Fated Encounter

Lughnasadh Elite Academy Collection 3

Layla Heart

Fated Encounter (Lughnasadh Elite Academy Collection 3)

Copyright © 2020 LAYLA HEART

All rights reserved. No part of this story may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without express written permission of the copyright holder.

ISBN: 9789493139121

NUR: 285

Edition: 20200521

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Blurb

Six lovers struggling to come up with a plan to stop the fae king, one chance to save their kingdoms.

While Rune and Bane are still recovering from their wounds, Finn is nearly assassinated by his aunt during the meeting with the werewolf king and the succubus queen, prompting Bane’s mum to send them off to one of their lesser-known houses, trying to keep them out of harm’s way. But that choice may not have been as spontaneous as it first seemed, as the cottage is filled with books about some very dangerous topics.

As the six dive into the wealth of information, they start to doubt not only the history they’ve always been taught, but even the circumstances of their prophecy. Before the last war, their ancestors had been together at the last witch queen’s court, working on an elixir with eerily similar properties as the one the fae king uses to stop the dragons from shifting, and then the witch queen went missing.

Their world falls apart more with each piece of information they find, but at the same time, a plan starts to form with this new knowledge, making connections between events only available now they’re looking back.

Then the worst news possible reaches them, the fae soldiers are on the move and they seem determined to win this war once and for all. Are Litha, Phoenix and the princes ready?

This is a collection of the final set of three novellas, Recovery, Strategy, Destiny, and the holiday special short story, Festivity, in the Lughnasadh Elite Academy serial, a reverse harem #WhyChoose story.

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Recovery

Lughnasadh Elite Academy 7

1

No! No, no. No! I want to move, shift, rip the assassin apart, but I’m locked in my human shape, unable to shift. This couldn’t have come at a worse time, when I’m still under the influence of the anti-shifting-stuff.

We’re in the room where people have been discussing the recent attack on the town and the academy, locked inside, the doors barricaded somehow, and the assassin just stabbed Finn. He’s clutching at her hand, which is keeping the knife inside him.

Fuck, no!

Next to me, Litha lets out a high pitched scream and the next moment, flames surround the assassin, closing in slowly. The assassin pulls her hand back before the flames can burn it off, finally letting go of the knife.

“Don’t kill her. We need her.” Phoenix touches Litha for a moment and then rushes to Finn, her hands already glowing, ready to heal him as soon as she reaches him.

I glance at Litha, whose eyes are dark, her face tense with focus, but, most of all, it’s the fury in her eyes that scares me. But she keeps the column of fire around the assassin the same size, no longer out to burn her.

Then I also run for Finn, needing to see if I can do something for him. I can sense his pain, his desperation, but he’s alive and that’s all I care about for now. Everything will be fine as long as we can keep him alive.

Bane and Phoenix lift Finn up on a table, giving us a better view of what’s going on, but also keeping him off the floor, out of the way of the panicked people. Don’t want him trampled on.

“Venom.” Phoenix points at the knife, and I nod. The blackness is spreading over Finn’s skin, slowly, but it’s already visible. She puts her hands to his skin, probably trying to stop the bleeding, but also to stop the spreading of the venom, like she did for Bane and me before. Luckily, we now know what works and how to stop it from spreading too much. We’re prepared this time.

“We need the antidote.” Bane growls. “Where is it?”

“In the lab.” I glance around. The doors of the room are still locked and I can’t shift into a dragon to break through the walls or anything. That’s the two most obvious ways out unavailable. “Fuck.” How can we get to the antidote fast enough like this?

Bane climbs on the table next to Finn, standing on it so he can look out over the whole room. “Who can break through the walls? Finn got stabbed, we need the antidote for the venom, it’s at the other side of campus.”

Some people let out grumbles, of course, because Finn is fae and they were just attacked by a fae assassin. I glare at each person who dares to let out a negative sound and a stocky man with red eyes steps forward, his jaw set.

“I’ll do it.” He looks around. “What’s the thinnest wall around here?”

Bane’s dad points to the back of the room. “That’s the weakest wall. It’s thinner than the rest because we had to get the cables for the microphones and such in here.”

“Okay. Where would I need to go to get this antidote you need?” The guy looks at me, asking his crown prince for instructions, not at Bane or any of the others, just me. He’ll help, even to save the son of the man who still tortures our people, because I need his help.

“The labs on campus, they should have some left.” I look back. “Bane, go with him.” Bane nods, walking around the table.

“I’m coming too.” Bane’s mum steps forward. “I know exactly where it is. It will save time.”

“Right. Good.” I look back, and the stocky man is walking to the back of the room, taking his clothes off along the way. Then, as he’s near the wall, he shifts into a stunning fire dragon, dark red, his scales almost shining with his magic. He looks back one last time and then rams into the wall with his shoulder. It creaks, but doesn’t do anything else. Then he bangs into it again, and again, until, finally, the wall gives away under his force. Before the dust even settles, he dives into the hallway, towards the front door.

Bane and his mum run after him, jumping through the hole in the wall, and then they’re gone.

The assassin laughs, a shrill sound. “It’s not like you can save him. He’ll die. The traitor won’t be anymore.”

“Shut up.” I glare at her, turning to Finn, she doesn’t deserve our attention.

“Why? What are you going to do? Kill me? I don’t care. Or maybe just capture me, again. Like that worked so well last time.” Her voice is annoying, getting on my nerves.

