Marked By Lies: A Reverse Harem Series (The Marked Series Book 1)

by Paige Orr

  Checking out the window, I notice my stop up ahead and leap to my feet. I wouldn't normally get the bus, but my well-loved Subaru Legacy won't be back from the mechanics for another hour. Carefully I make my way to the front of the bus catching the driver's attention and I wait for him to pull the bus over at the stop before stepping off of the bus and making my way towards the bookstore just up ahead.

  The sound of the bell ringing out loud and clear greets me as I open the shop door, the familiar smell of incense causes my shoulders to relax and a smile to tug at my lips. Once inside, I close the door, flicking the lock behind me and turning the open sign to closed. With that done, I make my way through the shelves to the back of the shop where a door stands ajar waiting for me.

  Stepping through the beaded curtain hanging in the doorframe, I'm met with a load of clutter with a pathway cleared just wide enough to walk through without knocking things over. If it was anywhere else, I would have been shocked, but since this place is like my second home, I’m used to the way things are.

  At the far end of the room, a globe stands in front of a bookshelf and as I get closer, I can see the top and bottom halves are misaligned. I slowly spin the top half until it matches up with the one below it. There's an audible click before the sound of concrete scraping together meets my ears. Gradually the bookcase opens up, revealing a staircase leading down into darkness. Bringing my cell phone from my pocket, I switch on the flashlight, following the stairs until the sound of Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings first movement fills the cave-like room that I've descended into.

  Scanning my surroundings, I find the person I'm looking for in the far corner, sitting in an armchair and reading from what looks like an ancient tome. I look over the elderly woman from her straight white hair, white eyes from blindness, and her long gown that covers all of her skin apart from her hands and face. She fits the stereotypical image of a nice old lady, but she’s definitely still got her spark.

  I met Adelaide the year after I found my mother dead during my search for the truth of what truly happened to her. I found my way to her little store filled with so much anger and wanting to take it out on the world. She took me under her wing so to speak, trying to teach me about the way to survive in our cruel and unforgiving world and giving me someone who felt like family. She helped me to work through all of that anger and gave me so much to focus on. I truly don’t know where I would be right now if it wasn’t for her.

  Adelaide is a curious woman, and if it wasn't for the strange things that happen around me all the time, I'd probably be thinking she was nothing but a crazy old bat. That being said though, she always has this crazy sense of intuition. Most days she knows I will visit her before I ever decide that I need her guidance, and she always knows the perfect words that I need to hear. I’ve never been someone who believed the whole psychic shtick (I know that sounds stupid with what I can do, but humans aren’t known for being smart).

  Making my way towards her, I stop a few feet away waiting for her to bookmark her page. A little piece of advice for you kids. If someone desecrates a book by folding down the corners of the page they’re on, instead of using a bookmark, then it's damn likely they’re a sociopath. So never trust someone who doesn't use a bookmark, books are way too important to ruin them like that! Her cloudy eyes snap up to meet mine and no matter how many times she's able to find the exact spot that I'm standing, I'm always left feeling shocked and confused when she finds me so easily. She’s never let her vision impairment hold her back and seeing that when I was so vulnerable showed me that no matter what you can do anything.

  "Hello Melissa, I've been looking forward to your visit, my dear girl. It’s been far too long since you’ve graced this poor old woman with your presence, but as much as I love spending time with you, I know you don't have the time to entertain an old crone like me. So spit it out dear, what do you need me for today?"

  Guilt twists in my stomach at the thought of how long it's been since I last visited to just sit and drink tea while hearing about how she's been. I know she didn't say that to guilt trip me, but that just makes me feel worse about it. Knowing she never has the patience for my self-depreciated outlook on things though, I cut to the chase, hoping that I find what I'm looking for sooner rather than later. Then I can finally make it back here to sit and chat.

  "Hello Adelaide, you're right on the money. I have something that I need to find, and all my usual methods haven't exactly yielded me anything. I knew that if anyone could help me though, it would be you. I'm on a bit of a time crunch and to be perfectly honest with you, I've wasted enough time asking around after the blasted thing."

  She hums, nodding her head and steepling her fingers beneath her chin, looking at me with a small smile tipping up the corner of her lips. "To find the thing you’re looking for child, I need you to tell me what it is. It's a bit hard to locate something when I don't have the faintest idea what I’m looking for."

  I know she's right, but I also know she won't approve of the job I've taken on. On one hand, if I'm able to complete this job, I'll be set up for a good six months of rent and food. On the other hand, if I fail, I'll most likely be dead, so being late for my rent won't be much of an issue. Dead girls can't exactly have debt. I hate to make her worry about me, which is why I exhausted every other avenue before coming to her, but I can’t afford to let my client down.

  "Well, my client has asked me to find the Necklace of Harmonica and before you start, yes, I researched it. But right now, I really can't be picky or I won't have a place to live anymore. I know that it's probably going to be guarded well, but the price will be worth it. Please Adelaide, you know I wouldn't ask if I wasn't desperate. I need to get my name out there somehow, and with how big this job is, I'm hoping my client will recommend me to their acquaintances. Right now I’m lucky if I’m able to afford my electricity, never mind anything else with the jobs coming my way."

