Midnight Fae Academy #3 by Lexi C. Foss

I feltAflora snap out of Zakkai’s mental web, her mind free once more. Her confusion bled into ire as she considered all that he’d revealed, her stubborn nature stepping forward as she refused to believe his retelling of their past events.

While normally that would make me smirk in amusement, I couldn’t. Not with Zeph and Kols sitting across from me wearing matching expressions of annoyance.

“This information would have been helpful two months ago, Shadow,” Zeph deadpanned.

My jaw ticked. “If I’d told you about Zakkai then, the future would have changed.” Kols and Zeph hadn’t accepted Aflora as their mate two months ago. They’d needed time to learn more about her, to realize she wasn’t a threat—at least not to them—and to fall in love with her. Without all that, this destiny would never be able to unfold. And the alternative wasn’t pretty. I knew because I’d lived through it seven fucking times.

“So her Quandary magic comes from her mating to the Source Architect—Zakkai—not her parents,” Kols reiterated. “Which means she is the true earth source heir.”

“Yes,” I replied, reining in my patience to make it through this conversation. His gargoyle had done a number on me, leaving me much weaker than usual. I was still only halfway recovered. If Zeph and Kols decided to fight me now, they’d win. Especially with Tray and Ella on their side.

Then I’d have to start this conversation over again.

Which I really didn’t want to do.

We’d already gone through it so many times.

Kyros leaned against the hallway wall, waiting for me to signal him for another loop. But this one was going better than the others, mostly because I’d changed the whole game by biting Kols. Granting him a connection to my soul seemed to temper his magic a little. Perhaps he sensed what was coming, how our lives would be forever altered.

Or maybe it was just enough insight to ground him.

Regardless, I was thankful for the reprieve, as I desperately needed to heal. It was hard enough blocking Aflora from my mind at full strength. Having to do it at half strength just exhausted me that much more.

“But her magic has mingled with his over the last fifteen years,” Kols continued. “Which makes her an abomination.”

“Also yes,” I agreed. “Something you would have killed her for two months ago.”

He dipped his chin in acknowledgment. “True.”

“And won’t now,” I pressed. “Hence the reason I couldn’t reveal this to you before.”

“I get it,” he repeated, his tone clipped. “That doesn’t mean I like it.”

I grunted. He thought this was hard on him? He should try living all these realities and repeating every fucking moment.

Kyros smirked as though he could read my mind. Because yeah, he’d joined me in this hell. His motives were his own, but we shared a similar goal.

“All right, what now?” Zeph pressed. “Where is she? How do we get her back?”

“We don’t,” I replied. “She has to choose.”

“Choose?” he repeated. “Between us and Zakkai?”

I wavered on how to reply to that. His phrasing was too simplistic. The real choice she had to make went so much deeper than a game of this or that. Her chosen path would change the landscape for all of Midnight Fae kind, and potentially other fae as well.

“Shade,” Zeph snapped. “What choice?”

Kols pressed his palm to Zeph’s thigh. “Give him a moment.”

I blinked, momentarily stunned by the understanding in the Elite Blood’s tone. He was usually the first to join the Warrior Blood in his pressing for details, the pair of them always teaming up against me. Which was fine, as I could handle it. But this softer side of Kols was unexpected.

Had I known the way to calming Kols’s reactions was through a bite, I would have done so ages ago. However, if he knew the real reason I’d done it, he might not be so content with it. But that was a conversation for another day. One that would happen very soon, if my grandmother’s vision came to fruition.

“Playing with time carries consequences, Shadow. I believe this fate will be one of yours.”

“What did I do to deserve this?” I’d asked, for once just saying what I felt rather than pretending none of it mattered.

“It’s fate’s burden,” she’d replied. “You’re the strongest of all of us, Shadow. That’s why your destiny is the hardest.”

Her words played through my head, making me grimace.

We’ll see,I thought.

“Shade,” Kols prompted, arching an auburn brow. “How do we get Aflora back?”

“Have you considered that she might be safer with Zakkai?” Tray interjected, his tone quiet yet thoughtful. “What will you do if you find her? Run? Because the Council isn’t going to let you keep her, Kols.”

“Safer with the Quandary Blood who wants to start a war?” Zeph repeated, sounding darkly amused. “Sure. That sounds positively safe.”

“He won’t hurt her,” I said quietly. “I wouldn’t have given her to him otherwise.”

“We’ll come back to that in just a moment,” Zeph replied, his green eyes flashing with power. “As to leaving her with him, the answer is no.”