Phoenix turns to the assassin, magic almost visibly spiralling around her, her energy and fury so strong. “You will shut up. And you will face consequences for what you’ve done.” She looks over to Litha. “Can you burn a circle in the floor around her?” Then she looks at Litha’s mum. “Do you remember how to make a binding circle with your fire?”

“Of course. My pleasure.” Litha’s mum comes over, holding out her hand, and as Litha burns a circle into the floor, her mum makes the runes to lock it into a binding circle.

Then, the column of fire around the assassin disappears and Litha rushes over, reaching out to Finn, taking his hand, her face wet with tears. “Hold on, please. I can’t lose you.” She kneels next to the table, holding him tightly.

Finn let out a pained sound, his breathing rough, but it seems that Phoenix’ healing has at least stopped the spreading and partially healed the wound. “I’m not letting you go yet. Not before I get rid of my father. I’m not dying before he’s gone.”

“Don’t say that, please. You’re not going to die.” She keeps holding him, her emotions so strong, she’s got so much pain inside her.

I look around the room. People are now able to leave through the hole in the wall, and campus guards are coming inside, for the dead bodies, and for the assassin we’ve caught.

Fucking hell... It’s like they knew. It’s like the fae king planned for us to all be here and then just kill us all in one go. And we played right into their hands...

Finn screams loudly, his body convulsing, as the antidote works its way through him. I can’t look at him, not when I know that I probably looked the same when they gave me that stuff, or when I still remember how close to death I’d been when they gave it to me. I just can’t do it. It may be silly, but I can’t.

Kit is standing in front of me, wrapped in my arms, holding me tightly as he keeps looking at Finn. “He has to make it. He has to.” He keeps whispering the same two sentences, over and over again, like a mantra. It feels like his grip on me increases with each repeat.

Then Finn finally quiets down, his body going limp on the table.

“And now we wait.” Phoenix steps away from him. “I’ve done what I could, but the venom is making it hard to heal him. We have to let the antidote do its job, and then I can try again.” She steps back, stretching, her body tense, and I instinctively reach out to her, right in time to catch her as her body gives out on her. She’s used way too much of her magic, exhausted herself, even when she didn’t realise it.

Phoenix’ parents come over, carefully helping her into a chair. She can’t even sit up straight anymore, instead slumping down, her eyes almost closed.

Bane comes over to us, his eyes serious, his jaw tense. He was speaking with his father and some people from the town protection and the campus guards. “It’s best if we go back to the house as soon as possible. Finn is going to need his sleep, and so does Phoenix. The guards say that they only had one person escape, this assassin, but it seemed that they didn’t think it too much of a priority for some reason.” He growls, shaking his head tensely. “She killed at least eight guards on her way in here, and it seems like nobody knew what to do, or how to stop her.” He lets out a deep breath. “I have no idea if the school or the town even know how to protect themselves against an assassin like that. She’s... She’s different.”

The assassin’s magic has been bound and they’ve taken her away, put her into a much higher security area this time around. Before she could do more damage.

“What are we going to do?” Litha, who’s mostly been staying close to Finn, looks up, her eyes red from crying. “We can’t just sit around, waiting to be killed or something.”

“I know.” Bane nods. “But, for now, I don’t know what else we can do but give Finn a comfortable place to rest. I don’t think we have a choice.”

“I, ehh...” I sigh as I let go of Kit. “I asked Finn to find us a place where we could hide from his dad. I don’t know if he’s found anything yet. But we could ask as soon as he’s awake again. He needs to heal, I still need to heal, and my dragon is still suppressed, and...” I shake my head, wishing I had more positive things to tell them, something to give them courage, something to make them feel better.

“Somewhere to stay, away from here sounds like a good idea.” Litha nods and she stands up. “If I’m going to save the world from the fae king. If I’m going to bring peace to this world. I’m going to need to find a place where I can practise my powers. Where I can get stronger. A place where we won’t be interrupted by people who try to keep us from blowing shit up. We need a safe place to do that.”

Bane’s mum comes over, Litha’s mum at her side, both looking grim. “I know a place like that.” Bane’s mum looks at Finn, pain flashing over her features. “I know where you can safely stay for a while. Do what you need to do to get stronger.”

“Where?” I look at her.

“Same place where we got the queen’s bane to put you out. One of our more hidden houses. It’s basically out in the middle of nowhere, in the grand scheme of things, and it’s the furthest away from the fae kingdom as you can be, while still being on werewolf ground.” She digs in her pocket and then takes out a key, holding it out to Bane, who takes it, his eyes wide, surprised.

I guess that means that she’s on our side, that she agrees that we need to take things into our own hands, or maybe she’s just trying to get us away from here. Right now, I don’t really care which of the two it is. We just need a safe place to stay, and right now, we’ll take just about anything.

2

I still can’t wrap my head around what just happened to Finn. Why would the assassin try to kill him? And why just stab him? The others she slit their throat, killed them in one smooth motion, not stab them, like she did with Finn... Did she really believe that this would work? I feel lost, confused, just... raw, like everything is falling apart.

But when Bane’s mum offered one of their houses for us to stay at, after probably overhearing what I said about blowing shit up, I knew that we couldn’t turn her down, we couldn’t not accept.

If we can get away from all of this for a while, get stronger, improve our powers, then I can almost believe that we can make this work. But we can’t do this if Finn dies, or if any of the others die. What’s the use of our prophecy when I can’t even save the people I love? If I can’t even save them, then how am I supposed to save the rest of the world?

