Midnight Fae Academy Book Three - Lexi C. Foss Page 0,1

we weren’t bonded on that level yet.

I couldn’t talk to Zeph because he’d been knocked out by the magic.

And I couldn’t ask Shade any questions because the entire Council sat in a circle around us.

It took every ounce of strength I possessed not to react.

“Start from the beginning,” my father stated, his tone brooking no argument.

Shade’s icy gaze slid to mine. “Your Highness?” he prompted, the two words dripping with his usual disdain. I couldn’t tell if it was all just an act or if he meant that tone. This evening’s events had been mostly my fault, something I explained out loud as I recounted the events to the Council.

I told them how Emelyn had attacked me with WarFire, her ire a result of the upcoming Blood Gala. Which, seriously, what the fuck? Talk about a massive overreaction. Yes, I’d meant to talk to my father about our attendance weeks ago, but I’d been a little busy lately.

Of course, Emelyn didn’t know that. Because if she did, we had a much larger problem on our hands since I was betrothed to her, yet I’d mated Aflora.

I cleared my throat and continued with the aftermath of the fight, how Emelyn and Aflora were sucked up into some paradigm. We’d located the heart of it in the LethaForest, which was when the Warrior Bloods showed up because they’d been hunting a similar strand of magic. And then all hell broke loose, ending with Aflora’s disappearance.

Because Shade wrapped her up in shadows and they vanished, I added in my head. And he didn’t tell me what happened after that because he’s Shade and he doesn’t believe in positive communication. A problem I would be rectifying as soon as this Council adjourned.

“And how did she disappear?” my father pressed, his focus shifting between me and Shade.

I arched a brow at the Death Blood. This was his part to explain because I had no idea what he did with her.

“Don’t look at me,” the bastard drawled. “She vanished before my eyes, too.”

Right, I nearly replied, but I swallowed the comment. If he didn’t want the Council to know he’d spirited her away somewhere, then I would keep his secret.

“So where is she now?” Tadmir asked, his white eyebrow inching upward into his matching hairline. “Can’t you feel her in your bond?”

“She’s shut me out,” Shade replied, his easygoing tone taking on a harsher quality that hinted at his annoyance. As far as acting skills went, the Death Blood’s were top-notch. “I can’t sense her at all.”

“How the hell did she manage to block you?” Aswad snapped. The Death Blood King wasn’t known for his patience, nor was he known for being all that kind to his son. I’d never cared much before, but seeing the way he spoke to Shade now had my hackles rising for inexplicable reasons.

Well, perhaps not entirely inexplicable.

We were essentially bonded through Aflora, making him an integral part of our quad.

So I supposed being defensive on his behalf came with the territory of our new relationship, but I couldn’t let the Council sense it. Shade and I notoriously hated each other—a consequence of our birthrights.

“When I find her, I’ll ask.” Shade uttered the reply through his teeth, then resumed leaning against the wall with his trademark devil-may-care attitude.

I envied his ability to appear so unfazed.

Because inside I was dying. I could sense something was wrong, but I was powerless to investigate the source of that unease. All I wanted to do was tell this Council—the same one that had hidden the truth about the Quandary Bloods from me for nearly twenty-five fucking years—to go to hell. However, instead, I remained poised and calm and waited for them to deliver a verdict.

Which proceeded to take two hours.

By the end of the discussion, I wanted to kill everyone.

They completely disregarded Emelyn’s behavior and focused entirely on Aflora.

“The Earth Fae Royal was obviously complicit.”

“Agreed. We need to find her. She’s the key to taking down the resistance.”

“We can use magic to bolster Shadow’s connection to her.”

Their words blended together after a while, but the final plan was to use Shade to track her through the bonds and to report back as soon as he sensed Aflora’s location. Then the Warrior Bloods would take her into custody and either kill her for running away or use her as bait again and kill her later.

Regardless, their plan was to destroy her.

My mate.

My beautiful, sweet Aflora, who had done nothing to deserve their callousness. She’d been set