Succession Page 2

  “Now, isn’t this just lovely,” he said as he looked around at the students who ate or studied or did both.

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  Succession (Fallen Fae Academy #6) But Harley’s gaze fell on Cici and Ashley seated near the exit. They both glared at her with intense hatred in their eyes.

  Stephen followed Harley’s gaze and clucked his tongue. “Don’t mind them,” he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “They’re harmless.”

  “I don’t think you really know them that well.”

  “Oh,” he went on. “I know they can be a little snarky every once in a while, but when all is said and done, they’re nice girls.”

  Harley turned to unabashedly glare at her father. “Do you have any idea what they did to me last year?”

  Surprised, he simply looked at her and shook his head.

  “They humiliated me in the worst possible way. A lesser person would have crumbled under the derision and loathing they dumped on me.”

  “You’re being a little melodramatic, aren’t you, dear?”

  “Absolutely not,” Harley argued. “Those

  ‘nice girls’ made public some very… well, some 23

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  very personal photos of me. I was ridiculed and shamed… and for what? Because they felt I’d stepped on their toes. And look at them now…”

  Harley looked sidelong at the distant pair who still stared at her with disdain.

  “I believe they may be smitten with you, Father,” Harley said, trying her darndest to bring a degree of respect and reverence to the word father.

  “And if they start to feel that you are more attentive to me…”

  Stephen burst out laughing. “Oh, my dear child. You have always had the most vivid imagination. Even as a very young toddler you surprised me with the detailed description of your imaginary friend, Carmine. Remember? And then there was the time you concocted the most delightful tale when you tried to get out of tending to your studies. Do you remember? You were still a baby, but so bright and mature for your age.” He looked lovingly at her as his eyes danced with the thought of that long ago memory.

  Harley shook her head. “No. I don’t remember.”

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  “Oh,” he went on. “You invented dragons and crystal balls and the need to find the baby dragon who had lost its mother. You swore that this baby dragon was starving to death in a shallow cave out by the pasture.”

  Harley suddenly had a vague image of that long forgotten memory. “That baby dragon,” she muttered, more to herself than to her father. “He was so real to me. You know, I cried the night you forbade me from going out there to bring him a blanket.”

  “Oh, yes,” Stephen said with a jaunty laugh.

  “I remember. Truth be told, I came very close to going back to your bedroom to tell you to get dressed and head out there to make your baby dragon more comfortable.”

  Surprised, Harley gazed at him with a new appreciation. How could a man sweet enough to consider doing such a thing turn out to be so vile and destructive? She couldn’t help but smile at the thought of him coming to her in the night as she cried.

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  She wished he had. It would be just one more pleasant memory with which to consider him.

  What happened to you, Father?

  The question swirled in her mind, repeatedly coming to the surface.

  Couldn’t he see the question in her eyes?

  Couldn’t he see how she longed to know what had happened to her loving father, daddy… Stephen?

  “Hey, guys,” April said as she bonded gleefully to their table. “Look at you. All cozy.

  Father and daughter. You two really look cute together.”

  “And that’s precisely the look I was going for,” Stephen said sardonically. “Cute.”

  Harley looked at him, once again amazed by the darkness that hid just under the surface of his lighthearted almost comical banter.

  “How are you doing, April?” Harley said as she tried to remember that the sweet girl she’d come to know was no longer her friend.

  “Awesome,” she said. “You know. I was thinking. Since we no longer have that burdensome 26

  Succession (Fallen Fae Academy #6) matter of dark fae against light fae thing going, we can hang out together again.”

  I don’t think so, Harley wanted to say.

  “My coming to the dark side certainly hasn’t changed their opinion of me,” Harley said instead as she gestured to Cici and Ashley.

  April chuckled. “Oh, don’t mind them.

  They’re never happy no matter what. They’re most likely just jealous to see that there’s a new dark fae in town and they’re no long the hotshots on campus.”

  “How aptly put,” Stephen said.

  “So, what do you say, old friend?” April said.

  “Come hang out at my place after class.”

  Harley nodded vaguely. Satisfied, April went on her merry way, smiling and chatting with everyone as she made her way to a table filled with young, new and handsome male students.

  “April’s like a daughter to me,” Stephen said.

  “I think she could be a good influence on you.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” Harley said.

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  Chapter 2

  

  Spending time with April was not in the cards that night. As Harley tried to catch up and study, her father paced back in forth in the living room as he tried to write a uniting speech for the faculty.

  Unfortunately, he seemed unable to write without speaking every word out loud.

  “If you don’t mind,” Harley said as she gathered her books, “I think I’ll go study in my room.”

  “Nonsense,” Stephen said, indicating with the tilt of his head that she remain right where she was.