Finn is still out of it, wrapped in a blanket on the couch in the middle of the living room. Ember, Phoenix’ cat familiar, is curled up next to him, pushed against him as she glares at anyone who comes close. It’s almost sweet how she’s trying to protect him.

’Not sweet.’ She lets me know. ’We need him. So he needs to get better. And if people disturb him, he won’t get better.’ Then her eyes flit to me. ’And you need to pack for the trip. Don’t forget to take warm clothes with you. And Phoenix needs someone to tell her to not over-pack.’ Then Ember turns more, no longer looking my way.

I guess I should go check on Phoenix, see what she’s packing. As I kind of stopped moving when we came to the house and they put Finn here, I’ve been at his side ever since. Some healers from the Academy helped get Finn here, after checking his vitals in the meeting room and then made him comfortable on the couch again. The third of my guys for that to happen to in under three weeks…

As I stayed here, most of the others went to their rooms to pack clothes and other things we’d need for our… trip. We’re all nervous, I can almost feel it in the air, but I know that we need to get away from here. For our own protection, and also for the protection of the people living in the town or working on campus, or even the students who are still staying here. Maybe, if we’re not here, the fae will stop attacking the campus.

“Litha...” Phoenix’ hand slides over my arm, her voice soft and her touch warm. “Come, let’s go upstairs.” She carefully tugs me along, until I look at her, her eyes are serious, pained. “Ember told me you were spacing out, thinking bad things. I thought it a good idea to come pick you up myself.” Of course, because if Ember wants to, she can be really pushy and not care at all about privacy.

Phoenix softly smiles, squeezing my hand a little. “See, you’re doing better already. And if you don’t start packing soon, you’re going to have to wear other people’s clothes all the time, including underwear, for however long we stay at the house.”

I nod, following her up the stairs. “I wouldn’t mind, but I’ll go pack.” Taking a deep breath, I try to push away the sad feeling. We’re already leaving this house behind even though we just moved in.

But I guess that if we leave now, if we make sure that this place doesn’t get destroyed just because we’re here, maybe we’ll actually have a place to return to after everything is over. And that’s worth every sacrifice.

“You don’t need those.” I sigh as Phoenix tries to stack even more books into her suitcase. My suitcase has been dedicated to being the ‘girls’ clothes’ suitcase, and is filled with toiletries and things like that. While Phoenix’ suitcase is packed with books, more books, stuff for rituals and spells, and, oh, more books. “You really don’t need all of them. Really.” I try to sound at least somewhat strict, but the desperate way she’s packing all of them is too cute and I can’t help smiling.

“But they’re useful. To help you get stronger. To help us all get stronger. We need them.” She sits on her suitcase, trying to get it to close, again... The first time she tried to close it, it didn’t budge. So she took stuff out, and it closed nicely, which of course meant that there was enough space to put things back in. So, she packed more books into it, and now she’s failing to close it, again.

A low laugh rolls in from the doorway, making my stomach all fluttery, and as I look up, Rune is leaning against the door, his arms crossed over his chest as he’s smiling, looking over at Phoenix. He’s no longer wearing his traditional clothes, but simply a worn pair of blue jeans and a grey shirt that looks really soft, and which makes his arm muscles stand out very sexily. He glances at me, raising an eyebrow as he slowly smiles, before he winks, making my heart skip a beat, then he looks back over to Phoenix. “Phoenix...” He sighs, patiently waiting for her to look at him.

“I can make this work. I promise.” Phoenix bounces up and down on the suitcase, trying to catch the latches in exactly the right time, and the suitcase lets out a very worrying creak.

“Phoenix.” This time his voice is sharper.

“Yeah?” She sighs as she looks back at him, finally. ”What?”

“You don’t have to pack all of that.” He comes into the room, slightly limping, and I worry that we’re asking too much of him today. He hasn’t tried to stand this much all week, and he’s been doing nothing but standing and walking all day. He must be so sore right now.

“Because?” She raises an eyebrow at him, challenging him, her eyes flashing.

“Open the suitcase.” His voice is calm as he takes out his phone.

With a loud sigh, Phoenix opens it and Rune takes a couple of quick shots of the things she’s packed.

Then Rune taps on the screen a couple of times, and puts his phone away. “Now, we’re going to check that you actually have clothes and other things you need packed, before we get back to those.”

“And my books?” She doesn’t move, crossing her arms in front of her instead, and it pushes her boobs up in a way that’s hard to look away from, especially with her top being almost see-through...

“Bane and Kit are checking your stack against what they’re already packing, and then Bane will send the rest of the list off to his mum, to check if maybe they already have the books you need in their library at the house. Anything not covered by their counts, you can take with you.” He leans against the bed, wincing as he rubs his leg for a moment. “What else did you pack?” He looks to the other suitcase and then to me. “And are you going to wear that?”

I look down, only now realising I’m still wearing my annoying dress. The dress Phoenix promised to take off me before taking a hot shower together later today, but I guess that that’s not going to happen, not now anyway. “I guess I should change into something more practical.” I go over to our closet, looking through it, trying to find something to wear. What are you supposed to wear when you’re on the run? It’s not something I’ve ever considered. In the end, I grab a pair of jeans and a simple shirt. I guess this is as good as any, I just need clothes, that’s it.

“We packed everything that was important.” Phoenix doesn’t sound very impressed with Rune.

