by Laney Powell
Chosen Hearts
Nobledark Academy Book Three
Laney Powell
Copyright © 2020 by Laney Powell
Chosen Hearts
Nobledark Academy Book Three
Cover Art: Infinity Book Covers
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Welcome to the Underworld
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Laney Powell
In darkness, there is light. All things in balance.
To all the seekers of balance and true love.
Chapter One
Olivia
As far as summer breaks went, this one wasn’t going the way I’d planned. Or even hoped.
Things had gone sideways before break even started. The night before I left my school, Nobledark Academy, my birth mother, Iliana, had surprised me at school. That in and of itself was out of the ordinary. Because the Concilium, our ruling council, had stationed staff at Nobledark for most of the last term, Iliana didn’t come and visit me much. She was a siren. And even though she was a Karidias, heir to the Karidias family, one of the three ruling siren families, the Concilium saw all sirens as Underworlders, supernaturals who preyed on humans as part of who they were.
And to the Concilium, Underworlders had to be controlled.
So it made sense that my birth mom wouldn’t want to hang around my school. But she’d showed up to tell me that Kassandra Mantilae, the third siren of the Arabethym Trinity, knew where her missing daughter was.
The Arabethym Trinity was a pact between the three ruling siren families. The Karidias, my family, the Pelagos family, and the Mantilae family. They were charged by the gods, eons ago, to make up for their bad habit of luring human sailors to their death. And the gods, in their nastiness, told the sirens that they were responsible for closing the hellways that let the demons travel between Hell and the human world.
In all the time since that burden had been dropped on the sirens, the closing of the hellways had never happened. I was convinced, and Iliana agreed with me, that the gods had given the sirens this burden with the knowledge that it would be difficult, if not impossible, for the sirens to get it done.
Because the three siren families couldn’t just get together, have a margarita, and say Poof! Hellways are closed. Oh, no. There was a whole process.
Each heir to the family had to have a daughter. When the daughters were of age, all three mothers and all three daughters had to be together, the moms handed off the responsibility, and then all six had to cast the spell to close the hellways.
If I ever saw one of the gods who did this, I’d do my level best to kick his or her ass.
Because all it did was put targets on the backs of the women of the three families. Sirens didn’t have sons, only daughters.
And right now, my state of affairs demonstrated why this was problematic. Marbys, who also went by Rafael from time to time, had managed to meet and woo each of the daughters from the families of the Arabethym Trinity. Each of those women had a daughter. I had two half-sisters. Raven, Aella Pelagos’ daughter, attended Darklight Academy, known as the Academy of the Underworld.
I’d first met Raven in the dreamscape. She was on the same mission as I was—find a stone that a pain in the ass demon was hounding us about. That was another little aspect about our curse laid on us by the gods. When the family was in danger, the heir to the family could turn into a stone. The Pelogos’ was the Ocean’s Light. The Mantilae family’s was the Night Stone’s. And the Karidias family held the burden of Persephone’s Blood, a deep red garnet stone.
Raven and I had found our family’s stones, and had gone to hell to give them to the demon, and get him off our backs.
When Marbys tried to put the stones together, they burst into a bright light. When the light dimmed, there were three women lying on the ground of that awful reddish black room in Hell. Aella, Raven’s mom. Kassandra, who had been unconscious.
And my mom, Iliana.
Which brought me back to the here and now. Iliana burst into my room, telling me that Kassandra’s daughter had been found.
It had taken a few days for Kassandra to remember the girl’s name—it was Violet—and she couldn’t remember what happened to her. Sometime after Kassandra became the Night Stone, and was found and held in secret by Marbys, her mother, Natalia, had died. Kassandra didn’t have a clue what happened to Violet.
But Iliana found Violet. I still didn’t know how, as Iliana hadn’t seen fit to share with me. It didn’t matter. What mattered was that Violet was alive, and had been found.
We had a chance to close the hellways and end this shit with Marbys once and for all.
I thought back to three nights ago, when Iliana had burst in. I’d heard a knock at my door and thought it was one of my guys. I opened it with a smile.
Iliana stood in the doorway, wrapped in a floor-length cloak.
“What are you doing here?” I asked. She and I had talked on the phone, but we’d decided that I wouldn’t see her at school again. It was too dangerous. Just because the Concilium was gone, it didn’t mean that someone like Iliana would be welcomed here.
She stepped in, pushing back her hood as she did. “I know what we agreed, but things have changed.”
“What? What happened? Is Marbys back?” A chill gripped me.
“No,” she shook her head, her hair falling into her face. “No, this is a good thing.”
“What?”
She took my hands, and her face was shining. “Kassandra woke fully. She remembers everything. She was able to tell us what she did after her daughter, Violet, was born.”
“That’s great,” I said, not understanding.
