Curse of the Fae Moon: Allied Kingdoms Academy Book 2

by J. M. Kearl

  My mind jumped to him turning around, face bloodied and feral. “No, I uh, thought... Never mind.”

  His interest piqued. I could see it on his face. “Tell me.”

  I groaned. “I thought he was you. I saw the crown in the distance and then I thought you were—kissing. It wasn’t until I grabbed his arm that I realized who it was and what he was doing.”

  His face went from curiosity to a crushing, solemn droop. The warm hands at my waist fell away. “Why don’t you trust me? You came all the way to Hesstia because you thought I didn’t want you anymore and gods only know what else you thought. You slapped me because of a note Jennika left, not anything I did.” I cringed as his voice grew louder. “Then you think I’m off in the shadows kissing some other girl?”

  My throat tightened. “I don’t know. I guess it’s hard for me to believe that you want me as much as you say after the past—”

  He shoved his hands through his crown-free hair. “It’s in the past, Vis. I may be an asshole at times but I’m not a liar and I’m not a cheat. If you can’t trust me then how can we be together?”

  “I do trust you,” I almost cried. “I do. And I want to be with you.”

  With his hands on his hips, he looked to the sky. “Do you really want to be with me?”

  My lip quivered as thoughts of him breaking up with me tore through my head.

  When he lowered his chin he looked me in the eyes waiting for an answer.

  “Yes,” I breathed.

  His jaw flexed. “Yes? That’s it? I fought with my father and let him take my magic away for weeks. I was willing to give up my position as king, give up everything for you and yet you still question my loyalty.”

  Tears burned my eyes. How right he was. I wrapped my arms around his waist and buried my face into his chest. “I’m ridiculous, I know. But Zyacus I do want you. I want to be with you every second of every day. Sometimes I think I’m going mad because thoughts of you consume me.” I found it easier to say these things when I wasn’t looking him in the face. When his winter blue eyes weren’t piercing into mine. “Just being near you sometimes makes my body feel like it’s on fire. I won’t question your loyalty to me anymore.”

  His arms closed around me and he kissed the top of my head.

  I finally lifted my face. Wrapping my arms around his neck I pulled him into a passionate kiss. Strong arms lifted me and then cradled me as he laid me down in the grass beside the lake.

  Lying face to face beside each other, he stroked my hair. Then his fingers trailed along my shoulder, down the crest of my waist and up the peak of my hip where his hand came to rest. “Speaking of bodies on fire,” he said, moving in to kiss me. “It’s hot.” He kissed me quickly then sat up and tore off his shirt. A few beads of sweat trailed down his sculpted chest.

  I felt embarrassed and enthralled at the thought of wanting to press my lips to all his sweaty bare skin. I didn’t want to push our physical relationship past what we were ready for but good pixie he looked delicious. Desire stirred in my belly. Like an invisible line pulling me toward him. Willing me to do more than kiss.

  I promised myself long ago that I’d never sleep with someone unless I wanted them to father my children, unless I wanted them to be my forever mate. Even if Zyacus could be that for me, I didn’t know yet.

  I finally took notice of him curiously watching me as the war between my body and mind waged. Almost as if he knew what I was thinking. Maybe he felt the same. Maybe he had a gift he’d never told me about? Something like my father’s where he could sense emotions?

  If he had any gift it was to look so tempting. I closed the distance between us and pushed him down in the grass, pressing my chest on him. His hands caressed my back and rubbed along the bare skin of my arms. Ugh, how could his touch make my senses go crazy? I kissed him harder, his tongue brushed against mine. I slid my leg over to straddle him. His fingers dug harder into my back when I did. Trailing my lips down his neck and to his chest, he quietly moaned at my touch. My head felt lighter, my body heavier. He intoxicated me and I wanted more. I couldn’t help myself; I drug my tongue across his hard abdomen. The salt of his skin tasted… good. But suddenly his hands clamped down on my arms and he moved me off him. My eyebrows lowered in confusion. Didn’t he like it? His reaction to me suggested he did.

