Queen of Fae Academy Read online

  Queen of Fae Academy

  Eternal Assassins, Book Three

  Kendal Davis

  Ardor Fantasy Press

  Contents

  1. Ciara

  2. Rook

  3. Ciara

  4. Alder

  5. Ciara

  6. Owain

  7. Ciara

  8. Alder

  9. Ciara

  10. Breze

  11. Ciara

  12. Rook

  13. Ciara

  14. Owain

  15. Ciara

  16. Alder

  17. Ciara

  18. Breze

  19. Ciara

  20. Ciara

  Connect with Kendal Davis

  Also by Kendal Davis

  Text Copyright © 2020 Kendal Davis

  All Rights Reserved

  Cover design by Melody Simmons

  Created with Vellum

  1

  Ciara

  Two years ago...

  I woke from an unusually deep sleep, my breath coming in gasps at the effort it had taken me to break free of my dream. Even before I cast my eyes around the dim room, I knew where I was. The dry, acrid scent of the perpetual dust storms pervaded the room, even though the air filtration system was of the highest possible quality.

  My bedroom was my favorite place, as it was the closest to my own domain that I’d ever had. The political handlers that ran my life were ever present. The Directors themselves might not be physically with me in my luxurious house in New Arabia, but their hand picked employees were. Always.

  My tutors were kind and intelligent, completely dedicated to preparing me to live amongst the fae. Nobody ever asked me if I wanted to go. It was the purpose of my existence, and had been since I was an infant. I was the Tithe. When I was a newborn, Queen Hellebore of the fae had bestowed the magic of her people on me, so that I could one day enter her land as an ambassador between our peoples. Such a thing happened only twice in a thousand years, and I was grateful for the honor.

  But I was alone. It was forbidden for anybody to touch me, or speak familiarly to me. And although I had understood the reasons for this for all my twenty years, that did not mean that I liked it. Somewhere deep inside me, I craved the touch of another person more than I could ever possibly put into words.

  As I sat there, my chest heaving with the terror I could still taste from my dream, there came a light knock at the door. I tried to answer cogently, but it came out as more of a squeak. Nevertheless, the door opened, silently and smoothly.

  “Miss Ciara?” The voice was deep, but hesitant. It was not somebody I knew well, which struck me as impossible.

  “Who is that?” I wanted to stand up, but I knew I was not dressed properly. Oh, what the hell. I was the center of this household, of the mortal world itself. I was the Tithe. Anybody who wanted to stare at my less-covered parts in the middle of the night might find themselves suddenly without a job, wandering the toxic desert outside the city.

  I could do that to any of my minions if I wanted to.

  “I’m the new butler, Miss.”

  “That’s ridiculous.” I did get up, shaking the tangled sheets from my feet before padding across the room, my head tilted in a mixture of outrage and query. “We don’t have a new butler. I didn’t order anybody new.”

  “You make it sound as if you use a takeout menu,” he murmured, a smile shading his voice. He stood in the doorway, his features partly hidden from me by the darkness.

  “I mean it. I liked Franklin, our old butler, just fine. I don’t want a new person.”

  “But you’ll be joining the fae soon, when the new class is called up to Fae Academy. We won’t see much of each other, as you will never return here after that.” He stepped from the shadows and stood before me. He could not have been more nondescript if he tried.

  Well, perhaps he had tried.

  I could not explain it, but there was something about him that was so studied, so determined to be forgettable, that it made me doubt I was seeing his true appearance.

  “If I did not approve your hiring, then there is something wrong here. Have you come to try to kill me?” I narrowed my eyes at him. I could take down a slight man like this, probably without even using a bit of my fae magic.

  “Do you take me for an assassin?” My question had struck a nerve in the man, making his eyes dark with emotion. I couldn’t possibly have hurt his feelings; he was nothing more than a prole.

  Yet I couldn’t resist lifting my hand, wishing I was allowed to run it along his strong forearm. He didn’t look that strong when I regarded him overall, but every time I looked closer, I caught glimpses of muscled power that I couldn’t make sense of. I had no way to pinpoint it, but I had the oddest impression that this man was occupying the wrong body. He was, at heart, a massive, immovable man. Like a robust tree, weathering anything. Not this slight, totally forgettable character.

  “If you touch me, everything will be different for you,” he said. “Do you want to?”

  “That depends,” I said, aware that my nipples were hardening against my nightdress. “Do you want to kill me?” It was a question worth repeating. A person as important as I had dealt with many threats of assassination before now. My household had stopped them all so far, but I knew how to handle myself.

  Another man’s voice came from behind me, where nobody had been a mere moment ago. “Of course he does. We all do. For you will be the strongest Eternal Assassin that Fae Academy has ever produced. We are supposed to stop you.”

  I turned slowly, wishing I knew which man was the greater threat. I couldn’t face one without putting the other behind me. I chose to turn my back on the new butler.