  "Oh, you're desperate alright, but you do not know that with which you seek and I see great terror coming for you. You will find great happiness on this journey, but you will have many hardships to work through. You must seek the Seelie Prince and only there will you find the answers you are looking for."

  Chapter Two

  Cailean

  I lean back in my chair with a sigh, staring at my glass of single malt whisky as I swirl the liquid around. I can’t help but cringe as I think over everything that’s happened today. Coming to the human realm was supposed to be easy, and yet every time I think that I’m getting somewhere, something always shows me I still don’t have a fucking clue.

  Things were supposed to be straightforward enough, I come here from Fairy, take some time to get used to the way the human world works, and then run the family company. How the fuck am I ever supposed to rule our court when my father steps down if I can’t even keep control of this company.

  People think that being the Seelie Prince means that shit just gets handed to me, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. My entire life has consisted of lessons on how to be the perfect Prince while other people my age were out having fun, and I know if it wasn’t for my best friend and advisor Elias I would have gone mad by now.

  I run my hands through my hair, feeling exhausted knowing that I need to figure out how to deal with this mess. To the rest of the world, Byrneth Enterprises is one of the world's largest non-profit organizations, and sure we do a lot of charity work in the human realm but the real use of this company is to help Fae transition from Fairy to the human realm.

  We work together with the government officials here in the human realm who know of our existence to make it easier for those of Fae kind who wish to be here to settle in. From my experience I know how difficult it is to get used to the differences between our realm, hell I wouldn’t even be here if my father hadn’t demanded it. Fairy is the polar opposite of the human realm. It’s run by nature instead of technology, and the Fae do most things with magic, unlike the humans who are as mundane as can b
e.

  Even the air here is different, more suffocating because of the pollution that’s slowly draining this realm. For a person so integrally connected with nature, it’s difficult to hear the Earth around me crying out for help. I would love to do anything to stop the Earth's pain, but that’s impossible when I have to keep what I am hidden, which leads me back to the events from earlier today.

  The day started normal enough, with the usual suspects traveling through the portal here in headquarters between the two realms. But today we had a noble coming through from Fairy as a liaison between the courts and the human government. They came through the portal and everything seemed to go according to plan until we received a call from the secretary of state and everything went to shit.

  It turns out that our diplomat never made it to his meeting, and no one can get in touch with him. That wouldn't be too serious on its own, as we'd simply send out our enforcers to find him. But since he isn't the first Fae to go missing in the last month, that means that there's something a lot more sinister going on. I hate to think that way, but most of the Fae who have gone missing aren't exactly the type to just up and leave everything behind. We can't afford to overlook the facts.

  I'm supposed to protect our people here in the human realm, and yet we’ve had reports of at least sixteen of my people disappearing so far. I have to get on top of this mess before it gets any worse, but with my enforcers not being able to find a single clue of the whereabouts of our missing Fae, I haven’t got a lot to go on. On top of the stress of trying to figure out what the hell is happening to my people, my father also demands that I attend stupid fucking functions alongside the “elite” of the human realm, it’s seriously grating on my nerves. While I could be out there searching for our people, instead I’m stuck schmoozing all these rich assholes.

  As I let my head fall back against my chair, the phone sitting on my desk rings and I let out a groan of frustration, leaning forwards to answer the blasted thing. As soon as I lift the receiver to my ear, Elias’s usual chirpy tone greets me.

  “Hey man, I’m just about to head up to your office to talk about the latest findings from the enforcers and to talk about this shit tonight.”

  “Fuck! With everything that’s happened today, I completely forgot about the stupid fucking party tonight. I really can’t be fucked with kissing ass after the day I’ve had.”

  “I know man, but we don’t really have a choice, you know what your dad’s like. Anyway, we could always slip away after you’ve shown your face so we can do something worthwhile. I’ll be at your office in a minute and we can talk about it.”

  “Alright, thanks, Elias. This shit’s just got me stressed the fuck out. I’ll see you in a minute.”

  I put the phone down before picking my glass back up, draining the contents just as a knock comes at the door. Without waiting for my answer, Elias strolls through the door with his usual swagger, throwing himself into the seat on the opposite side of my desk. Getting to my feet, I walk towards my bar, refilling my glass and grabbing one for Elias before heading back to my desk, placing his glass in front of him.

  Elias watches me as I settle down in my seat, taking another large sip of whiskey, enjoying the burn as it makes its way down my throat. Most people would frown upon drinking at the office, but since human alcohol doesn’t affect me the same way, I know that a few glasses will not get me drunk. Most of the time I drink because I enjoy the smoky flavor instead of chasing the buzz that accompanies alcohol for the average human.