  “Vis,” he breathed, heavy like he’d been running. Slowly, he released his grip on me. After a moment he seemed to collect himself. “None of that unless we’re ready for a lot more than kissing.” He arched an eyebrow enticing me.

  Ugh, I wanted to but I wasn’t ready. My eyes fell to the grass.

  He went to the edge of the lake and splashed water on his face. After a moment he turned back to me. “We should wait,” he said softly. “I want to, believe me. But I want it to be special. And I won’t until I know you love me.”

  I couldn’t help but smile at him. The hard, arrogant Zyacus wanted to wait for love. But the way he phrased it sparked something in my mind. He didn’t say he wouldn’t until he knew he loved me. He said until he knew I loved him. Does that mean he already knows he… loves… me?

  “And as the future king and queen of our kingdoms, we have to be… careful. Your father would murder me if you became with child unmarried and still attending academy. Then he’d probably bring me back to life so we could wed. And if I’m going to marry you, Vis, I don’t want it to be because a child forces you to be with me.”

  I immediately thought of his parents. Zyacus being in his mother’s womb was the reason Enden and Saveena married. Not out of love but for propriety and power. That must bother him.

  I pictured myself with a swollen belly and shuddered. I wanted that but not for a very, very long time. I stood and brushed the grass off my pants. “I agree. We will wait.”

  Grinning he put an arm around my shoulder and we walked back toward the party. “But if you keep kissing and licking me like that it’s going to be grueling to hold off.”

  Chapter 17

  When we rejoined the party, a group surrounded us, mostly clamoring to talk to Zyacus and firing off questions. “Will you be in the tournament?”

  “Who’s your favorite professor?”

  “Do you think the blood drinkers will come back?”

  He answered them all with ease and grace. I stood beside him, watching how they admired him and it made me adore him even more. I also noted which girls gave me the death glare. Keeping mental notes on who I’d have to watch out for this year. Out of the corner of my vision Jennika emerged laughing obnoxiously loud, clearly trying to draw attention to herself.

  “Are you planning to marry Princess Visteal?” one girl blurted out. “We’re all dying to know.”

  Heat immediately flooded my body. What a rude and awkward question to ask when it would be common knowledge if we were betrothed. I took a step back to let him have the attention and avoid the answer to that question but Zyacus wrapped his arm around my hips. He leaned over and whispered, “Stay with me.”

  I gritted my teeth and eyed the girl.

  Zyacus pulled an easy smile. “I haven’t asked her yet but,” he turned to me and winked, “she is the most talented, wonderful, and beautiful girl I know.” He pulled me against his side as if to say, she’s mine.

  Holy unicorn, this boy had his charm on high tonight.

  “But some of us have heard you’re betrothed to Jennika,” the same girl said.

  And she ruined the moment. My smile dropped.

  “You heard wrong,” Zyacus said but a few people turned to Jennika, who for once looked embarrassed. Who wouldn’t be if the man you thought you would marry was draped all over another girl? I actually felt a smidgen bad for her. Just a smidgen though. Part of me wanted to laugh in her face. The conniving whore didn’t deserve my sympathy.

  “Sometimes men are distracted by pretty, shiny things but they always come back to what’s good for them,” Jennika said, and lifted her glass to take a sip. The laughter from the crowd follow
ing her comment made my blood blazing hot.

  Wench. “And sometimes the pretty shiny things are what’s good for them. And if you know what’s good for you, you’ll shut your mouth.”

  Everyone turned to me and then back to Jennika waiting for her response. Ugh why did this have to be a big scene? I planned on getting back at her without a crowd. I thought about spiking her drink with the plant from herbology; she’d be paralyzed as I threw her into the horse manure truck and have to sit in it for hours. But the more I thought about it the more I realized it wasn’t worth the trouble. She was just a desperate girl trying to hold onto something she never had.

  “Let’s not spoil my party with petty conversation,” Zyacus said and tugged on my arm.

  As we turned to walk away, Jennika said, “After he beds her, he’ll come back to me. She’s a challenge, and we all know that’s what the prince likes. I’m surprised he hasn’t gotten her yet.” She raked her eyebrows. “Or maybe he has. Maybe that’s what’s keeping him around. An easy lay.”

