And set off the explosives, I finished in my mind. A shudder ran through me. Adrenaline shot into my veins, allowing me to finally move my fingers and toes.
Onyx stared at Lady Cardinal for a long moment, then grabbed the heavy chains that had been around me. “We’re taking her with us. She might have useful information.”
Thorsten looked like he was about to protest, but then nodded as he picked up Lady Cardinal’s blood crystal and tucked it into his pocket. Having a prisoner with us would slow us down, but it might also benefit us in the future. After this, the vamps would declare war on the fae. And we needed all the intelligence we could get.
I rose to my trembling legs. I should be able to walk thanks to us fae healing quickly, but I wasn’t sure I could run. Onyx and Thorsten, meanwhile, bound Lady Cardinal in the chains and snapped the lock into place.
Onyx pushed Lady Cardinal in front of her, and Thorsten jostled the heavy, metal door open. “I've never seen this part of the Academy before,” Onyx said.
But I had. The corridor of Nocturnal Reformatory met my gaze. “Follow me. I’ll get us out the quickest way.”
17
Whatever nightmares Onyx had experienced inside the Simulator seemed to be lost on her as we hurried out of the small brick room. Outside, I immediately recognized the hallway that held the interrogation room. The damp stone smell gave it away. Candles spit light on the walls as Thorsten dragged Lady Cardinal in front of him. The headmistress said nothing and didn’t fight as the chains clinked.
“You know the way out?” I asked. “You turn right at the T.”
“I've seen it,” Thorsten said. “I used to be a guard.”
His tone told me he hadn't approved of the Reformatory and likely hadn't worked down here. He shoved Lady Cardinal faster as I tried to cut in front of him, but it was no use. The corridor didn't allow much room.
Thorsten seemed fully recovered, making me think the rumors about the Steinberg blood being powerful were true. Onyx pressed her mouth into a grim line, like she was determined to make it through the situation, no matter what. She must’ve been through a lot since she had left Nocturnal Academy. As had I. For the first time, I felt camaraderie toward my former enemy.
“You told Lord Vulthus I could use glamour,” Onyx said, shattering the peace I felt as we turned the corner to enter Cell Block 1. The cells were empty, every door thrown open. Now-wilting plants and vines had sprung from the dirt of the cells. The guards had come down here and freed the fae early, probably before the vamps brought us down here, far from the entrance. Did Caleb know I was alive?
“I did,” I admitted. “It was stupid. I thought I could win his favor. My mouth won’t stop running, will it?”
Onyx balled her fists, and just as I thought she was about to clog me, which I totally deserved, she unballed her hands and took a deep breath. “You freed us down there. I’d still be in the Simulator if not for you. We’re even.” She studied me, still not trusting me. That was another thing I couldn’t blame her for.
I’d take the truce. “Yes, we’re even.” We all had the common goal of getting out of here.
Lady Cardinal snapped her head around to look at us. Her irises were red. “You’ll pay for this,” she hissed as we reached the steps.
“We paid enough,” I said as we climbed up the familiar spiral stairway.
Onyx grabbed my arm. “How long until this bomb goes off?”
Panic exploded in my chest. “Caleb didn’t trust me with that information.”
Onyx gave a terse nod as Thorsten started down the third-floor hallway, then up the long spiral staircase. He pushed open the secret door and we entered the school proper.
It was more silent than I had ever heard it.
Thorsten led us toward the secret door, past the slumped vampire guards, some with sleeping darts still embedded in their arms and necks. Dead fae soldiers lay among them, scattered, pools of blood surrounding them. Nausea gripped me. We had no time to check if any had signs of life. A few ash piles had joined the dead. Down the long corridor, however, there were no fae students, prisoners, or servants. Nor did I see the vampire students.
Lady Cardinal let out a muffled, agonized croak at the sight. Good. It was time that her career as an exploiter came to an end.