  “That’s impossible,” I snapped at the newcomer. How in the world had he entered my room? As the Tithe, I was literally the most famous person in the world. My livelihood rested on the massive donations that every country made to the cause. At least, those nations that had survived the Great Upheaval with some semblance of civilization intact.

  My security was unassailable.

  The new man smiled slowly at me. His lips were softly curved, as if he had known other times in his life that were filled with mirth. His eyes were a bright blue, like the sky on a cloudless summer day centuries ago, before everything broke. There were a few books that described those days. I’d leafed through them a hundred times, trying to understand the changes to my world. As the newcomer looked at me, his expression changed from charming to taunting.

  “You will destroy everything,” he hissed at me. “No citizen of your world should allow it, but they have no idea about anything at all.”

  “Your world?” I echoed. “That’s it. You’re a fae. How did I not see it right away?” As I spoke, his image shimmered and reformed, so that he was no longer just a breathtakingly handsome mortal. When I looked again, he had moved up a few notches in my impression to devastatingly gorgeous. Or salivatingly delectable.

  I shook my head to clear it.

  “We can manipulate everything about your world, you know,” he said. “When we finish with you here, you will forget everything we tell you. But the ideas will remain with you just the same for when you need them.”

  I felt the knot in my belly ease a little. “You’re here just to tell me things?”

  “That’s a lie,” observed the first man, as he moved closer to me. His form had shimmered as well, so that he was now somehow an entirely different man. Another one of the fae. He was massive, of great height and breadth, his shoulders so high above me that I found myself looking at his hard chest. Without another word, the huge man unsheathed a sharply glinting knife. He stepped toward me with purpose.

  Then he buried the blade in my back.
>
  I choked for air. The gleaming steel of his enspelled blade had pierced through me entirely. I could see the tip protruding from my thin nightdress.

  There were no words, no air. Time stopped for me.

  It would be the end.

  Just before I crumpled to the floor, I heard the man with the piercing blue eyes rasp out his displeasure. “Honestly, Alder, that’s enough. You aren’t supposed to stab her.”

  His words gave me enough strength that I was able to summon my unsteady, untrained magic, and draw it toward my wound. I did not know much about using my fae powers, but I liked the way they sparked around my fingers when I had strong feelings. Nothing had ever felt more urgent than my need to survive this. I set those sparks on my own flesh, willing it to repair itself.

  The huge man shook his head in disgust at the other one. “Breze, it’s bad enough that I’ve run into you here. I swore an oath to Queen Hellebore to do her killing for her. It’s got nothing to do with you.”

  “It does, even though I declined to become an Eternal Assassin like you. It has more to do with me than you’ve ever guessed.” The gorgeous, blue-eyed man, Breze, glared at our new butler. “I said we all want to destroy this mortal woman, not that we shall. The Queen wants her alive for now.”

  “How would you know what the Queen wants?” Alder was dismissive. When he looked at the other man, his lip curled in dislike. “You left the Academy before you knew what life was about. What woodwork have you been hiding in since then?”

  “No, my oldest friend,” Breze said, with unexpected sadness. “It is you that is missing crucial information. You will find out, in time, that you mistook everything about me when you last saw me. First, let’s save her. Ciara’s time to die has not come yet.”

  He bent toward me. I never knew if he meant to help me, or if his words were intended to misdirect. I did not give him time to show me more about himself.

  Instead, I raised my hands, palms upwards, and I called all my fae power to me. My magic was wild. But it was strong. It gave me renewed strength in my body, healing my wound without my understanding of how it was happening.

  I stood, taking a moment to find my feet, and I reached behind me to pull the long knife from my back. When I turned, I met the gaze of Alder, the man who was somehow simultaneously a huge fae and also the most nondescript employee of my household. His eyes shone with an unmistakable emotion. Even though it was he who had run me through with his knife, he hoped that I would live. He was relieved.

  Alder nodded with an air of satisfaction. “You’ll be the Slayer after all, won’t you?”

  I snarled at him. “That’s enough, Franklin. I’m leaving tomorrow to go to the land of the fae, and I promise you I will remember who you are. There will be trouble. Nobody stabs the Tithe.” I’d meant it to sound more impressive than it did, but I found myself distracted again by the wish to feel his skin against mine. His flesh called to me as if it were my destiny.

  With my powers glowing from every pore of my body, I feared nobody now, not even these fae intruders. Experimentally, I flicked a spark from my right hand. It hit Breze squarely in his well-muscled chest, just as I’d meant.

  His lips thinned into a look of hatred. “I will see you again. When I do, you will be both stronger and weaker. I will gain your trust, and then you will destroy the world.”

  Fires blazed from my hands. I threw the flames at him, wishing I could find a way to end both of these men, but also love them. That made no sense to me, but I was quite sure about it.

  My mind scrabbled at the short list of choices. Fine. I would end them, if that was how it had to be.

  “We’re eternal,” whispered Breze with a wicked lift of one eyebrow. He began to fade away, but he still talked to me as transparency set in. “Go back to sleep. You’ll think this was just a nightmare.”

