by Rachel Angel
She had painted the Academy, then with the powerful magic she had inherited from her mother, the Queen of Spring, and perhaps the fae of lore, she turned her painting into a true standing building, a setting, and even a world. The Fallen Fae Academy had come alive, glamoured into the space between the Faery Realms and the Human world.
With a final wave at April, she backed up to the edge of the forest and finally turned to walk through and emerge in the dense and darkened forest of the Faery Realms.
Her surroundings were new and unfamiliar.
“How many ways are there to get here?” she said to herself. “Every time I come out here, I come through a different route.”
She walked through the forests, occasionally gazing up at the sun that tried so desperately to pierce through the dense canopy. After a while she came to a small clearing where several trees had fallen.
The bright blue sky above was finally visible, but still, she had no idea where she was. She had to try to find the coast, then she’d be in a better position to figure out where she had to go.
But before she could find the waterfront, she heard dogs barking in the distance; big dogs.
Harley froze and listened as they got closer. They didn’t sound aggressive but sounded playful and excited. She turned in the direction of the barking.
In the distance, she saw movement. Big movement. Indeed, it was the two massive dogs that belonged to Colin and Ethan.
The giant dogs came up to her and she marveled at their size. As tall as horses, they were imposing figures, but she knew they were friendly.
Right behind them, she saw Colin and Ethan.
“So, there you are,” Colin said. “Did you know that we’ve been looking everywhere for you?”
Harley shrugged as she smiled at them. “Well, here I am. You found me.”
“Please don’t make light of the situation, Harley,” Colin said. “We really were worried about you.”
“We thought you’d been taken prisoner by the Kingdom of Fall,” Ethan said.
She frowned and shook her head. “I was taken prisoner, but…”
“We saw you with General Dunsworth’s sons,” Ethan added, cutting her off.
“They’re the enemy, Harley,” Colin said, looking intently at her. “You know that, don’t you?”
“I wasn’t with them,” Harley said with an irritated huff. “They’re not the ones who imprisoned me.”
Colin and Ethan looked at each other then back at her.
“Who imprisoned you, then?” Ethan said.
“A vengeful rogue from the Kingdom of the Sea. His name is Oldman, if you really want to know.”
Again, Colin and Ethan looked at each other.
“He’s also the one who attacked the Kingdom of Sea.”
Dumbfounded, they stared at her.
“It’s not Prince Kingsley who attacked the Kingdom of Sea. It’s this vile man who seems intent on destroying everything.”
“So they’re still allied…”
“Yes,” Harley said. “They are still the allies of Spring. That’s why I’ve been trying to tell everyone that Spring should not be out there attacking Kingsley’s army. Do you understand now?”
“Actually, no,” Colin said. “Their army attacked ours. Kingdom of Sea attacked the Kingdom of Spring. That alone justifies fighting back. We can’t just sit back and let that go. We have to defend ourselves.”
“I know,” Harley said. “That’s part of the confusion. But Kingsley is working to regain control of his army. You’ll see. When he does, the Kingdom of Sea will show just how it is still the Kingdom of Spring’s ally. That’s why it’s so important that we stop Prince Harris from leading our army in an attack against the Kingdom of Sea.”
Colin looked at Ethan then back to Harley. “But there’s something else now to add to the confusion. The queen fought with the Dark Fae Wizard.”
“Yes, Colin. I know that. I was there,” Harley said.
“Well, did you know that after the fight, he headed off to join the Army of Sea.”
“Okay.” She looked at him wondering why it was such back news. He was visible enough and should be easy to find. “So?”
“So? So, it’s not okay. He glamoured himself as one of the young soldiers. He easily melted into the troop and no one has any idea how to find him now.”
“The queen had been doing everything to find him,” Colin said.
“It’s imperative that we find the Dark Fae Wizard,” Ethan said. “The queen is prepared to comb through the entire Army of the Sea to find him.”
“So, guys,” Harley said, looking at them. “What are you doing wandering through the forest looking for me? Why aren’t you with the queen and Prince Harris.”
“We were mandated to find you, Harley,” Colin said. “We came out here to find you and bring you home.”
“Think about it, Harley,” Ethan said. “We can’t have our princess hostage to the Kingdom of Fall.”
“Well, actually,” Colin corrected. “We can’t have our princess hostage to any kingdom. You’re our princess. You belong to the Kingdom of Spring.”
Harley glared at him. “I’m not particularly fond of the notion that you see me as a possession. I don’t belong to anyone.”
