Rosemary Johns - Rebel Academy - Curse

"Don't scare me like that again," Bask commanded. "Pet me."

Willoughby tenderly stroked Bask's hair.

Damelza tapped her teeth, looking Darby up and down appraisingly, before glancing at Juni. "It appears that we will have a late night of paperwork, after all. Now there'll be two eleven princes in my academy."

Willoughby stiffened, before meeting his brother's gaze. Despite everything, Willoughby's expression was flooded with compassion.

I rather thought that mine expressed my thought of ha! Irony!

"Let me go." Darby's eyes were wide with fear; he'd have been struggling if he could. Instead, he'd been transformed into just another ice sculpture. His magic lashed around the room. At once, he looked achingly young and like he'd finally understood that he'd waded out of his depth. "I'm not one of your Rebels to be held against my will. Nothing has been proved. You can't do this without a contract..."

Parchment materialized out of the air, and Damelza caught it with a sharp smile. "A contract like this…? All I need is someone to sign it with Blood Magic, and then you're all mine. For something as serious as treason, attempted regicide and patricide, you'll be with me a long, long time."

Titus straightened a crease out on his trousers with supreme casualness and not in the least as if a fellow guest was about to be sentenced to the academy.

"It's only his word," Darby hissed. Then he turned a plaintive look on Willoughby. "Please... brother ...tell them that you're making it up. I'll let you home. I see now that this place isn’t fit to reform you."

For a moment, Willoughby's expression softened, and Darby's look became more hopeful. "Am I now your brother?" Then his gaze became icy. "Your guilt doesn't absolve mine. Both are real."

Darby roared in fury.

Damelza turned to Fox. "It's charmingly simple to settle this. Confess, use your power. Is the elven king...I apologize for the slip...soon to be ex -king...guilty of sending the assassins?"

Fox cracked his knuckles with a satisfied smile. "It makes me all tingly when you ask me to use my powers. Yeah, it's the truth, traitorous little dick."

Damelza's smile was wickedly gleefully, as she placed the contract in front of Titus. "As you're our patron, could you be kind enough to sign for him?"

Titus’ smile was predatory, as he sliced his own nail across his palm and blotted the blood across the bottom of the parchment. Then he flapped his wings and swooped in front of Darby. He landed with an intimidating thump .

He grasped Darby by his hair. "You're one of my Princes now."

Lysander gripped Willoughby by the arm, and Midnight by the other, before dragging them both towards Titus.

I stiffened. What in the witching heavens was Lysander doing? Had this fae ball and his own uncle's dominance seeped back into him, so that he'd forgotten that he didn't hurt any of my Rebels?

Yet Lysander had been right about Willoughby. I had to trust him now.

"My noble self has failed you, bringing shame on my kingdom. One is worthless," Lysander said. "Yet as Prefect, I guarded this elf effectively, as well as my whipping boy." His gaze darted to Juni. "If you ask my Tutor, she'll give good report in that at least."

Titus arched his brow at Juni.

"The witch distracted Crown." Juni glared at me, careful not to meet Lysander's gaze. How hard was it love him and know that she'd never have him? "The Princes lost the trials and tournaments, but Lysander's a good Prefect when it comes to guiding his team. Who'll replace him now that he's been reduced to Dunce? It was useful in class to have a whipping boy too."

Damelza shot her daughter an outraged glare. "Let's not discuss all our private academy business..."

"As patron, I say let's ." Titus' gaze darkened. "Reinstate Lysander as Prefect and remove the Sleep Deprivation Hex. I rather hate wasted resources."

Damelza gaped at him. "But those are punishments..."

Titus' sharp teeth glinted in the light. "Are you deliberately attempting to shame my kingdom?"

"Why, how absurd," Damelza muttered.

When Damelza lifted her hand, Lysander and Midnight slumped at the same time as both punishments were lifted.

Bask whooped , and Mist danced in a circle. My mouth ached with smiling.

Lysander shot me a cocky smile over his shoulder that flushed warmth through me.

Did it also break ball etiquette to suck your clever lover's feathers…or dick?

I sauntered to stand next to Lysander, sneaking in a lick to his wing that made him shiver.

"How about I take control of Willoughby's cursed uniform?" I suggested, innocently. "After all, it's a useful leash to be used throughout the day, but you can't leave it in the hands of that little ears ."

Darby blushed, and Titus lifted his eyebrow at me.

Damelza huffed. "Clearly, you believe me as crazy as you, if you think that I'd place a Prince in the care of an Immortal. Crown will of course take the control."

I mock gasped. The horror. Lysander fought to suppress his smile.

"I shall never hand over the magic to a fae," Darby snarled.

Ah, so naive.

Damelza ripped the crystals out of Darby's hair.

The crystals rolled along the icy dance floor like frozen teardrops. I'd expected Willoughby to stoop to pick them up, but he ignored them. Perhaps, they were in his past now like his brother.

"That's not the academy spirit,” Damelza chided. “Cooperate or earn ten punishment points in front of everyone."

Darby's eyes gleamed with humiliation. "I'm the king," he pleaded, but this time it sounded more like a question.

Titus kicked one of the crystals. "It doesn't look that way to me, little boy."

Defeated, Darby closed his eyes.

I shuddered, as dark magic snaked out of him and wound around Lysander. Midnight caught Lysander in his arms, as Lysander and Willoughby were bound and yet freed at the same time.

Flair and Echo cawed raucously, flapping around the hall.

I wrapped my arms around myself to contain the joy because all my Princes were now able to escape. There'd be no more sacrifices and nobody would be left behind.

Then Titus' hard gaze settled on me, and my guts churned. Titus wasn't here for his ward or as patron of the academy.

He was here for me.

Just like Robin, he'd waited over a hundred years for his second chance, but his wasn't love... it was hate .

Titus swept across the hall towards me: a dark Prince Charming. His golden wings rose behind him like raised scimitars.

Why did he have to be so achingly handsome? If Byron hadn’t allowed me to become friends with Robin as a child, and Titus had courted me before our wedding day, would I’ve fallen in love with his charm?

I shuddered. Was there a hex to scour out your brain…and other parts?

Yet I had a feeling that Henrietta had been tricking Titus as much as me. After all, her Husband Management included whipping and spelling a man’s lips silent.

Titus looked the type to be holding the whip, and he loved the sound of his voice far too much to be silenced.

Titus held out his hand. When he bared his teeth at me, I realized with a jolt that it was meant to be a smile .

“Would you do me the honor of the first dance?” His hand shook.

I took a step back. “My apologies, but I have a strict policy against dancing with bastard fae princes.”

Titus’ smile dropped from his face like it’d never been there. “There’s the witch who wrecked me.” What did he mean? “Don’t you owe even this bastard fae prince a single dance, since I missed out last time? Where’s the harm? After all, you were brave enough to stand me up at our wedding, don’t you have the courage for a single dance?”