Spirited: A Reverse Harem Fantasy Romance (The Academy of Spirits and Shadows Book 1)

by C. M. Stunich

  “You want to see Air, don't you?” she asked, but even though I knew my cheeks were flaming copperberry red, I decided to ignore her, heading for the door to the bathhouse antechamber where Elijah was waiting.

  Technically, the bathhouses were gender neutral, but I didn't want Elijah just sitting around in there when he didn't have a body to bathe. I figured all he'd be doing was ogling either me or Jasinda and there was just no way I was putting up with that.

  “Wow,” he said, standing up and hooking a crooked, mischievous little smile at me. “I keep thinking you can't get anymore beautiful and yet you shock me again. Although …” Elijah waltzed toward me in that languid, couldn't-give-a-flub way of his, pausing in front of me and looking down with those ice-blue angel eyes. Reaching out, he tucked a bit of white hair behind my ear, making me swallow and clear my throat. He leaned down and put his lips close to my ear, shifting his beautiful white wings behind him. “I think I preferred the nightgown.”

  “Flub off,” I said, focusing my Haversey energy so I could walk right through him instead of around. It was meant to be a dismissive gesture, but the cold wave of his spiritual energy took over me and stole my breath away. Flicking a glance over my shoulder, I caught his gaze as he did the same, a shiver passing over his ghostly form that I couldn't miss.

  There was something … intimate about being inside of Elijah that I'd never felt with another spirit before. It was totally weirding me out.

  “We should hurry and go grab Air before he's late to dinner,” I said, shaking off the strangely pleasant sensation of my soul and Elijah's sliding together.

  Prince Air was always late to dinner.

  Usually because he was up to something he shouldn't be.

  “Oh, I should quite like to see my cousin,” Elijah said with a sharp grin. Looked like he was willing to brush off that encounter as nothing, too. Good. I didn't want to acknowledge it.

  “I don't ever remember seeing you here before,” I grumbled as I pushed out into the main hallway with Elijah and Jas following along behind me. At least for right now, she could still see him. The power of the spirit charm she'd had hanging around her neck lasted for about seventy-two hours, just along enough to get her through the All Haunts' Eve celebration on Saturday night. Lucky her. While everyone was counting on spook dust to illuminate visitors from the Otherside, my handler would get to see them with true second sight. “So you and Air can't be that close, now can you?”

  “Well, the queen was married to my mother's brother. Close or not, he's still my cousin.” Elijah followed alongside me as we made our way back to the private family staircase and started up it, passing guards who nodded to me in greeting. If they were creeped out by me talking to a ghost again, they didn't acknowledge it. I knew it probably bothered them anyway—it bothered most people when they couldn't see something they felt they should—but I was at least glad of the temporary reprieve in teasing.

  Looking at Elijah, I thought about the queen's deceased husbands and tried to imagine which of them was his blood uncle. Probably Raanan, the Amerin lord from Tamma. That would explain why I'd grown up inside the stone walls, playing with Air and never once seeing Elijah. Tamma was the province on the farthest side of the kingdom, buried in trees and tucked in a circle of mountains with two narrow passes on either side.

  It was virtually impenetrable and Amerin's first defense against another invasion by Scythia, the country on our western border. It made sense that the queen would marry a noble from that area, to keep them bound to the throne by blood, sex, and magic. It was a smart idea. If I were queen, I'd build my harem like that, too. Each man like a brick wall to fortify the throne.

  “Besides, the night before I left for Grandberg Manor, we went out drinking together and spent the night dancing with a set of beautiful dark-haired twins. I hope he feels a fucking shitload of guilt for giving me a hangover which, really, could've been a major factor in my ultimate and untimely death.”

  I cringed at the words fucking and shitload, but I felt a huge surge of nausea at the idea of either Air or Elijah dancing with a drop-dead gorgeous twin. The bee inside of me buzzed with jealous rage, and I clamped a hand over my tummy to stifle it. Really, I needed to come up with a better metaphor.

  Ignoring Elijah's story, I continued up several more sets of stairs to the floor just below the queen's, down the hall, and straight to Air's bedchamber doors. His guards didn't bother me as I passed. I felt honored to be one of a select few allowed to come and go as they pleased from the prince's personal rooms. He was, after all, the only heir to the throne and a closely guarded commodity.

