Midnight Fae Academy #3 by Lexi C. Foss

Fuck,she was magnificent.

I wanted to fist my fingers through her hair and kiss her, then bite her in reprimand for her disobedience. No one ever challenged me; they all knew better. But Aflora stood before me in all her royal glory, daring me to react.

“Four seconds,” I told her, counting down my warning.

Her beautiful eyes narrowed, her energy flaring to life. I tasted all her mates on the wind and the addictive undercurrent of her elemental birthright. It provided an intoxicatingly potent mixture that I wanted to devour.

But I uttered, “Three seconds,” instead.

She’d insulted me countless times. To allow it would make me appear weak, and I couldn’t afford that as the Source Architect. I could accept her as my equal, but not as an adversary. Not when our people relied on us to lead.

“Two seconds, Aflora.” I already knew the incantation I intended to use. Nothing harsh, just a warn—

Green fire shot across the floor to circle my ankles. The ropes gave a tug, threatening to drag me to the ground as a tree root burst up through the floor to snag my calf. My brow furrowed at the bizarre mixture of magic. She hadn’t spoken, just used her mind to unleash the power.

I would have been impressed if that hadn’t been such a strict breach of protocol. “Who the hell taught you how to duel?”

“Zephyrus,” she replied, sending another blast of magic at my torso that resembled red flames. “And Kols.” She disappeared into a cloud of purple smoke, only to appear behind me with a ball of fiery violet energy. “And Shade.” She unleashed the WarFire directly at my head.

Right.

She wasn’t dueling.

She was trying to kill me.

I ducked, then caught the WarFire before it could hit anyone else, smothering it beneath a wave of my own power. Then I snapped the shackles around my ankles and calf with another thought and leapt away from her freshly created sphere of colorful flames.

I caught it with my hand—coated in cerulean magic—and crushed it like one would a physical ball and tossed it away. “My turn.”

Her eyes widened a fraction as I flung an electric web her way, similar to the one I’d covered her in earlier.

Only, this time she shadowed away from it, causing the energy to fizzle out upon hitting the stone floor.

Clever,I praised her, spinning to send another to her new location. But she phased again, this time disappearing long enough for me to realize her true intent.

Escape.

I smirked and checked my watch while everyone glanced around in confused silence, searching for their missing queen.

Ten.

Nine.

Eight.

I yawned.

Six.

Five.

Oh, Aflora.

Three.

Two.

She returned with a loud “Oomph” as the spell I’d woven over her upon entry kicked in, yanking her back to me like an elastic band. She landed on her ass, her startled expression amusing.

I didn’t give her a moment to acclimate, instead shooting another net at her.

Cerulean flames engulfed her prone form, disintegrating the strands in an instant as she bounced up to her feet in a beautifully defensive maneuver. Nice, I told her. She’d completely disregarded all the rules, but that didn’t stop me from approving of her overall form.

The woman could fight.

Her skills clearly came from her bond with Zephyrus, which confirmed my suspicions about him being a formidable adversary. If she could channel these maneuvers from him, then he would be a force to reckon with in person.

I looked forward to meeting him. Maybe I’d let him live—if anything, so my mate remained as agile and gifted as she was now.

A burning thwomp sprouted in the middle of the room, causing several Midnight Fae to gasp. I studied the growing monstrosity, wary of her intent. Those were dangerous trees meant for outside. They had a penchant for bursting into flames.

She added a sea of charcoal blades beneath it, the grass notoriously sharp.

“Aflora,” I warned. “This is a duel, not a death match.”

“Free me and I’ll let you live,” she countered.

“Free you?” I nearly laughed. “You mean like allow your powers to flourish to their full potential rather than drown you beneath a collar?” I looked pointedly at her neck. “You created that, sweet star. Not me. I would never dilute your abilities.” Although, watching her now, I could see why Kolstov had felt the need to. She was absolutely out of control, and she didn’t seem to understand the full extent of her abilities.

A fact she accentuated by throwing another WarFire sphere at my head. A second came right after it, nearly hitting the fae by the windows.

“Aflora.”

She ignored me and sent two more threatening balls in my direction, her control unhinged as she grew more powerful by the second.

Fuck.

I’d wanted to see what she could do, and she’d certainly come out swinging.

If we were outside, that would have been fine, but she’d unleashed WarFire and a burning thwomp in the middle of the damn castle. Upholding the complexity of the paradigm already had me at half my usual power. I couldn’t afford for her to disturb that balance, or I risked her hurting someone.

Right. I needed to end this the hard way, then.

I took her next attack and squashed it before it left her hand, then wrapped her in a rope of electricity that sizzled against her restraint. She screamed and tore through the binds with an impressive wave of power that had my lips parting in surprise.

And all hell broke loose.

