The Fae Queen’s Harem: A Reverse Harem Paranormal and Fantasy Romance (The Cursed Dragon Queen and Her Mates Book 3)

by Meg Xuemei X

  The assembly kept their soldiers’ faces. They couldn’t see through the illusion.

  As one, we stopped at the edge of the lapping waves of the dark sea.

  The wrongness I’d felt about Sihde since I’d entered the Forbidden Forest was thicker here. The forest was tainted, and here, pure evil dwelled beneath.

  Unease and cold rage slithered up my spine.

  Tianna’s dark rule would be over! I vowed.

  “It’s a glamour,” I said. “We can pass.”

  Zembyr and two Fae warriors stepped forward, but a wave repelled them and sent them flying back. They crashed into the wall of warriors.

  Iokul moved to the front, his ice magic probing but met no resistance from the ward. He stepped forward and passed through. It looked like he was riding a wave.

  Rosalinda followed him, and again, the ocean wave rose and tossed her out.

  “What the actual fuck?” Blaze cursed. “Iokul, return!”

  Iokul rushed to the edge of the wave toward us, but the wave swept him further toward the palace entrance. In a blink, he disappeared from our sight into the Red Palace.

  “Iokul!” I cried, but he didn’t answer.

  My blood turned cold as fear for my mate gripped me.

  “Iokul, answer us!” Blaze and Rai shouted.

  We traded a grim, anxious look.

  “We won’t lose him,” Blaze said.

  “Let’s go after him.” Rai said exactly what was in my mind.

  “First let us try again, my queen,” a Fae soldier said.

  One by one, the Fae warriors tried to cross, but none of them could get through, and Iokul couldn’t return to us.

  I’d seen through the glamour, but I had missed the ward.

  The power that warded the palace was ancient and alien. I was out of my depth.

  “The message is clear,” I said. “It looks like only me and my mates can pass.”

  “We go together,” Blaze said, grabbing my hand just as I reached for Rai’s.

  “What if we all hold hands and you bring us through?” Rosalinda suggested.

  I nodded, and our entire force gripped hands and stepped onto the water.

  Violent, dark wind rose and tore my mates and me apart from the army.

  Sybil and Henry couldn’t pass, either.

  The warriors charged the ocean again, only to be thrown out. Blood poured from their noses, and I knew that if they kept trying, they would die.

  “Stop!” I ordered the soldiers. “Wait here until I return. Find a way to survive in Sihde, and my mates and I will do the same.”

  “My queen, we’ll wait right here for your safe return,” Rosalinda said, tears in her eyes. “No matter how long.”

  “We’ll figure out a way to bring down the ward,” Zembyr said, as he slashed at the waves to no avail. Fear and steel burned in his dark-green eyes. He was remembering the day my mother had been slaughtered.

  “We’ll return,” I said.

  Henry howled, and Sybil chirped frantically.

  Calm, I told them, and wait for me.

  5

  Red vines twined around the black pillars.

  It seemed that red and black was Tianna’s theme—they represented violence and death.

  The high ceiling was etched with Fae porn in graphic detail. It disturbed me as I noticed some of the images depicted rape and sadism.

  Iokul had also seen it, disgust and rage twisting his masked face.

  I’d thrown myself into his arms when we’d reunited. He’d pulled me so tightly against his chest while his brothers clasped him in the shoulders in comfort.

  We’d broken apart quickly, for this wasn’t time and place to get emotional. Rai and Blaze scanned the area for any immediate threats while Iokul and I tried to get hold of ourselves.

  I averted my gaze from the ceiling and vowed that if this was all dark Fae was about, I’d change it. I’d tear their culture apart. I’d expel every evil from this land as well, as I’d done for my dynasty.

  I would start with Tianna.

  I strode toward the throne hall, my mates flanking me, their hands close to their weapons. Two of them would shift to dragons as soon as an attack came, as we had planned.

  No one announced our entry as we stepped into the throne room.

  The hall was a different version from what Elvey had once showed me when he’d taken me to the world of glamour. We’d danced on the marble floor amid pillars of emeralds. We’d looked out at the silver forest through the windows; the light had shone through the golden ceiling.

