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

by Lexi C. Foss

  “Yeah? Like that time in the powerless ring?” He feigned a thoughtful expression. “Oh, right, I won that, didn’t I?”

  “Because I let you win,” I reminded him.

  “So you say.” He arched a brow. “I’m ready for a rematch—a real one—when you are.”

  “Can we focus on putting the Academy back together first?” Vox interjected, a breeze floating around him as he landed before us. The Air Fae had developed a knack for flying, one that intrigued me. I still preferred my misting, but I’d never seen a fae manipulate air currents the way this one did.

  “What’s the damage?” Exos asked, his expression turning serious.

  “Sixteen known deaths. Several dozen injured and recovering.” Vox palmed the back of his neck. “Fighting in the main quad was smart, as it isolated the majority of the damage, but there’s quite a bit of it.”

  Exos frowned. “I thought Claire’s date with the source released enough vitality to restore the grounds.”

  Vox shook his head. “She rid the Academy of those dark remnants, but the buildings themselves are in bad shape.” He glanced at the oasis. “And, well, what they’re doing right now is revitalizing the agonized earth elements throughout campus. So mating Sol was a good call.”

  “She made that choice, not us,” I said, admittedly amused by our little queen’s decision. She truly had blossomed into the epitome of a fae creature, following her elemental heart before her human mind. And I couldn’t be more proud.

  “Regardless, it’s helping. But they’re going to need a lot more than earth to restore the Academy.” Vox sounded tired. “We need to work together as a unit.”

  “You say that as if it’s a tedious task we can’t handle,” Exos replied, his lips twitching. “I think we’ve proven to perform as quite the unit, yeah? So maybe we should put on a little show for the Academy.”

  “Spoken with the arrogance of a king.” I waggled my brows. “When do we start?”

  My brother’s smile was infectious. “Right now.” He met Vox’s gaze. “You stand guard for a bit, make sure no one sees our mate in the throes of passion. Titus, Cyrus, and I will go have a play on the Academy grounds.”

  “There’s a squadron of Air Fae awaiting orders.” Vox folded his arms. “I’m sure you won’t have any trouble taking command.”

  “I think I can handle them,” Exos agreed. “And if not, I’ll give them to Cyrus.”

  My lips curled. “Today just keeps getting better and better.”

  As if Claire agreed, I felt her ecstasy through the bond, her waves of pleasure stirring goose bumps up and down my arms. Mmm, my little queen. How I adored her climaxes, even the ones not gifted by me.

  The pause from the others confirmed they’d felt it, too.

  All four of us were aroused by what was happening beneath that World Tree.

  It would be so easy to join them, to add our own personal touch to the mix, but Sol had earned this. It was his time with Claire, and none of us would interrupt such a beautiful moment.

  “Yeah, a distraction sounds great,” Titus said, breaking the silence. “Let’s, uh, go.”

  “Feeling a little hot?” I teased. “Allow me to help with that.”

  Mist pebbled across his skin, sizzling beneath his own power. “Not happening, Water Prince,” he gritted out between his teeth.

  But I caught the subtle flush to his cheeks.

  Oh, this would be fun.

  Whether anything would ever come of it remained to be seen. Merely taunting him satisfied me immensely.

  But it was Claire whom I adored and loved. If she ever wanted to play, I’d happily indulge her. And despite Titus’s opinions to the contrary, I suspected he’d gladly succumb as well.

  Fortunately, we had a long and prosperous future ahead to work out the finer details.

  Another rumble of the earth sent us all running ahead on a chuckle.

  Until the rumble turned into a quake.

  And our Claire screamed.

  Directly into our minds.

  Claire

  Falling.

  Pain.

  Suffering.

  The World Tree guided me through the chaos of Sol’s heart, a place where black, spiked vines wrapped around a pulsing core.

  Trapped memories that festered and bled, leaving an acrid stench in my nostrils that reminded me all too much of Elana and her evil.

  Even in death, she haunted me.

