The Forsaken Royal: A Reverse Harem Urban Fantasy (Annabelle's Harem Book 2)

by Anna Hill

  “I ask no reward. Now that I know who you actually are… I will do anything to help the rightful queen.”

  “Does that mean… you wouldn’t mind if we came back?” I asked. "I know you can’t use pebblerot right away or anything, but in a few weeks if we returned… would you be able to help us again with more answers?”

  “Absolutely. Whatever you need,” she agreed.

  “Thank you… Thank you so much.” I was eager to go back and tell the boys what we found. Especially Rhyion… he was going to have a field day with all this information.

  I stood up, and Angelo followed me. “We'll need to go now. It’s extremely dangerous for us to be here.”

  “Of course, I understand. If you need me further, I’ll be here.”

  “Thank you, Resa.” I gave her a gentle hug before I took Angelo’s hand.

  We didn’t bother stepping outside again, there was no reason to. It would only cause more attention. So I transported us from Resa’s house back into our own home, where Rhyion and Lio were sitting in the living room.

  Lio immediately ran up to hug me, though I hadn’t been gone long at all. Still, I was sure he was stressed out every second I was gone.

  Rhyion stood up behind him. “How did it go? Did you learn anything?"

  “Oh, we learned a few things, alright…” Angelo said.

  As Lio released me from his hug, I kissed his cheek before turning attention to Rhyion. “You were actually right. I’m not powerful enough to defeat Robert as of now.”

  Rhyion looked surprised. “Really? I mean, I knew it was a possibility, but… I didn’t think I was actually right. But you’re so strong…”

  “I know. And being so strong is kind of a problem… because all the magic that Robert has is actually mine.”

  Lio looked at me in disbelief. "How can that be possible?”

  “Jacob. I thought that he pretended to be my boyfriend so he could keep an eye on me and keep me from learning who I really was… but it turns out, it was so much more than that. He wasn’t just keeping me on meds to suppress my power and my knowledge of my situation… He was also absorbing every bit of magic he could from me. Robert’s been storing it, and apparently, I can’t defeat him until it’s run out.”

  "And when will that be? Rhyion asked.

  “We don’t know,” Angelo answered. “She couldn’t tell us that.”

  Rhyion nodded. “I’ll do some research. What was used to gain your power?”

  "Some kind of… bracelet? That’s all we really know. But we did find out that I can’t even go after Robert until I take care of Jacob. Apparently, destroying Jacob is imperative to defeating Robert.” Couldn’t say I minded that, though.

  “Do you know how you’ll find Jacob?”

  “Actually, I do. She gave me a date. On August 15th, he’s going to be in the apartment I grew up in. I don’t know why. But I’m going to meet him there.”

  Lio immediately interjected. “We will all be there at that one.” He turned to Rhyion. “This is different, we all must be there to protect her. There will be an actual fight this time. It isn’t like a mission for information. We can’t let her go alone.”

  Rhyion nodded. “I agree. We will all go.”

  I wasn’t nervous about meeting Jacob at all, but I did admit I liked the idea of having them all there by my side.

  “Thank you, guys,” I told them, and they all nodded, and Angelo rested his hand on my back.

  “Rhyion,” Angelo began, “have you ever heard of this bracelet thing? That can be used to harbor magic?”

  Rhyion shook his head. “No, but it sounds like black magic. As you guys know, I’ve never been particularly knowledgeable in black magic. I’ve never had any books for that. It wasn’t a magic that either shifters or witches partook in.”

  Angelo nodded that he had heard him, but he looked a little bit disappointed.

  “I’m going to go do some reading now, though. I’ll let you know if I find anything.”

  “Thank you, Rhyion.”

  “Of course,” he said, before turning around and walking back toward his room.

  Angelo looked and me and Lio and smiled softly. “I think I’ll go patrol the village. You two should get some rest. It’s been a long day.”

  I knew what he was doing, and I appreciated it. He knew what torture this day had been for Lio, and he was saying, ‘go sleep with him tonight, he needs you.’ Both Lio and Angelo always seemed to foster my relationship with the other.

