A Cage of Moonlight

by Jenna Wolfhart

  A Cage of Moonlight

  Dark Fae Academy - Book One

  Jenna Wolfhart

  A Cage of Moonlight

  Book One of the Dark Fae Academy Series

  Cover Illustration & Design by Jo Painter

  Copyright © 2018 by Jenna Wolfhart

  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.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Also by Jenna Wolfhart

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  About the Author

  Also by Jenna Wolfhart

  Dark Fae Academy Series

  A Cage of Moonlight

  A Heart of Midnight

  Otherworld Academy Trilogy

  A Dance with Darkness

  A Song of Shadows

  A Touch of Starlight

  Protectors of Magic

  Wings of Stone

  Carved in Stone

  Bound by Stone

  Shadows of Stone

  The Bone Coven Chronicles

  Witch’s Curse

  Witch’s Storm

  Witch’s Blade

  Witch’s Fury

  Prologue

  Taveon

  Prince Taveon spotted Bree Paine from across the throne room of the Light Fae realm. Something about Bree called out to him, and a strange electric energy passed through his gut. He felt pulled to her, inexplicably. Magic simmered in his veins, a deep dark magic that drew Taveon toward her. He felt himself move two steps closer, despite his urge to stay rooted to the spot. And he could not drag his gaze away from her deep blue eyes.

  Bree was a curious creature. Once human, now turned Light Fae. And she was a shapeshifter, but one who had control over the beast that lived inside her. That was rare.

  “Her,” he said, pointing at Bree. ”She is the one I want.”

  The sacrifice. The Light Fae’s gift to Taveon, the Prince of the Dark Fae, in order to prevent his realm from invading theirs. Princess Norah had killed his father, King Midas. If Taveon’s realm discovered what she had done, they would want to avenge their King.

  But it was all a lie, one he strangely felt compelled to make, as if another voice was speaking through him. It made no sense, but there it was. Prince Taveon had no desire to destroy the Light Fae. His father had been a vicious, cruel King, and Taveon would not tell a single soul what had happened here this night. The Dark Fae would never have to know the truth about Midas’s death. And yet...Taveon wanted—no, he needed—Bree Paine to return to his realm with him, and he would say whatever it took to make her come willingly by his side.

  The magic still burned hot in his veins. Whatever was driving Taveon toward this girl was far beyond anything he had ever felt in his very long life.

  “Norah, it’s okay. I’ll go,” Bree said as she gently took the future Queen of Otherworld’s hand in hers.

  Once again, Prince Taveon was struck by her beauty. There was a light shining from within her, one that dimmed every other soul in the room. He blinked and glanced away, jaw clenched tight. Whatever drove him to speak those words was a strange magic he did not understand. And he did not trust it in the slightest.

  He would need to be careful around Bree. He would need to protect himself.

  While he might not truly understand what was happening, he knew one thing with every fiber of his being. If he wasn’t careful, Bree Paine could rip his heart to shreds.

  Chapter 1

  Bree

  Bree Paine wasn’t in chains, but she was a prisoner all the same. She rode beside Prince Taveon, the son of the King who ruled over the realm of the Dark Fae. The former King, actually. His death at the hands of her best friend was why Bree was in this predicament in the first place, though she’d be lying if she said she didn’t find this whole thing more exciting than terrifying.

  “So, what exactly is it that you want me to do for you? Or are you not going to tell me?” Bree asked as she cast a sideways glance at the Prince who rode beside her. His face was angular, his jawline sharp and smooth at the same time. His skin faintly glowed, like the pale shimmer of a midnight moon, and his pointed ears cut through his long, thick strands of coal black hair.

  If he wasn’t a dangerous, violent Dark Fae, he might be fairly good looking.

  Okay, really good looking.

  Prince Taveon kept his gaze focused on the path ahead instead of giving Bree even a momentary glance. “I shall be training you to fight for me.”

  Bree frowned. “Okay, but for what?”

  “It will all be revealed in time,” he merely said.

  Bree rolled her eyes, but the Prince didn’t see. She had agreed to this whole thing in an exhilarating moment, plowing forward with the hope of saving the Light Fae’s realm—Otherworld—from the hands of the Dark Fae. But it was impossible not to wonder if she’d made a mistake, especially when Prince Taveon wouldn’t tell her a damn thing about what he had planned for her.

  “Come on,” she said, tightening her grip on the horse’s reins. “You’ve got to give me something. At least tell me what’s going to happen when you have to tell everyone that King Midas is now dead.”

