax pushed me over, his seed filling me and providing the final claim to my body that sent me over the edge.

  Sol, my foundation, my rock.

  I love you.

  A momentary stillness of peace overcame us as Sol’s spirit brushed against mine, linking us together for eternity.

  Complete, I thought with a sig
h. Finally.

  Peace settled inside me, only to be disturbed by the fracturing of Sol’s essence all around me. A wall tumbling beneath the power of our mating.

  Sending us spiraling into the depths of a nightmare.

  Of a sequence of events long buried.

  By the source itself.

  Cyrus

  Several Minutes Earlier

  “She’s high on her elements,” I mused to Exos from our posts outside of Sol’s little oasis.

  Our little queen had decided to consummate her earth bonds directly following the ceremony, her ethereal energy still high and floating around her in this intoxicating cloud of vitality.

  “How long do you think it will last?” I continued, pondering out loud. “Or is this a permanent change?”

  He chuckled and shook his head. “I don’t know. I imagine it’ll become a mixture of both.”

  I nodded. “Good. I would hate for her to lose that fiery temper of hers.”

  “No, she’ll probably just set you on fire instead,” my brother replied conversationally.

  “And I hope to be there to watch,” Titus added, approaching from the side. He’d run off to check on Claire’s mom and the Fire Fae stationed to guard her. From his expression, I could tell we had a problem. “Did you send Mortus to talk to Ophelia?”

  “Ah, yeah.” Exos palmed the back of his neck. “I’m hoping he can break through to her, you know, using the bond.”

  “Well, she’s screaming,” Titus replied. “But not out of fear.” His lips curled just a touch. “Seems she’s not Mortus’s biggest fan.”

  “No idea why,” I drawled.

  “Yeah, well, I’m gonna give them some space to work out their differences.” A flame flickered across the Fire Fae’s fingertips. “I’ll only intervene if needed.”

  I looked him up and down, amused and a little aroused. “You endear yourself to me more every day, Fire Fae.”

  He snorted. “Not a chance in hell, Water Prince.”

  Exos just shook his head. “You should know better than to give my brother a challenge. He always wins.”