  He hadn’t let her out of his sight since he’d brought her to the dark side.

  “But, Father,” Harley argued. “I really need to get this work done.”

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  “You’ll have plenty of time for that,” he said.

  “No. Instead of heading off to do some remedial schoolwork, I want you to help me write this speech.”

  “A speech?” Harley let out as she set her book down. “I don’t know how to write a speech.”

  “Oh,” he said with a greedy grin. “You’re a smart girl. I’m sure you can figure something out.

  Now, come on. Give me a hand with this.”

  “Fine,” Harley said. “What is the speech about? What is it for?”

  “It’s a more formal introduction of myself to the entire faculty, and then of you, of course. I want people to know what I stand for. I want them to be aware of my desire for unity on the campus. We are to work as one. We are to have the same goal of excellence.”

  “I don’t see why you can’t do that yourself,”

  Harley argued.

  “I’d like to have your perspective, young daughter,” he countered. “As a student here, you have a unique view of what needs to happen.”

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  Unique? Harley thought. She had pretty much the same perspective as every other student on campus.

  “Fine,” she nonetheless said.

  “Good.” He handed her the sheet of paper he had. “Here’s what I have so far.”

  Harley looked at the sheet and read. “All you say here is that you are the new dean of the Academy and that your lovely daughter has joined you in making it the best school in the district.”

  “That’s right,” Stephen said. “I want them to know that I mean business.”

  “But you also want them to trust and respect you,” Harley added.

  Stephen nodded.

  “So… what if you were to start with something like… ‘I love this academy. I love what it does for the many stu
dents who attend Fallen Fae Academy. I love what it means to the community.

  In the past few years, this school has done much to help build the next generation. But now it is time to do more. And that is why I am here.’ How’s that for starters?”

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  Succession (Fallen Fae Academy #6) Stephen smiled. “I like it. Go on.”

  Harley pressed a tight grin. “Well… let’s see.

  ‘I’m sure that many of you have already noticed the improvements that we’ve made to the campus…’”

  ***

  Later that night, at an assembly for the entire school faculty in the large and airy auditorium that was filled to capacity…

  “These improvements were brought about by my daughter, Harley,” Stephen said to the attentive crowd. “She had a vision of what this school could be, what it could represent. I joined her in that vision, hoping to create the most pleasant atmosphere for learning and growing. And with that in mind, I would like to formally introduce to you the young woman with so much vision for the future of this school and of all its students.”

  Harley hadn’t expected that. It hadn’t been a part of the speech she had helped him write.

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  Nonetheless, she stood and went to the podium where her father greeted her warmly, tenderly placing a warm kiss on her brow.

  “Thank you, Father,” she said before turning to the microphone and the crowd beyond it. “My father is a magical man. Not in the traditional sense of hocus-pocus, but in the way he has of sparking one’s imagination and of doing all he can to bring it to fruition. As I considered the rebuilding of this campus, I thought of all the things he’d taught me.

  That nothing was impossible. He taught me to believe in the whimsy of a daisy, the frivolity of a rainbow and the joys of songbirds. And those are only a few of the things that I wanted to bring to Fallen Fae Academy.”

  The crowd applauded politely.

  “I once believed… or had been led to believe, that education had to be a serious venture… dreary, some might say. But I believe that the best education is one that opens the mind, the opens the possibilities and that promises the impossible.”

  Harley glanced at her father who stood a few feet away, beaming with pride.

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  “Where many would have discouraged it, my father encouraged me to keep a good relationship with my childhood imaginary friend, Carmine. On many mornings he asked what Carmine was wearing and I let my imagination run wild.” Harley looked at the people in the assembly. “Imagination.

  Think what the world would be like today without it. Look at the cars you drive, the clothes you wear, the homes you live in. It is the very foundation of everything that drives us, and yet too many are eager to step on it, to crush it, to defeat it. Well, not at Fallen Fae Academy.”

  Again, the assembly applauded, this time with more enthusiasm. The only people who staunchly refused to applaud at all were Cici and Ashley seated in the very first row slightly off to the right. With their arms crossed angrily over their chests, they simply glared at her with all the hatred they could muster.

  There was almost something comical in their disdainful sneers, and Harley couldn’t keep from smiling at them. This only made them fume all the more.

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  “Thank you for coming out tonight to hear us speak,” Harley said as she brought the evening to a close. “I do hope that you will all remember our reason for being here at the Academy.”

  As the auditorium emptied, Harley turned to her father.

  “That went well,” he said.

  Harley shrugged. “As well as any college speech,” she said.

  “Come on,” he said as he took a gentle hold of her elbow. “Let’s go home.”

  “If you don’t mind, I’d like to stop by the ladies’ room before we go.”

  “Sure,” he said. “Go ahead.”

