Rules of Stone: Great Falls Academy, Episode 1 Read online

  Copyright © 2019 by Alex Lidell

  Danger Bearing Press

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Credits:

  Edited by Mollie Traver and Linda Ingmanson

  Cover Design by Deranged Doctor Design

  Rules of Stone

  Great Falls Academy, Book 1

  Alex Lidell

  Danger Bearing Press

  Contents

  Also by Alex Lidell

  Prologue

  1. Lera

  2. Lera

  3. Lera

  4. Lera

  5. Lera

  6. Lera

  7. Lera

  8. Lera

  9. Coal

  10. Lera

  11. Lera

  12. Lera

  13. Lera

  14. River

  15. Lera

  16. Lera

  17. River

  18. Lera

  19. Lera

  Also by Alex Lidell

  About the Author

  Also by Alex Lidell

  New Adult Fantasy Romance

  POWER OF FIVE (Reverse Harem Fantasy)

  POWER OF FIVE

  MISTAKE OF MAGIC

  TRIAL OF THREE

  LERA OF LUNOS

  GREAT FALLS ACADEMY (Power of Five world)

  RULES OF STONE

  CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

  SCENT OF A WOLF

  Young Adult Fantasy Novels

  TIDES

  FIRST COMMAND (Prequel Novella)

  AIR AND ASH

  WAR AND WIND

  SEA AND SAND

  SCOUT

  TRACING SHADOWS

  UNRAVELING DARKNESS

  TILDOR

  THE CADET OF TILDOR

  SIGN UP FOR NEW RELEASE NOTIFICATIONS at https://links.alexlidell.com/News

  To my readers,

  While drafting Great Falls Academy, I’ve received some wonderful questions. As you embark on this adventure with Lera, allow me to address some of the most frequent inquiries.

  Why is Great Falls Academy told in an episode (novella) format instead of as a traditional novel series?

  Episodes are a different way of telling a story. When logging into Netflix lately, I’ve found myself gravitating toward watching episode-based shows instead of choosing full-length films. Since I enjoy watching this type of media, I decided to explore it with my story telling in Great Falls Academy. Think Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series with fae. The episodes - novellas - will be released at regular intervals, each with an internal story and an over all season arc.

  How does GREAT FALLS ACADEMY relate to the POWER OF FIVE series?

  The events in GREAT FALLS ACADEMY take place about six months after the conclusion of the POWER OF FIVE series and feature the same main characters - Lera, River, Coal, Shade and Tye. That said, the two story sets are independent, so reading one is not required to enjoy the other. Within the GREAT FALLS series, the episodes should be read in order.

  Why Reverse Harem romance?

  In Reverse Harem romances, the heroine forms romantic bonds with multiple heroes without ever having to chose one, as she would in a love-triangle scenario. In Lera’s case, she is mated with four elite fae warriors. I’ve fallen in love with this genre because it provides the opportunity to explore four relationships within a single overarching world setting and plot. This gives me the leeway to go deeper into the characters and the story, while still giving a lot of screen time to the romance. Since I write fantasy—which requires a good deal of world building—this is especially nice.

  Plus, #whychoose? :)

  And now, whether this is your first taste of Lunos or Reverse Harem romance, or whether you are an experienced fan who knows all about the coming journey, curl up in your favorite chair and escape with Lera into Great Falls Academy.

  Love,

  Alex

  1

  Lera

  “Watch your left side, mortal.” Coal calls to me from where he fights three sclices at once, the fae warrior’s sword and dagger a blur of precision. His voice is steady and low, as if we are in a practice corral facing nothing more deadly than sacks of sand.

  “I’m. Not. Mortal.” Unlike Coal’s words, mine come between gasping breaths. My lungs burn, my heart pounding against my ribs as I spin, my sword following the arc of my body to bite into a sclice’s thick hide.

  The hoglike beast swipes at me with its clawed front limbs, which are long enough to let it run on all fours. It’s not running now, though. Standing upright on its back-hinged hind legs, the sclice towers over me, its vertical red eyes, snouted nose, and fang-filled protruding lower jaw all roaring their displeasure.

  “Keep leaving your weak side open, and we’ll see how not mortal you are,” Coal calls, felling the beast before him. In black fighting leathers, his blond hair pulled back with a leather thong, the warrior moves with a preternatural grace that comes of centuries of combat—and still takes my breath. A flick of his powerful forearm, and a second hog beast falls just as it tries to sink its teeth into Coal’s shoulder.

  Jumping away from the sclice’s assault, I force myself to draw a lungful of air. My new immortal body might make me stronger and swifter than I was in my human form, but I’ve a ways to go before I can match skills with my mates.

  I’m not mortal. The words still zing through me, settling uncomfortably into my bones. Only eight months ago, I was working in Master Zake’s stable in the mortal lands, with nothing but the bite of his belt and the snap of his temper a reliable promise of the future. When the four fae warriors—Coal, River, Shade, and Tye—appeared from the immortal realm, drawn to me by an ancient magic, none believed our connection was anything but an error. And yet, here I am. Not just the fifth warrior of the quint, but fae myself, mated to all four males by a magic as old as the immortal race.

