Bravery

by Layla Heart

  We’re guided to the front of the room, actually sitting at a table at the front, participants, not onlookers. The werewolf king and queen are at the first table, the succubus queen with her court are at the second table, Bane’s dad and Phoenix’ mum are at the third table, and we’re at the end, at the final table.

  So we suddenly went from being kept away from these meetings to being involved very closely in them. That’s... That’s a little strange, a little —very much— strange to be honest...

  As we sit down, Litha pulls me to sit next to her, holding my hand, I’m not so sure why, until I look up and see all the angry faces being pulled as people look at me. Ah... yeah, that’s why... It’s the same reason the werewolf king didn’t want me here, because I’m fae, because I’m the crown prince, if Dad hasn’t found a way to undo that yet... Me being killed in the attack on the town would probably have been a great way to get rid of me, and he wouldn’t have to disown me officially, I would just have disappeared from history...

  The rest of the room fills up fairly quickly as people take their places and then Bane’s dad stands in front of the tables, looking out over the room. “As you can see, we’re being joined by a lot of important new people for the rest of today.” He looks around, his face serious. “Most people will have heard that we had some trouble at the building where the fae soldiers are being kept a little while ago, but the security has assured me that it’s solved by now.” He turns around to us, then looking at the succubus queen and the werewolf king. “In the last days, we’ve looked at how we can protect the town better from coming attacks, but interrogations of some of the fae soldiers make us believe that the bigger plan isn’t just for them to attack the academy and the town, but to use it as a way to get to the other kingdoms too. I’ll let Celeste, explain more, she’s in charge of the security of the town.”

  A woman stands up, her head up high, and even though her features are subtle, it’s obvious that she has fae blood in her, probably very diluted by witch blood, since fae can’t have kids with others, but it’s still visible. She comes to the middle of the room, taking a deep breath as she looks to the werewolf king and succubus queen. “The fae soldiers were armed with experimental weaponry, among them the knives with the venom they infected the dragon and werewolf crown princes with, while also using advanced magic we’ve never seen before at this scale. We weren’t able to capture any magic users among the soldiers, so we have no idea what type of magic they used to get this far into the town undetected—”

  “We detected them.” The words are out of me before I mean to say them. All the eyes in the room are now on me. I really don’t need the attention, but I interrupted her, so I’ll have to finish my argument. I take a deep breath. “I was, together with Phoenix, daughter of the highest priestess, trying out some protection circles for a totally unrelated matter. It was during setting up one of those circles that we saw the small blue-green flame in the direction of the town. It was faint, definitely not proportionate to the number of soldiers who were actually in the town, but they were detectable by the circle.”

  Phoenix sits up straighter. “Not only were they hiding from the town and academy’s magic detection systems, but they must have been using other magic to influence the people in the town too, or they would have been spotted long before they reached the gate.” She looks severe, her eyes strong, her jaw set. “They were using a lot of layers of high-level magic, which shouldn’t even be possible in the town. Add to that the fact that Litha was able to use a large-scale fire spell... There’s an issue with the magic suppression guards in the town.”

  “We spoke with some of the people in charge of magic protection of the town.” Celeste doesn’t look too impressed with what we’re saying, but I can see how the werewolf king and the succubus queen are listening to us. “They said that—”

  One of the guards at the door drops to the floor, his neck cut clean open, blood spurting out before slowing to a dribble. A flicker of a shape appears next to him, and then the other guard also drops to the floor.

  Oh, no. Fuck.

  I jump up, pulling Litha with me, and crowd her to the wall. Rune is at my back immediately, standing closest to her, then Kit and Phoenix join him, making a protective half-circle around Litha.

  There’s an assassin in the room, and he’s a magic user, or he wouldn’t have been able to pull off staying undetected that long, even being basically undetectable right now.

  One of the people from the town protection group also slinks down, their neck severed in a single clean cut, their head rolling away from their body.

  It’s only one assassin, or bodies would be dropping much faster. The whole room is a mess, people running all over the place, trying to get out, trying to protect the most important people in the room. But the doors are locked somehow, and nobody seems to be able to open them. The assassin, or an accomplice, has locked them.

  Another body falls. The assassin is making their way to the king and queen.

  Bane seems to come to the same conclusion as he rushes past me, trying to get to his uncle, protect him. I bolt after him, reaching for my pocket and cursing, I didn’t take my bag with my things with me.

  How did I not realise how perfect of a setup this is? Get all the heads of the other kingdoms in a single room, everyone who is important, and then kill them all off, one by one, and they can’t do anything about it...