  In that world, Elvey had picked a pale green gown for me with a low cut that showed off the tops of my creamy breasts. He’d also put a diamond and silver crown atop my head. I hadn’t known then that I was the true heir to Sihde.

  I’d forgotten my curse and the whole universe when I’d waltzed in his arms.

  Where is Elvey?

  My heart rammed into my rib cage at my fear that something had happened to him, and my throat scorched with the dread.

  Rai held my hand, lending me his strength. “Whatever happens, we’re all in this together,” he whispered in my ear, his warm breath feathering my skin. I curled my fingers around his.

  Dark blossoms draped down through high windows, scenting the air with gardenia, hyacinth, lime, and rose.

  Blaze sniffed. It smells too sweet, he said in my head with a frown in his voice.

  It smells rotten, like blood and corpses, I said. Dark magic is at full play here.

  I only smell a sickly sweet scent. Iokul offered his insight.

  Rai nodded gravely.

  The deeper we pushed into the dark queen’s high court, the stronger the smell of decay became.

  Tianna used the sweet scent to glamour the putridity beneath, but my mates couldn’t discern it, just as they hadn’t seen through the glamour of the Forbidden Forest and the black sea. It worried me. What if Tianna used glamour on them when we faced her? How could I protect my mates from her?

  I could see through glamour, but not only because I had royal Fae magic. Sihde couldn’t hide from me—its true queen—what it hid from others.

  As we were halfway into the hall, the dark, oppressive magic made me gag. Yet I felt it wasn’t completely dark Fae magic. Could there be foul demon magic in the mix? Tianna had close ties to the demons. The demon captain we’d killed back on Pandemonium had called her his queen, and twice she had sent a demon army instead of a Fae army to assassinate me.

  My grandfather had said that Tianna had gathered dark, evil forces around her and engaged herself in all sorts of foul, forbidden practices.

  The court—all of them dark Fae—stood on either side of the hall and murmured to each other as they watched us. The men wore armor and swords; the women, all willowy and beautiful, dressed in elegant gowns. Yet, according to the rumor, their queen was the most striking and no other being could surpass her beauty.

  Perhaps she had killed those who were more beautiful than her.

  I felt the heavy gaze of the crowd crawling along my skin, their eyes evaluating and appraising. I didn’t send my magic out to probe them since they weren’t my target. But I knew they pondered what I could do for them, what it meant for them that I’d come, and how long I would survive.

  Some sneered at my mates and me.

  We ignored them, not caring if it offended them.

  We were here for two things only: to kill Tianna and rescue Elvey.

  As for how to kill Tianna, no one really knew.

  Many said that she couldn’t be killed.

  But we would get close to her, observe her, and find her weakness.

  Anyone could be killed with the right tools. Even the gods and goddess faded.

  I masked my face with disinterested iciness. Cold, cruel, calculating, vengeful, and power-hungry were all dark Fae were, as Rosalinda had kept reminding me. She’d also informed me about the Fae’s brief history.

  The two Fae races—dark and light Fae—were in con
stant competition, yet they couldn’t erase the other altogether because of the required balance in the Fae realm. Light Fae were more benign. They didn’t hate dragons and humans that much. Nevertheless, all Fae loved to manipulate and play games.

  My eyes found a raised dais with a gold throne adorned with black diamonds at the far end of the hall. And Tianna—my immortal enemy—sat on it.

  That was the woman who had orphaned me, cursed me, and tried to kill me for nine centuries. I’d done nothing to wrong her, but it didn’t matter to the evil incarnation. My birth and continuance were the bane of her existence.

  I saw red at the sight of my enemy. Her golden hair cascaded to floor of the gold dais, swaying like snakes, and my heart pounded so wildly it could barely contain the violence inside.

  A black veil concealed her face, and her red, low-cut gown flaunted half of her bone-white breasts. The black stripes twirling from her left breast on her gown to her right thigh highlighted her slim waist and curvy figure.

  A chained charm nestled between her deep cleavage, and I figured it contained a potent spell.