  I whirled around, ready to attack her but Zyacus held me tight.

  “Enough, Jennika,” Zyacus snapped. “You’ve been down this road before and we all know you got your face beat to a pulp last time.”

  “Ooooo,” the students jeered. They wanted us to fight. It’s probably why they asked the question about marriage in the first place.

  “I’d kick your ass in front of everyone a second time but I actually care about Zyacus and this is his birthday party. We’re here to have fun.” I clenched my fists at my sides. “If you can’t be respectful, I’ll have you expelled.”

  “Yes, use your powerful position to get your own way like a coward,” Jennika said and turned her back to me.

  The ground began to quake as my magic surged to an uncontrollable level. My skin burned hot as the power within me roiled and clawed to break out, to annihilate the source of my rage. I could kill her. End it and be done with her for good. In that moment all I could see was my enemy that needed to be destroyed.

  Students stumbled on uneasy ground, as my chest heaved and my arms shook. I wanted to scream as the power came to the edge of overwhelming me.

  Gentle hands gripped my shoulders and Zyacus’s soothing voice washed over me. “I’m here for you. Stay in control.”

  He knew from earlier what it could look like if my power exploded out of me. More than anything I didn’t want to hurt him. I slammed my eyes shut and took in deep breaths, holding them briefly.

  When I felt in control, I set my sights on Jennika and threw out an invisible rope that wrapped around her neck and drug her to me. Pulling away from Zyacus, I wrapped my hand around Jennika’s arm and spelled the two of us to a deserted part of the academy. Slamming her against the outer stone wall by the throat, I pinned her there. “Expelling you is me being lenient. That is me giving you a way out.” I lowered my voice to a raspy growl. “Because if you stay, I will kill you.” I’d never sounded so venomous in my life. It surprised me how much I sounded like Madison.

  Her eyes widened and her throat bobbed beneath my grip. She tried to speak so I released her and took a step back, ready to blast her if she got any ideas. She was trained to fight after all.

  “I will go,” she said with tears filling her eyes.

  “And if I hear about you even breathing a word to Zyacus I will hunt you down and make your death look like an accident.” I didn’t know what had come over me. It seemed my new power came with a side of ruthless.

  Jennika’s face fell into her palms and she cried as she ran through a side door of the academy. And she had the nerve to call me a coward? She didn’t belong in this place anyway. No one from Delhoon would run away in tears.

  Instead of using magic to go back to the party, I made the long slow walk. I needed time to cool off and clear my head. And as I did a small part of me felt bad for what I’d said to her. Ugh, why should I feel bad for her? After what she said to me she deserved it.

  Without realizing it my walk brought me close to the orchards and the pull from my crown within. I halted when the cage of thorns came into view. Had it moved? I could have sworn it was further in and… hadn’t Professor Nimblewatt hidden it with magic. Yet here it was in plain view. My crown glittered inside somehow lovelier than it had been before. The jewels glittered in the moonlight, and I could be mistaken but it seemed to have a halo of light around it. Its beauty begged me to pick it up and wear it proudly.

  It was my crown after all, why shouldn’t I get it? Set me free. Put me on, it whispered as I drew closer. Or did it? Perhaps it had been my imagination. Inanimate objects didn’t often talk. Yet, I quickly found myself beside it, stooping down to eye level. Reaching my hand inside, within mere inches of touching it, I froze. What am I doing? I jerked away and stumbled onto my behind. I scrambled back and got to my feet. Set me free. Put me on, it repeated. I turned, running as if it chased me. I must be losing my mind.

  With my legs carrying me as fast as they could, I only slowed when Zyacus came into view walking the path alone. He lifted his head and appeared in front of me seconds later. “Where did you go?” he demanded. “What happened to Jennika?”

  I lifted a shoulder. “She’s leaving.”

  “Did you hurt her? I need to know if there’s going to be—”

  “I thought you didn’t care about her? What does it matter?” I all but growled.