  Not on my watch!

  I spark my electricity to the surface, pulling knives from my pocket. Phoenix magicked a couple of them so that I can use with my electricity, like we did against the fae soldiers before. My electricity won’t do anything to the fae assassin, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t use it in other ways.

  Another body goes down, this time it’s one of the professors, the woman who normally teaches higher levels of astronomy. Fuck. But at least I know where the assassin is right now.

  As I glance back to the other bodies, I see the same blackness spread over their skin as what happened to Rune and Bane, their blood turning the green puss that came from Rune’s wound too.

  I curse under my breath. Whoever checked the fae soldiers didn’t do a very good job... Not only did they let a magic user in without binding their magic, the assassin still has access to the venomed weapons.

  “Finn!” Bane pulls me to the side, and I catch a glimmer of the assassin up ahead, he saw him before I did.

  “Got it.” I push my electricity ahead of us, trying to get as many people out of the way as I can, without harming them too much. Not too much being the objective here, because if we don’t stop the assassin we’ll all die anyway.

  Bane sprints ahead, straight for his uncle, and I try to position myself in the way of the assassin, his next target very obvious from his route. We have to stop him, not just because Bane isn’t ready to take the crown, but because a dead king will instantly lead to a war, no matter what. If the king dies, we’ll have a war, and I’m not letting another war happen.

  “Finn!” Litha and Rune scream at the exact same time and I jolt back, surprised.

  Then I look up, and the assassin is close, much closer than I expect him to be. He drops the magical veil that makes him invisible and with a shock, I realise two things. One, I know her. The assassin is my aunt, my dad’s younger sister, a fanatic, a true believer of the superiority of the fae race. And two, the king and queen were never the targets. This wasn’t set up to kill the other royals. My father expected this to happen, he expected us to be here, Litha, me and the others. The royals, and everyone else in the room, they’re just convenient collateral damage.

  I see her knife a fraction of a second before she stabs me in my stomach, her hand on my shoulder, her face close to mine. “Goodbye, traitor.”

  I’m the target.

  This is how my father is getting rid of me, and forever ensure that the prophecy will fail. By making my death look like collateral damage instead of the real, intended target.

  My father will do anything
to become the ruler of all four kingdoms, even killing his only child, just because he knows I don’t believe in his ideals. He’ll even get rid of me on his way to the top.

  That’s how far he’ll go...

  Reviews mean the world to me (and other readers)…

  If you liked this book, please consider leaving a review. It doesn’t have to be a long review and can be as simple as ‘I liked it’ or mentioning something in the book that made you smile (or cry). It really helps me spread the word about my books. Thank you so much!

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  Next in this series: Recovery (Lughnasadh Elite Academy 7)

  Don’t want to stop reading? Grab your copy of the next book!

  Out 18th of September 2019! Pre-order now!

  Recovery (Lughnasadh Elite Academy 7)

  Try next!

  While you’re waiting for the continuation of the story about Litha and her harem, here are some other stories of mine you can try out!

  Here are three choices I think you may enjoy, depending on why you love this story!

  If you like New Adult angst with broken boys and their damaged girls, try out my Skylar Heart titles, starting with Shattered:

  Shattered (Damaged Hearts 1)

  LIZZY

  I should have known he was trouble when I watched him drive his motorbike onto campus, leaving a trail of people whispering as he made his way into the Art Building.

  Word around here is, he doesn’t date. So why do his eyes keep following me? Why does he want to talk to me?

  Rumor has it, Hunter’s good at two things: making art, and getting into fights. I love art, but I can’t stand violence. I’ve been on the receiving end of it too many times.

  My life is simple, it needs to be if I want to graduate and keep my eating disorder at bay… I sleep, I eat, I go to class and I definitely Do. Not. Date.

  So why do I feel so safe in his strong arms?

  HUNTER

  She’s like a spooked little mouse. Not my type at all. Until she looked up at me and I was caught in her azure eyes.

  But I won’t let her get close. In the last four years, I’ve lost everyone I’ve ever loved. I will never trust anyone ever again. The second I do, I’ll find myself alone again. So, what’s the use?

  So I create big metal installations, I go to class when I feel like it, I drink and get into fights at the bar.

  I have to stay away from Lizzy, because my darkness will only make hers worse. I know I have to, but that isn’t what my heart wants. When I see the pain in her eyes, I can’t resist her. I want to help her, touch her…

  Protect her.