  “Please tell me you're not naked in here,” I said as I shoved the wooden doors wide and stormed into Air's room to find him in front of the mirror, carefully adjusting the buttons on a brand-new Royal College uniform.

  Just one week shy of his twenty-first birthday, Air was a late bloomer when it came to the academy. Most students started at seventeen if they could … eighteen or nineteen if they couldn't. And they only started at twenty if they hadn't been able to get in before. Deep inside the shadowed recesses of my heart, I always thought maybe Air was waiting for me to get into the Royal College so we could go together …

  But who the flub knows?

  Damn, he's not naked, I thought sourly as I moved up on his left side and tried not to get sucked into his orbit. A near impossibility when we were in the same room together, but … it was always worth a try! Even if Air did like me the way I liked him—doubtful—there was no way we could ever be together, so why torture myself?

  But all the logic in Amerin couldn't stop my heart from pounding furiously when he flicked his sea green eyes my direction and smiled that arrogantly handsome smile of his.

  “Oh, doesn't my little cousin look spiffy as Hell in his first-year uniform,” Elijah said, reaching out and pretending to ruffle Air's blonde hair with his ghostly fingers.

  I ignored him.

  “Not naked,” Airmienan said, his voice this clear, bright sound that commanded authority. Just the sound of it was enough to make that empty ache between my thighs go ballistic. Ten times worse than the way Elijah made me feel. Maybe because I remembered the feel of Air's cock, thick and hard, pushing between my thighs? At the time, I kind of thought it hurt like Hell. At first anyway. As the night went on, my body acclimated to the stretch of him inside of me, and then … it was pure pleasure. Pure fucking pleasure.

  Shivering, I swallowed hard as I banished the memory and watched as Air snatched the feather I'd just lost from the air, bringing it to his face and running it across his lips.

  “Poor Brynn,” he said with a half-smile and an elegant shrug. “Try not to look so disappointed.”

  “Don't fool yourself,” Jas said, coming up on Air's other side, but avoiding Elijah's ghostly form. “Nobody's disappointed.” She reached around Elijah to pluck at Air's white sleeve. “Lookin' good in that uniform though, like a real academy kid.”

  “I thought so, too,” Air said, flashing a bright smile. “A proper academy brat! Finally.” He snapped his fingers and spun toward me, scooping me up in his arms as I let out a squeak … and accidentally broke his dressing mirror by knocking it over with my wings. I don’t think he knew how good it felt to be held in his arms, but … holy dung beetles, it felt good. “What do you think, Brynn of Haversey? Am I handsome?” Air flashed me his slightly pointed teeth and then nuzzled against the side of my neck, turning me into a liquid, simpering mess.

  Ugh.

  Eww.

  Flubbing simpering?!

  No, no, not me … not Brynn of Haversey …

  “You look amazing,” I admitted, studying the fitted military style coat with the pocket over the left breast, the gold buttons, the fitted breeches and academy issue side-button boots. Blergh. Air was gorgeous on an average day, but dressed up in Royal College wear? He was breathtaking.

  “Of course I do!” he declared with another chuckle, spinning me around and depositing me
on my feet as he planted his hands on his hips and looked down into my eyes, a more serious expression passing over his face, like a cloud briefly blotting out the sun. “You didn't come see me last night. I was worried sick. I sat in your chamber—on your bed which completely and utterly scandalized your maid—before I came back down here for a change of clothes.” Air cocked a sideways smile that was the complete opposite of Elijah's. Elijah was the lazy, cocky, languid type while Air was bright, authoritative and arrogant. In short, they were both a different breed of bum-hole. Beautiful, self-assured bum-holes who knew exactly how beautiful they were. “I would've waited longer, but I was starting to stink.”

  Air reached out with a hand and cupped the side of my face, sending hot warmth spiraling through my body, taking over every limb, making me feel pliant and hot inside. I wanted to be on his bed on my back, underneath him as he moved inside of me …

  Hellim's cock, it'd only happened once and that was two years ago. It was time for me to get over it. Also, since cock wasn't a word with wholly negative connotations, Haversey didn't mind if I used it. Score for me.