Fire poured off her in ripples of purple, red, green, and cerulean, swimming across the floor with dangerous intent. Several of the fae at my back began to scramble, but one of them sent a bolt of lightning directly into Aflora’s chest, momentarily stunning my mate and sending her to the ground on an anguished cry.

Another bolt followed, the red hum telling me the identity of the perpetrator.

“Dakota,” I snapped. “Enough.”

She sent a final enchantment, one meant to paralyze her prey, then looked at me with astute defiance. “You didn’t have the balls to do it, so I did it for you.”

“I didn’t ask you to intervene.” Nor would I have asked her to.

“You didn’t need to. I knew what you needed.”

“Your presumption is out of line,” I informed her, striking out a similar bolt of power to bring her to her knees. “Never touch my queen again.”

“Kai,” my father interjected.

“No. I had this under control.” I focused on all the power humming through the room and canceled it out with a single wave of my hand. The burning thwomp disintegrated to ash, and Aflora’s ropelike flames sizzled into a calming mist. With another brush of my fingertips, the room returned to normal, the paradigm responding to me—its master—and righting all the wrongs.

Then I turned to Dakota’s quivering form on the floor and sent another bolt into her to even the score. She’d hit Aflora twice with that magic before paralyzing her. “While you may have acted with good intentions, Aflora is still your queen and I am your king. You do not attack her without cause.”

“Kai, she felt threatened and reacted,” my father interjected.

An understatement.

Dakota had felt threatened by Aflora since the first time I mentioned she was my mate. The power-hungry Elite Blood had been after my cock since day one. I saw right through her antics—she wanted to use me for her own gain. Just like she’d used Kolstov and Zephyrus. The difference between me and them? I knew how to think with my head.

She would never be welcome in my bed.

I’d made that clear from day one.

It had nothing to do with my ties to Aflora and everything to do with taste.

Just like Dakota’s attack had nothing to do with defending the others today and everything to do with her growing jealousy. I hadn’t missed her little display of possession when Aflora had arrived. The only reason I hadn’t put the Elite Blood in her place was because of the hint of irritation it had sparked inside my mate.

She didn’t like the notion of another woman touching me. I understood that, as I hadn’t been all that fond of her taking other mates. But we’d been separated for years, and the intention had always been to break our bond upon our reunion.

I wasn’t a saint.

I’d fucked around.

However, I hadn’t bonded anyone else. Nor would I.

Aflora was it for me, something I knew the moment I saw her in the dreams. Perhaps even before. I hadn’t been able to look at another woman since the coffee shop. It wasn’t something I’d spent a lot of time evaluating until she’d commanded me to go down on her the first night.

I’d been hers ever since.

She just didn’t know it yet.

Her pain spiked through our bond, causing me to turn toward her. She had curled herself into a shivering ball on the floor, the spell having worn off and leaving her utterly defenseless.

Fuck, she looked so small and fragile like that. A broken little flower, devoid of life.

No one should ever see a queen in this manner.

Yet Dakota had ensured everyone witnessed Aflora’s fall.

Power licked through my veins, the inclination to kill her riding my spirit. “Run, Dakota,” I said, my voice a low growl. “Hide.”

My father heaved another of his infamous sighs, his annoyance palpable. He didn’t much care for my temper. Funny, considering I’d inherited that trait from him.

I walked over to Aflora and scooped her up into my arms. “Class dismissed,” I informed the room, carrying her to the door and into the hallway. I sensed my father following but ignored him.

He didn’t speak until we were alone in my wing of the castle, his disappointment unmistakable. “You let that get out of hand.”

“I tested her limits,” I countered. “Had you allowed me to recruit her earlier, we would have had time to train your way. But now she’s bound to three other Midnight Fae, thereby necessitating my brand of schooling.”

“She wasn’t ready then.”

“She’s not ready now,” I retorted, fed up with this familiar argument. “She’s throbbing with power and has no outlet to expel it. I provided what she needed today, just as I’ll do again tomorrow. However, I’m doing this my way. Because I am the Source Architect.” I added that last bit for his benefit, reminding him yet again of my position of power. “Trust me to handle this.”

“You just threatened a valuable asset,” he said through his teeth. “That makes it difficult to trust you, Zakkai.”

His use of my full name—in addition to his inane statement—had me rolling my eyes. “Dakota isn’t valuable. She’s a power-hungry cunt who will betray us all at the first sign of a higher position.”

He growled at my bluntness. “What the hell has gotten into you?”

“Dakota attacked my mate,” I snapped, stopping outside the door to my room. “I don’t take kindly to that.” How could he not see the problem with her behavior?

“Temporary mate,” he corrected.

“That’s always been your plan,” I drawled, neither confirming nor denying the intention.

He’d forced this bonding.

Then he’d made me alter her memories of me.