  Harley headed down the corridor and turned into the ladies’ bathroom and found a vacant stall.

  As she carried on with her business, she heard movement from the stall beside her and then from the other stall on the other side.

  “Well, well, well. Look what crawled in under the piss-pot door.”

  Harley looked up to see Cici and Ashley peering down on her. “Oh, for crying out loud,”

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  Succession (Fallen Fae Academy #6) Harley hissed. “Don’t you guys have any decency whatsoever?”

  They both laughed as Harley hurried to finish, pulled her pants up and stormed out of the stall.

  “Don’t get so full of yourself just because you’re the dean’s daughter,” Cici said.

  “Yeah,” Ashley added. “You sit down to pee just like everyone else.”

  Harley glared at them. “First of all, I don’t sit… I hover. Secondly, I’m not full of myself, but I am fed up with you two. Talk about full of one’s self. I’ve never met anyone as narcissistic and self-indulged as you two. You’re a joke.”

  “Who the hell cares what you think,” Cici said. “The thing that really gets my goat is how hypocritical you are.”

  “Me?” Harley said with a giggle. “You, Cici the world leader in hypocrisy, is calling me a hypocrite?”

  “What else would you call playing nice-nice with the dean when we all know that you’re only going along with your father in order to ensure that 35

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  your loving Kingsley and that oaf Oak are released from prison?”

  Ashley shot Harley a feigned look of sympathy. “It really is a shame that we had to bring those two in and teach them a lesson by putting them in a tiny little cell. But what can you expect?

  That’s what happens when you play these sorts of games. Your lover went where they should never have gone.”

  “Admit it,” Harley spat at her. “The only reason you imprisoned them is because you’re upset that they no longer have any affection for either of you. You’re despicable, both of you.”

  “Well,” Cici said softly. “We’re not so despicable that we wouldn’t tell you where your lover are being held.”

  Harley let the words sink in for a moment. If Cici and Ashley really were responsible for having Kingsley and Oak taken prisoners, it would only make sense that they knew where they were being held.

  But, then again, could she really trust that they would ever divulge that information?

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  “I think we could perhaps come to some sort of agreement,” Ashley said as she stepped closer to Harley. “I think that we would perhaps accept a few choice favors from you in exchange for the location of Kingsley and Oak.”

  “How does that sound?” Cici added.

  “Why would you bother?” Harley said.

  “You are now a very influential member of this academy’s decision makers,” Ashley said.

  “Your proximity to the dean makes you a very interesting friend to have.”

  “Really. I thought I was a hypocrite.”

  “We’re prepared to put all that aside. What we want now is to be on your side. And if all goes well, we’ll let you know how to find your lovers.”

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  Chapter 3

  

  After a long and tiresome day in class, Harley sat at the kitchen table pushing her food around on her plate with her fork. As tasty as the salmon was, she just couldn’t get another bite down her throat.

  Since her encounter with Cici and Ashley she hadn’t stopped thinking about Kingsley and Oak and wondering if they were okay.

  Knowing that Cici and Ashley knew where Kingsley and Oak were, made it all the more gut wrenching. Though she had tried to ask the girls if they knew how Kingsley and Oak were doing, they had simply laughed and ignored her questions and concerns.

  “What’s on your mind, love?” Stephen said as he emptied his pla
te and pushed it aside. “I 38

  Succession (Fallen Fae Academy #6) thought you liked salmon. I had my chef, Bertrand, make it especially for you.”

  “I do like salmon, and it’s perfect… just the way I like it,” Harley said. “I guess I just don’t have much of an appetite tonight.”

  “Which leads me once again to my question… what’s on your mind?”

  Harley looked at him. His beautiful, clear eyes were so filled with wisdom and a part of her longed to reconnect with him in a true father and daughter fashion. But knowing of the darkness that lurked behind those beautiful eyes she wondered…

  could she open up at all and talk to him?

  “You threw me a curve ball last night at your speech,” Harley said.

  “You mean when I introduced you and asked you to speak?”

  “Don’t you think that I deserved a bit of an advance notice?”

  “No,” he said simply. “I knew you were up for the task.”

  “But, why?”

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  He shrugged. “I’d run out of things to say.

  The crowd seemed eager to hear more… and, well… there you were. You’re so well spoken, I knew you would enthrall them.”

  Harley couldn’t help but smile. “I had nothing prepared.”

  “And yet you spoke like a true pro. I do believe that you enchanted everyone… just like I knew you would.”

  “And just like you seem to have enchanted everyone.”

  He nodded.

  “We’re alike in so many ways,” she softly said as that realization sunk in. Even his smile was like hers. She had inherited his looks from her hair and eye color to her high cheekbones and full lips.

  They did look like father and daughter.