And now I did.
The Midnight Fae Elders assassinated my parents.
Because they were Quandary Bloods? Because they were helping Quandary Bloods? I didn’t know. But Kols had promised to find out everything he could, including who, specifically, had killed them and how.
I didn’t blame him. I knew better than that. Yet that didn’t stop me from feeling uneasy around him and his direct connection to the source.
He was their future leader.
The Midnight Fae King who would be in charge of exterminating Quandary Bloods and anyone perceived to be assisting them.
What violent lives these fae led. I missed my elemental home surrounded by thriving energies and a love for spirits and general existence.
However, I couldn’t go back to them.
Not in my current form.
Because I was an abomination of unknown origin. Who knew if my parents were even the rightful earth source heirs?
Shade came up beside me, his palm finding the small of my back as he leaned in to kiss my temple. “Want to skip class?” he asked me softly. “I’m sure Zeph won’t mind.”
I looked at up at my Warrior Blood mate and watched as he stretched beside Kols across the yard. He’d insisted we return to the Academy after two nights in New York City, saying we needed to present a normal front and pretend we didn’t know anything about the Council’s plan to use me as bait.
I’d argued that it put the students in danger to keep me near them.
My mates had then reminded me that keeping me safe at the Academy would be easier than out in the open world. Because here they had snake vines and other nefarious wards in place that would automatically guard me as a student. Thereby making it less obvious when they protected me as well.
This whole thing resembled a waiting game—one I didn’t want to play.
“Aflora?” Shade murmured, his lips brushing the shell of my ear and sending a shiver down my spine. I’d stayed at his place after Advanced Conjuring yesterday. It had provided a nice change of pace and sort of solidified our new existence where Zeph, Shade, and Kols somehow managed to share me evenly. Shade never joined the other two, but Zeph and Kols seemed to enjoy putting me between them. Or sometimes Kols was in the middle. Those were interesting experiences.
“That look in your eyes makes me want to skip class even more,” Shade murmured, drawing me around to face him. “Are you thinking about last—”
A blast of magic from across the yard had both of us jumping apart to find the source.
“What the fuck?!” Kols shouted as he caught the ball of fire with his hand and threw it downward to smother with his shoe.
“That’s my line, Kolstov,” Emelyn snapped, her palm already alight with another flame. “Have you forgotten to tell me something, darling betrothed?”
My heart dropped into my stomach. Oh, no. She knows. She knows we’ve bonded and now—
“I’m sure there are many things I’ve forgotten to tell you,” Kols drawled, somehow managing to sound both bored and annoyed at the same time. “Care to elaborate on which item you’re inquiring about?”
Emelyn huffed and threw the inflamed sphere at his head, only for him to catch it again and dispense of it like the first one.
“Do that one more time and I’ll show you how to properly use WarFire.” The threat lingered in his golden irises, causing a chill to skate down my spine.
So much power, I thought. So much beauty, too.
Emelyn was either oblivious to the threat or didn’t care. She stopped right before him, giving me h
er back. “Why did a dress arrive for me today from your mother? I thought we agreed not to go to the Blood Gala together.”
My brow furrowed as I glanced at Shade, my mental connection to him opening automatically. Blood Gala?
Political bullshit, he replied. The Nacht family throws the fancy ball annually. I always skip, but Kolstov will be expected to attend with Emelyn.
I frowned. Oh. Right. Engagement.