  I reached out and touched the darkness, bleeding my vitality into it and forcing the inky sickness to unravel and release its hold on my mate.

  The memories unfurled in a tumult of agony, taking me under in its sea of sorrow that had dwelled in my Earth Fae’s heart for far too long.

  And when I opened my eyes, I was no longer Claire.

  But Sol.

  A Spirit Fae with silver eyes towered over me at the front door, her hair pulled up tight at the top of her head. She kinda looked important. But she wasn’t supposed to be here. “You gotta leave,” I told her. Mom wasn’t home, but she’d be back soon.

  The lady didn’t smile.

  She sort of growled.

  Her presence was dark and wicked and not quite right. I didn’t like her.

  “Get out of my way, child,” the woman sneered, lashing at me with magic.

  Spirit magic.

  Mom once warned me about the Spirit Fae. She said they could control other fae. Fae like me. But most didn’t. Most were good. At least according to my mom.

  But I could tell this lady was bad. And not just ’cause of the way she looked at me. Her black cloak seemed weird, and she smelled funny.

  “Move,” she demanded once more.

  “No,” I said, folding my arms. “I’m not gonna.” My mom said not to let any strangers in the house while she was out with my little sister. She called me the man of the house. And this lady wasn’t gonna come in no matter what.

  She sighed. “Why do children never listen?” Her hand cracked the side of my face, sending me into the nearest wall with a loud thud.

  I gasped.

  My legs wobbled.

  Black spots messed with my eyes.

  ’Cause that hurt! A lot.

  But the scream from Aflora in the living room hurt more.

  “No!” I shouted, trying to find her. She was supposed to be hiding. I told her to when I saw the weird lady standing outside. But Aflora was always soooo difficult, refusing to listen. Even to my mom, who was supposed to be her mom now. I didn’t really get that. But now wasn’t the time.

  Mom put me in charge of Aflora.

  She was too small to fight on her own.

  I ran into the other room, the ground seeming to vibrate beneath me, and found my new sister against the wall with the evil woman’s hand locked around her throat. Aflora clawed at the lady’s arm like a wild animal, her stark blue eyes flaring with fear and fury.

  “Finally,” the woman said. Smoke twirled around her finger in a tendril of foreign magic that didn’t belong here. “Your parents did a good job of hiding you, little girl, but I have you now. The final Earth Fae Royal. Mine to devour and destroy.”

  The smoke turned into a thick rope, swirling in the air and unsettling the earth magic in the room.

  It was very wrong.

  It didn’t belong.

  I wanted it gone.

  With a stomp of my foot, the ground shook beneath the woman, knocking her off-balance. Aflora squirmed at exactly the right moment, jumping away from the crazy lady and sprinting toward me in the doorway.

  “You want to touch my sister, you gotta go through me.” I called for a root to wrap around my feet, forcing the earth to hold me upright as Aflora hid her little body behind mine. She grabbed my sides, her fear shaking us both like leaves in a breeze.

  The Spirit Fae turned, her gaze narrowed. “You’re a brave but foolish little boy. No royal blood. No Academy training. Nothing that’s worthy of my time.” She flicked her wrist, sending a wave of magic infused with
darkness to stab into my chest.

  Pain shot through me, causing me to bend forward, but my roots kept me standing. Darkness spread from the black dagger lodged into my chest.

  “Sol!” Aflora cried out, her grip on me tightening as her earth essence clung to mine.

  It burned.

  Fought off something on my behalf.

  And grew.

  Too much.

  Too bright.

  The source, I realized. Aflora somehow had access to it, even though she was a girl. They taught us in school that it was a boy’s power. Yet somehow she was giving it to me. And I latched on with all my might, needing the energy not to save myself but to save her.

  Because deep down I knew this lady was here to destroy my new sister.

  And as man of the house, I couldn’t let that happen.

  The lady roared in disapproval, causing my lips to curl. ’Cause that just meant I’d done something right. Or maybe it was Aflora.