  “Okay, yeah, let’s go to bed.” I turned to Lio.

  “Let’s,” he agreed.

  I hadn’t realized just how long the day had actually been. This morning, I was frustrated with having no answers about how I was going to defeat Robert. Tonight, I had several. And in between had been a rollercoaster ride of emotions and stress.

  We got under the covers of his bed, and he immediately wrapped himself around me, pulling me in closer to him. I could feel his warm breath on the back of my neck, and I immediately felt calmer. Like I was at home.

  “I’m sorry that I made your choice today harder,” Lio whispered to me, “but you made the right one. You always do. It’s what makes you a wonderful leader. It’s why you’re going to be an excellent queen.”

  I smiled, but in the back of my mind, there was still some guilt… Guilt over the shifters who had died because of me. Guilt about all the wrong choices I’d made.

  “I don’t always make the right decision,” I told him, sounding more despondent than I’d meant to.

  He immediately knew what I was talking about. “You cannot continue to beat yourself up over past mistakes, Annabelle. You have to focus on the future. On the things you are going to do right. Yes, there have been mistakes, but you’re going to change the world as we know it. You are going to bring so much good back to Elderan.”

  I couldn’t wait for that day. Right now, I was overwhelmed with all the ways that I had failed and wasn’t at all thinking about the ways I might succeed. How I might bring peace to people who have only known turmoil their whole lives. I could keep people from starving. People could live in safety…

  I wasn’t even sure how I was going to make all that happen when I finally got into power. But that was a fight for a later day. For now, I just had to defeat Robert and take his place on the throne.

  I drifted off to sleep in Lio’s safe and warm arms.

  But I awoke a lot less peacefully.

  7

  “You guys, you need to get up now,” Rhyion said in a voice that I hadn’t heard him use before. He sounded… alarmed. It was a far cry from his usual cool, calm, wise tone.

  I shot up in bed. “What? What happened?”

  “I woke up to this,” he said, as he handed me a note.

  Annabelle, Lio, and Rhyion,

  I think we all know that without further information, Rhyion is never going to be able to find out what we need to know about that bracelet. I have taken it upon myself to go back to Elderan with my small stores of teleportation potion.

  I knew that none of you would approve and would do your best to talk me out of it. But I cannot stand by while we learn nothing new. We need to know how long Robert will have Annabelle’s magic, because if we don’t, Annabelle could walk into a situation she might never walk out of. I will not allow that. I will do anything I can to protect her.

  Annabelle, I know you will be upset with me. I am very sorry. But I have to do this. For your sake and the sake of Elderan. I cannot let you fail. I have seen how impatient you have grown to fight Robert, and I fear if we do not get this information, you will go in to fight him blind. I cannot allow this. I’m sorry.

  I will be back as soon as I’ve found some books on black magic. I know that is no easy task. So I cannot say when I will return. But I will be as fast as I can.

  Lio and Rhyion, please take care of Annabelle in my absence. I know that you will.

  -Angelo

  My stomach dropped. “He’s… gone?” I aske
d.

  Rhyion nodded. “He must have left some time last night, while we are all in bed.”

  Lio looked at him. “Is he right, Rhyion? Will you be unable to find out how long Robert has Annabelle’s magic without old black magic books?”

  Rhyion frowned. “Most likely, yes, he is right. But I wouldn’t have suggested he go risk his life on this quest.”

  I crumpled the letter in my hand in anger. “No, of course not. None of us would have. He knew this. And that’s why he decided to do it this way. Without letting any of us speak otherwise.”

  “Annabelle…” Lio said softly. “Don’t be angry at him.”

  “Don’t be angry at him?” I snapped. “He left me without saying goodbye! Without giving me a chance to say anything! He could die out there, Lio! We don’t know what Robert is capable of. He knows Angelo, and trust me, he would take great pleasure in getting to rip him apart! He never should have gone without me.”