  Flicking my eyes towards Elias, trying to judge what he has to tell me from his expression, but like usual it’s like staring at a wall. I’m telling you if this fucker ever spent time at a poker table he would be world class with that poker face. I’ve always thought that the mask he uses when talking about important things is to keep me calm, but even though he’s my best friend, I don’t pretend to assume any of the reasoning behind his actions. Elias has always been a closed book for as far back as I can remember, but I know that I can trust him after everything we’ve been through together.

  “I’m afraid there isn’t much I can tell you about the missing Fae. I met with the enforcers earlier and they’re still working on their suspect list. There's zero connecting each of the Fae apart from them not being human. Have you tried reaching out to the other courts to see if any of their Fae are missing as well? We need to narrow down if this is an attack on our court or all of Fae kind.”

  I let out a weary sigh as I scrub my free hand down my face, finishing my second glass before banging it down on the table harder than I intended. He knows that it’s not as simple as just calling up the leaders of the other courts and asking them about this, if they aren’t being targeted as well, then it makes our court look weak.

  There’s no love lost between the courts, and we can’t afford for any of them to think that we can’t protect our people. The last thing we need right now is a war starting up between the courts. The last time the Fae went to war, it spilled on to the human realm and the casualties were immeasurable. To cause history to repeat itself, not when I should be able to do something about it.

  This is the type of shit I’ve been training my entire life to deal with, and yet I’m left feeling like that same little boy being scolded by his father for not being good enough. No, I definitely can’t go to the other courts with this. If one of them comes to me, I don’t mind revealing anything I find, but until then we’re on our own with this.

  “You know I can’t ask them about this. Already the other courts are looking at me as the weak link and coming to them with this would just prove them right. There’s got to be another way to deal with this without involving the other courts.”

  Elias doesn’t disagree with me, and I appreciate that more than I could tell him. I need at least one person on my side, supporting my decisions otherwise I’d be completely on my own. The only other thing to do now is to look into the disappearances ourselves. Obviously, the enforcers aren’t getting anywhere, and maybe a fresh set of eyes from a different perspective will be enough to at least give us a lead.

  I can’t do any of that though until I deal with this fucking party tonight. I hate dealing with the humans who know of our kind, so much greed and jealousy comes from them in rivers whenever their eyes meet mine. I’ve never quite understood why humans need to know everything about our kind and their obsession with trying to be just like us. If they knew the full brutal truth of our kind, they would want no part in it. Unfortunately, they seem to see us through rose-tinted glasses, thinking that we’re perfect.

  “How long do you think I must put up with the fawning of those humans before I can get away to do my fucking job? I'm getting tired of dealing with these little parties of my father’s. If he wants to kiss ass so much he should really do it himself.”

  Elias laughs at me, used to the way I speak about the king by now, and I’m just thankful to have someone I trust around to juggle my responsibilities. Whoever said a royal life is simple, obviously never had to live it.

  “I would say an hour at most. You know by that point that most of them will have had enough to drink that they wouldn’t even realize you weren’t there while they blow smoke up their own asses.”

  “Okay, I think I can just about deal with that. While I’m busy being a circus attraction in my home, I want you to go up to my office and pull together the reports from each of the cases. I want to get stuck into this as soon as possible and I’ll be wasting enough time listening to bullshit.”

  “You got it man! I’ll get the head enforcer to deliver everything they have on the disappearances and have a word with him when he drops it off. Hopefully, he won’t give us any shit like last time. I’m going to head back to my office to get everything ready and I’ll meet you at your place in an hour. We’ll figure this shit out man so just put it out of your head until you can get away from the party. There’s no point stressing until you can actually do something.”

  With that, he gets to h
is feet, leaving me to think over the shit show my life is at the moment. If I don’t figure this shit out soon, then who knows what will happen. What I know though is that those that are missing need me to stop pitying myself and figure out how to find them. My father might not care about what happens to our people unless they are nobles, but that doesn’t mean that I need to be like him.

  I just have to put up with his bullshit for a few more years before he passes the crown onto me, and then I can finally help those of our people who are overlooked. But until then I need to look like I’m following in his footsteps or I’ll never end up king. My people need me to hang on a little longer, and I intend to do exactly that. It’s finally time for a new king’s rule.

  Chapter Three

  Melissa

  Jogging up the stairs of my apartment building, I pull my phone from my pocket, calling the closest person I have to a friend. Annika Craft is the only supernatural that I know personally as far as I’m aware, not that she knows what I can do. Even though she has her own powers, I’m still too ashamed of the things that I can do to tell a soul. It’s a lonely existence not being able to talk to anyone about the things that plague me, but I’d rather be lonely than see the typical look of disgust when they find out what I can do. After only three rings, Annika's melodic voice reaches my ears with her usual greeting.

  “Annika Craft, hacker extraordinaire! There’s no code impossible to break when I put my mind to it. What can I do for you?”

  “Hey Annika, It’s Mel. I have a job for you girl, one that I think you might like.”

  “Hmm, you’ve got me intrigued Mel, what could you possibly need me to do that’s so exciting. Last I heard, the biggest job you had been on was finding a lost dog, and surely you don’t need my skills for that.”