  Either way, this lady had chosen the wrong house to barge into.

  She scowled as another burst of fresh power rooted itself inside me, protecting me and forming a barrier around the darkness that had iced over my heart. It burned cold and painful, but layers formed over my insides as I straightened once more.

  “What is this?” the woman demanded, slashing another wave of magic at me again.

  This time it pinged off of the shield the source had built for me—for me and Aflora—a barrier that nothing could penetrate, not even the darkness the Spirit Fae sent my way.

  “You can’t have my new sister,” I said, curling my fingers into fists as the ground around us began to shake. I’d always been strong, but now renewed energy flooded in without any sign of stopping. It frightened me, but I didn’t let that show on my face.

  The evil lady growled, the darkness swimming around her in that odd black cloak. “If I can’t have your new one, I’ll take your old one. And your mom, too. Unless the source seeks to protect them, too?”

  As if hearing the lady’s words, my mom came running into the house with my little sister at her side. Both their eyes wide. “Elana,” my mother gasped. “What are you doing here?”

  “I was trying to tie up a loose end, but your son has shown exquisite strength.” She narrowed her silver eyes at me. “Much to the cost of everyone else around you.”

  I gulped. That sounded bad. But everything should be okay now, right? Mom was home. She’d make this evil lady leave.

  She sighed loudly, her cheeks puffing with the motion. “Well, it seems the Earth Fae’s source is still beyond my reach. For now.” She stroked her black cloak. “No matter. I’m a patient woman, and I’m happy to do this the hard way.” She grinned, the expression making me sick to my stomach. Because it was me she grinned at. Not my mom. Not my sisters. But me. “Mark my words, boy. Your family. Your friends. Everyone you’ve ever loved will wither and die before your eyes. You won’t even know why, or how. You’ll just know that this all started with you.”

  She extended a crooked finger, making a shiver go through my bones with the force of her prophecy. She wasn’t a Fortune Fae, but I felt the weight of her promise just as much as any dark premonition the ominous fae could supply.

  I said something.

  Or thought it.

  But the words were lost to sudden darkness that overcame the room.

  Only to be disturbed by a scream that came from deep inside my house.

  My concentration faltered as I turned toward it. Aflora gripped my wrist, trembling, all the fight bleeding out of her as fear filled her eyes. “Sol, what’s going on?”

  I tried to reply.

  But I couldn’t.

  I… I couldn’t remember.

  Wasn’t there someone here? Someone bad?

  I turned again, spinning toward that dark, weighty feeling of spirit magic and wrongness.

  Nothing.

  Dread crept over me in a sickening wave as I took Aflora’s hand. “Let’s go inside,” I told her, the words tasting wrong in my mouth. I thought we were already inside?

  My torso burned hot as if I’d been branded with fire, but I straightened as Aflora looked to me for confirmation. She felt it, too. Something terrible had happened, but neither of us knew what or why.

  I scratched at my aching chest, which felt like it might split in two, as I went inside and found my mother and sister collapsed on the floor with strange, dark veins writhing under their skin.

  And froze as Aflora screamed.

  Because somehow, I knew, this had all been my fault.

  I just didn’t know why.

  Sol

  I woke with a start, feeling lighter than I ever had before despite the dark weight of my memories pressing at my soul.

  Because I remembered everything.

  Every detail of how it felt.

  It was never a Spirit Fae that scarred my soul, but the earth source itself. To protect me against Elana’s dark magic. To help me guard Aflora. To strengthen me with direct access to the element, then block me from ever taking on too much.

  And then it had blocked my memory of everything that happened to hide the truth from me until I was ready to face it.

  With Claire by my side.

  She blinked up at me with tears streaming down her cheeks. She’d been there, revisiting my memories with me, the source as our guide. Leaving me with the full access of a royal fae, my element finally feeling balanced inside me for the first time in my life.

  All because of Claire.

