Of Fate and Fortune: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance (Arcane Arts Academy Book 4)

by Elena Lawson

“Is there a key?” Draven asked her, jerking his chin in the direction of the door.

  She nodded and procured one out of the pocket of her gown. Even though Draven held his hand out for the long piece of brass, the woman stepped forward and handed it to me, closing my fingers over the cool key with her clammy hands. “Welcome home,” she said and spun on her heel, releasing me to head back towards the back of the house. I couldn’t see anything reminiscent of a cabin behind the high walls of the villa and I wondered how far into the trees her home was.

  “Hey!” I called before she was out of sight. “What’s your name?”

  The woman paused and very slowly turned her head back with a half-hearted smile that spoke of some sadness I couldn’t comprehend. “It’s Dee,” she told me. “You can call me Dee,” and then she started off again, hollering back, “I’ll bring you all some breakfast in a few hours,” before she was out of sight—lost amid the trees.

  “Did you hear that?” Cal said, suddenly chipper as he turned to move with us toward the door, rubbing his hands together. “Guess I got out of cooking.”

  I smacked him with the back of my hand, and he nursed the imaginary injury, rubbing his arm with a pout.

  I rolled my eyes at him. “Just get in the house.”

  12

  The key turned smoothly in the lock and Draven was the first in through the door, hissing slightly as the darkness inside enveloped him and he knew he was safe.

  I followed him inside and cast a light sigil to see by, whispering the incantation with a yawn. “Lucidus.”

  The glowing orb of bluish light rose above us, illuminating our immediate surroundings. It was a grand entryway with cool tile underfoot and high ceilings. There were iron hooks in the wall to my right for jackets, and a bit further up from the main entry the house split off into three directions. It was too dark and shadowy still for me to be able to see everything, but as I took off my shoes and stepped forward, I could make out the shapes of furniture covered in thin white fabric in each room to either side.

  One had a large heart and looked to be a sitting room, and the other to my right seemed like a music room. It had a grand piano and not much else.

  Straight ahead was a wide hallway leading into the heart of the house, and on the left of the hallway was a straight staircase leading up to the second level, a red carpet running up its middle. It was musty and more than a little dusty inside and I had to pinch my nose for a second to stop an oncoming sneeze. I wondered offhandedly if the woman who proclaimed to be a caretaker really didn’t do anything at all since my father last left.

  I sighed. As much as I wanted to uncover everything and start searching for the answers Martin said I might find within these walls—my exhaustion was winning out over my curiosity—at least for the moment. And there was still work to be done before any of us could sleep.

  “Why don’t you find a room, Drav?” I offered. “There are blackout curtains and tape in my suitcase for you to cover the windows.”

  He smirked, seemingly surprised I thought to bring something to block out the sun for him. “Thank you.”

  I nodded. “We’ll do our best to cover up the rest of the windows before we go to sleep. I don’t want you to have to stay confined to one room every day we’re here.”

  Draven didn’t answer, but I saw how the lines in his forehead smoothed just before he started ascending the staircase.

  “Do we really have to do that right now?” Adrian all but whined. “I’m tired.”

  I shook my head and tossed my carry-on at him. “You slept on the plane,” I said, and yawned. “So yes, you,” I said pointedly, looking at the pair of them in case Cal thought he was going to get out of it since he was able to sleep in the limo, too. “are going to do that right now. Everything you need is in the bag.”

  I was already halfway up the stairs when they began to groan and I heard the zipper of my carry-on bag being undone.

  “Thank you, boys,” I called back down to them sweetly with a wicked grin. “Oh, and wake me when breakfast arrives, will you?”

  Cal cursed and Adrian must have dropped the bag because there was a loud thud from below as they set to work.

  My pulsating witch-light followed me closely as I made my way into the hall above. They would have to rely on their canine eyes to see by until the sun fully rose since I didn’t think to bring flashlights, and upon flicking one of the switches in the hall, I found the lights didn’t work. Either they were burned out, or the power had been shut off so as not to waste it.