  “Oh, I’ll remember,” I gritted out.

  “No. You will not remember me at all, even though you will try to. And tomorrow, when you wear your pretty, flowered dress to meet the mortals who plot against you, you will not remember Alder either.” He gestured to the silky, spring garment that my maid had laid out for the morning. Then he sent a spell into my mind, far stronger than I’d known fae magic could be. It spread through me, completing the healing of my wound and sending me back to my bed. I was so exhausted that I thought I might collapse before I got there.

  Breze vanished entirely.

  Just before I closed my eyes, sucked into a whirlpool of magical sleep against which I did not have the skill to fight, I saw Alder above me. He did not touch me, although I longed for it. Instead, he smiled sadly at me. “You won’t remember me for a while. But when you do, I will be ready.”

  Blackness took me.

  2

  Rook

  The present day…

  The music blared from the nightclub, making me tap my fingers on the table. The evening was warm, with breezes passing through the vanilla-scented trees that were everywhere in the land of the fae. Our table on the patio was the best, as was Ciara’s right. I knew there were many of the fae who still did not support her presence in our world, but her power was undeniable.

  “It’s been a wonderful vacation, hasn’t it?” She looked dreamily at me, her hand tapping the table to the music, just as mine did. “I missed you so much during the holidays last year, I don’t know how I survived it.”

  I chuckled. “Well, you are still missing two of your bonded mates. Owain had to go home to his own family; you know how strict his parents are. And Alder is, presumably, back at Fae Academy. We’ll see them both tomorrow, when we go back. At least you’ve got the best one of your lovers with you.” My predictable jest made her smile, which was all I’d intended.

  Evana and Finley came back from the dance floor, both flushed with exertion and happiness. When Ciara made room on her bench for her best friend, Evana took the seat gladly. “You should see your face,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen any woman who wanted to dance more than you do right now.” Evana grinned at me, as if telling me I should issue Ciara an invitation.

  “Oh, I’ve asked her,” I assured them. “She says she doesn’t want to, not when all the fae here will know who she is. It’s pretty crowded in there.”

  Ciara rolled her eyes at me. “I don’t think I put it quite like that. I’m not afraid, if that’s what you mean. I just don’t want any of them to get hurt if things get too close.”

  Finley stood with his hand on Evana’s shoulder, looking perplexed. “Do you not have enough control over your powers yet? I would have thought that by your third year at Fae Academy, you could handle anything.”

  “Of course I can,” Ciara said abruptly. “It’s just that I’ve had the strangest feeling all day. It’s like I’m about to remember something important, something that might make me lash out.”

  “How can you be about to remember something?” Evana was practical. “If you haven’t remembered it yet, you wouldn’t know anything about it.”

  Ciara stood, rubbing her temples. “Don’t bother to split hairs with me, silly; I know it doesn’t make any sense. I’ll be fine. You two go back and dance some more. I wouldn’t want to spoil your great time just because I’m a little off.”

  I rose as well, taking her hand. “Fine. Let’s take a walk down to the stream, then. You’re probably just feeling the effects of having been away from your mates for too long. We will all be glad to be back together.”

  “Will you?” Ciara bumped me with her elbow as she teased me. “There was a time that you didn’t like Alder all that much.”

  “I got over it,” I answered calmly. “You need us, so we take care of your needs. It’s that simple.”

  “It is, isn’t it?” She stopped and leaned against a tree, pulling me to her. I gladly held her close, tipping her chin up with one hand so I could kiss her. She leaned into me, returning the kiss with fervor, but she wasn’t finished speaking. “But here’s the thing, Rook. I’ve had this headac
he since before the holidays even started. Do you remember when Alder said that he had an old friend who had turned down a chance to be selected as an Eternal Assassin?”

  “Of course I do,” I said. “It was in your sitting room, when we all had breakfast together on the last day of school. It is hardly a believable story, though.”

  “Because nobody would turn down membership in the Assassins?”

  “Nobody ever has. Any fae who refuses the society that selects them must leave school. We, of all people, should understand that. That’s how we ended up in an organization that we didn’t really want. It’s a compromise.”

  “I know,” she said impatiently. “It’s just that the words have jogged something in my mind. Something from a long time ago, and I can’t quite figure it out.”

  We were walking down by the stream now, the evening sky starry above us. It was truly beautiful. It made me more glad than ever that Ciara and Evana had agreed to meet me and my cousin here tonight. I had longed for my wild, pink-haired mage in the last weeks. I could hardly speak through my desire for her right at this moment.

  “What can I do to help?” I could feel her turmoil through our fire bond. “Does it involve nudity? I’ll step up if you need me.” I was trying to make her laugh, but she barely smiled.

  “It’s just that most of my memories of growing up as the Tithe are so clear. And now I have this nagging sense that I’ve missed something. There was a night that I think I met the man Alder mentioned.”