“Yeah, yeah.” Rune hums, almost laughing. “I do not believe you need that many bottles of hair products. You don’t need two backups of everything. We’re not going to some deserted place for ten years.”

“You never know.” Phoenix sounds like she’s pouting and I can’t help my smile.

Rune lets out a laugh. “We do know. It’s not some weird place, it’s just one of their houses. There’s a town nearby where we can pick up things we need, or we can have them delivered. We’re not going three-hundred years back in time.”

“Still.” Phoenix sighs deeply and I look back at them. It’s funny how Phoenix is sitting on top of her suitcase, which still isn’t closed, and Rune is looking at her like she’s the most difficult person in the world. But they don’t look out of the ordinary together like this, they look like this is normal, like this is exactly the way things are supposed to be. And they look like they’ve been having these arguments for decades already. Then Phoenix’ face falls. “What if we’re not just staying there for a short time? What if this turns into something that takes weeks or months?”

“Then we go shopping for the things we need.” Bane’s voice comes from the door and when I look up, he’s also wearing jeans and a shirt, though his jeans definitely make me appreciate his body, the way it hugs his ass... He steps inside, looking at Phoenix’ suitcase. “I guess you’ve never been to the house we’re staying at?”

Phoenix shakes her head, frowning. “It’s not like your parents are there very often either. When I visit them with my parents, it’s usually at the places they stay at more often.”

“Yeah, makes sense. They rarely stay at that house, they feel it’s too far from the civilised world.” Bane shrugs. “But they used to stay there a lot, when they were our age. That house is full of books, most of them about subjects we can’t even imagine. The family on my mum’s side has been on the cutting edge of a lot of cool stuff for a long time. That house is more like a library than you can imagine.” He smirks. “Even Kit would be surprised by the things he can find there. The books we found in the tower are nothing in comparison. Which is probably why my parents don’t take me there anymore...”

“What about me?” Kit appears at his side, smiling, his arm around Bane’s shoulder.

“Nothing much.” Bane pushes him softly, grinning. “Are you done packing?”

Kit nods, then his eyes go wide, and he picks a book from Phoenix’ suitcase. “Gonna steal this for a bit, though. The rest of the books I don’t care about.”

“Hey!” Phoenix jumps up. “Give that back!”

“Nope.” He grins and dashes out of the room, Phoenix rushing after him.

“And that book was?” I stare after them, grinning.

Rune takes his phone, his eyes scanning over the picture, then he lets out a laugh. “Just some spicy book, apparently. Really old though, like... You could almost call it vintage, spicy ‘literature’, from a famous succubus author who was known for her love of the female form.”

Right... Something new to learn about Phoenix, I guess, and Kit too.

I sit on my bed, looking over the guys. “And what now?”

Bane sits down next to me, his hand on mine. “Now we wait for Finn to wake up. Once he’s awake, we’ll meet up with my parents and they’ll get us to the house. It seems to involve magic of some sort, I don’t know exactly, I’ve never been to it from here.”

Magic to go places, it’s still something that feels weird to me. Like, I’ve done it once when I came here, and I’ve seen other people arrive through those magical doors, but I’ve not really been anywhere else but this campus and the town next to it, so I didn’t really have to consider how it actually works on a larger scale.

Going away from this place for the first time, just when it started to feel a bit like home... Not looking forward to it.

3

I grab a couple more of Finn’s clothes from his drawers, stashing them in a suitcase. It’s not like he has many clothes anyway, he tends to wear pretty much the same things all the time, but it feels a little strange going through his underwear without his explicit consent. He’s still on the couch in the living room, out of it. It’s been four hours since he got stabbed and Phoenix says that he’s doing okay, other than the obvious not-actually-awake thing, but that doesn’t mean I’m not worried about him...

It all happened so fast. One moment we were rushing to protect my uncle and then the next moment, Finn got stabbed. He just... He was there, and then he was dropping to the floor. I suspect that if Phoenix hadn’t told Litha that she wasn’t allowed to fry the assassin that she would have done exactly that, her first deliberate kill...

I sigh, leaning against the dresser, closing my eyes. It felt so strange, one moment it was all high-speed adrenaline, and then everything went still, like the whole room stopped breathing at the same time.

“Bane?” Litha’s voice is nearby and then her hand is on my back. “Are you okay?”

I nod, slowly turning to her and taking her in my arms. “I’ll be okay once we’re somewhere safe.” She smells so good, she smells so familiar, like I want to wrap myself up in her and hide from the world forever...

Her hands move over my back, and then holds onto my shirt. “Will we ever be safe, anywhere?”

“No.” I wish I had another answer for her, but I don’t. It’s no use lying.

“I thought so.” She slowly steps back and gives me a kiss on my cheek. “Your mum is here, said she wanted to talk to you. She’s in the living room.”

I nod, taking a deep breath. “Thank you.” I have no idea why Mum may be here, but it’s no use making her wait.

Litha nods too, giving me a soft smile and then she takes my hand.

I squeeze her hand as we go to the living room, my heart heavy. What else could go wrong today? It feels like today has been almost a week of problems, instead of just a couple of hours... I quickly check the time on my phone. It’s five in the afternoon, and I’m already done with this week, which has only been ten hours long.

Mum is sitting on the couch, her eyes on Finn filled with worry, but when she spots me she tries to give me a smile. “Hey.”

“Hey.” I go over to her, sitting down and pulling Litha in my lap, wrapping my arms around her, needing her with me. “You wanted to see me?”

