Succession Read online

  Oak shrugged and shook his head.

  “Zed?” Kingsley called out into the cell.

  No, it’s Red.

  Oak looked expectantly at Kingsley and mouthed, Is it the twins?

  “Great,” Kingsley said as he nodded at Oak.

  “I’m happy to hear from you. Do you know what’s going on with Harley?”

  We heard she was back at Fallen Fae Academy, but that’s about it… oh, and something about her father.

  “That’s right,” Kingsley said. “I’m afraid she’s getting pulled into something she might not be able to get herself out of.”

  We can try to head over there and check in on her.

  “That’s what I was hoping you’d say,”

  Kingsley said.

  We’re on our way. By the way, where are you guys?

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  “In

  some

  godforsaken

  prison

  cell

  somewhere… courtesy of Cici and Ashley.”

  Once we find Harley and ensure she’s all right, we’ll come looking for you.

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  Chapter 5

  Harley

  

  While Harley was free to go to her classes, she nonetheless felt like a prisoner under Stephen’s constant watch. The moment she walked out of any of her classes, he was there waiting for her. On the few occasions when she walked out to find him gone, she had only to walk outside to find him waiting for her under a tree or seated on a bench.

  There was no getting away from him.

  As the days passed, she’d hoped he’d loosen up and give her a little more freedom, but he seemed intent on having her at his side at all times. While she was grateful for the chance to get to know him as much as she could, she felt increasingly stifled and restless.

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  On one night, she suddenly remembered the beautiful apartment she’d shared with Colin and Ethan. It seemed like such a long time ago.

  Everything seemed long ago.

  She remembered the fear she’d felt when attacked by a dark fae student. She remembered her surprised at seeing Colin and Ethan there, ready to put their lives on the line to protect her. They had been so great about staying on at the academy just to protect her from the dark fae students who were relentlessly after her. As loyal nobles of the Spring Kingdom, Colin and Ethan was there to protect her, the Princess of Spring, but she had sent them back.

  A part of her longed to go back to a time when she had more freedom. And a bigger part of her long to reconnect with her men. She missed them terribly… all of them. She missed Kingsley’s regal stance, and Oak massive bulk. Colin and Ethan always made her smile and she didn’t know what she would do without Red and Zed, who were her main bullies, but had proven their love and loyalty to her over and over again after she had exacted her revenge on them. Now they would do 62

  Succession (Fallen Fae Academy #6) anything for her, even defy their father for her, whom she suspected of being on the side of the Dark Fae.

  Seated at the kitchen table working on an essay as Stephen read a daily campus report, she set her essay aside and looked pointedly at him.

  “What is it?” he said after a moment. Sensing her eyes on him, he put his report aside and looked up at her.

  “I was just thinking…” she started not sure how to broach the subject.

  “Thinking about what?” he said patiently.

  As oppressed as she sometimes felt by his constant presence, she was always surprised by the endless patience he showed towards her. He never pushed her to hurry and never got upset when she made mistakes.

  “Since coming to Fallen Fae Academy,” she said. “I’ve always had my own place. The first place I shared with April, and then I moved on…

  and… well…”

  “Well…” Stephen prompted.

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  “It’s kind of weird to be here, at my age, living with my dad,” she said. “I mean, it’s cool and everything getting to spend so much time together, but…”

  “But, it’s for the best,” Stephen calmly said.

  She had expected as much but had felt compelled to try.

  “Don’t you feel safe here?” Stephen said.

  Harley thought back to her time with Colin and Ethan. Part of what had pressed them to stay with her were the attacks on light fae and human students by the dark fae students. And when those dark fae tried to attack her, there was no way Colin and Ethan would leave… ever. But now, with Stephen always at her side, the dark fae students looked upon her with reverence… even fear.

  “I guess I do,” Harley said. She shrugged. “I guess I just miss being with kids my own age.”

  Stephen looked pensively at her. “I guess I could offer you a bit of free time. But I’ll never be far away.”

  That’s what I was afraid of, Harley thought.

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  Succession (Fallen Fae Academy #6) He stood and came to her side. “Okay,” he said. “Go get changed. We’ll go out. I think you need a change of pace.”

  “Now?” she said.

  “Sure. Why not?”

  “Stephen, I have a lot of work to do.”

  “A nice stroll on the campus grounds with all this cool air flowing to your lungs is going to do you a world of good. You’ll see. Trust me.”

  Harley reluctantly nodded and pushed back her chair to stand. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

  Already wearing loose jeans and a comfortable flannel button down shirt, she headed to her room to put on a pair of socks and shoes and grabbed a light jacket.

  “Ready,” she called out as she emerged from her room.

  They headed out and Harley had to admit that he was right. The cool night air felt good on her heated face and the scent of the surrounding forest was heavenly.