  “But that’s the point, Annabelle,” Rhyion commented. “He doesn’t want you to face Robert before we know that he no longer is capable of using your magic. He fears you’re going to hurt yourself.”

  “Well, he’s right,” I said as I stood up. “Because I’m going after him.”

  “No!” Lio and Rhyion both said at the same time.

  I looked at both of them in frustration. "You cannot tell me what to do.”

  “Annabelle, please,” Lio begged. “Don’t do this. Don’t make a rash decision. Angelo is right. Rhyion is right. I’m right. Don’t put yourself in danger. The fate of Elderan is in your hands. Everyone in Elderan is relying on you… not only now, but for the next hundreds and thousands of years. What happens to everyone for the next thousand years rests on your shoulders.”

  I threw the crumpled piece of paper in frustration as tears rolled down my cheeks.

  They were right, and I knew it. And I hated the thought of being away from Angelo, not knowing if he was safe, not being able to protect him…

  But my instincts were too strong to put myself at risk. I loved Angelo with all my heart, but I also felt responsible for my people. I knew that part of being a queen, a good leader, was putting aside all of my feelings for the sake of my people. I had to do what was right by them. It was my destiny.

  “I… I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to him.” I was flooded with the emotions that I felt when I'd found him hurt, nearly dying. I remembered the thought that I might lose him as I tried to heal him… and that thought came to me before I even admitted that I was in love with him. Desperately, madly in love with him.

  “You have to stay positive,” Lio said as he pulled me into a hug. “Angelo is a capable man. He will likely be back in just a few days with all the answers that we need. Have faith in him.”

  But Lio was wrong.

  Angelo didn’t come back in a few days. Weeks had passed with no sign of him. I worried every damn day.

  The first week, I did take Lio’s advice and tried to remain positive. But I missed Angelo every single night. I thought of him every second of the day. But I told myself he’d be back soon. I had to trust him. After all, he had rescued me, hadn’t he? That was a much bigger task than this.

  But rescuing me was absolute necessity. Finding some black magic books was not.

  I could no longer feign positivity after the first week, though. I grew more and more despondent each week, unable to pull myself out from under the stress of him being gone. And both Lio and Rhyion could see it…

  I was taking a walk down by the apple trees, doing my best to clear my head. But I knew it wouldn’t be cleared until Angelo was back.

  And at the moment, I had no idea if he would be back. I didn’t even know if he was alive right now. The thought made me sick to my stomach.

  I felt the heat of the sun on my back, tanning my normally pale skin. I never used to get enough sun back in Elderan. There was a toxic fog of pollution that was always blocking the sun.

  I heard footsteps coming from behind me, and I turned around.

  It was Rhyion, forcing a smile across his face. I did not bother to return it. I no longer cared about acting happy. Lio and Rhyion both knew damn well I was not happy.

  “So, I need to talk to you,” he said as he walked up toward me. I stared at him blankly.

  “Yes?” I asked.

  “Well, August 15th is fast approaching, and Lio and I thought it might benefit you to do some training this week… just to get you ready for anything Jacob might have in store for you. It’s been a long time since we trained.”

  “I’m not going.” The words spilled out of my mouth before I even had a chance to think of them.

  It wasn’t even what I’d meant to say. It was just the first thing that popped into my head. I didn’t want to go…

  Not without Angelo.

  Rhyion looked shocked. “You’re not going… where?”

  “I’m not going to Elderan. I’m not facing Jacob. I’m doing none of that unless Angelo returns.”

  “Annabelle… I know how devastated you are about Angelo. Lio and I are too, and we know we don’t love him the way you love him. But he would not want you to abandon this entire mission. This is vital to destroying Robert, you said it yourself.”

  “What I said was that it was vital to destroy Jacob, and this was a date where I could meet him. It doesn’t mean it’s the only day. I’ll fight him another time. When Angelo comes back.”

  I knew I was being difficult, but I really didn’t care. I was heartbroken. How could they expect me to worry about the fate of the world while I worried about the fate of Anglo?