  Eight males—probably her guards, playthings, Fae nobles, or a mix—surrounded her on the dais, gazing upon her with devotion and lust.

  Her perfume of rose and death drifted toward me. The closer we approached her, the stronger the stench. It added to the air of bloodthirst, decay, and foul hunger not of this realm, as if there was something else—alien and terrible—living inside her.

  Blaze sniffed, his nostrils flaring.

  What do you smell? I asked in his mind.

  Rose and night and sky, Blaze said.

  It smells nicer here. Rai agreed.

  Better than that sweet scent from earlier, said Iokul with appreciation.

  I felt a rush wave of disappointment that they couldn’t discern the horrible odor, but then Fae had glamour magic that dragons weren’t familiar with. Even other Fae couldn’t distinguish the dark Fae queen’s twisted glamour. Only Elvey and I could.

  Elvey’s first lesson for me on Pandemonium had been to make out the dark queen’s glamour.

  And where was he? If he were here, I would feel him.

  My mates and I kept marching, my focus glued to the dark queen, while my mates took in the whole court, looking for threats.

  We were nearly close enough to Tianna to attack her.

  Should I make a move and kill her by surprise? My fingers twitched as I tested my White Light. One fatal strike and I might be able to end her.

  But what if my magic didn’t come out and I only gave my enemy an excuse to execute me for my act of genocide? I had no idea how powerful she was, and if I made a wrong move, not only my life would be forfeit, but my mates’ as well. And Elvey and the others who depended on me would never be free.

  Kill her name before you kill her, a voice seemed to speak to me. Just like how I had handled her pawn—the black witch Lysandra.

  When we were ten yards away from the usurper’s throne, three guards in red armor stepped toward us, blocking our path. They looked alike. Each of them had shoulder-length blond hair and cold, lime-green eyes.

  The one in the center raised his sword, sharp tip skyward before turning to us. “Advance no further, dragons.”

  Their faces were expressionless, but I could tell these men enjoyed extinguishing lives. Their every muscle spelled cruelty and violence. Their hands gripped the hilts of their swords that jutted out of the sheath at their waists. I’d bet that they’d very much prefer it if my mates challenged them.

  We didn’t take the bait but stopped in our tracks. There was no point in getting in a fight with some pawns, though I had no intention of following their court etiquettes.

  I could feel the dark queen’s eyes boring into me from behind her veil, the same pair of piercing eyes that had peeked out at me through those of the demon captain and the black witch.

  It was the eyes of death and destruction.

  A chill sliced up my spine. The hair on my neck stood up.

  My mates pressed closer to me, shielding me.

  I held the queen’s stare.

  “Kneel before Her Majesty, dragons,” the lead guard ordered haughtily.

  Rai glowered, Blaze’s nostrils flared with sparks of fire, and icy steam emitted from behind Iokul’s white metal mask. They didn’t even look at the lead guard, as if he was but an annoying bug. Their murderous stares focused on the usurper queen, just as mine did.

  “I’m Daisy Danaenyth,” I announced with a clear voice to ascertain that every Fae in the court heard. “Daughter to Zuzana, and the rightful queen to Sihde and the Danaenyth dynasty. I reclaimed the Dragon Realm, and I’ve come to take back Sihde.”

  The court gasped, and Tianna’s guards snarled.

  “I and my consorts,” I continued without missing a beat, “King Rai, King Blaze, and King Iokul to the Danaenyth dynasty, heirs to the Oslan Dominion, also the rightful kings to Sihde, bow and kneel to no one. And you shall all bow and kneel to us.”

  More rasped gasps came from the court. For centuries, no one had ever challenged the dark Fae queen, except my grandfather, who had sent a few assassins to Sihde to kill her. But he had failed.

  “As our queen mate said, we fucking bow and kneel to no one,” Rai said.

  “We come to take back what belongs to the true queen of Sihde—Queen Daisy Danaenyth,” Iokul pronounced.

  “And to remove the usurper Tianna from the fucking throne that’s not hers!” Blaze shouted, a trail of fire emitting out of his nostrils.

  We were nearly at attacking range. We had a chance to take Tianna out. And we’d just publicly renounced her.

