Page 4 of Brutal Birthright

“So, you’ll do it?” Niall spat a glob of blood onto the ground. Grinning at him with red coating his teeth. He could handle it. The bastard would heal in mere seconds.

“Let me get in another couple of shots in at you, and then you’ll have my word.” Rowan hated being around this place. A royal court dripping with gold and jewels and pretentiousness that made him want to carve out his own eyeballs. He couldn’t stand the thought of another year away from the seclusion of his cottage and the simplicity his mind craved. But war and battle followed no matter where he went, and it would seem the trail of bloodshed, once again, had come to lay itself at his feet.

“We’ll need your expertise with setting a blood ward perimeter. Running daily checks of the boundary around the academy. All the kind of shit that makes you jizz your pants, I’m sure.”

Oh, he’d get more than a couple of good shots in as payback for that. His brother’s mouth was going to get him into all sorts of shit running like that.

“When do I have to begin? And I will be left to train these students exactly as I see fit, I assume? Do whatever I want with them?” Rowan pointed his blade at Niall’s chest in warning as his brother tried to shift closer. Prick.

“Your first class starts tomorrow. Day one for the new academy.” Niall’s eyes flickered all over, looking for a weak spot. He wouldn’t find one. “And run them into the dirt for all I care, you ugly tattooed mess. Be brutal. Ruthless. It’s what you’re best at, no?”

Chapter 2

“Welcome to Trelithia Hall.” The thick parchment in Oriana’s hands proudly announced in brilliant gold lettering. Her official residence and commitment for the coming year. One that she was going to stick to, no matter what.

She hitched her leather satchel across her shoulder. Taking a deep breath as she surveyed the crush of bodies gathered in small groups, chatting and laughing. Some looked lost, no doubt still attempting to find their lodgings amongst the endless corridors and passageways of what used to be the royal residences.

Not that she’d have any such problem with navigating her way around. The obnoxiously large stone archway and gilded staircase filling the space before her was familiar territory. After all, she’d been living here at the palace—now converted into an academy—for months already. Being sister to the newly crowned queen of the fae wasn’t exactly the path she’d imagined for herself last winter. And yet here she found herself, on the cusp of her first day as a fucking student in her sister’s newly minted learning centre for supernatural beings.

Astracadia Academy.

She huffed out a long breath, blowing a stray curl from her face. No sense stalling any longer. This was exactly what she’d asked for, after all.

Upon being crowned at her coronation, Ruby had been generous enough to offer her a position within the royal guards without question. Even bloody well asked if she’d like to join the academic staff in some capacity. Shit, the faith she placed in Ri was the purest kind of love anyone could ever hope for. Unwavering as always in trusting her adoptive sister to guard her back. After all, the two had spent thirty-odd years training, fighting, and hunting together.

Only now, everything had upended in spectacular fashion. Ruby was the new queen and had found her fated mate in Niall of Nocturne. They were sickeningly obsessed with each other—and fucking each other’s brains out at every opportunity. As happy as she was for Ruby, there was nothing worse than constantly feeling like the third wheel in their sappy little love story.

It didn’t matter that they had been inseparable since her parents had taken in Ruby as a baby. Now her sister had stepped into her royal bloodline and taken over the crown, not that she’d had a choice in the matter, Ri didn’t need to be hanging around like a tattered sheet flapping in the wind.

Directionless and without any true notion of what she wanted to do with her immortal life. That was the outfit Ri found herself rather uncomfortably wearing.

Life in their secluded mountain village amongst the Dark Fae had been blissful. But things had been too comfortable there. Days upon days spent roaming the mountains and training with other warriors wasn’t enough to keep Ri from losing her mind. Without Ruby for company, she was only one second away from screaming into the void.

The opportunity to enrol in the academy had been a lifeline, and Ri was determined to prove herself. Even if it meant swallowing her pride and sucking it up as a lowly student for a year. She wouldn’t be able to hide her connection to the queen—there was no way to avoid their obvious connection to one another—but at least she could use this year to complete the necessary training and earn her place in the elite team being formed. By the end of twelve moons spent living and training here at the academy, she was determined to succeed in gaining her place, no matter what.

The Astrals.

Elite warriors who would be hand-picked. Only the best of the best who survived the rigours of the year ahead.

Securing her place among those rare few who passed the brutality of training and assessments… that kind of achievement could never be taken away from her.

Neither could it be assumed to have been handed to her on a golden platter.

Nope. No handouts from the queen. No favours thanks to her sister’s throne. No gilded chambers filled with the trappings of pampered luxury.

Just blood, sweat, and probably tears. But they wouldn’t be her own. Those would come from whoever she was pitted against.

Ri came from a long lineage of battle-hardened Dark Fae. She’d be sure everyone knew not to judge a book by its cover. It was far too easy to see a short, curvy, pointy-eared fae and assume all she was good for was manifesting pretty trinkets through magic. Fae society at large had become vapid and obsessed with material wealth over centuries. Shunning her kind and forcing them to retreat into their mountain home centuries ago amid disgusting rumours.

Fuck that. She much preferred it when her trinkets were shaped like arrows and blades anyway.

All the better for hunting with.

Besides, everything had begun to change–albeit very slowly–thanks to the efforts of her sister upon ascending to the throne. The Dark Fae had long spent their lives hidden away from the majority of fae society. Now, her sister had not only broken a generational blood curse on the royal lineage, but she had transformed fae society and stripped away the lies and rumours that had plagued their community for so long.

Ruby was a shining star. The kind of special soul who would change their dominion forever more.

Which was as impressive as it was demoralising at times. Ri had never once been jealous of her sister, but she certainly couldn’t help feeling like an inadequate slug some days in the face of everything Ruby was managing to achieve.

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