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  “This really is nice,” she said as they stroll through the campus grounds that were well lit with a multitude of colored lights.

  “Ah,” he said thoughtfully. “I may not have been around to play an active role in your life when you were a child, but I do believe I have the wisdom to be a good father to you now.”

  She smiled wistfully, idly wondering what her life would had been like had she not been raised by the adoptive parents she knew and loved so much.

  “Why did you never come around to see me?”

  she asked suddenly.

  “I did… about every other week… from afar, of course. I’d watch you sometimes as you played with your adoptive father.” He looked up at the stars for a moment. “A few times I even followed you two as you headed off on a hike.”

  “You did?” Harley said with surprise.

  He nodded. “You seemed to like him very much. That speech the other night… it gave me a lot to think about. I really wish it had been me you were talking about and not him.”

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  “Yet you’re the one who chose him to raise me. You should be happy that I love him.”

  “I am.”

  “But you sound a bit jealous of the relationship I had and still have with him.”

  “I am,” he said with a smile.

  Harley smiled as well. She enjoyed the time with him when he was this human, when he showed genuine human emotion. There were too many times during the day when his dark fae side was all too evident and it frightened her enough to wonder if she was doing the right thing.

  He could be quick tempered with the staff, make horrific threats and devastating insults to the people around him who were just simply trying to help. There were times when she barely recognized him as he berated people for no reason.

  But at times like these, when he was pleasant and calm and… human, she couldn’t help but wonder, once again, what her life would have been had she not be
en left with her adoptive parents.

  As they came to the water fountain surrounded by dozens of sculptures, Harley spotted 67

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  two students walking under the arch that led to the dorms beyond. Although their style of dress and hair were unfamiliar to her, there was something in their gait, in their swagger that she definitely recognized.

  Red and Zed. She was certain of it. One of them, now tall and lanky, wore bright yellow leather pants with a neon green skintight shirt while the other, slightly shorter and stocky, had on white shorts topped with a baby blue polo shirt.

  What are they doing here?

  Certain that something was terribly wrong in the fae realm, she felt her heart beat a little faster.

  Glancing sidelong at Stephen, she tried to find an excuse to get away from him just long enough to talk to Red and Zed. She had to find out what was going on, and she desperately wanted news on Kingsley and Oak.

  “Tomorrow morning, I’m going to be having a meeting with the financial consultant in charge of the annual budget,” Stephen said, completely unaware of the other students. “I want you to be 68

  Succession (Fallen Fae Academy #6) there and I want you to feel free to give any suggestions you may have. I appreciate your input.”

  “I’ll give that some thought,” she said absent-mindedly as her eyes remained on Red and Zed.

  “Mrs. Laurence has asked to be present as well as she has been having some issues and has assured me that the only solution to her problems is more money for supplies and personal expenses.”

  He clucked his tongue with annoyance. “I highly doubt that money is the issue, but… Anyway, she’ll be there.”

  “I really have to go to the bathroom suddenly,” Harley said. “I think I’ll just go slip in there and…”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Stephen said. “We’ll head home. We’ve been out here for nearly an hour.

  It’s time I got back to work.”

  As they turned to head back to Stephen’s apartment, Harley glanced back at Red and Zed.

  How was she ever going to get away from Stephen long enough to talk to them?

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  Stephen chatted the whole way back to his place, but Harley barely heard a word. Her thoughts were solely on Red and Zed.

  “Ah, damn,” Stephen muttered as they arrived at his building. “There’s Mrs. Laurence. I am not in the mood to talk to her right now.”

  Harley’s eyes lit up. This could be her chance.

  “There you are, Dean Stephen,” Mrs.

  Laurence said as she came up to him. “I have to talk to you about the meeting we’re having tomorrow morning.”

  “I’m having a nice stroll with my lovely daughter, Mrs. Laurence,” Stephen said. “Can’t this wait?”

  “No,” she said firmly. “I want you to come and see the decrepit and sorry state of the equipment I’m being asked to work with. I want you to understand that this request is not a caprice. It’s a veritable necessity.”

  “I’m sure it is,” Stephen said, somewhat sarcastically. He turned to Harley. “How about it?”

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  Succession (Fallen Fae Academy #6) Harley grimaced. “I really have to go to the bathroom… and besides, I really need to get back to my homework. You go ahead.”

  “Fine.” Stephen fished the keys out of his pocket. “Here you go. I should be back in about thirty minutes.”

  He reluctantly walked away with Mrs.

  Laurence going on and on about everything that was wrong with the campus and, in particular, her department.

  The moment they turned the corner, Harley turned back in the direction of the water fountain.

  Hopefully Red and Zed would still be there.