  “Not even bow to me?” asked a familiar, musical, and warm voice.

  Tianna lifted her veil.

  I froze as I stared at the brilliant blue eyes that shifted colors like mine on the lovely face.

  My mother’s face smiled at me with doting love.

  The court dared not breathe this time. They’d all known my mother, the heir who should have been the queen.

  My mates narrowed their eyes, not understanding everyone’s reactions. They thought that everyone was surprised at the resemblance between the dark queen and me. They didn’t know Tianna was wearing my mother’s face to taunt me until a whisper rose in the court. “The crown princess Zuzana.”

  “Come to me, my beloved child,” my mother’s voice beckoned.

  For a second, she was my mother, and I almost believed her. I ached to go to her, to sit down at her feet, and lean my head on her knee.

  Elvey’s warning sliced through my head, piercing the hovering dark fog. “Bonding magic is your royal Fae heritage. Tianna has it as well. She mixes it with dark magic and uses it to control minds. When you face her eventually, she’ll try to bind you. You can never allow her to slip into your mind and control you.”

  My shield went up and extended to my mates, my White Light twirling around it. To my relief, it’d come to my aid without my summoning. For the first time, it was like my second skin. The fog dissipated from my mind.

  “Stop it, Tianna,” I said. “Your tricks don’t work on me. The game is over. You’re not worthy to wear my mother’s face. You don’t deserve to lick the dirt from the bottom of her shoes.”

  “The bitch is pretending to be your mother?” Blaze growled, and the court hissed at us.

  The red-armored guards stepped toward us, and Rai raised his sword, his lightning passing along the blade. At the same time, Iokul and Blaze shifted to dragons, roaring.

  The guards stepped back, uncertain now, and waited for their queen’s order. The noble Fae pulled back and scattered further to give the dragons a wide berth.

  One wrong move from the enemies, and we’d counterattack and burn the Red Palace down.

  I fixed my stare on my true enemy, ready to push my White Light toward her and reduce her to ashes.

  Tianna laughed. “Leave them be for now. The fun has just started. We don’t want it to be over so soon, do we?” />
  Her guards bowed to her and withdrew.

  Blaze and Iokul didn’t shift back but hovered in the air.

  Tianna’s face dissolved to her true form.

  Her eyes shone darkly on her beautiful, creamy face. Tiny black crystals dusted her long golden lashes. Her sharp teeth flashed as she parted her bloodred lips. Her long nails, lethal as blades, tapped the armrests of her throne.

  Her beauty was stunning yet so cruel and malicious and arrogant. There wasn’t the slightest humanity in her.

  Immeasurable power and evil boiled under her skin.

  The court gazed at her merciless beauty, completely enthralled.

  Then I heard Rai suck in a breath involuntarily. Blaze and Iokul also focused their dragon eyes on her, stricken by her glamoured splendor.

  They had assumed she was a crone, evil and ugly, since all they’d heard about was her horrific deeds. They hadn’t expected her to be so exquisite that no words could describe her loveliness. Her beauty beyond this world threw them off balance.

  The dark queen saw it and knew it. A whimsical smile and lewd desire flared up in her cat-like green eyes.

  I saw malice and rot in her true form, but the others saw only power and beauty.

  My mates’ reactions to my enemy hurt me like a hot iron running through my heart.

  They were under her spell. I was the only one who could see through her glamour. I’d never felt so utterly alone.

  I grabbed Rai’s hand, and he squeezed mine, yet his attention stayed on the dark queen as she tilted her head and beamed at him. I doubted I could ever form up that kind of sickening sweet and sultry look.

  Righteous fire burned in my eyes as I pictured mauling her face. I allowed no one to touch my men.

  Only an ounce of sheer will kept me where I stood.

  Rai’s nostrils flared at the queen’s scent

  My heart pounded so painfully I was certain it would shatter into several pieces any second. Had Tianna evoked lust in my mates? I would tear her throat out for enthralling them.

  But I didn’t smell arousal in the air. No, that wasn’t completely true. Arousal was thick in the room, but it didn’t come from my mates. Their arousal had a distinct male musky scent.