  His frowned deepened. “Technically, the crown should go to me, but there may be some...disagreements about that. Some of my father’s aides were not too keen on me. If they have any suspicion at all that I helped Princess Norah escape...well, I cannot say how they will react. They can be vicious and cruel when they feel wronged.”

  Princess Norah was Bree’s best friend and the future ruler of Otherworld. She’d been kidnapped by the Dark Fae and taken into their realm, but the Prince had helped her escape when he realized she didn’t possess the same kind of shapeshifting abilities that Bree did.

  Bree was a Redcap, which meant she had the ability to change into a wolf-like beast, though it wasn’t a power she was particularly proud of. Redcaps often killed innocents. And that was something that Bree never wanted to do. Ever.

  “You speak as though you’re nothing like them,” she couldn’t help but snark. He was, after all, the one who had ori
ginally kidnapped her friend, Norah, even if he had also been the one to bring her back. Bree had a sneaking suspicion he had only ‘rescued’ Norah because she couldn’t give him what he wanted.

  Finally, he cut his eyes her way. “Just because I am letting you ride unchained, do not forget who you are speaking to. You are my servant from this moment on. You will do as I say, and you will show me respect. If you cause problems, I can always make things worse for you, and the rest of my kind would do nothing but cheer me on.”

  Bree blinked and glanced away from the Prince’s face, grinding her teeth together. How dare he treat her this way? Especially when she was practically doing him a favor. She could have said no when he’d made his demands. She could have told him exactly where he could shove it. But she couldn’t have, not really. Prince Taveon had made his position very clear. Bree could go with him to the realm of the Dark Fae as a sign of good faith, as a sacrifice from Norah. Or his kind would invade Otherworld, enraged by the death of their King and desperate for blood. Lots and lots of blood. So much blood that the beautiful lands would drown in it.

  Because Princess Norah? She’d been the one who had killed the King, making her and the rest of Otherworld ‘Enemy Number One’ in the eyes of the Dark Fae.

  “Come on. Just tell me something. Anything.” Bree shot him a smile, hoping the expression would ease some of his strange gruffness. “The whole point of you wanting a Redcap like me is because you’re hoping we can come up with a way to end the Tithe, right? Once and for all.”

  The Dark Fae and the Light Fae were bound together by a yearly Tithe. Every year, the Light Fae took human babes from the human realm, swapping them with their own fae children. The humans were corrupted by the magic of fae, and they were transformed into vicious beasts. Into Redcaps. The beasts were then sent back into the human world so the infection could spread through humanity like the deadly virus it was.

  All because the Dark Fae needed the energy of humans to survive, and the Redcaps were their way of getting it. Every time another human got infected by the virus, the Dark Fae got another hit of life-force energy.

  If the Dark Fae didn’t get that energy, every single one would die.

  But Prince Taveon wanted to find a way to change things. Or at least that was what he’d said.

  He stopped his horse suddenly, letting out a frustrated sigh. “If I explain things to you, will you stop pestering me? I prefer to spend my journeys in peace.”

  She gave him a look. “Man, you’re fun, but okay. Sure. I’ll stop talking to you if you give me some answers.”

  He cut his eyes her way, his entire body taut. “Very well then. Just remember that you insisted on hearing this now. I will not be telling anyone the truth about my father’s death, and you would be wise to follow my lead. The Court will be told that he fell from wounds inflicted by a Breking monster. One that was not controlled by Princess Norah. The Dark Fae will not invade as long as they do not know the truth about his death.”

  A deep frown pulled down the corners of Bree’s lips. “Wait a minute. You told Norah that they’d invade unless you brought back a sacrifice. That they would see me as payment for what she did.”

  His lips twitched, and he refused to meet her eyes. “If they know the truth, they will invade, sacrifice or not.”

  Blood boiled in Bree’s veins as she stared hard at Taveon’s brutally handsome face. “So, you lied to me. You wanted me to come here with you, so you came up with a lie to get me here.”

  “A slight twist of words and nothing more.”

  Bree’s hands curled into fists, and her heartbeat slammed hard against her ribcage. How could he? She shook her head, mouth dropping open. “I trusted you. I truly thought you wanted to help our realm. But...” The blood drained from her face as a new horrible realization washed over her. “What else have you lied about? Do you actually even care about stopping the Tithe?”

  “The Tithe is a concern, but it is not my first priority.” He tightened his grip around the horse’s reins. “My first priority is winning the Battle for the Crown and following in my father’s footsteps by sitting on his throne.”

