Page 6 of Angel Lost (Fates Academy #3)

Chapter Six: Lorelei

My flames sputter out as I stare blankly at my hands. A week.

“You sly fae bastard,” Chano bellows. Quicker than I can react, he punches Kai square in the face. The force sends Kai spinning back, staggering against the luminous pink sofa. Kai runs his thumb over his lip, wiping away a trickle of blood. He levels his gaze at Chano and laughs.

Two quick strides and Chano is on him again, fist bunched. But Kai doesn’t even raise his hands. Chano hesitates.

“Cowardly puta ,” Chano snarls. “Won’t fight, but wants to take my Aeternum to the king? Has been feeding from her as his source?”

He gestures angrily at me. “And the little princess fed in return, I assume. No wonder she had blood left over to redecorate my rooms with.”

Hecate. Chano did pick up on it, did understand. What was I meant to do? I needed blood to feed on, Kai needed emotions. It was a transaction. One I had no intention of telling Chano about.

“Punch out your frustrations all you like, bonehead,” Kai drawls, slowly pushing himself off the arm of the sofa to stand. “A week’s grace is the best she could hope for. And, since you’re so interested in our little arrangement…she seemed to like it. A lot.”

In a flash I’m in front of Kai, straining up into his face. “She has a name, Your Highness. I thought we agreed that was between us, or do royalty not keep their word?”

Kai’s expression softens. He shrugs. “You have a week together. I did what I had to to buy you that,” he says quietly. “I don’t often use my position as the king’s family as leverage. I hate being associated with him.” His gaze comes to rest on Zephyr, still sprawled on the ground. “Maybe you should stop lounging down there, angel, and make the most of it.”

Zephyr rolls onto all fours with a groan.

“I know you’re one of them ,” Kai continues. “But she is your allegiance, and the time will go quickly.”

Zephyr’s lip curls. “As an actual emotional vampire, you have nerve to judge others.”

I rub my ash-covered hands together, glancing between them. “Guys! Please.” Then quieter. “It’s only registration, right?”

Chano’s big hand squeezes my shoulder. “A lot of aethers don’t come back,” he says hesitantly. “Especially the women. The stronger women.”

Farrell clears his throat. “With your strength—”

“Shut up, lizard breath,” Chano snaps. “The princeling doesn’t know.”

“That’s just it though. He should.” Zephyr stands slowly, wincing. “You say I’m ‘one of them,’ Kai, but you? You’re one of us.”

My thoughts stall.

Zephyr’s voice pierces my rising anxiety. “I had a vision,” he says. “Kai here, His Highness, is our allegiance. He’s replacing Naeve.”

No.

Kai’s dagger slips from his fingers, but he catches it mid-fall. He clutches it to his chest, then slowly runs his thumb along the blade. “Now that is interesting,” he whispers.

Everyone talks at once, the volume rising to a crescendo of incoherent shouting.

“No,” I mutter, and somehow they all hear me. “No,” I repeat, more forcefully.

“I know what I saw,” Zephyr says.

I slap my hand across his mouth. If he says one more thing about replacing Naeve—He licks my palm and I yank my hand away.

“Zephyr! ”

He smirks, tossing his blond hair over his shoulder. “You don’t need to like the stupid fae being allegiance, but you could ask for his help.” Zephyr hesitates. “I can’t foresee anything about the aether registration, Lorelei. Nothing at all. It’s a weird blank.”

The normally languid smile is gone from Zephyr’s face, leaving only a hardness there.

“His Highness has helped quite enough,” I snarl. “Your vision was wrong. End of story.”

“If you won’t trust me,” Kai says slowly, “If you think I’m not good enough for your precious allegiance, then I won’t help. After all your sob sessions, drinking fae wine, talking about these idiots, drinking my blood…and it’s me you don’t trust?” He slams his dagger into the center of the still-smoking sofa. “I made sure those angels didn’t take you away today.”

I stare at the vibrant multicolored rug, and edge toward the door, following Chano and Farrell. “Thank you, I think. But I didn’t ask for your help then. And I don’t want it now.”

Kai’s scowl darkens. “I know you said thank you, but what I heard was fuck you.”

Zephyr slumps to the ground beside the scrying pool, and I fling myself onto the cool tiles beside him. The light on the surface of the water sends reflections dancing across the ceiling of the classroom. It’s entrancing…but Zephyr stares solidly ahead. I don’t need to ask. He’s not seen anything, again. Not even with us feeding him power.

My eyes sting, and a weariness settles in my bones. We’ve been at this for hours. Too long.