“You know what I mean,” Colin said sheepishly. “I just mean that we can’t allow other kingdoms to hold you hostage. You’re one of us.”
She smiled at him.
“That said, though,” Ethan said. “We’ve heard that you and the Prince of Sea have been seeing each other.”
“Maybe,” Harley said coyly.
“And you’ve also been seen with the current general of Woods.”
“That’s possible.”
“And you’re rather friendly with people from the Kingdom of Fall.”
Harley shrugged and remained aloof.
“They’ve attacked our kingdom, Harley. They’ve killed our people.”
“What can I tell you, guys,” Harley said with a whimsical smile. “I’m a friendly person. I don’t go around looking for trouble, looking for a fight. When I meet people, I try to be nice and open and welcoming.”
“That’s not good,” Ethan said. “Not here. Not with them. And I’ll tell you, Prince Harris will not have it. He will not have you sleeping with the enemy.”
“Those twins,” Colin said. “The ones who fought us and escaped with you. They’re from the Kingdom of Fall, right?”
Bored with the subject matter, Harley nodded.
“You know,” Colin went on. “While we were fighting to save you, you seemed oddly cozy with them.”
“Yeah,” Harley said with an exasperated shrug. “I told you. I might be a bit friendly with them. I’m friendly with everyone. Well, except that Oldman fellow.”
“You have to stop, Harley. You have to stop it all,” Colin said.
“You don’t have that power over me,” Harley argued. “You don’t control me.”
“If the queen were to ever find out that you’re fraternizing with the enemy, all our enemies…” Ethan shrugged. “Well, I don’t know what she would do to you.”
“And if she should discover that you’re more than just friends, that these men are your lovers…”
“Okay,” Harley said. “I get it. I shouldn’t do this and I shouldn’t do that. But I go to the Academy with these guys. I have classes with these guys. I know these guys outside of the confines of this realm. You guys are locked in here with notions of war and battles and fighting over anything and everything. Well, that’s not the way I see the world. That’s not the way I treat the people that I meet.”
Colin came up to her side and grabbed her arm with more intensity than necessary.
Harley looked up at him with a frown. “What are you doing?”
Ethan came to her other side and also grabbed her arm, although not as violently as Colin.
“Guys,” she called out. “What are you doing?”
“The queen has given strict orders r
egarding fraternizing with the enemy,” Ethan said. “You’re too hardheaded, Harley. You seem intent on ignoring the order of the queen. I could understand that you were perhaps ignorant of the fact when you first started your… affairs with these men. But now we’ve made you aware of the fact, and you still want to ignore the order.”
“I hate to do this to you, Harley,” Colin said. “But we have to bring you back to the Castle of Spring.”
“Wait a minute,” Harley said as she struggled to break away from them. “You can’t do this. You can’t tell me who I can or cannot be friends with.”
She struggled and complained as they marched her to the Kingdom of Spring. Soon they approached the castle, and they finally dragged her through the door.
“I’m really sorry about this, Harley, but we’ll have to keep you here for a while,” Colin said as he forcibly guided her up the stairs.
“And we’ll do what we can to keep you occupied,” Ethan added.
“That won’t be necessary,” Harley said. “I’ll go down to see the queen, or should I say, my mother…” Her eyes wide with reproach, she looked at them, hoping to remind them who the queen was.
Colin shook his head. “That won’t be possible. The queen, or your mother, if you prefer, is otherwise occupied.”
“You guys are really making a big deal out of nothing.”
“No, Harley, we’re not,” Ethan said more forcefully. “And I hope you’ll understand. If you try to escape, if you try to go out and see your friends, you’ll only be making trouble. They’re from enemy kingdoms, kingdoms that have attacked us. They may say pretty words and treat you nice enough, but in the end, you have to admit that their actions speak louder than words. They’ve attacked.”
“We’re going to do everything we must to keep you here,” Colin said softly. “Please don’t push us to use force.”
They opened the door to her room and pushed her in.
“Believe us,” Ethan said.
“This is for your own good.”
“The last thing the queen wants is for you to be held prisoner by any of them.”
Colin leaned in close to her. “You’d be better off trusting us than trusting them, Harley. Think about that while you’re in here.”
And with that, he shut the door, effectively shutting her in.
Chapter 7
Fuming, Harley slammed her fists into the door. “Let me out!” she cried. “Colin! Ethan!”
After a few moments, breathless and resigned, she closed her eyes and turned around to lean back against the door.
How could they do this to her? She’d thought they were her friends and now they had effectively locked her up.