  I could hear the rustle of fabric to my left and followed the sound, finding the opposite hall to be too dark and ominous to want to go down alone. I’d rather sleep close to where there was someone else in the strange house.

  Walking by the room Draven decided to occupy, the first room on the left, I peered inside to find him shirtless and changing, the blackout curtains already in place over the windows. I rushed past, blushing, and propelled myself into the next room. It was a little way down the hall, the door to enter it on the right side of the hallway.

  I drew my light inside with me and blinked into the gloom, sneezing as dust filtered down from someplace I’d disturbed above and tickled my nose. It was a simple room, with a low bed, a dresser and a nightstand. Nondescript. A guest bedroom, maybe?

  To my side was a wooden closet door with a black iron latch. I lifted the latch—which was near rusted shut and pulled the witch-light to me to see inside.

  I froze, a scream bulging in my throat that came out as a whimper instead. Inside was a mess of cobwebs. That would have been fine. I could have dealt with webs. But what I could not deal with was the large shining black spider at its center. Worse, the smaller spiders—babies—that moved along the silky web as though trying to protect their mother from the intruder who disturbed them.

  Gagging, I slammed the door back shut, pushing hard on the wood so the latch would fall back into place. My skin clawed and I shuddered, resisting the urge to check every surface of my skin and clothing for rogue arachnids.

  Nope. There was no way I was sleeping in there. Still twitching with unease, I rushed back out into the hallway and collided with a solid, bare-chested body. The rose and smoke scent giving him away before my witch-light could reach him.

  “I’m sorry—”

  “You ok?”

  We spoke at the same time.

  With a start, I realized I was standing in the hall with my hands pressed against the warm skin of his hairless chest. I gulped, shuddering again, but this time for an entirely different reason. I didn’t dare meet his gaze, too embarrassed to admit I didn’t want to sleep right next to a spider’s nest.

  I stepped back from him and cleared my throat. “Can I,” I started, wringing the hem of my shirt. “I mean, would you mind if I slept in your room?”

  He didn’t answer.

  “Just for a few hours. I’ll find my own room when it’s light out and I can clear out the spiders and—”

  “Spiders?” he asked, and I finally lifted my gaze, hearing the incredulity in his voice.

  His lips were sealed tightly against a laugh and his bright blue eyes were shining in the glow of witch-light. One eyebrow arched.

  “Never mind,” I said, skipping right past embarrassment and to sleep-deprived frustration. The heat sizzling up my spine not for a blush but because the smug bastard was laughing at me.

  I spun on my heel, fully prepared to go and find a less spider-infested place to sleep, but Draven caught my wrist and I jerked back, huffing.

  “You—” I began, but he cut me off.

  “You can stay with me,” he said, and I noticed how his expression had changed to a guilty one. “Sorry,” he added hastily as I tugged my wrist back. “I just thought after everything you’ve been through that…you know…spiders would be…”

  He didn’t finish—didn’t have to. I knew what he meant to say. That spiders would be nothing in the face of all the shit I’d seen and been through. And they sh
ouldn’t have been.

  But a closet full of spiders in a creepy house that belonged to all of my dead relatives where there was no functioning electricity and I didn’t know where anything—like a heavy spider-smashing book was…well, that was a bit different.

  I could have explained all that, but instead I just bit the inside of my cheek. “They could be poisonous,” I said lamely.

  When Draven puckered his lips against a laugh a second time, I punched him and chuckled myself. “Well I don’t know!” I said in my own defense. “This is a foreign country. They could have poisonous spiders here.”

  He dropped his gaze and shook his head, still chuckling softly. “I’m sure they do,” he said and swept an arm toward his room. “Shall we? It’s getting light out here and you look like you could use some sleep.”

  “Are you saying I look bad?”

  His lips pulled up on one side at my sarcastic remark. “No, love. I’m saying you look terrible.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Welcome,” he said with a shallow bow as I stalked into his room, the witch-light following both of us inside.