  Now that we’re a sanctioned quint, we’re charged with protecting Lunos from the dark creatures of Mors—which, if it were up to Coal, would mean roving the lands between the three Lunos courts, Flury, Blaze, and Slait, and battling sclices and piranhas to his heart’s content. Unfortunately for Coal, because our commander is also now the king of Slait Court, we never travel far from Slait’s capital. The males put on a good front, but after centuries on the front lines, responding to routine reports and checking wards make my males feel like leashed dogs.

  Twenty paces away, where the thick fern forest gives way to a clearing, said commander, River, stands with his back straight and eyes narrowed in concentration as his magic opens a great gash in the frost-chilled earth. A future grave for the sclice pack that Tye and Shade herd into the crack while Coal and I deal with the strays. Sclices might have the brains and instincts of rodents, but with their man-sized bodies and insatiable hunger, large packs like this can destroy a village in a night’s hunt.

  I mark Shade, in his wolf form, snapping at the beasts’ hind legs while red-haired Tye plays his fire magic to set off sparks beside their hooves. Swift. Efficient… Competitive. Stars. The two have made a game of it, and I’d wager my horse they are keeping score.

  The sclice before me snarls its fury, thick yellow drool dripping from its pulled-back lips. The stench coming off the creature is strong enough to make me gag, even here in the Gloom—the normal world’s eerie underlining, where Mors beasts tend to congregate—which mutes the colors and smells and sounds. Gripping my sword tighter, I co
ver my mouth and nose with my elbow as I circle for a better angle.

  The hog beast crouches on its hind legs. Growls. Lunges at me faster than I thought possible, sharp front claws pushing off the ground for leverage before raking my left side. Streaks of fire light along my ribs, and I choke back a gasp of pain. My immortal body might heal faster than a human’s, but it does nothing to mute the sensations. Shade and Tye are wrangling more than a dozen beasts, and Coal is on to killing his fifth. This one bloody sclice is mine.

  Letting the beast’s momentum carry it by me, I angle my blade to strike the back of its neck. My ribs burn, my pulse racing in fear-tinged fury as I strike.

  The sclice twists around, knocking me off my feet. Pouncing on me as I fall, it lands with its clawed front limbs on either side of my head, its oversized lower jaw hanging open, dripping yellow drool onto my neck.

  Arching my back, I kick the sclice off, rolling over my shoulder to reclaim my footing. I feel a tiny pulse of satisfaction when none of the males intervenes to rescue me—they’re making progress. Then I feel Coal’s attention on me, as hot and firm as his hands on my sword arm—all right, slow progress.

  Reaching inside myself, I feel for the males’ phantom limbs of magic that I’m still getting accustomed to living there. Not one but four cords of power wake to my call, the fledgling magics still developing but eager for freedom. Weaving the four cords into a rough braid, I lash out with a messy weave. So far as we know, I’m the only weaver in all of Lunos—but it will take me centuries to grow into the full breadth of my power.

  The braid of magic explodes like the crack of a giant whip, echoing through the forest. Bits of earth and fern and sclice fly into the air as if caught in some giant shard-filled whirlwind.

  “What in the star’s name is going on?” River demands, his steady gray eyes taking in the scene while I drop to my knees to catch my breath. “Are you all right, Leralynn?”

  I tamp the magic down quickly and back away from the mess. “Yes.”

  “That’s enough for today. Connect,” River orders, his crisp words forcing me to my feet. A flash of light has Shade returning to his fae form, black hair swinging over high cheekbones, tan skin, and gleaming yellow eyes. Coal finishes his opponent with an efficient swipe before jogging to where the others are gripping hands.

  “Come, lass.” Tye extends his hand toward me with a roguish smile and a sparkle in his green eyes, drawing me in to finish the quint’s connection. “Playtime’s over.”

  The moment the five of us all touch, the quint’s ancient magic fills my body, its thundering power edging out all pain and fatigue. River’s competent hands on the magic’s reins make short work of pushing the remaining two sclices into the cracked earth before sweeping Coal’s kills and my mess into the same abyss and sealing it cleanly.

  It’s over in seconds, but that rush of joint magic, my heart beating in perfect harmony with four others, brushes my soul with the ecstasy of belonging. Mine. No matter their war games, their risk-taking, their maddening overprotectiveness, these males are mine.

  2

  Lera

  I feel no such ecstasy an hour later. Sitting shirtless on Shade’s worktable in the Slait Palace, I fidget under four fury-filled glares.

  “These cuts are deep, cub,” Shade says, his usually velvet voice stern as his fingertips probe my ribs gently. The wolf shifter’s magic has a healing affinity, just as Tye’s power favors fire and River’s speaks with the earth. Coal’s odd magic is unique, turned inward on himself after years of slavery, giving him even greater strength, speed, and ability to heal than other fae. Shade crouches for a closer look, his scent of earth fresh from rain filling my nose. Even off the battlefield, Shade moves with lupine grace, his fitted gray pants and bare torso revealing a field of tan, smoothly carved muscles. The beautiful angles of his face are tight with concern. “Had the claws gone a bit farther, you’d have a punctured lung.”