  Shattered (Damaged Hearts 1)

  If you’re into some paranormal romances between sexy men, try out my Rosa Swann titles, starting with His to Protect:

  His to Protect (The Vampire’s Past Trilogy 1)

  No matter how much you try to leave your past behind, it doesn’t always leave you…

  Sean

  After being hired for my dream job, I move back to the small minded town where I grew up, for the job and to finish my degree.

  I’m surrounded by my past, by old classmates, old neighbourhoods and old prejudices against gay people.

  But on my first day back, my eyes fall on something new around here. A goth guy sitting at the front of the class and I can’t keep my eyes off him.

  Even though I don’t know him, I feel like I need to protect him, no matter what.

  Jules

  I can’t stay in the same place for too long. People start to notice that you don’t age, that you don’t get older, and add to that that the chance of vampire hunters finding you gets bigger the longer you stay…

  I know that I’m running out of time in this town. I need to move on. I just need to finish my degree and then I can leave and start over somewhere else.

  But when my housemate/blood donor turns on me and forces me to leave, I suddenly find myself asking for help from the new guy in our class.

  Leaving doesn’t look as appealing anymore…

  His to Protect (The Vampire’s Past Trilogy 1)

  If you want to try out some more girl-on-girl loving or just cute small-island romances, then my Emily Engberts titles may be more to your liking, starting with Second Chance at Christmas:

  Second Chance at Christmas (Seasons on the Island 1)

  Josie doesn’t want to spend yet another Christmas as the only single adult at the family dinner. So, instead, she books a week long holiday to her favourite island. Ready to spend it doing what she loves doing most, long walks on the beach with her dog and reading novels in front of a fire.

  What she hasn’t counted on is running into her old summer fling, the one girl she could never forget.

  Sanne is freshly heartbroken, and instead of having to deal with her parents’ pitying looks over Christmas dinner, she decides to still go on the winter holiday she’d booked, even if it means going on her own. She can entertain herself well enough, and maybe some fresh air will clear her head of all the darkness from the last months.

  But when she sees Josie at the cafe, she can’t help how her heart beats faster or how much she wants the other woman to hold her.

  What starts as a shared meal at a cafe, followed by the first snow of the season, could turn into much more.

  They lost their chance of being together when they spent the summers on the island as teens, but can they take it now that they’re adults?

  Can they take the chance amid knee-high snow and Christmas decorations?

  Second Chance at Christmas (Seasons on the Island 1)

  About Layla Heart

  Layla Heart loves sexy romances and has a particular soft spot for broken boys and their damaged girls. When she’s not reading or writing steamy stories, she loves to nap with her two cats, preferably under a fluffy blanket, and play videogames. She has studied literature and creative writing but often finds that the couple of classes she took on coding is much more of a help in this new adventure as an author.

  For social media, check the Easily Distracted Media page on the next page.

  About Easily Distracted Media

  Easily Distracted Media is a publisher/brand name for a group of pen names from one author. Each pen name gives a slightly different ‘flavour’ of story, but they’re all highly emotional, focusing on close connections between friends and chosen family.

  E. Engberts, Queer Scifi Young Adult stories.

  Emily Engberts, Lesbian Romance stories (18+).

  Emmy Engberts, Queer Young Adult Romance stories.

  Skylar Heart, Straight Contemporary Romance stories (18+).

  Rosa Swann, Gay Romance stories (18+).

  Newsletter: http://www.easilydistractedmedia.com/newsletter/

  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/easilydistractedmedia/

  Twitter: https://twitter.com/EmmyEngberts

  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/easilydistractedmedia/

  Published by Easily Distracted Media

  As E. Engberts (Queer YA Scifi)

  BASE Status: Online

  BASE Status: Update

  As Emily Engberts (Lesbian Romance, 18+)

  Second Chance at Christmas

  A Card for Valentine’s

  A Blooming Spring Love

  As Emmy Engberts (Queer YA Romance)

  Her Elysium (Flowers and Keyboards 1)

  The Other Dress (Flowers and Keyboards 2)

  Colour Her (Flowers and Keyboards 3)

  As Layla Heart (Reverse Harem Romance, 18+)

  Lughnasadh Elite Academy Serial

  As Skylar Heart (Straight Romance, 18+)

  Shattered

  Unraveled

  As Rosa Swann (Gay Romance, 18+)

  Lunar Pack Serial

  Feathers and Microphones Serial

  Mated to the Alpha Serial

  The Baby Pact Tri
logy

  Second Chance Mates Serial

  Making a Family Serial

  Omegas’ Destined Alpha Serial

  The Vampire’s Past Trilogy