  He’d already made his bed, and I squinted to make sure there were no little creepy crawlies on the rich blood-red blanket and then pulled back the heavy cover to check the sheets.

  “Satisfied?” he asked me, arms crossed over his toned chest in the doorway.

  “Moderately,” I scoffed as I kicked off my socks and settled under the covers, glad to find the mattress beneath still had a good amount of cushion and spring. I could feel my eyes drifting closed before my head even connected with the pillow. I snuggled low into the blankets, not even caring one bit that I was still fully clothed.

  I yawned and arched my back to work out a kink. “Aren’t you tired?” I asked him when he didn’t make any move to join me on the bed. The idea of sleeping with him made something flip low in my belly, but the feeling rapidly dissipated as the need for sleep tugged at my eyelids.

  I heard the click of the door as it closed and light footsteps across the floor before the mattress beneath me jostled and my eyes fluttered back open to find Draven laying board-stiff atop the covers, his hands clasped behind his head, eyes closed. I snuggled into his side, breathing in his familiar scent, and tucked my head into the warm crook of his arm and fell asleep.

  I awoke to laugher and loud chatter and someone shouting, “Breakfast!”

  My head spun as I shot up out of the covers, panicked and trying to make my still-sleeping eyes focus. My magic sprang to life at my fingertips and my heart pounded in my chest—breaths coming suddenly quick and ragged.

  “Hey,” a voice cooed, and I spun, palm raised with the beginnings of an attack sigil blooming over my hand without me consciously having called it. At the last second, I saw Draven’s face and I recoiled back, tripping over a bunched bit of carpet before I fell—squishing my eyes closed and bracing myself for impact with the ancient hardwood floor.

  But I never got there. Strong arms curved around my shoulders and middle, stopping my fall. Draven was there in an instant, lifting me back to standing.

  “Harper…” he trailed off, searching my face.

  His blue eyes looked near black in the pitch dark of the room and I remembered in a rush where we were and what was happening. I—I’d been…dreaming.

  Yes, that’s right. Because I was asleep. I was having a nightmare about him…and the others. Someone or something was hurting them. My stomach turned as I remembered the sound of Elias’ screams. I couldn’t get to him. Couldn’t find him.

  I choked back the urge to vomit or to cry and lunged into Draven’s arms instead, burying my face in his shoulder.

  “Hey, it’s alright,” he said, a note of uncustomary sweetness in his voice. “It was just a dream.” He brushed long fingers down my hair, brushing the sensitive skin over the nape of my neck. “You’re safe.”

  Was I?

  Were we?

  Why did my gut instinct tell me otherwise? Why did I have these awful dreams every time I closed my eyes? It was a warning. I knew it, but I didn’t want to believe it. Hadn’t we endured enough, already?

  “Wake up! The food’s going to get cold!” It was Adrian yelling this time, his voice sounding suspiciously close to the door.

  I broke away from Draven and hastily wiped my eyes a second before the door creaked open and Adrian appeared, silhouetted in the light from the hall. They obviously figured out the issue with the power while I slept since if they’d listened to me, all the windows and any source of natural light would be fully covered. “Come on, lazy ass. You’ve been asleep half the day.”

  “Are you coming?” I asked Draven, trying to smooth down the matted hunk of red hair on the right side of my head—which coincidentally also hid the red rings that were likely around my eyes from Adrian.

  Adrian released the door handle and looked between Draven and I, suspicious.

  Before he could say anything or Draven could respond, I pushed out into the hall. “Is it safe?” I asked him. “Did you get all the windows covered up?”

  He sighed. “Yes. They’re covered.”

  “I’ll be down in a minute,” Draven said, turning back to where there was a desk in the corner of the room and flicking on the light. My father’s journal lay open flat on the wooden surface.

  My stomach grumbled as the wafting smell of salty meats and buttery eggs reached my nostrils. “Suit yourself,” I said—it wasn’t like he would be eating any breakfast with us, anyway and before I shut the door behind Adrian and I, I considered Draven’s small leather travel bag. Had he brought blood with him?