That’d only been the beginning of my hellish existence. Each course he’d administered since had been worse than the last. And now he wanted me to graduate to the next level by removing the only piece of goodness left inside me—my link to Aflora.

“If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to run a warm bath for Aflora to help remove the remainder of Dakota’s enchantment.” I used a mental command to open my door, then attempted to shut it in his face, but of course, he followed me inside.

“We’re not done with this conversation.”

“Are you really going to hound me over nearly killing Dakota?” I asked, huffing a laugh. “Because it’s not the first time I’ve almost done that, Father.” I once found her naked in my bed. Rather than celebrate the discovery, I’d made her return to her rooms in the same outfit she’d walked in with—her skin.

For whatever reason, that just made her work harder to win me over.

“We’re so close to our goal,” he pressed, laying his hand on my shoulder, his tone softening. “We’ve done our duty to Aflora’s parents by protecting her. It’s time for us to move on and finish what we started. That’s the only way to truly honor their memory and all the other lives taken at the hands of the Midnight Fae Elders.”

I released a long breath, my muscles relaxing in the process.

“Father, I’ve not changed course from our intentions,” I replied. A little sparring fun with my mate wasn’t going to alter my destined path. “And Aflora’s much more than just a duty. You saw her power today. She’s an asset.”

I gazed down at the still-trembling female in my arms, her blue eyes wide as she listened without speaking. The paralyzing spell had probably rendered her incapable of making a sound, but I suspected it went deeper than that. She seemed genuinely interested in what we were discussing. I couldn’t blame her, given the subject matter.

“Her parents died for our cause,” I added, holding her gaze. “We need to give her a chance to decide if she wants to join our quest in honoring their loss. I can’t expect her to make that decision in a single night, not after everything she’s been through.”

“It’s that or death,” he said.

“Yes,” I agreed, noting the way her pupils dilated at the confirmation. “The Midnight Fae Council was never going to let her live. The only reason they did all those years ago was to use her as bait to find us.” I added the latter for her benefit, wondering if she knew the truth.

The flare of her nostrils suggested she did.

Did Kolstov tell you?I wondered.

Yes. Her mental voice was strong and completely at odds with her fragile physical state. I suspected she could still fight even in this form, purely from her mind.

“Did he tell you that the Elders killed your parents for helping Quandary Bloods survive?” I spoke out loud, not caring if my father overheard. This wasn’t news to him.

Yes, she repeated. He told me after the Council informed him.

That… is oddly admirable of him.

He didn’t know about any of this until recently. But Shade knew.

Shade knows a lot of things,I agreed before looking at my father. “Kolstov told Aflora the truth about her parents’ deaths.” The young Midnight Prince had only recently been inducted into the inner circle—a fact my uncle Tadmir had told us about just last week. I’d expected the Nacht family heir to embrace his role as king and accept his position as lead assassinator of my race.

But him telling Aflora the truth was counterintuitive to that notion.

He also hadn’t informed the Council about his bonds to her—something I assumed was purely selfish on his part. If they learned about their impending mating, he’d lose his right to the throne. Or worse, they’d kill him for consorting with an abomination.

Of course, he also hadn’t told them about her growing Quandary Blood skills. I’d never quite understood why he’d kept that hidden, other than to assume it was to also save his own ass in some way.

“That doesn’t change his fate,” my father said. “The whole Nacht family needs to die.”

“I know,” I replied, still lost to my thoughts.

You can’t kill Kols,Aflora said, her eyes growing wide.

I bent to press my lips to hers. Shh, we’ll talk more after you rest.

No, Kai. You can’t kill Kols!

It’s okay, little star,I assured her. I’ll show you how to break the bonds so his death doesn’t hurt you.

She began to panic in my arms, her body convulsing as she fought the recovery process and demanded her limbs react.

I sighed. “Aflora, that’s only going to worsen the side effects.” I laid her in my bed and uttered an enchantment to warm my sheets around her. What she really needed was a bath, but I couldn’t do that if she continued to squirm. I slipped my hand into her cloak to retrieve my wand, then cast a soft spell over her, insisting she sleep.

No!she shouted into my mind. Kai, no!

Shh, I’m trying to help, Aflora. Just relax.I intensified the spell, fighting through her weak defenses and throwing her into a deep sleep within seconds. Then I shook my head. “She’s one of the most stubborn females I’ve ever met.”

“The strong ones usually are,” my father replied, clapping me on the shoulder again. “Break the bond tomorrow. It’ll help you both.”

I tensed at the command in his voice, but my father didn’t notice. He merely patted me again and showed himself out, all the while expecting me to comply.

No, I thought, tucking a strand of hair behind Aflora’s ear. “I’d much rather keep you, sweet star.” I bent to kiss her forehead. “Sweet dreams.”