“You guys are no better than that Oldman who threw me into that cell!” she called out as she slammed her fists down against the door one last time.
She opened her eyes and took a look at her new prison. It was the same room she’d seen when the queen had shown her around. It’d been her room as a child, the room she’d played in before being abducted, before she was brought to the human world.
Only now, instead of a little girl’s room, it was decorated for a young woman. The heavy mahogany bed was covered with elegant linens embroidered with tiny pink, red and violet flowers. At the foot of the bed there was a large cedar chest intricated carved with wild roses.
A large rug warmed her feet as she walked closer to the bed. Thick and plush, the white rug was bordered with the same tiny flowers as those embroidered on the bed linen.
She had to admit, as a prison cell, this one was far more appealing than the one Oldman offered. She walked to the tall dresser of solid oak painted white and adorned with a fine line of gold along the edge of the dresser top and gold drawer pulls.
She opened a drawer and was surprised to see fine lingerie. Panties of fine silk, bras of the softest lace and satiny soft corsets.
She rummaged through the other drawers to find more clothing than she could ever wear. An entire drawer of shirts, another filled with shorts, and another stuffed with sweaters.
Feeling a little more lighthearted, she looked around and found the door that led to the closet.
She opened the door and gasped at the immensity of the walk-in closet. In it she found jeans in every color and style, mini-skirts, pencil skirts, A-line skirts and a huge selection of cocktail dresses and evening gowns.
A large section of shoes took up the far end of the closet. A shelf of sneakers, a shelf of boots and a shelf filled with delicate sandals in every imaginable color, and much more…
As she dreamily took inventory of her new prison cell, she heard the faraway sound of a knock at the door. She ignored the sound as she opened a small drawer to find silk scarves. The next little drawer housed leather belts and another drawer was filled with kid gloves.
The knock sounded again followed by the sound of footsteps.
“Yes,” she said as she fingered the exquisite fabric of a raw silk gown on her way out of the depths of the huge closet.
“How do you like your room?”
Harley turned to see Ethan and Colin standing in the doorway of the closet and glared at them. “What do you guys want?” she said, her anger quickly returning to her. She stormed past them and out of the closet and noticed the tray of food on the bed.
“We wanted to know what you thought of your room,” Ethan said.
“And we thought you might be hungry,” Colin said as he followed her out.
Though infuriated by them, she suddenly felt the grumbling in her belly. The tray was laden with fresh buttery crescents, delicate little sandwiches and large strawberries topped with cream.
“You know, I hate you guys for this,” she said as she reached for a big strawberry and swirled it in the cream.
“Ah, come on, Harley,” Colin said. He sat on the edge of the bed beside the tray and looked up at her. “We’re just looking out for you.”
“Yeah,” Ethan said as he sat on the other side of the tray. “And look at what we did to your room. You haven’t said a word about the great work we did.”
She looked at them. “You guys did this?”
They both nodded.
“We wanted you to be comfortable,” Colin said. “We wanted you to be happy while you were here.”
“So, we glamoured your room for you,” Ethan said. “Don’t you like it?”
“That’s beside the point,” she said.
“I just want to know if you like what we did,” he insisted.
“Well, of course, I like the room, Ethan,” Harley said as she grabbed another strawberry and marched back and forth in front of them. “But that doesn’t change the fact that you guys are keeping me here against my will.”
“Harley,” Colin said. “Be reasonable.”
As she walked back and forth, she glanced at the door. The guys were sitting on the bed six feet in front of her and the door was about twelve feet behind her. Would she have the time? Could she make a run for it? Had they locked the door behind them, and it would be futile to run no matter what?
“Don’t even think about it,” Colin warned.
But she ignored him and ran for the door. Still feet away from her escape, Colin grabbed her and pulled her back to the bed.
“Oh, Colin,” she cried. “Just let me go! I can’t stay locked up in here. I’ll go stir crazy.”
Colin released his hold of her but stayed close.
Ethan looked glum. “But we put so much work into making this room perfect for you. Did you notice the light and airy gossamer curtains? We put in a large sitting area for you to lounge in and read or embroider.”
Harley glanced up at him. “Embroider?” she said incredulously. “You want me to sit up here and embroider?”
“And have you been in the huge bathroom?” he went on, ignoring her remark. “It’s modern but romantic. Functional and elegant. You even have a heated floor. You can enjoy warm baths filled with heavenly scents. We put in lavender and chamomile and cranberry and mango
.”
Crossing her arms over her chest, she glared at him.
“There are large fluffy towels and a thick bathrobe, and did you see the array of hair things we put in?”