“Yeah. Just a couple of small things, really.” She takes some papers from her pocket. “You’re going to need these, they’re for the internet at the house, and some codes and spells to protect the house and all sorts of stuff.”

I take the papers, putting them on the couch between us. “Thanks.” I don’t really know what else to say. “I guess, thanks, for offering the place...”

She shakes her head, taking my hand. “Don’t thank me yet. It’s the only way we can be sure you’re staying safe, all of you. And that’s why I’m here...” She eyes Finn again. “I have... bad news. The assassin shared a few things...”

“No.” Litha shakes her head and I feel a flush of heat go over her skin. “I don’t want to hear it.” There are tears in her voice already and I tighten my arms around her, wanting to comfort her.

“You need to know. This is important, for all of you.” Mum looks at her, and her eyes are filled with tears too.

“I already figured it out.” Litha stands up, going over to Finn. She kneels next to the couch, taking his hand, and she wipes the tears from her face with the other hand.

I blink, lost, again... “Know what?” I look between them. “What is it? What did she say?”

Litha lets out a low growl, her eyes on Finn’s face. “The assassin wasn’t for your uncle, or Kit’s mum, it was for Finn.” My stomach lurches, not wanting to believe what she’s saying. She looks at Mum. “Right? That’s what you were going to say, right?”

Mum nods, closing her eyes for a moment. “Yes. The assassin was his aunt. She was sent here to kill him. Any other damage she could do, was just extra, Finn was the target of this attack.”

“Fuck.” I jump up, fury rushing through me and I want to punch something. I turn to the wall, anything is better than nothing, but right then, Finn lets out a groan, moving slightly.

He’s waking up! Finally!

“There should be some food in the house, and there’s a garden that you can pick fruit and vegetables from.” Mum pushes a crate with even more food forward, to the magical door. “This should also help you a couple more days.” Her voice is low, sad.

I understand that she doesn’t like the danger we’re in, and sending us to the house is all about protecting us, and the campus, but somehow, it seems very convenient that everything is already ready for us to just move in, even at a moment’s notice. Like they knew this could happen.

She looks up, meeting my eyes, like she can hear my thoughts, or maybe she’s just being a Mum... “The house is always ready for people to move in. It’s been a hideout for my family for generations. You’ll find a lot of things are set up in a particular way because it makes the house easy to defend when under attack.” She sighs as she stands up. “It was built for situations like this...”

We’re in one of the buildings on the campus that are normally off-limits to students, for various reasons, mostly to do with the safety and security of the school and the students. This room has one single use. It houses a door which can transport you all over the world, and other worlds, like the human world, but normally it’s not ‘turned on’. It’s only in desperate situations that it’s turned on, like now.

Behind me, Litha and Phoenix are carrying suitcases inside the room, while Kit and Rune are trying to get Finn in as carefully as they can. Finn is in pain, but he seems lucid, and he was insistent that we didn’t wait too long with getting out of here. Litha, Phoenix and Kit all said goodbye to their parents before we came to the building.

My dad is the last one to come into the room, carrying another crate with food and other things, putting it to the side before he closes the door behind him, finishing the circle that protects this room, and locks us inside it. This way, nobody should be able to trace where we’re going, if anyone would try that. Desperate measures, indeed.

“I’ll make the connection. Step back, please.” Mum takes a deep breath as she turns to the door in the middle of the room.

I step back, taking Litha’s hand, loving the feel of touching her. At least we’ll all be going there together, we’re not leaving anyone behind, at least not one of us. Somewhere, deep inside, I wish I could get my parents to come with us, or Litha’s parents, but I understand that we can’t do that. Plus, I guess it’s better that we do our own thing, not involving our parents or anyone who could be held responsible for our actions. As long as they don’t know what we’re up to, they can’t be blamed when we mess something up... At least, that’s kind of what I understood from the things Dad said when he took me aside before we left. If we’re doing something on our own, especially things that go against certain treaties that have been signed, nobody can be held responsible for what we do...

The door glows gold for a moment, and then the glow turns a light blue, before the door automatically opens. I can’t see anything through it, just a light blue doorway into somewhere.

Mum steps through it, disappearing for a moment, and then appearing again. “It works. You arrive in a side room of the house. The room can be locked from the inside and the outside with a simple spell. This is to keep people out while you’re in the house, so they can’t appear like this, randomly, when you don’t expect anyone.” She grabs one of the crates. “Follow me.” And then disappears through the door again.

I follow her, Litha’s hand still in mine as I take a bag with supplies in my other hand, the movement still a little awkward, but it’s slowly getting easier to use the fingers which were harmed by the venom and to remember that I can’t move it as easily as before.

Stepping through the door gives that ‘tugging’ feeling I get when I’m transported by the magic, but it doesn’t take even a second before we step out into a simple and plain room, with wooden walls and floors. There are no other objects in the room apart from this door and the single door leading to the rest of the house. Mum is undoing the magic circle and unlocking the other door as we arrive.

She looks back, smiling. “Welcome to our ‘humble’ abode.” Then she opens the door and holds it so we can get through. “Bane knows where everything is. He’s been here before. And those bags go in the kitchen.” She points at the bag I’m holding.

We walk into the hallway and Litha stares around, her eyes wide, sparkling. “This is pretty! Wow! Such a pretty house!”

