Page 110 of Elemental Fae Academy: Book Three

I’m ready.

Cyrus

The moon blurred beneath an uncustomary cloud, confirming Claire’s claims. The elements were warning us of the future lurking beyond the horizon. Death drifted in the air, the earth uncharacteristically silent.

“Soon,” I whispered to Vox, aware of the currents lingering around my mouth, awaiting my command.

He nodded from the other side of the quad, acknowledging he’d heard my warning, and relayed it to his fellow Air Fae.

A chill swept goose bumps up and down my arms, leaving behind an inky sensation of doom.

Water Fae stood at my back, awaiting my signal.

While Sol and Titus hid with their respective ranks.

We had a good idea of what to expect, thanks to the texts from Kols and to Claire’s previous death experiment with Elana. It seemed the old Chancellor was playing with animated corpses. And from what Claire described of her dreams, those were exactly what we could expect to arrive any minute now.

Exos stood at the top of a tower, Claire lingering at his side.

He was the bait and she was his knight.

How the chess pieces had shifted. But our mate had demanded a front-row seat, her powers the strongest among all of us thanks to her access to all the elements. If only we’d been able to complete her mating to Sol.

Alas, there wasn’t time.

Not with the approaching army of dead coming for my brother.

Mortus cleared his throat, and I glanced sideways at the shell-shocked professor. “Yes?”

“I can feel her,” he said softly, grimacing. “Like a leech searching for the souls it’s touched before.”

That didn’t surprise me. We’d agreed before this began that I’d be knocking him out if I suspected for a second that Elana had ahold of him. Hence his position beside me.

I poked his spirit with my own, found it as shattered as before, and nodded. “She’ll either swoop in quickly to take you over or she’ll leave you to the wolves.” My bet was on the latter. Mortus had served his purpose, his mind and body resembling a broken puppet after Elana’s manipulations. There weren’t many resources left for him to offer her at this point.

Ophelia was in the same boat.

Which was why we left her unconscious at the Spirit Quad. A handful of Fire Fae had agreed to guard her. Not that we expected it to be needed.

No. Elana wanted Exos.

And my brother was standing at the highest point, essentially offering himself up for her to kill.

Anyone else, and I’d call him an idiot. Fortunately, I knew better than to question Exos’s strategy. I trusted him. As did Claire.

“Tit

us and Sol are ready,” River announced, meeting me on the field to take his position.

“Good.”

We’d set a little trap for Elana, one Sol and Titus had constructed together. The rest of us were merely the lure, to ensure that her minions came to the right spot.

She’s here, Claire said suddenly. I can’t see her, but I feel her darkness everywhere.

I followed her line of thought to the spirit plane and noted the dimness approaching the source. Yes, I agreed, pulling back to focus on our surroundings. “She’s here.”

“Where?” River asked.

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