  His jaw muscles clenched and his eyes shifted. The black pupils grew and the normally ice-blue went silvery...Woah, that’s strange.

  Nostrils flaring, he yelled, “It matters because her father is a powerful man in my kingdom! But of course you don’t care because it’s not Delhoon.”

  I bit down on my lip to keep from yelling back. After a moment of silence I sighed. “No, I didn’t hurt her. I did however threaten her life. And you can be mad if you want but I won’t apologize.”

  A half smile pulled at his lips. “I would never expect you to apologize. I’m actually surprised you didn’t give her another beating after what she said. I would need to explain to Entari Freyloc and my father if you had, that’s all.”

  The blue overtook his eyes again making me wonder if I’d imagined the change.

  He offered his hand. “Come on. Let’s try to have a better evening.”

  As we walked back to the party, my crown called to me, come back, it said. I shuttered.

  Chapter 18

  After that eventful night, Zyacus walked me to the foyer at the bottom of the girls’ dorms. We stood hand in hand in a corner as other students quietly tiptoed to their rooms, all hoping not to get caught. At this point it didn’t matter if a professor caught me or Zyacus out past curfew, they couldn’t punish us, and Bindy, the only person I worried about, was gone. The others though, they cared. Dish duty, mucking stalls, milking cows, cleaning toilets, would be in store for them if a professor found them outside their rooms at this late hour.

  “You still owe me a night under the stars,” Zyacus murmured in my ear.

  “With a foot massage,” I added.

  “Tomorrow?” He toyed with the phoenix ring on my finger. “I would say tonight but my eyes are heavy and I’m afraid I’d just fall asleep the moment we laid down. After Aric and then Jennika plus talking to everyone at the party, I’m beat.”

  “Tomorrow will be perfect.”

  After he kissed me goodbye for the night, I slowly meandered up the steps and into my room. I pulled my boots off but still wore my party clothes and curled up under my blanket. Looking up into the bewitched ceiling of stars and an ordinary silver moon, it didn’t take long before I fell into dreamland.

  Cold wet drops pattering against my face startled me awake. As the sleepy haze wore off I realized I was standing. And not only standing but not in my room. What the… how did I get here? I rubbed my eyes, thinking surely I had to be dreaming. I even slapped my face; the sting told me this was real. A frosty dread knotted in my belly as I stood inches from the thorned cage and my crown.

&
nbsp; I turned in a circle, searching for someone who may have brought me here, reaching for my boot dagger but I only grabbed bare legs. I found no one around. Did I sleepwalk out here? I’d never done it before but even as I stood with sprinkles of rain splattering on me, I felt the tug, the yearning from my crown. Had it truly drawn me out here unconsciously? With my palms facing each other I worked up an energy orb. It was time to destroy this thing. I knew it wasn’t my crown calling to me; it was the magic the Fae prince had cast over it.

  I jogged several paces back and then sent the orb flying. It exploded with blue and white light upon impact. I shielded my eyes and when the bright spots faded from my vision and I could see clearly, the cage stood unscathed.

  If that didn’t harm it, I didn’t know what would. I spelled to my room and dove under my blankets securing them around me tightly as if the softness were a shield against danger. I stared at the ceiling; it was now black rather than showing the night sky. Fitting. I wasn’t normally fearful of the dark but tonight I was afraid to go back to sleep.

  If the rain hadn’t woken me would I have taken the crown from the cage and put it on? My gut told me placing that thing on my head would be a mistake. A treacherous one.

  After hours, and when the sunlight began to shine in my window, the buzz of anxious energy faded, and I dozed off. When I woke, it was well into the afternoon. Three notes rested on my nightstand. One was from Taz, the other two from Zyacus. All three wondered where I was. Why I hadn’t been at breakfast, or lunch. I’d planned on going to worship with Papa this morning too. With the blood moon and Fae threatening us, we needed all the prayers we could get. I found another note stuck to the door, from Legacy.

  When you finally wake up, I need to ask you something… about Taron.

  I felt like if she knew I’d seen a vision of his death, she’d have stalked me at the party and made me tell her what happened. She’d have woken me up instead of leaving a note.