I look around. I guess it’s nice. It’s very old, and the style definitely shows that. The walls are a combination of lighter stone and dark wood, the floors and the ceilings both a dark wood too. I guess I’m used to places that are old and such, but for someone who’s used to living in the city, this could look very ‘pretty’, as Litha put it, in a quirky cottage kind of way... Just a really big cottage.

4

I shiver as I step through the door. The academy is in a much warmer area of the world, and this place is obviously in a much colder area. I don’t like the cold much, but neither do the fae, which could be an advantage to us.

Finn groans as Rune helps him through the door, and I immediately reach for him too, trying to steady him. “I’m fine.” Finn tries to glare at me, but that doesn’t really work, not when he looks this pale.

“And we’re getting you to a place where you can lie down again.” Rune doesn’t even give Finn time to disagree as he starts walking.

“Living room is down the hall, on the left, has a lot of couches and looks out over the garden.” Bane’s mum smiles, but not enough to hide the worry in her eyes.

It’s different this time. How worried people are. Not just about Finn, but about all of us. Even my mum was worried. She didn’t like the idea of me going somewhere she didn’t know and wouldn’t be able to reach me easily, but she also understood that I had to go with the others, that being with them was the only way to keep us all safe... And to her, that was more important than her own comfort. My biological dad was standing next to her, holding her hand, as he nodded, his eyes dark with worry too. It made me realise how fucking serious this situation actually is.

As we walk down the hallway, Litha steps out of a room, and a quick glance inside tells me it’s the kitchen, a very sizable kitchen.

How many people was this place designed for? I count about eight doors going off this single hallway, but there’s a bend in the hallway to the front of the house, so there may be more rooms there, and glancing up the stairs, I can see at least four doors just from the bottom of the stairs. This isn’t just a normal family house… This almost looks to be designed as a fallout location, or a place to house a whole group of soldiers to protect the surrounding towns or something. What kind of places to Bane’s parents, or his family own? What the?!

“I’ll open the door for you.” Litha walks ahead of us and I quickly hide my smile as love floods through Finn when he follows her with his eyes.

“Kit...” Rune warns and he pokes me in my side.

“I didn’t do anything.” I poke him back. “I was being nice.”

“Nice would be putting me down somewhere comfortable. You can do whatever you two are up to, once you’ve let go of me. Do not involve me in your weirdness, not today.” Finn grunts and we quickly keep moving. I wasn’t going to do anything, I was just enjoying how even our most stoic prince went all fluttery when he saw our girl.

Litha steps out of the room, smiling. “There are couches here, and I found a blanket.” She steps back and we help Finn into the room.

The living room is big, massive. When I look around, I count seven good-sized couches, and a lot of tables with chairs. But what impresses me most are the shelves and shelves and shelves that line the walls, all filled to the brim with books and nothing else. A quick scan of the room tells me that they’re all about magic, history, herbs, and other things. No fiction or anything else to relax, this is all stuff people who’re involved with the army would need... “Wow.” The word slips out of me as I stare.

“Thanks.” Bane’s mum lets out a short laugh behind us. “My family has a long history of being involved with the werewolf army and we’ve always been close to the royals. So, we’ve collected quite a lot of things over time. Use it to your advantage. I’m sure you’ll find a couple of books in here that you can’t find anywhere else anymore.” She opens the curtains and shows a great view of the garden beyond. I realise that the sun is higher in the sky here than it was at the academy. So, we’ve also moved into the ‘past’ a little. Good to know.

I help Finn on the couch and then I stretch, before going back to the hallway. We’ve got more things to move here. No matter how nice the house looks, we kind of need to get everything in here quickly. We need to settle in so we can start figuring out what we’re going to do next...

I’m sitting in the kitchen, chopping some vegetables from the garden as Rune is frying meat at the stove. Finn and Bane are in the living room while Litha and Phoenix are in the garden, ‘exploring’, whatever that means with those two... They may have just found a place to make out that’s out of our view, I wouldn’t put it past them, or really blame them...

“Your mum seemed well.” Rune’s voice is low, and he’s not looking my way, but his tone is obvious enough, he’s got something on his mind.

“Yeah. I guess that things have been calmer at the borders since we came to the campus for the new year. She didn’t look that well when I left.” I put down my knife, not sure what he’ll ask next, but I know this isn’t some ‘light conversation’.

“I know. She looked... pained, when I saw her this summer.” He’s still with his back to me, and it’s becoming obvious he’s doing it on purpose.

“The attacks at the border kept her up a lot in those months. She was really worried about what was going on and we lost a lot of family members in the altercations.” I stand up, going over to him and lean on the counter, trying to catch his eyes. “What’s going on?”

He shakes his head. “Nothing. Never mind. It’s nothing.” He flashes me a smile and then gives me a quick kiss. I feel his emotions, but nothing seems off about them, just curiosity and worry, which... Not weird, perse. But I can’t shake the feeling that something else is on his mind.

“What were you thinking about?” I push myself up on the counter, so I can look at him easier. “What is it?”

He lets out a deep sigh, turning the stove down and then he steps closer, his eyes dark. “Your mum comes from a big family. Your aunt has multiple kids. They’ve both got a lot of partners, some of who have kids with others too.” He looks out over the garden, frowning. “But you’re her only child. And you’re your biological father’s only kid too. I was just...” He shakes his head, sighing. “Like I said... It’s nothing, really. Just something that popped up in my mind.”

I frown, reaching out and turning him to me. “I’m not the only one of us who’s an only child. It’s not that weird. You’re an only child, so are Bane and Finn. Why is it weird for me?”