  “The Battle for the Crown?”

  He gave a nod and flicked his reins, motioning his horse forward down the dirt path. “In our realm, we do not merely follow a normal succession for Kings. The eldest son has first claim, but any other fae with a claim may challenge it. Any male who wishes to do so will put forward a shapeshifter champion to fight in the Battle for the Crown.”

  Bree’s heart stammered, and she understood at once. “You brought me here to be your champion. You don’t want to save Otherworld from an invasion, and you couldn’t care less about the human realm either. All you want is a stupid crown.”

  Hate began to boil in her veins. Prince Taveon was far worse than she had thought. Tears pricked her eyes, and a strange kind of sadness battled with the anger. She’d left behind everything to come here. And she’d only done so because of a lie. She thought that she’d be helping Princess Norah and the Light Fae realm, and that she’d be helping humanity as well by finding a way to put an end to the Tithe.

  “Do you even care about the Tithe?” Bree demanded. “Are you even going to try to stop it? What about the humans? They’re innocent in this.”

  He let out a chuckle, and unease slithered along Bree’s skin. “Humans are far from innocent. When I have taken the crown, I will turn my attention to the Tithe but not for their benefit. For ours. No more going through the Light Fae to get our energy. Now, you will be the hand that draws our energy. You will go into the human realm and do the deed yourself.”

  Bree opened her mouth to argue, to plead, to anything. This could not be happening. She had voluntarily given up her freedom. For this? To be turned into a monster. To spread the virus. To act as a vessel of violence and death.

  She would not do it. She would not become that kind of monster for them.

  “Halt.” Prince Taveon pulled on his reins and stopped short on the path, throwing out his hand toward Bree. Frowning, she followed suit, watching as he gazed around at their surroundings. Ravens soared through the skies above and silence rained down on their heads. Nothing and yet everything about it looked wrong to her. The moon hung high above, one that was so large that it seemed to take up the entirety of the sky. Stars sparkled, though they were dimmed by the brilliance of the moon. And everything around them—the grass, the trees, the river streaming by—was all doused in a silvery blue light.

  It was beautiful but also strange. Bree had never seen anything like it, not during her childhood in the human realm and not during the past few months she had spent in the realm of the Light Fae.

  “Are you able to transform into the beast on command?” Prince Taveon asked in a low voice that was laced with a dangerous kind of dread that make Bree’s bones begin to quake. Something was wrong.

  “Sometimes,” she said in a whisper. “Not always though. I’m still working on it.”

  He gave a nod. “If you transform, will you go wild or will Bree still be in that beastly brain of yours?”

  “I’m not fully in control. Not yet.”

  “Then, we cannot risk it,” he said, swinging his leg over his horse and hopping down to the ground in one fluid movement. “Get down and stay behind me. We have been spotted by the Wilde Fae, and they will be coming for us.”

  Bree felt the blood drain from her face, and her heart began to tremble in her chest for the first time since agreeing to go on this strange adventure. “The Wilde Fae? But I thought they were an Otherworld thing?”

  “They are an Otherworld thing, and they are an Underworld thing as well.” He cut a sharp look in Bree’s direction. “Now, get down off that horse and stay behind me.”

  Bree followed his orders, if only because she didn’t know what else to do. Hate still churned in her stomach, and the betrayal of Prince Taveon still hung heavy between them. But she couldn’t think about that right now, not when the Wilde Fae were coming
for them. Her fingers itched for a sword. Even a dagger would be better than being empty-handed.

  “Give me a weapon,” she said, not even attempting to keep her voice “respectful” as the Prince had ordered earlier. Now was not the time for that kind of thing, and all his lies had quickly caused Bree to lose any ounce of respect she might have felt. Not that she’d felt much of any before. “I trained at Otherworld Academy with Alwyn Adair for a little while. She taught me how to use a blade.”

  He arched an eyebrow, clearly surprised. “For how long?”

  “A few months.”

  He grunted his response. “A few months is nothing.”

  Still, he pulled a dagger from the strap around his left thigh and tossed it her way. She caught the hilt just before the sharp edge of the blade hit her shoulder. And then she narrowed her eyes.

  “I’m not going to be much use to you if you kill me on the first day,” she said in a snap, whirling the hilt around so that the blade was now pointed away.

  “If you hadn’t caught it, it wouldn’t have killed you. You would have had a wound, one that would have healed easily enough.” He stiffened as he twisted toward the nearby forest, his eyes scanning the luminescent greenery. “Get ready, Redcap.”