  “But Annabelle, we don’t know when we’ll even get this chance again. Maybe never. This is the one day we will actually know where Jacob is.”

  “We can find another day!” I argued. “I’ll go back to the elven woman’s home. She’ll be able to tell me what to do and when I can fight him again—” And then a thought hit me. “Or she could tell me where Angelo is right now, and we can go get him…”

  “Wait, are you suggesting…?” Rhyion asked.

  “She said I could return whenever I needed her. Well, I need her. Because I won’t fight Jacob without Angelo by my side, and I don’t know where Angelo is. So we need to go to her, and we need to get more answers.”

  Rhyion thought about it for a moment and then agreed. “Okay, yes, we can try that. Angelo won’t be happy if we’re interrupting his quest to find black magic books, though.”

  I flashed Rhyion an angry glare. “Do you think I really care about what will or won’t make Angelo mad right now? He disappeared on us… on all of us. He didn't give me a chance to say goodbye. When I see him next, it’ll be him that needs to apologize to me.”

  But in my head, it wasn’t when I see him next… it was if I see him next.

  I couldn’t shake the thought that something horrible happened to him.

  “Lio and I will go with you this time, then, since Angelo cannot be there.” Rhyion told me. “Besides, in a week we’ll be by your side confronting Jacob anyway. At this point, it’s not worth it to keep hiding for one more week of secrecy. Last time we stayed back, we had no idea how long we’d be able to keep up the charade.”

  “Okay. So we leave tonight. Go tell Lio,” I said determinedly.

  Rhyion’s eyes widened. “Tonight? Really?”

  I looked back at him seriously. “Why would I wait? These past few weeks have been absolute torture. I want nothing more in this world than to reach Angelo, to know if he’s okay. I don’t want to wait another minute. I don’t even want to wait until the sun goes down.”

  “I understand. I’ll go tell Lio to prepare now.”

  “Good, thank you,” I said, as I turned back around to keep pacing along the row of apple trees.

  I did feel a little bit of relief… as well as felt a little dumb that I hadn’t thought of this earlier. I’d been dying to know anything about how Angelo was doing.

  I had even tried to do with An
gelo what I’d done with Lio while I was in captivity. I tried to conjure him in my mind and hoped that it would reach him, even if it was in a dream or something.

  But I hadn’t been able to make him appear the way Lio did. I wasn’t sure why. Perhaps back when I was captured, I had a level of clear-headedness that I couldn’t achieve here. Because I had nothing to do, nothing to occupy my mind, nothing but my imagination.

  I tried to recreate this as much as possible, but it was to no avail. Nothing I did worked. He couldn’t be reached.

  And I was such an idiot for not thinking of the pebblerot sooner.

  I was going to kill him when I found him. And hug him. And kiss him. And then kill him again.

  I pulled Angelo’s note out of my pocket. I’d been carrying it around with me everywhere. I initially crumbled it up but straightened it out to the best of my ability after. I regretted doing that in anger. In actuality I wanted to hold onto the note. It was the only piece of him I had.

  I reread it all the time. I could feel his energy coming off of it, and I felt the love that the note held. It made me miss him so terribly, but it also gave me a little bit of peace.

  And soon, I’d have more. Tonight, in fact. Tonight, I’d find out where he was, and Rhyion, Lio, and I could go collect him. I’d hold him in my arms for the first time in weeks. And I’d be able to go into that meeting with Jacob with him in my arms. I was determined to get him back at all costs.

  But, sometimes, determination is not enough.

  8

  “Are you two ready?” I looked at Rhyion and then at Lio. They shook their heads yes.

  “Okay. We’re going to land right in her house, so try to be quiet. I don’t want to scare her. Let me speak first, since she won’t recognize either of you.”

  I took both of their hands in mine and pictured Resa’s rustic little living room. In a quick swirl of light and time, we were there.

  The wooden floors creaked upon our landing, it echoed in the nearly-empty living room and kitchen.