  Amidst the sculptures, other students also walked around, taking in the cool night air. For a moment, Harley was disheartened to see that the twins were no longer there. Then she spotted them by a statue of a woman and her dog.

  Red with his bright yellow pants was hard to miss and Harley smiled as she casually headed their way. While she was mostly certain it was them, there was a part of her that realized she could be mistaken.

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  “Harley,” the tall lanky one said.

  “Yes,” she said innocently looking up at him.

  “It’s me… Red.”

  “Who?” she said.

  “Red… and my twin brother Zed.”

  Harley frowned and looked them up and down. “Seriously?”

  “We had to glamour ourselves so as not to be recognized by the dark fae students… and the Dark Fae Wizard.”

  “I don’t believe you,” Harley said. “How do I know it’s really you and not a trick?”

  The short and stocky guy came up to her, pulled her in his arms and kissed her passionately.

  His lips were warm and his tongue soft and delicious. “Does that ring a bell?”

  She smiled. It certainly did. “Sort of,” she said with a sly grin.

  “I have more where that comes from if you need more convincing,” he said, holding her tight.

  “A lot of guys are good kissers,” Harley persisted. “It doesn’t really prove anything.”

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  “Okay,” the tall lanky one said. “Who else would know about that night you spent in our apartment… you know… when we got together…

  all three of us, replaying that hot seduction scene you had with Oak, the night before the big soccer game?”

  Harley smiled, finally reassured it was really them. “Oh, my God,” she said softly. “I can’t believe you guys are here. Stephen is keeping such a close eye on me… I feel like I’m suffocating sometimes. And now, here you guys are.”

  “We’re glad to see you, too,” Red said. “I’ve missed you so much and we’ve been worried about you since you’ve left.”

  “What about Kingsley and Oak?” Harley said. “Have you had any news from them?”

  “That’s why we’re here?” Zed said.

  Harley looked at him, suddenly afraid of what he was going to say.

  “It’s Kingsley who asked us to come check up on you,” Red said.

  “He’ll be happy to learn that you’re okay,” he said. “But he also needs help.”

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  “He’s imprisoned. April told me,” Harley said.

  “Yes,” Zed said. “And in one of the most guarded prisons of the entire realm. Not only do they have an army of guards keeping watch on them, day and night, but there is some strong dark fae magic at work as well. The place is entirely impenetrable.”

  “Only a high level dark fae can get through,”

  Red added.

  “Do you mean me?” Harley said.

  They looked at one another and, while their faces weren’t the ones she’d come to know and love, the expression in their eyes was.

  “So, it’s true,” Red said as he looked at her with dismay. “You’ve really crossed over to the dark side.”

  Harley looked beyond them to the large water fountain. “Look,” she said. “I can’t stay out here long. My father will be back soon, and he won’t be happy if he finds that I’m not at home.”

  “Your father?” Zed said incredulously.

  “You’re now calling him your father?”

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  “Okay. Stephen, if you prefer,” Harley said.

  “Either way, I have to go.”

  Perplexed, they both looked at her with a million questions in their eyes.

  “I’ll try to get away when I can to come see you,” Harley promised as she walked away.

  But the tall lanky guy caught her by the arm and pulled her back to him, crushing her against his chest.

  It was strange looking up at him, knowing it was him but with a stranger’s face. But when he pulled her in for a long, wa
rm kiss, she melted into him. She could smell him, taste him and she knew, without a doubt, that it was him.

  Tears welled up in her eyes as she thought of the turn their lives had taken. She would have liked nothing more than to spend more time with them, to spend the night with them.

  She longed for a simpler time when she could freely go to her classes and meet up with her guys whenever she liked.

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  “I miss you,” she muttered into his shoulder when she reluctantly pulled away from the kiss.

  “God, how I miss you.”

  “Then come with us,” Red said. “We still have our apartment at the dorm. Come spend the night with us. I miss you so much, Harley.”

  “I can’t,” Harley said, pulling away once again. “I really have to go”

  “When will we see you again?”

  “I’ll find you,” she promised. “The moment I have some free time, I’ll come and find you.”

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  Succession (Fallen Fae Academy #6) Chapter 6

  Harley

  Harley made it back to Stephen’s apartment well before he arrived. Seated innocently at the kitchen table, she concentrated on the work in front of her as he entered.

  Slamming the door shut, he let her know that he wasn’t in a good mood. Angry and upset, he walked right by her and went to his bedroom without a word.

  Though shaken up by his mood, Harley was happy to have the rest of the evening to herself.

  Early the next morning, she prepared for the meeting with the financial consultant. After a long, warm shower, she pulled on a long-sleeved red wool dress that clung to her curves. She pulled her hair back into a tight ponytail and slipped into black leather pumps.

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