  She was my balance, my mate who could absorb the weight of my past and guide me into the future. To help shoulder my burden, stabilize my growing power, and keep me grounded.

  “Do you think Aflora knows?” Claire breathed, her blue eyes still ripe with tears.

  I shook my head. “No. She has no recollection of that night.” And something told me the core of our element wasn’t ready to tell her yet.

  Because that night with Elana was only the tip of the iceberg on Aflora’s past.

  How I knew that, I couldn’t say. I just did. Courtesy of the source, most likely. It would tell her in time, perhaps when she found a mate of her own. I would be there for her, as a big brother, but I sensed it wouldn’t be me she needed when that time came. Or our element would have given us both the truth long ago.

  Sighing, I snuggled my mate to my chest and held her tight.

  Vines, blooms, and an array of foliage and soil caked in all around us, having formed a cocoon during the healing. I sensed concern emanating from the mate-circle. It was strange to feel them so clearly now that I’d been fully bonded to Claire. Testing out the connection, I sent out a wave of reassurance that we were okay.

  An echo of relief returned, but they were watching over us until we were ready to unearth ourselves from our bonding cocoon.

  “That’s new,” Claire mused, nuzzling my neck.

  “What is?”

  “The five of you being able to communicate,” she replied. “Or whatever that was.”

  “You couldn’t do that before?”

  “Oh, I could. I can speak to all of you mentally. But the circle has never been able to communicate collectively, at least not as clearly as that.”

  “Interesting.” I drew in a deep breath, for the first time feeling whole. Not just because of Claire and my element, but because of them all.

  How wrong I’d been about Cyrus and Exos. I could sense it now, their powerful energy a hive of strength for our mating circle.

  Titus was the fire that inflamed all our passions, heightened our emotions, and resembled the glue between us all. Even though I doubted he’d ever admit it.

  And Vox represented the practical branch, his intelligence and cunning providing us all with the voice of reason and control. Our personal Air Fae philosopher. I would enjoy having this close access to his mind.

  A fun task for another day.

  Because now, I just wanted to be with my Claire. To revel in our pairing and the element surrou
nding us.

  “Part of me wishes Elana wasn’t dead,” Claire admitted. “Just so that I could kill her all over again.”

  I chuckled and stroked my mate’s hair, untangling the small blooms that had grown within the strands. “She’s gone, thanks to you. And now I know what really happened that day.” My chest was still heavy with the memory, but it felt good to know, to actually remember.

  Claire stroked my cheek as she gazed up at me. “Elana was trying to make her way through the royal lines. What do you think she was aiming to accomplish?” She frowned. “Other than spreading death and disease.”

  “She wanted the source,” I said, caressing my mate’s shoulder. It was the only explanation. “And she didn’t just want one element; she wanted them all. I suspect she desired ultimate control over our kind, which would require the power of all five elements.”

  Claire flinched. “I guess that’s why I was so attractive to her as a protégé.”

  I nodded. “Indeed.”

  Claire let out a long sigh as she nuzzled into me and closed her eyes. “Does it still hurt? What the source did to protect you.”

  I rubbed at my chest. “For the first time since I can remember, the pain is dulled. It’s still there.” There would always be scars. “But it’s not cutting into me anymore. It feels like I can finally heal now.” Mostly because I had my access to the source again, the shield it had created no longer a barrier between me and my power.

  “What was it like—seeing what happened to me?” I wondered out loud. “I could feel your presence but didn’t see you.”

  “Because I was you,” she said quietly. “I lived through the memory as if I were a seven-year-old Sol.”

  “There’s a scary thought,” I mused. “Not a good place for you to be, Claire.”

  She giggled and shook her head. “I doubt it’ll be a common occurrence, unless there are more memories locked up in that head of yours?”

  “Hopefully not,” I replied. Of course, I wouldn’t know for sure, but at this point, I doubted any of the others mattered. “But I suspect there are several hidden in Aflora’s mind.”

  Claire glanced up at me. “What do you mean?”