“Because succubi queens, or incubi kings, don’t simply have one child. It’s... It’s not normal. The royal family is closely connected to the army, lots of royal members perform important duties in your army too. Like you said, you’ve lost a lot of family members this summer. But your mum hasn’t had any children since you were born, and didn’t have any before you. If you’re killed... Your line, her line, would end.” He takes my hand, and I don’t know how to interpret the emotions he’s feeling.

“The same goes for you. I mean, the thing about the end of a line and stuff like that.” I reach up, putting my fingers to his face, trying to read him, but it’s all muddy. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know. Seeing your parents together today...” He shakes his head. “I had a feeling that I just can’t shake. And it’s been getting worse every time I’ve seen them since.”

“Which is?”

“What if she only wants him? What if your bio father is the only one your mum really wants?”

I blink, surprised by his words. “That would be... unheard of. That’s not how... That’s not how we work.”

“Then, why?” He looks at me, his gaze intense. “My parents would love to have another kid, but since we’ve been forced from our homeland, it’s a miracle if people have more than one kid. It’s why Aideen and her brother are so special. I don’t know about any of the others, but for none of us being an only child is strange, just for you.”

Thinking about it, he’s right, in some ways, but I don’t have an answer for him, at least not one that I like... If he’s right, then I don’t know what to think about my parents, about what they taught me... But if there’s another reason why I don’t have any siblings... That could be even worse...

“I’m sorry.” He squeezes my hand lightly. “I shouldn’t have said anything. This is none of my business, it just... It kept going through my head.”

And now it will keep going through my head, like that’s much better... I’m about to say something, but the door to the kitchen opens loudly.

“Kit! Rune!” Litha bounces into the kitchen, carrying a huge bunch of flowers in her arms. “Look at what we found. These are so pretty! Look!” She puts them on the table and I wince. The flowers are really pretty, they’re in a rainbow of colours, but her happy and bouncy demeanour is a direct result of the effect the plants can have on people... And to have them this close to our food, we’re going to have to rinse all the veggies again, just to get the pollen off them...

“I’ve got even more.” Phoenix also bounces in, super happy and excited, and Rune is at her side in a flash, taking the flowers from her before she can do the same as Litha.

“I’ll take these.” He holds his breath as he quickly takes them outside again.

“That’s mean.” Litha pouts, but her eyes are still sparkling wildly. “Look! Pretty!” She lifts one of them up and comes my way, holding it out.

I take her arm, trying to keep her from pushing the thing in my face. “Yes, they’re really pretty, and they have to go back outside.”

“Why?” She pulls a face. “I just want things to be pretty here.”

“Because these have a very interesting effect on your behaviour... They’re usually used in drugs.” I slide down from the counter, keeping the flower away from me. “Like you are now. That’s the effect of the flowers.” I can feel it in her emotions, the hyper-happiness, the buzz going through her.

“It’s not.” She pulls her arm back, looking at Phoenix. “Right?”

Phoenix shrugs, though she also giggles. “It would be funny if we’d found something like that... How silly that would be.”

Rune appears behind her again, looking unimpressed at the two girls before he looks up to me. “I suspect we may have to wait with dinner for a little bit.”

I nod, feeling the pollen of the flowers already affecting me, tickling like a giggle inside. Of course, this would happen to us... Because nothing ever goes according to plan when the six of us are involved.

5

My cheeks burn in shame. I can’t believe that I found such dangerous flowers... I’ve only ever seen them in their dried form, not when they’re fresh like this. Of course, I know what they do, my mum uses them in rituals from time to time, but I’d never expected to find them in the garden here... They were... Well, not really in the garden, they were just outside the fence, but I’d never expected to run into them in the wild...

Groaning, I drop my head on my arms. “Fucking hell, I’m so stupid. I should have noticed it...”

“Have you taken advanced herbology?” Finn glances my way, looking way too smug.

“No. Just the basic course. Against my mum’s advise...” Mum wanted me to continue my studies of them, but I had other ideas.

“Guess why?” He dares to wink at me and I let out a growl as I look away from him. He’s mean, even if he’s right.

Bane comes into the living room, putting a glass of water in front of me. “I wouldn’t have known either. I’ve never been here around this time of year. And I get why...” He shakes his head, rolling his eyes. “Guess what? Half the plants in the garden, and right outside in the woods too, they’re all dangerous as hell. I just went out there with Rune and Kit. Apart from the patch of queen’s bane, which we used on Rune before, there are hallucinogens, poisons, things which will kill you in three seconds flat and all sorts of other things you don’t even want to get close to. They didn’t just collect a dangerous collection of books, but you could kill, or make giggly, a whole town, with all the stuff they have out there. They could have warned us...”

“Maybe they expected you to know about it?” Finn looks at him. “Now I’m bummed I can’t actually go check it out myself.” He winces as he moves.

I don’t want to go out there anymore. I don’t want any of this. It’s been too much. Tears spring in my eyes. Today has been too much. Too much pressure, too much shit. And the last two weeks? I cover my face with my hands, a sob nearly taking my breath anyway, sadness flooding me.

“She’s coming down.” Finn’s voice is soft. “The after-effects of this stuff are no fun. The high is good, but the low... very low. It’s not as obvious when dried and mixed in with other things, but fresh like this... It’s potent.”

Bane comes closer and then his arms wrap around me. “I know I’m not Litha, but watching a girl cry without trying to do something about it doesn’t sit well with me.”