When we reached the secret door with the green brick, Thorsten moved his hand across the bricks as if he'd done so a million times. He pushed open the door, and we stepped through. More vamp guards who were passed out from the poison darts were strewn across the steps and the stone floor beyond. Stepping over them, we descended the staircase, not all the way to the bottom where vampires parked their cars, but to one of the many double doors that led to the side of the mountain. We passed guard booths and open crates of supplies. Folded tarps. Food shipments that no one would ever eat. A cooler that must house blood bottles.
Thorsten paused. “The sun.”
Onyx’s eyes widened. My heart thumped. We couldn’t stay in here. We needed to continue moving. I dug through the storage crates and found a blue tarp. “Will this work?”
“It has to,” Onyx said as I tossed it to her. She threw the tarp over herself, Lady Cardinal, and Thorsten. The large tarp bathed them in blue darkness.
I stepped to the front of our door and pulled open the double doors, revealing the forested mountains. Crisp, early autumn air washed over us. Lady Cardinal groaned at the faint invasion of sunlight she might be experiencing, but I ignored her. Instead I reached under the tarp and took Onyx’s hand, something I thought I’d never do.
Onyx squeezed my hand, trusting me to lead the way. And I did, emerging onto a well-worn mountain trail that led downward. We were close to the lake. Figures that were not much bigger than dark dots were gathered on its shore. The trail was surrounded by cliffs and jagged rocks. And yet with the bomb going off at any minute, we had no choice but to run.
Lady Cardinal grunted again in displeasure, and I glanced back to make sure the tarp was staying over our prisoner and Thorsten. He seemed to be holding it in place, though he panted, “We need shade.”
“This way!” I led them to the nearest cluster of thick pines and then underneath them. Thorsten sighed in relief.
Then the world exploded. A loud bang made my ears ring, and the shaking ground threatened to throw me off my feet. Gravel pelted me from the trail, stinging my shins and back. We threw ourselves down and waited. After a minute, I dared to glance back through the trees and boulders just as the front of the shuttered castle caved inward with a deafening roar. Bricks collapsed onto the side of the mountain, creating a rockslide that made it halfway down the trail toward us before stopping. Another explosion followed, and then another and another, each one from deeper within the castle. Crashes and the creaks of breaking lumber joined in on the fray. Towers toppled. The roof of the center section imploded and crumpled.
At last, the noise stopped, though it echoed in my head. I blinked dust from my eyes, staring through the tree trunks at the billowing dust. No one spoke.
And I rose, gripping a tree trunk, as the dust cloud settled.
From the direction of the lake, now behind us, cheers erupted. The other fae. The freed fae. I whirled. A small party of the figures ran toward us. My throat caught, and I couldn’t utter a sound. The school I had once called home...it was gone, along with every piece of my old life.
Onyx stepped out from under the tarp that hid Lady Cardinal and Thorsten. “And this concludes the end of Nocturnal Academy.” A smile bloomed on Onyx’s face as she eyed the ruins of the vampires’ most prized institution. She kept her hand under the tarp where Thorsten and Cardinal remained.
The small party running up the trail was getting closer and closer. I could make out green and brown uniforms, and a fae with brown hair and a quiver on his back.
“Peony!” Caleb shouted, his voice filled with relief.
“Caleb!” I should be angry. He had left me down there, hoping I’d get out on my own, but what choice did he
have? The mission had to come first, and he had to be out here to detonate the explosives.
Before, I would have snubbed him for such an act. Tried to destroy him. But there were bigger things than myself.
He reached me and stopped as the four soldiers who had run up behind him stayed back and gave us space. “You made it. Thank the Summer Court! I tried to find you, but we had to evacuate the students and go ahead with the plan before the guards woke up or in case someone else called vampires outside the academy for reinforcements. Even in the daytime, the vampires can find ways to travel.” His voice was filled with pain, and I knew that it had been a struggle to leave me. The intensity in his eyes made me wonder if he was about to kiss me.
“Yes. Some have cars with tinted windows,” I said. “Does that mean I get to stay in the Summer Court?” I breathed, since that was much more straightforward than the strange feelings I had for him.
Caleb grinned. “A fae’s promise is binding. I’ll talk to my father.”