“Again,” Chano booms out, kicking the sole of Zephyr’s bare foot .

“Enough, Chano. He’s exhausted,” I say. “We all are. We can try again tomorrow.”

“We don’t have many tomorrows,” Chano growls. “What’s the use of having an angel seer if he can’t see anything? We’re just left with a fucking angel if he doesn’t have visions.”

Zephyr tenses next to me as Chano storms out of the classroom. Farrell’s clipped, precise footsteps follow. Raising my head slightly off the floor, I bang it back down. Damn it. “He didn’t mean it, Zephyr.” I reach out, patting his chest. “He’s just worried.”

With a grunt, Zephyr heaves himself upright. “We all are,” he says quietly.

I squeeze my eyes shut as he leaves, his bare feet slapping across the tiles and down the corridor, away. Fuck. I bang my head on the floor again. Harder. What if we’re worrying over nothing? Maybe I’ll go, register, and come straight back to school.

And maybe not.

I’d do just about anything to sleep, instead, here I am trailing into the library. A faint aroma of leather and ink tickles my nostrils. Rows of books fade into the distance, shelves reaching floor to ceiling as far as I can see. Useless. All of them. I weave toward the current news section. Maybe here, in the newspapers, the magazines. The modern stuff. There has to be something. A clue as to why some aethers vanish.

I hustle my pile to a big central table. Naeve loved it here, and I can half see why: the place is so quiet. Licking my thumb, I flick through the latest glossy magazine. It’s all gushing love for the Angel King, gossip about the royal household, and stupid pseudo-journalism about eligible wives for Prince Kai and his step-uncle. Can I puke yet? I fling the thing across the table.

A single manicured finger pins the magazine down before it falls over the edge.

Hewie .

He grins.

“It’s p-p-past midnight,” he says, his smile fading as he takes in my expression, my rumpled clothes.

I thought he’d gotten over that stammer. “Yeah, yeah, just studying.”

“Gossip magazines?” he asks. “What class is that for exactly?”

I rub the heels of my hand into my eyes and let my head loll back.

A chair scrapes over the hardwood floor toward me, and Hewie nudges my shoulder. “If you’re looking for answers there, you must be desperate,” he says. “Tell me what you’re looking for. I am the queen of gossip. Boy, I half wish you really were studying.” He gazes off into the middle distance dreamily. “I would ace that class.”

I choke back a snort and haul myself straighter. He knows I’m aether…I may as well explain, and so I do.

“Nope,” Hewie says confidently. “None of these have ever talked about aether registration.”

Pile of rubbish. I sweep the entire stack off the desk with a grunt. Hewie squeaks and rushes to gather the magazines up, smoothing the covers out like a ruffled mother hen.

“I was going to say they might still help, if you knew how to look, but I’m not sure you deserve to know how now,” he snaps.

I grab his wrist. “Anything, Hewie…please?”

“You skimmed them, didn’t you?”

I nod.

“Mistake!” he crows. “Take the gossip in the mags about the oh-so-eligible Angel King and his heroic search for a suitable wife and add the underground chatter about the rips and what do you get?”

I scrunch my nose.

“It’s obvs, Lorelei!”

It is one hundred percent not obvs. Dammit, obvious.

“The goddesses demand balance, right?" He smooths a crease in a magazine, his perfectly tailored—if slightly old-fashioned—jacket shifting as he leans in, eyes bright. “Life, death, good, bad—the five elements. But the Angel King is missing at least one, and he won’t share power. The first leader who can’t balance this world’s magic. Eltanin is off-kilter, and people are starting to blame him.”

“They should. Whether it’s balance or just plain badness, he’s the problem. He stole that throne. But what does this have to do with my problem?”

Hewie whips out a silk hanky, dabbing excitedly at his brow. “Really, Lorelei. I thought you were supposed to be smart. If the ruler lacks elements, Eltanin spirals. So, he takes a queen—one with the elements he’s missing. Suddenly, he’s the golden boy again, the hero who saved the nation when the dragons and aethers fell. His throne? Secure. And he needs an aether bride, Lorelei. The most powerful he can find, but one he can control—”

I jump up, flinging my arms around Hewie. He lets out a startled squeak before returning my hug, patting my back awkwardly.

“But, Lorelei, that’s not good news. Not for you.”

I give him a final squeeze and take off out of the library, magazines fluttering in my wake. It’s more than we had yesterday. And it was staring me in the face. The king is collecting brides. I just need to be undesirable, unmarriable. Unfuckable.