“Where would you keep her?” Tray stressed. “In the Human Realm?”

“We could take her back to the Elemental Fae,” Kols suggested.

“To the realm where the Elders killed her parents and got away with it?” Tray countered, arching a dark brow. “Perhaps we need to focus on making it a safer place for her to return to first.”

While an admirable idea, I knew it would fail.

Every path led to war.

There was no alternative.

But I couldn’t say that. Giving too much away could potentially create more destinies, and we had enough laid out before us to last several lifetimes over. Which was saying a lot since we were all immortals with the potential to live forever.

Everyone fell silent as they considered Tray’s statement.

Then Zeph cleared his throat. “I can’t leave her with Zakkai. It goes against every instinct.” He nailed me with a stare. “You have to be feeling it, too.”

“I do. Every day.” The block was nothing new for me. I’d resurrected the wall between us from the very beginning in an attempt to keep Zakkai out of my mind. “But if you lower the shield I put up, Zakkai will have access to your mind. And he’s powerful, Zeph. You won’t stand a chance against him.”

“I’m still trying to figure out how he ascended without us feeling it,” Kols said, frowning. “You claim he’s the Source Architect. Shouldn’t I sense that as the Source Heir?”

“You do feel it,” I murmured, sighing. “And we all felt his ascension. Actually, we participated in it.”

Zeph and Kols both stared at me.

I stared back.

Then Kols’s gaze began to smolder as his mind caught up. “The LethaForest.”

I dipped my chin, confirming he was on the right path.

“What?” Zeph glanced between us. “The LethaForest? Which time?”

“The night Aflora imploded,” Kols said. “When I lost control in her room after we fucked for the first time.”

“That was your overreaction to the bond,” Zeph said.

Understatement,I thought, rolling my eyes.

“I felt a huge burst of power that night, which I originally assumed was tied to our newly formed bond.” Kols blinked his gold eyes back to mine. “But that wasn’t it at all, was it? You’re saying that was the night Zakkai ascended.”

I lifted a shoulder. “It could have been a combination of events. Fate likes to do that. But her need to expel all that energy was a result of his rise to power.”

“That’s what my father felt, too,” Kols whispered.

“Do you think he knows the truth?” Tray asked, shifting his stance beside Ella. She’d remained abnormally quiet at his side, her blue eyes wide with growing trepidation. Her fiery personality had taken a back seat to the heavy conversation flowing around her.

“He might,” Kols said. “He knows the Quandary Bloods are still alive. Which means he knows I was trying to hide something by saying I dueled with Shadow.”

“I think he knows a lot more than you realize,” I drawled, very aware of what Malik knew and hid from his son. But it wasn’t my place to engage in that conversation.

Kols’s eyes flashed. “Meaning what?”

“Meaning you should talk to him,” I suggested, rolling my neck as another shudder went down my spine. Fucking gargoyle.

“And what should we do about Aflora?” Zeph demanded. “I’m not leaving her with Zakkai. You say he won’t hurt her, but your word is unreliable.”

“I’ve never lied to you.” I’d just withheld certain details. Or a lot of them. Regardless… “I would never put Aflora in jeopardy.”

His eyebrows shot up as he huffed a humorless laugh. “Yeah, I believe that. She’s only been imprisoned twice because of you and then disappeared into a paradigm where I can’t mentally reach her at all. All three instances scream safety, don’t they?”

My teeth clenched. “She’s fine.”

“I’ll believe that when I see it.”

“Then I’ll take you to her,” I said, throwing my hands wide. “Is that what you need? Because he’ll let me into the paradigm. I mean, he might kill you in the process since you’re tied to Kols, and he wants the entire Nacht family line to burn. But sure. Let’s give it a go. Now, perhaps?”

I was so done with this bullshit about trust and lies and deceit. I didn’t enter this role of my own volition. It chose me. Fate decided to make me her bitch and turn my world upside down. I’d spent years protecting everyone. And for what? To be attacked by a damn gargoyle and left to suffer beneath an elitist spell?

Fuck this shit.

I just wanted a damn nap.

No, I wanted to hold my mate.

Oh, but she hated me now. Again.

This wicked loop needed to fucking end.

“You know how to locate her?” Kols asked softly.

“Of course I do,” I snapped, done with this dance.

Kyros cocked a brow, surprised by my tone.

I ignored him.

“Can you work out a way for Zeph to see Aflora?” Kols pressed. “One where he isn’t killed by Zakkai? If what you say is true about him caring for Aflora, then perhaps he would be open to a meeting, to discuss how to work this out between us.”