Onyx joined us. “What about all these students and servants?” She motioned to the lake that spread out ahead and below. The cheering had subsided to leave the silence of the wilderness.
“They cannot go to the faeland. For now.” Caleb stepped away and his smile dropped. “My troops will set up a safe house here in the mountains until we decide what to do next. Father believes that the earthbound fae are deserters. I must convince him that they are, in fact, valuable assets as it was they who escaped the infertility plague so long ago.”
Tension rose in my shoulder blades. Politics and machinations would never end. “Your father, you said, approved of your mission.”
“He approved of me freeing the fae, but we did not discuss the matter beyond that. Perhaps he thought that I would...never mind. And he cannot know that I worked with a Winter fae.” He looked at me, eyes intense.
I swallowed. I knew what Caleb had left unspoken. “I promise that I will not tell him.”
Onyx didn’t seem surprised by Caleb’s answer. She nodded slowly. “There’s still a lot of work left. The vampires will fight back. There are enslaved fae all over the world. I won’t rest until they’re free and we’ve toppled the vampires’ entire system.” Her determination gave way to a smile as she looked at me. “Thank you for your help, Peony.”
Strange warm tingles washed over me as Caleb drew closer to my side. “Maybe someday we can get all of the fae home.” He shook Onyx’s hand. “It was a pleasure fighting with you.”
“Likewise.” Onyx eyed the tarp, then the sun. It was almost noon. The fight had gone on for hours.
Noticing her gaze, Caleb said, “My warriors will get you back safely to a car.”
“Thanks. I’ll be taking Lady Cardinal back to my mansion.”
Caleb hesitated, then said, “Be careful with your prisoner.”
“I will.”
Onyx had a mansion? I eyed her, remembering that she had turned out to be the daughter of King Olwen, the king of the Winter Court. Of course she would.
Caleb stepped under the tarp and exchanged a few words with Thorsten. When he came back out, he motioned for me to follow him. “My father is expecting me back home. Even a bastard son has some duties to the court.”
I held in my sigh of relief. Perhaps his father hadn't let him go on a suicide mission. “How do we get back? It’s not the full moon,” I said as Caleb guided me through the trees to a fairy ring, which encircled a jagged tree stump.
“When the king summons one, it doesn’t matter if it’s the full moon,” Caleb explained. “I can feel his pull on me. He’s getting impatient.”
I was about to step into the fairy ring with Caleb when he stopped. “Peony, if you come with me, you will be the lowest ranking member of the Court, as a fae born on Earth.” He tilted his head and studied me. “I know you will not like that, so if you want something different out of our deal you shall have it. I could give you a fancy mansion here on earth and generous funds that will ensure a comfortable life until the day you die.”
I swallowed hard. Weeks ago, I would’ve taken this alternative, the shiny option that was much easier. But, I was no longer the same person who had entered Nocturnal Reformatory. I was transformed, just not in the way the vamps had hoped. “I choose the faeland, Caleb.” I stepped closer to him so that our noses were almost touching. “I don’t care what my social standing will be. I want to return to the faeland even if it won’t be easy.” I bit my lip, remembering something else. “We have to stop Mrs. Wu before she uses the fertility plant to breed her fae servants.” I was certain she had taken the plant the same day I’d escaped Nocturnal Academy.
Caleb’s eyes darkened. “Yes. We must stop her.” He brought his lips an inch from mine. “Will you fight for us, Peony?”
“You have my word.” Then I pressed my lips against his. It was just a quick caress like a butterfly’s touch, but it was everything to me.
Reluctant Fae
Fae Prison Academy Book 1
1
A knock at the wooden library door made me sit up ramrod straight and shut the book on economics I’d been reading. You did not relax when you were a vampire’s slave.
Nina, a middle-aged fae servant in a black blouse and skirt set, entered, and I stood, knowing by her stern expression that she was here for me and the news was not good. She looked down at the stack of supply chain management books I’d been reading and frowned. Reading wasn’t a normal pastime for a vampire’s official courtesan.
“Nina?” I crossed my arms over my low cut, silk dress, which was more in line with my official status. Thankfully, my master had me only act as a courtesan on the surface.
