How could he shame me like that? He could have my magic, mind, and body but not my heritage.
I birthed with my own hands two foals, Thunder and Lightning, who I raised to be stallions for my brother and me. Their coats gleam midnight black against the snow. They understand me better than any elf. Together, my brother and I have ridden them on missions, as well side by side into battle to protect the kingdom.
Even if the same people who I protected now wish me deposed and executed, I still love these lands.
How could I not be his brother?
"A fairy tale. I'm a Light Elf...I'm me..." Yet the uncontrollable power that's been bound is different. It’s...monstrous. My stomach lurches. I bend over, resting my forehead against the cold floor. "I'm not Dark..."
Darby's sharp heel digs into the back of my neck, holding me to the ground. "You're a monster. Be grateful that I love the elf who you once were enough to be honest. As you can't control yourself, it's my duty to leash you. Hereby I judge you banished from the Other World and sentenced to the Rebel Academy, until such time as it's reported that you've repented, paid penance, and have learned to control your power."
Banished? Sentenced to the Rebel Academy?
"Please, brother," I beg, "don't send me away from the Other World. It shall wither my Soul to lose the music of these hills and streams. I've spent centuries defending and loving this kingdom. My magic and Soul are connected to it like ivy. If I'm torn from the Other World, across the Eternal Forest, it'll be like..." My brain's foggy with the cursed silk binding it. "...tearing me apart."
All of a sudden, Darby grabs my hair and wrenches back my head. I cry out, as he pulls me up, until I’m staring into his glittering gaze.
His eyes narrow.
"Do you deserve anything different, changeling? You're royalty and so you must continue with your life — such as it is — but you won't escape the prison of the coven-led academy. The worst supernatural boys,” I force myself not to wince at his sneer, “of the paranormal world are controlled by the witches. They have the specialized experience to dampen your powers even further than the curse that now binds you. If you ever loved this kingdom as you claim or any of your family," for a moment, his expression softens, before becoming glacial again, "then don't shame us. Serve your penance. Impress me with your achievements. No matter how far apart we are, I control the magic within that suit and I can still crush the rebellion from you."
"Reject, crush, and imprison me," I say like I'm not shattering inside; the blizzard rages outside the palace, smashing against the windows, "but look after Thunder and Lightning when I'm gone. Those stallions are loyal and love us both. They won't understand where I’ve gone, and I'll..."
...Miss them.
They don't deserve to be left behind.
When Darby's expression transforms to false sympathy, I tense. By my ears, what has he done?
Not my horses...I can't...anything but... They’re innocents...
I'm shivering. I can't stop. Darby rests his hand on my shoulder like he's steadying me but instead, he's dragging in my shivers like they're strengthening him.
Has his magic truly become this dark? How could I have been so trusting?
"Don't hurt others because you won't execute me,” I whisper. “I'd do anything to gain your forgiveness, but if that's not possible, then kill me."
"Thunder roared when I fired the arrow through his brother's heart." Darby tilts up my chin, so that our gazes meet with a searing intensity. "But he didn't try and run. He's always been obedient like that. So, it appears that he doesn't take after you." A tear chases down my cheek. I can't stop it...stop anything. Don't say it, no more. "But he was silent when I wound silk just like this around his neck."
Silk spun in the air and then around my neck above the collar. I scrabble at my neck, but Darby holds my bound hands down like I'm reduced to the younger brother.
I'm powerless against him.
I gasp, dragging in desperate breaths. Darby yanks me off my knees, dangling me in the air as if I'm on the end of a noose.
Then he cups my cheek. "When you fall asleep in your academy, I want you to think about the moment that I killed your horses because you killed my father. And how at any moment, I could unwind the silk from your suit and..." His fingers slip down one by one from my cheek to clasp around my throat like a threat. "...choke you in your sleep. Will you behave for your professors now? I expect you to win every tournament, prize, and trial. Sweet dreams, killer."
The silk tightens, my eyes flicker shut, and I fall into darkness...
I'm dying.
And that's how I woke up on this first night in the Rebel Academy.
Alone, hurt, and trapped.
Shaking, I gasped for breath. The silk was tight around my throat, as I struggled, still haunted by the nightmare.
I'm writing this in my Crystal Diary. It's the only place that I can be honest.
Who can I trust after the darkness in my brother? After I lost control of myself?
I’ve been told that I now belong in the Princes Wing. A haughty fae prince has been put in charge of me. He's a Prefect but he's more like my guard. There's also a vampire whipping boy who's beautiful and as lost as me.
Yet what frightens me most about this academy isn't that I'll be crushed. It's that I'll lose control like I did in my own kingdom. Then I'll crush my eternal prison, this Rebel Academy.
After all, they’ve taken in a true monster.
Chapter Two
MAGENTA
When I’d been burned alive over one hundred years ago, it’d appeared miraculous that the witches' goddess Hecate had trapped me in her tree as a ghost.
On Sunday, it’d been just as miraculous that my delicious Immortals — a mage, god, and incubus — had risked their lives to free me as a Ghost Witch.
Yet I didn't believe in miracles.
I twisted my tendrils of magenta power around Damelza Crow, the Principal of the Rebel Academy, piggybacking on her magical transportation.
It shouldn’t be possible… I’d be torn apart and scattered through the four corners of the grounds.
If I survived though, it wouldn’t be a miracle. It’d be my magic and the academy, grasping onto me as naturally as a tree holds a bud to its branch against the winter breeze.
The House of Crows never understood nature, but my magic was nature.
I hung onto the pathway that should’ve flown Damelza smoothly from one side of the castle to the other, as she attempted to drag my incubus lover, Bask, to her study. She wished to hand him over to the Duchess, the succubus who’d once been bonded to him.
Well, that wasn’t going to happen. But then, I was wicked.
I was born the first Blessedly Charmed witch in five hundred years, but when the mage that I loved had been walled up alive because I'd dared to share my first kiss was him, I’d lost control of my powers and cursed the entire academy, becoming Wickedly Charmed.