Now Kyros’s lips parted.

As did mine.

Because never had Kols suggested such a notion. He always wanted to charge in there with all his elitist energy and destroy.

But now… he wanted to talk? To seek a potentially diplomatic solution? This couldn’t all just be because I’d bitten him. Maybe it had something to do with Aflora, or the Council sharing their knowledge of the Quandary Bloods. That’d been another change in this rendition of events, as had everything that occurred before it.

This entire version of time differed from the others.

It sparked a glimmer of hope inside me that maybe I’d finally gotten this right.

I really hoped that was the case because there was no going back now, not without forfeiting everything I’d learned in the process.

“I can try talking to Zakkai,” I said slowly. That wouldn’t have been possible in the past since I’d betrayed him in every way. But this time, I’d worked with him, at least on the surface. I still had every intention of betraying him in the end.

Unless…

No. I couldn’t think like that. Not after everything I’d seen.

Zakkai was dangerous to us all. And Aflora would be, too, if she chose to join his path.

Hell waited for us all regardless of her decision.

“I want to talk to him, too,” Zeph said. “He doesn’t scare me.”

“He should,” Kyros interjected, pushing off the wall. “Because he scares the shit out of me.” His dark eyes landed on me. “We good?”

I nodded. “For now.”

“Excellent.” He stroked the hilt of his sword and vanished.

I wanted to do the same thing, but one look from Kols had me remaining in the hall.

“We need to talk through our relationship going forward,” he said.

I frowned and pinched my leg, concerned that perhaps I’d fallen into a dream state after the gargoyle’s little attack. Because this wasn’t the Kols I knew. Maybe I shouldn’t have sent Kyros away.

“I know you’re still hiding things,” he continued. “And I’m going to overlook it. But we need to work together, not against each other.”

My brow furrowed as I glanced between him and Zeph.

When the Warrior Blood nodded in agreement, I knew this all had to be a dream. Because no way in hell would these two ever decide to work with me.

“We’ll start by you contacting Zakkai to arrange a meeting,” Zeph said, his green eyes on me. “I want an introduction to this infamous Source Architect.”

Kols nodded. “As do I.”

“Maybe I wasn’t clear before, but Zakkai wants to kill you, Kolstov.” I made sure each word was enunciated clearly so there could be no mistake in the interpretation of my words. “He wants to kill Tray and Ella, and anyone and everyone else associated with the Nacht family. Do you understand that?”

“Then Aflora is in danger,” Tray interjected. “Because she’s mated to Kols.”

“Not fully mated,” I replied. “And Zakkai can help her undo that link, something that will be even easier for him to do if Kols goes anywhere near him.”

“She won’t let him remove our bond.” Kols sounded far too confident. “And even if she does, I’ll just bite her again.”

“If you’re alive to do it,” I pointed out, shaking my head. “You’re asking me to help you commit suicide.” And I’d bitten him to prevent that. “I may not like you, but I am not going to help you die.”

“I can’t be killed by you talking to him, can I?” Kols countered.

No, but I certainly could, and then what? I thought, exhausted from this conversation and several iterations of it before this point.

Of course, the others all ended rather violently, so I preferred this temporary lapse in pain to discuss this cordially.

Except Kols apparently had a death wish in this version of events.

Because I’d bitten him? Was that the catalyst for this madness? Or had I finally determined the right sequence of events?

I shook my head, my mental gymnastics giving me a colossal headache. “I need a nap before I talk to Zakkai.”

“Okay,” Kols agreed.

I studied him. “Seriously, this whole”—I waved a hand over him, unsure of how to define his behavior—“is alarming.”

His lips twitched. “This whole what?”

I just gestured at him again because fuck if I knew how to describe it.

The result made him chuckle and Zeph roll his eyes. “Do you two need a room?” the Warrior Blood deadpanned.

“No. I’ll be fine in Aflora’s bed,” I muttered, shadowing to her room before either of them could argue with me. Her floral scent hit me right in the chest, sending a spike of agony through my spirit as I fought the urge to reach out to her again. To apologize for what I’d done. To verify that she was okay.

But I felt her in the bonds, her fury hot and very much alive.

Give him hell, little rose,I whispered to our closed mental door. Flay him alive.

Because Zakkai fucking deserved it and worse.

I hated him more than I hated myself.

Or I wanted to, anyway.

If I were honest, I also understood him. Which was why I’d sided with him in previous versions of our history. And also why I allowed a tiny flare of hope to touch my senses now.

Maybe this time we would get it right.

Or maybe… maybe this was the final version that would end us all.