  “I was worried that you might end up like …”

  “Like Elijah?” I filled in and Air's blonde brows shot up his forehead. His golden hair was spiked up in tufts on the sides and back, the rest tucked under a black academy newsboy cap. He looked like a prince, even in the traditional uniform, the only clue to his status a single gold pin on his chest in the shape of the Amerin royal crest—a pair of crossed daggers with angel wings and a heart as the backdrop to it all. Power, wisdom, and … well, heart. That's what it was supposed to stand for.

  “Yes, like Elijah,” Air said as I reached out and took his hand, running my thumb along the smooth surface of his palm.

  “Do you want to see your cousin?” I asked.

  Air gaped at me as I took the Haversey knife from my belt, carefully cutting a small gash along both our palms and pressing our hands together. It was just further proof of how much he trusted me, letting me both have weapons around him and use them on him. If I ever turned double agent and went rogue for the enemy, I could have the only heir to the Amerin throne dead within minutes.

  I'd rather slit my own throat.

  Pushing magic into Air, I used our joined hands to pull him around to face Elijah. I could've used the same spell on him as I used on the guard, but I'd rather share blood. It was an intimate sort of thing that I would never waste on a stranger, but with Air … He was so much more than that.

  “Hello cous',” Elijah said with a sly smile, like a lazy house cat. “Long time, no see.”

  “Eli, holy Haversey's cunt,” Air choked out, invoking the name of my goddess instead of his own. Airmienan of Hekkett, God of Magicks. “How … what …” Rarely speechless, I smiled as the prince of Amerin found himself with his tongue tied in a knot.

  I'd rather he was tying mine in a knot with it, but … that was never going to happen again. And even if it did, it'd be a one-time thing that would only make me want him more. Ugh, the only thing that would make Air a worse match for me would be if he were a ghost.

  “Your talented … friend?” Elijah hazarded, dropping a complex glance in my direction, one that I was having serious trouble unpacking before he turned his ice-blue eyes to Air's sea green ones. “She unbound me from Grandberg Manor and re-bound me to her,” he said with a slightly triumphant smirk, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned back and studied his cousin's first-year uniform. Elijah's was a sixth-year's, telling me that he'd died before he even got the chance to enjoy the benefits of being a Royal College grad. Suffering for six years and dying right before graduation? That was just the gods being cruel.

  I wondered why Haversey hadn't saved him.

  “This is …” Air started, flicking his gaze between me and his cousin, briefly glancing up at Jas and then back to Elijah. Eli, I guess. Air's lips cracked into a massive grin. “This is fantastic! You're just in time for the All Haunts' Eve celebration!”

  Elijah smiled back at his cousin.

  “Think we could find those twins again?” he asked, and Air laughed, that easy, breezy laugh that said he didn't have a care in the world. That sound had always been more than enough to cheer me up. It didn't fail to do that now, even if a little piece of me died every time I saw Air's magnanimous smile and knew it couldn't be mine.

  “Brynn and Jas are much prettier than those twins,” Air announced with a dismissive wave of his hand, locking his green gaze onto my own and sending my pulse into a violent frenzy. Blood sloshed around in my skull, making it difficult to hear the rest of the conversation. “Save a spot on your dance card, will you?” Air gave both me and Jassy a flirty little wink. Not a surprise. He basically flirted with anything that had tits. He never came across as sleazy though. No, mostly he was just charming. Didn't matter if he was rolling up his sleeves to help the stubborn old cook (the one who refused to retire) chop vegetables. If he was lifting up one of his younger cousins to pluck an apple from a tree. Or if he was flirting with a girl our age at the tavern.

  Women loved Air.

  Men were usually jealous of him, and he ended up in a lot of fights that he didn't start.

  “Yeah, yeah,” I said, shoving back a massive fall of silken white hair, trying to affect a disinterested, best friend sort of vibe. It'd been so easy when we were kids. Why was it so damn hard now?! “But I apologize in advance for stepping on your feet.”

  Air's grin got even bigger—a surprising feat considering he was smiling as wide as a razor wolf. He reached out and gave the complicated nest of braids on the back of my head a playful squeeze.