I nod, his touch warm, grounding. I know rationally that this sadness is just from the plants, but that doesn’t really mean that my emotions know that. I keep sobbing, bawling, and strangely, it feels good. It feels like the stress is finally leaving my body, no matter how silly it happened...

After my silly move with the plants, the rest of the evening is much simpler and a lot less stressful. Rune and Kit made an amazing dinner, and we ate it in the living room. Finn on the couch, being fed by Litha, Rune and Kit sitting on the floor, close together, Bane was sitting on one of the other couches, half-reading a book he found about plants and trying to learn as much as he could about some of the plants from the garden, and I was the only one sitting at the table. It felt... calm. For the first time in a long time, it felt calm. Like the quiet before the storm.

Like the quiet before a really big storm.

Kit and Rune helped Finn to one of the rooms upstairs, since the stabbing and everything else exhausted him, and the two haven’t returned downstairs again, probably having their own fun upstairs. Not long after, Litha also went to bed, almost crawling out of the room, that’s how exhausted she was, but she was adamant that she sleep upstairs with Finn and not here on the couch.

That leaves just Bane and me downstairs. He puts his book away and comes over to the table, where I’m reading a book about offensive magic spells and rituals that I never even considered could exist. A whole book made up of spells and rituals that could enhance offensive powers or even give them to people who only have other types of powers. Like... This is a book made for warfare, and I’m definitely aware of the implications of what I’m reading.

“What do you think this means?” Bane slides a picture over to me. It looks very old. “I found it in the book I was reading, someone used it as a bookmark.” I take another look at it. It’s my parents, Litha’s parents and Bane’s parents. They’re around our age and it’s taken at the back of this house. They all look so happy. Which isn’t strange as they still had the rest of their lives ahead of them.

“We know that they were friends.” I shrug, closing the book I was reading, the graphs making my head spin.

“I know that. I don’t mean that part. I mean...” He sighs and I glance up at him. He looks troubled. “They were here. It looks to be the end of summer in that picture. They were all here, learning, studying, and having fun. They were our age, no idea of what would happen a couple of years down the line.”

“They were young, yes. Why?”

He sighs again, shaking his head. “I don’t know. It feels... destined? Our parents were without troubles at that time. They had plans for their future. Plans that didn’t involve losing their family, giving up everything for their children’s safety. We grew up in the shadows of this prophecy, but that was never their life. That was never part of their life until much later. It feels so... It feels like an inverted mirror, a negative from a photograph.”

I just stare at him, not sure what’s going on in his head.

He finally looks up at me again. “What if by the time we reach the age that they were when we were born and their lives turned into this big prophecy mess, we finally fulfil it and actually get to do whatever we want? Don’t you think that that’s...” He shrugs.

“You hope that it’s over by then?” I blink.

“I hope that we’ll have a future in a couple of years. I hope that we’ll still be alive, all of us.” He nods, and then his eyes harden, steadying. “I want to make that happen. I want to make sure that by the time we reach their age, we’ll have the rest of our lives ahead of us. No longer burdened by the prophecy, but being able to create our own destiny.”

“Just as long as that includes running your own county.” I smirk, liking this enthusiasm that’s suddenly rising in him. “Because the way the prophecy is telling it, you can create your own future, as long as it includes being kings to a really big country.”

He shrugs, smirking back. “With you all there, we can split the duties. I think it’s a great idea, we can all become part-time rulers and part-time something else, something we actually want to be.”

“What would that be?” I look at him, curious about his answer, but he just stills, his eyes opening a little wider, his mouth opening and closing.

“I don’t know.” He seems genuinely surprised by it. “I guess my own words are prophetic. We’ve always just focused on the prophecy and not much more, because I have no idea who I’d be, who I’d want to become, if I could choose my own destiny, my own path in life.”

I laugh, pushing at his shoulder. “You’ve got your work cut out for you then. Not only do you have to learn a shitload of new things, like how we’re going to take down the fae king, but you’ll also have to figure out what you’d like to be, apart from being a king.”

He laughs too, nodding. “What about you? What would you do?”

I think for a moment, smiling. “I’d do what my family hasn’t been able to do for generations, support our witch queen. Our high coven has been waiting for the return of a witch queen for generations, our job has always been to support her. And I’ll finally be the one to continue that tradition. I’ll take our rightful place at her court, and maybe be head of her health department.”

“Sounds like you have a plan.” He leans back. “Sounds like you’ve put a lot of thought into this.”

I shake my head, grinning. “Not really. Just rambling right now.” I take a deep breath. “It’s not about what we’ll do after everything settles down, it’s about how we’re going to make sure that we all survive the coming weeks, the coming months and the coming years. Because the way things are going right now...”

He nods, looking a little more serious. “The way things are going right now, I’d be lucky to get to my next birthday, and that’s in a month and a half.” He pushes himself up. “And with that unhappy thought, I’m off to bed. Don’t stay up too late, your queen needs you there tomorrow.” He smiles, nodding to me before he leaves the room.

On my own, finally, I stare out the windows, out to the garden and the woods, covered in the darkness of the night. Bane’s right, it’s going to be one hell of a ride if we want to get to the same age as our parents were when they had us. And we’re all going to have to put in a lot of work to make that happen.

I stand up, energy flaring through me. Just because it seems impossible doesn’t mean that it will be impossible, not when we’ve got Litha with us.

Bring it on. We’ll be ready.