  Judging by how much vacant road we’d traveled along the way here, I knew it would be a long way to anywhere where he could compel himself some blood bags. There could be animals around here, though. Hopefully that would be good enough. I hadn’t really thought about how he’d get his usual blood supply out here in the middle of nowhere.

  But then again, if animal blood wasn’t to his taste…maybe I could offer him something better. Straight from the vein. The place on my thigh where he’s bit me the last time throbbed and I almost moaned at the force of the memory of his fangs biting deep into me. And all of the delicious sensations that came with it.

  “Why are you blushing?” Adrian asked me as we stepped down the stairs together and I whirled, almost tripping down the next step. I caught myself at the last second with a hand gripping the rail and tossed my hair back.

  “What? N-no reason. I’m always flushed when I wake up.”

  His brows raised and something in his gaze darkened, but he said nothing. “Well, let’s hurry up before Cal eats it all and there’s nothing left for us.”

  I tried to get a lay of the house on the way to the kitchen, which seemed to be nearer the back, straight down the hallway that ran parallel to the stairs. Other hallways shot off the main one, and there were two hall closets, or at least that’s what I assumed they were, on the way.

  Once we entered the kitchen though, I realized exploring would have to wait. Cal was standing in front of a kitchen island overflowing with breakfast bounty. There were steaming piles of scrambled eggs. Heaps of greasy bacon. Towers of toast. And even a dish filled with fruits and another with berries.

  But the woman who we’d run across earlier that morning was nowhere in sight. “Where’s um…” I said, trying to remember her name.

  “Dee,” Cal supplied. “She said something about needing to run to town. Took off in an ancient Land Rover about ten minutes ago.”

  I frowned. That was too bad, I would’ve liked to thank her for all this. But I supposed I could when she returned.

  I lifted a plate from a pile on the corner of the center island and began filling it, my stomach rumbling in protest at the fact I wasn’t eating yet. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been this hungry…it hadn’t happened in a while.

  I peered around the kitchen as I added seven pieces of bacon and two hefty spoonsful of egg onto my plate. It wo
uld have been bright and cheery if not for the bits of thin blackout material covering each of the windows. I saw in one corner of the room the guys had run out of the stuff and had resorted to using bits of reddish-brown butcher-paper they must have found somewhere in the house.

  I wondered what the cleaning lady would make of it and grimaced. I was willing to bet her previous benefactors didn’t keep vampire or shifter company…

  “Sleep well?” Cal asked, and looked up from my surveyance of the room to find him looking down on me with a wicked expression that made my cheeks flush again.

  Clamping my mouth shut, I grabbed several pieces of toast and added them to my pile. Of course they would have noticed I wasn’t in any of the rooms when they went upstairs, and being the nosey wolfish fuckers that they were, they’d have sniffed me out as being in Draven’s room early on, if they hadn’t heard our entire exchange in the hallway beforehand.

  I hoped they hadn’t.

  Cal maintained his cheeky grin and haughty stare and I felt near ready to burst from being placed under his level of scrutiny. I knew he meant nothing by it—or at least I hoped he didn’t—but it was making me more than a little uncomfortable. I squirmed in yesterday’s clothes and made a beeline for the small wooden breakfast table at the side of the kitchen, slapping my plate down roughly on the table.

  I wouldn’t play into it. That’s what he wanted—the bastard. “I slept very well,” I said, enunciating the word. “Thank you.”

  The truth was, I couldn’t tell him how I slept. They didn’t need to know about the nightmares any more than they already did from hearing me wake up in the night whimpering at the Abbey. If either him or Adrian knew I was still having them, they wouldn’t like it.

  Cal must have sensed my unease because he sat opposite me and brushed his knuckles against mine on the table. “Hey,” he said to get my attention.

  I glared up at him.

  “Draven’s good shit,” he said without much ado. “It’s not his fault he’s Vocari. Just—” he paused and my heart grew heavy at the difficulty he had in saying whatever he was about to say. He sighed and stabbed a bunch of eggs with his fork. “Just be careful, okay?”