  “Darling, you've been stepping on my feet since before you could even walk. Not sure how that's possible, but you have. I expect nothing less than ten broken dishes, a small fire, and a twisted ankle from you before the night's end. Now.” Air squeezed my hand tight and cocked his head to the side, giving me a look that made my toes curl inside my boots. “We'll just have to hold hands all night then. I'd love to catch up with Eli.”

  “Not much to catch up on,” Elijah admitted with a smirking half-smile, reaching up to ruffle his dark hair with ghostly fingers. “Being dead blows. And living in Grandberg Manor with two angry shadow whisperers, not my idea of a good time. The first non-ghostly woman I laid eyes on since dying was Brynn.” His ice-blue gaze darkened as he pushed energy into being corporeal, his good looks even more apparent when he was less see-through.

  “Lucky you then,” Air said, his voice—and his smile—drooping slightly as he glanced between the two of us. Jas rolled her eyes from behind Elijah and muttered something under her breath that I couldn't quite hear.

  “Yes, yes, lucky you both. Brynn is beautiful and amazing, and any men she takes as lovers are blessed and should know how fucking lucky they are,” she continued, emphasizing her words and staring pointedly at Air. I grimaced at the F-word, but mostly I grimaced at the blatantly obvious hint in her voice. I'd never forgiven Air for taking my virginity and then brushing off the night like it hadn't mattered.

  Jasinda didn't agree with me: she thought there was more to it on Air's part, but … broken hearts don't always see the clearest. Sometimes, all that violent pumping and all that blood gets in the way. Cursed spirits, maybe I was seeing things that weren't there? I hadn't exactly tried to communicate with him about it.

  “Now can we please go to dinner? Elijah might be dead, but I'm starving,” Jasinda said, moving past me and grabbing my other hand, the one that wasn't clenched to Air's. She dragged us both toward the heavy chamber doors.

  “If it makes you feel any better, I'm starving, too. As a ghost, I think you're always hungry. It's torturous.” Instead of walking with the rest of us like he'd been doing all along, Elijah lifted his legs up and curled his arms around them, floating in midair next to our little group. Must be nice for him, after being alone for so long, to have all these people that could see him.

  “Should I wear my new uniform down to dinner?�
�� Air mused, already smirking like he knew how much the serving girls were going to fawn over it. “Brynn will probably spill something on it.”

  “Oh my Goddess, shut up!” I told him, letting go of Jasinda's hand and shoving our shoulders together. “You are a serious a—” I clamped my right hand over my mouth and Air roared with laughter.

  “A serious … what, oh Great Brynn of Haversey?” he teased, pinching the round curve of my bottom. I poked him in the nipple, but instead of being teasing, playful movements, both actions turned my blood to molten lava and made it harder to breathe.

  “A serious pain in the butt cheek,” I delivered with a smirk as we headed down the stairs, Elijah floating along beside us, an eerie sight considering how corporeal he looked in that moment. How handsome.

  If he'd been alive, or if the serving girls could actually see him, they'd have fawned all over him, too. Air would have some serious competition.

  We hit the bottom of the stairs, the mood surprisingly light considering the prince's deceased cousin was a part of our posse.

  But then Air stopped suddenly, going stiff as a board beneath the arch that led from the royal family's private first floor foyer into a decorative hall that led to the receiving area of the castle.

  He unclasped my hand and I let out a small sound of shock as our healing wounds peeled apart, stopping the clotting process and starting the bleeding all over again.

  “What is this?” Air asked, stepping close to me, the sweet smell of petitgrain washing over me, that woody and citrusy smell he favored so much. But underneath the fragrance, there was his natural smell, this indescribable essence that I couldn't put words to but could recognize anywhere. “Hellim,” Air breathed, his warm fingers brushing my collarbone and making me feel dizzy with the sensations that spiraled down from my chest, pooled in my arms, my legs, my wings. I felt twice as top-heavy with him touching me like that. “Brynn!”

  “It … I forgot to mention it!” I blurt, because that's the Goddess' honest truth. As soon as my eyes landed on Air, I forgot all about Hellim and Haversey and the resurrection spell.