“Now we have to go and get her,” Iliana said. “She’s out there on her own.”
“You’re sure about that? About where she is?”
Iliana nodded, her eyes bright.
“Then let’s go get her. And end this, once and for all.”
As with everything, it wasn’t that simple. We couldn’t just go and get her. Kassandra had trusted her mother, Natalia, with Violet. She’d told her everything, about Marbys, about her suspicions of him, and her fear for Violet. She didn’t want to give Violet up, but she was afraid that Marbys would learn she had a child, and try to use it against her.
Which was pretty astute, in my opinion.
With Natalia gone, Kassandra had no idea what her mother had done with her daughter. Kassandra and Iliana went to the Mantilae estate, and finally, in a box with some papers from her mother, she found the note from Natalia—in ancient Greek no less—that told of where to find Violet.
Violet had been sent to England, and adopted by a woman who’d been friends with Kassandra, who knew Kassandra’s history. This woman, Geraldine, married a human with no magic, and decided that it was safer to raise Violet without magic as well. She knew the risks Violet could face.
“Kassandra discovered that Geraldine died in a car crash. She was in the car
with Violet, and wouldn’t you know it? Violet is missing,” Iliana said with wide eyes and a sarcastic tone.
“What about her dad? The human? He must be devastated,” I said. “He thinks he lost his wife and his daughter.”
“He is,” Iliana said quietly. “His name is Kevin Connolly. I went with Kassandra to see him. He has no idea that Violet was Kassandra’s. He loved Violet as though he was her blood father. He’s a mess.”
“If Violet’s alive, and she has no idea she’s magic, this is awful for her.”
“That’s why we have to find her,” Iliana said, her eyes narrowing and her jaw going firm.
“Is it Marbys? Does he have her?”
Iliana shook her head. “No. He’s been badly damaged, thanks to your efforts with your pack, Olivia,” she said, referring to the four guys that I had a serious relationship with.
I didn’t know what else to call it, but Silas, one of the guys who was a wolf shifter, called it a pack, and the term fit. We were a pack. A team. We worked better when we worked together.
“Well, that’s a good thing, right?” I asked.
“It solves one of our problems for the moment. He is banished, and licking his wounds, but he is always plotting to end our chances to finally close these damn hellways. We have another problem, however.”
“Which is what?” I’d asked. We always had just one more problem, it seemed.
“I discovered who it is that is holding her captive,” Iliana said.
“And that is?” I asked, impatient with her drawing this out.
She sighed. “It’s the Concilium.”
That had been three days ago. In that time, I’d gone back to my parents, Patty and Roger Washington, who were also my mom’s closest friends, and… nothing.
Nothing from Iliana.
Nothing from the guys. And we’d discussed that this summer, we’d go and visit each other, and tell our families the truth. My family already knew. My mom was highly intrigued. My dad hadn’t weighed in. I got the impression he wanted to meet the guys before making any judgements. I wasn’t worried on that score. They were great.
Silas Tomberle. Wolf shifter, and earth mage. Totally tall, dark, and handsome.
Matty and Jake Pearson. Water and fire mages, and twins. Also totally hot, in that big athletic way.
And Caspian Silverwood. A Light fae, with silvery blond hair that made me think of moonlight every time I saw him.
My parents would love them. Not just because they were amazing and talented, but because all four of them cared for me. Deeply.
It had only been three days, but I missed them terribly. And my best friends, Jade and Thalia. Even with all the drama and intensity of the last year after learning I was a half siren, half demon—Nobledark had become home.
And I missed it.
Chapter Two
Olivia
I was in my room, studying a book I’d gotten from the local witch’s library—we had them, but they were well hidden from human eyes—about the Concilium, and all the places they owned. Iliana said Violet was being kept prisoner by the Concilium, so it stood to reason that they’d hide her somewhere that they controlled. Anything else would be stupid.
“Livvy?” I heard my mom call out.
“Coming,” I answered her and got up, marking my place in the book with a piece of paper. The Concilium’s list of holdings was impressive, and kind of sinister. I was freely willing to admit that I had a bias, because they’d harassed me over the past year, and they’d harassed my mother, and thought of people like me as bad, with no hope of anything else. But maybe it was just a case of a ruling council being the ruling council for a long time.
Walking out into the living room, I could hear my mom’s voice out on the deck. We lived in an apartment in New York city, on Minetta Street. It was an older building, near Greenwich Village, and it had this odd, triangle-shaped yard attached to it. It wasn’t big, but my parents had built a deck, and put a small greenhouse on one end. My mom kept a garden along the rest of the deck. Our portal spot was in the middle of the greenhouse, to keep it from interested eyes.
“What’s up?” I asked as I walked out onto the deck.
Mom was hugging Iliana.