So far. My mouth went dry from the thought alone of my good fortune running out.
“What are you doing, Miss Virgie?” Nina wrinkled her nose in disapproval.
“Nothing.” I wasn’t officially forbidden to study at Steinberg’s library, but it wasn’t entirely appropriate for a courtesan.
Nina pursed her lips. “Amber Steinberg is here and wants to see you in the sitting room.”
I froze, then I regained my composure and readjusted my LBD and strutted over to the door in my pumps, even though I didn’t want to be anywhere near Steinberg’s creepy sister. “Of course. Would you be so kind and bring us tea?”
Nina nodded and led the way down the corridor. My heels clicked against the stone floor, the sound echoing as I forced a smile on my face. Since my arrival at Griffin Steinberg’s mansion nearly half a year ago, I had often asked myself why he had purchased a courtesan when he never touched me. Courtesan fae were much more expensive than servant fae. And the errands Griffin sent me on around Denver seemed trivial. They almost felt like he wanted me to get out of the house and be seen, rather than something that needed to be done by me specifically, because any servant could do it. I tried not to question him too much and be grateful for my cushy position, both of which had become much harder a week ago when Steinberg’s sister Amber arrived from France, leaving her husband behind in their chateau.
Nina reached the sitting room and opened the mahogany door. My heart raced into my throat, but I stepped inside to be greeted by velvet settees and ebony tables. To my disappointment, Amber, a middle-aged brunette with a strict pageboy haircut, was already sitting at the piano. Redness had crept into her eyes since last night, the sure sign of vampire hunger.
“Lady Amber, Miss Virgie.” Nina curtsied and exited, shutting the door behind her and locking me in with a click.
Amber motioned with her long, veiny fingers for me to come closer. “Virgie,” she cooed, flashing her fangs. “Let me have a look at you.”
I tried not to grimace as her gaze slid over my body. I forced myself to step closer, not because I wanted to, but because I knew she’d enjoy whatever she had planned even more if I seemed reluctant. Since her arrival, Amber had been eyeing me the way a cat studies a mouse.
Now she had me in a corner.
Amber adjusted my black dress right a
bove my breasts and trailed her hands down my sides. My skin tightened. She trembled with barely hidden need. So far, Amber hadn’t flat out asked me to pleasure her. It probably went against her strict upbringing, the consequences of which I had witnessed when she had dabbed her mouth a thousand times with her cloth napkin during dinner and had nearly choked when the desserts had come with the wrong spoon.
I shuddered for a moment and struggled to stay still.
Had Griffin Steinberg purchased me for his sister to keep it hidden that she was a lesbian? I imagined he’d do anything to keep her unstable ass happy. Focusing on those thoughts was better than the present.
Amber’s hand grazed over my pubic bone, and I gritted my teeth. I had been trained as a courtesan, so her touch was something I was meant to endure, but Amber’s ambivalence regarding her true sexuality and desires was so much worse than if she had flat out made a request. She made me feel dirty. Her irises glowed with red as she cupped my ass, digging her fingernails into my buttocks. I closed my fists. Amber’s mouth fell open, revealing the tips of her fangs.
My heart thumped, no doubt letting her smell my fear. Amber smiled and turned her gaze upward to meet mine. Only hunger lived there, unrestrained at last. She would bite me, maybe even drain me.
I would have to use my persuasion skills and fast.
“You wanted me to sing a song?” I met her gaze and willed her to stop touching me. Pressure formed behind my brows as I kept thinking, Pick a song. Pick a song.
Amber must’ve snapped out of her lust, because she dropped her hand and faced the piano. “Yes, please.” The redness quelled in her eyes, and I held in my sigh of relief as I smoothed out my dress, wishing I could wipe away her touch.
“Ave Maria.”
I groaned inwardly. A song about Virgin Mary after Amber had pawed me. Yes, Amber definitely had a Madonna-whore complex.
The Nocturnal and Fae Prison Academy Boxset [A Complete Paranormal and Fantasy Series Boxset] Page 69