  “I told you to watch your left side, mortal.” Coal’s blue eyes flash with ice, his tight muscles vibrating with leashed violence. “I didn’t know you needed a compass to find ‘left.’”

  “You needn’t have done all that just to win my attention, Lilac Girl.” Tye’s crossed arms give away the lie behind his voice’s lightness. When the male shifts his weight, I see his fists rolled tight enough to bleach the knuckles.

  I rub my arms, hoping the feigned chill will conceal the light tremors of fatigued muscles that are now surfacing. “I’m fine.”

  “And if you weren’t, you’d be dead before you admitted it.” River steps up beside me, his gray eyes intent on mine. Despite being over five centuries old, the warrior looks to be in his late twenties, his pointed ears and elongated canines as much a marker of his immortality as his aura of power and command. Here in the privacy of Shade’s workroom, he’s shrugged off his jacket with the king’s crest and the small gold crown his subjects expect to see on him, but still, his militantly straight back, close-cropped brown hair, and broad shoulders carry responsibility like a second skin. Even with me sitting on a high table, he towers over me, the largest of the four males, invading my space with a ruthless precision. The weight of his presence—his overwhelming beauty and anger—sends shivers down my skin. “We were out to combine some exercise with utility. There was no cause whatsoever to put yourself in harm’s way. If the sclice was giving you trouble, you should have said something. Do you understand me?”

  Reaching into myself, I scrape together enough strength to glare right back at River. “You need to give me some space to try out my skills, River. I’m a warrior of the quint now. Would you be fussing if it was Tye sitting here with a few scratches?”

  Tye snorts and takes a chair, turning it around to straddle it, eyes on the show.

  “We’ve fought beside Tye over three hundred years. You became fae six months ago.” River’s voice drops to a low timbre. “More to the point, Tye isn’t my mate. For a fae male, the instinct to protect his mate is overwhelming. The moment you became fae and those mating bonds formed, our lives became even more intertwined with yours than they already were. That is something you need to start getting used to, Leralynn. And respecting.”

  “I’ve a better idea, River.” I straighten my spine, not caring how the movement stings my ribs or pushes my bare chest out farther. “Shade’s wolf’s instinct is to mark his territory—yet he somehow manages not to piss on the rug. So perhaps your cock could take some instruction from his.”

  A muscle in River’s square jaw tics. Once. Twice. On the third tic, the male turns on his heel and walks out of the room, the door swinging closed behind him. Shade’s small, white-walled workroom with its neat, polished surfaces suddenly feels cavernously empty.

  When I open my mouth to shout after him, Shade places his large palm on my cheek, the heat of his body warming the air between us. His yellow eyes are as deep as his voice. “There are very few things in the immortal realm that hurt us more than seeing you in pain, cub.” His thumb brushes along my cheekbone the firm pressure sending tendrils of sensation through me. “Protecting you isn’t an instinct we want to curb.”

  Strength draining from me, I lean my forehead against Shade’s hard chest, the beat of his heart echoing through my skin. “I just want to carry my weight,” I whisper, the confession tightening my throat. “Just because magic brought us together—”

  “Magic has nothing to do with it.” Shade grips my face with both hands, tipping it up to meet his eyes, the fierce possession in them piercing my core. He growls softly, and heat pools in my lower half. “We are your mates, cub. And we would have found you, magic or no, because without you, our souls are incomplete.”

  Shade leans down until our breaths mix, the heat of his body cocooning my skin. Still holding my face, he presses his mouth against mine, his tongue slipping in gently before claiming me with a predator’s possession that reminds me of the wolf he is. The scent of his arousal saturates the air, one hand now sliding down my neck, my shoul
der, my collarbone. Cupping my right breast.

  My skin tingles beneath the male’s touch, the breast in his hold suddenly full and aching. My insides tighten, as much from the thoroughly claiming kiss as at the thought of Shade’s mouth elsewhere. Suckling the sensitive breast he now holds. Dipping lower.

  Shade’s callused thumb brushes against my nipple, a shudder running though his body when the bud peaks in response. Molten heat flows down my core, my sex, the backs of my thighs, making even my toes tingle with need.

  I’ll never get used to this. No matter how many times we drown in the mating bond, on how many surfaces in how many palace rooms and quiet passages and curtained nooks we give in to lust, casual talking turning to breathless claiming. I only seem to want them more with each passing day.

  “If I knew we were bypassing the healing and scolding and moving right to kissing, I’d have moved closer,” says Tye. His deep, amused voice only heightens the ache in my sex, as images of what the three of us could do together right now flood my imagination—the four of us, if Coal would just stop sharpening that damn knife.

  Shade chuckles against my mouth, pressing into me until I feel the hardness pulsating inside his breeches. I slide my hand to grip his taut backside, pulling him even closer—