“Hey,” I said, coming to hug her as well. “What brings you here?”
“I haven’t found her yet, but I wanted to come and see you,” Iliana said, reaching up to stroke my hair. “All of you.” She squeezed Mom’s hand.
“Mom, why don’t you and Mána come in and sit? And we’ll talk,” I said.
Iliana sucked in a deep breath, which made me and Mom look at her.
“What?” I asked.
“You remembered,” she said.
The first time I’d met her, she’d asked me to call her Mána. It was Greek, and she’d said it meant ‘mother figure’. I wasn’t ready to call her anything at that point, but over the last semester, I’d gone from a place where I didn’t want to hear from her to wanting to call her something that recognized our relationship.
This worked. It honored her, and my mom, without taking anything away from either of them.
“Of course, I did,” I said, not wanting to get into it.”
We walked into the house, Mom and Mána arm in arm. They sat down on the couch, and I started the teapot without being asked.
“So when are we going to meet these men you keep talking about?” Mána asked.
“That’s a good question, sweetie. You know your dad and I are dying to meet them.
“I don’t know,” I said, feeling irritated. I hadn’t heard from them since school had ended, and I was feeling the lack of their company. It wasn’t just that—we had bonded magically as well when we closed the hellway in the school. Not all the hellways—I wish—but we’d managed to make the school safer and kick my annoying demon father, Marbys, somewhere where he wouldn’t bother me for a while. My magical side felt like I was missing a limb, because I was.
I hated summer break already.
“You can text them, invite them here for dinner,” Mom said.
“What, tonight?” I asked.
“Why not?” Mom asked, grinning at Mána. “We’ll get to meet them, they’ll meet us, and it will all be over in one night. Like ripping the band aid off quick.”
I thought about it. It wasn’t a bad idea, and my magical side was dying to see them as much as I was. I could feel the want, the need for their presence.
“Well, okay,” I said, and pulled out my cell phone.
Twenty minutes later, it was arranged. They would portal here, and we’d have dinner.
Mom and Mána were delighted, and immediately went to the kitchen to see what we had, and start planning.
“We need to go shopping,” Mána said, and she and Mom were gone before I could say a thing.
Dad, who had come in while they were talking, watched them go, a faint smile on his face. “They always were like that,” he said.
“Like what?” I asked.
“A force of nature. But it was never negative, so I shut up and got out of the way.”
“Are you anxious to meet the guys?” I asked. He’d been subdued on the call I’d had with him and Mom; I couldn’t get a read about his feelings.
“I worry for you, honey,” Dad said, one side of his mouth curling up. “I’ve not thought any man was good enough for you, and now you are telling me there are going to be four. It’s a bit hard on my dad side, but when I see you, I can tell you’re happy.”
“How can you tell?” I asked.
“Well, you’re more relaxed. You laugh more. You’re thinking differently, and there’s a maturity about you that I haven’t seen before. I’m not trying to be a fuddy duddy,” he said, laughing at the expression on my face. “But you asked, and this is what I see. I’ve seen you since you were only a couple of months old. I know my kid. And I see changes for the better,” he shrugged. “That doesn’t mean I’m not feeling protective and wanting to kick all their asses for even looking at my da
ughter.”
Now it was my turn to laugh. I reminded myself that I would not tell my dad I’d been sleeping with all four of them, not for a long, long time.
When my two moms came back, they were loaded down with bags.
“This is one time I wish we could just use magic to get the stuff back here,” Mom said, dropping her bags to the counter gratefully.
“As if anyone would notice,” Mána said.
“What are we having?” I asked.
“Well, in celebration of your Greek heritage, and me not being able to resist Iliana’s promise to cook, we’re doing all Greek tonight.”
“I hope you brought a lot,” I said. “Silas and the twins can really eat.”
“If not, we’re going to have amazing leftovers,” Mom said.
To start, we were having dolmade, stuffed grape leaves, and a Greek version of a house salad. Then Mom and Mána decided to make gyros, because that was an easy way to feed a lot of hungry people. They’d bought so many pitas. Mána was making her recipe for tzatziki sauce. That made me happy because there was nothing like a warm pita dipped in tzatziki. And then loukoumades, honey donuts, for dessert.
“I can’t wait,” I said.
About an hour later, I got a text from Silas.
On my way. Can’t wait to see you. XX
I went out to the deck and into the greenhouse. I wanted to see him alone, without anyone else around. There was going to be enough of the inspection vibe happening with all three of my parents.
A flash of light, and then Silas was standing in front of me. He opened his arms, and I stepped into them.
“I’ve missed you,” he said into my hair, inhaling deeply. When I’d first met Silas, he sniffed me a lot. Now I knew it was part of being a shifter, and having a really keen sense of smell. I didn’t mind it. “You smell like food,” he said.
