Prophecy Read online

  Prophecy

  Lughnasadh Elite Academy 1

  Layla Heart

  Prophecy (Lughnasadh Elite Academy 1)

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  Copyright © 2019 LAYLA HEART

  All rights reserved. No part of this story may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without express written permission of the copyright holder.

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  This book contains sexually explicit content which is suitable only for mature adults.

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  Edition: 20190531

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  Contents

  Blurb

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Next in this series: Curiosity (Lughnasadh Elite Academy 2)

  About Layla Heart

  About Easily Distracted Media

  Published by Easily Distracted Media

  Blurb

  One clueless queen-to-be, four princes to change her world forever.

  Before her vital first cup of coffee in the morning, Litha finds out she’s a witch and is suddenly transported to a magical world she didn’t know existed. As if that wasn’t strange enough, it turns out that she’s prophesied to be queen and her parents only took her to the human world to protect her from those who want her dead. But now she’s at Lughnasadh Elite Academy and face to face with her four potential… kings?

  It doesn’t help that all four princes are sexy and hot and make her insides squirm when she catches sight of them. There is Bane, the werewolf prince, all broody and with hair sticking up like he just got out of bed. Kit, the incubus prince, whose wicked smile melts anyone’s unmentionables. Rune, the dragon prince, protective and with muscles like he’s a moving mountain. And last, but definitely not least, Finn, the fae prince, quiet but intense, with eyes like a summer forest.

  According to the prophecy, Litha will marry the true ruler of the four kingdoms. But having grown up human, in the human world, she has no idea where to start making sense of all of it, and the four princes pursuing her really don’t help with trying to figure it all out.

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  1

  No way. No fucking way. I stomp over the cobblestone path, dragging my suitcase behind me, following the people ahead. And who the fuck still uses cobblestone? This stuff was made to break ankles... What kind of school would use it, if not to annoy the students? Maybe they’re sadistic or something, that would make sense, a whole lot of sense, especially with my luck.

  My life has always been a little strange and odd, but nothing compares to what happened in the last two days.

  Yesterday morning, when I woke up, my parents announced that we were going to visit my grandmother, that I should go see her before I head off to college, for some reason. Which was, considering I hadn’t seen her in over five years, very curious for them to say. That should have been my first clue.

  We spent most of the day in the car, my parents trying to fill the awkward silence with useless chatter until we reached grandma’s house. When we arrived at her place in the middle of fucking nowhere, right before dinner, we were welcomed into a house smelling of grilled meat, and there was a feast waiting for us on the table. She must have known about us visiting her for quite a while because this was more than any person would be able to prepare in just a couple of hours. The meal was lavish, three types of roasted meats, six vegetable side dishes, homemade applesauce, and any dish I could remember ever eating at her place. It was more than I’d ever seen on a table, which was strange as I don’t remember grandma ever doing this before, she was more of a wholesome type of cook, no banquets when a simple stew would do.

  That should have been the second clue that something was up, grandma doesn’t do big meals, but yesterday she did. And it didn’t surprise my parents at all, they seemed to even have expected it.

  I guess, in my weary state of mind after the long car trip, I reasoned it away as her trying to make up for lost years or something. That’s a thing people do, right? When they haven’t seen their family for a long time? Try to make up with something like this?

  Here, I should add that, apart from what I’ve seen on TV, I don’t know what grandmas are supposed to be like. I only have the one, and she’s always been a little peculiar, never really a hundred percent here. But I guess I now know that there is a reason for her behaviour, a damn good reason.

  I’m from a long line of witches. Yes, witches. No, I didn’t have a clue either. It totally surprised me too.

  Witches. That’s what they said as they stood at the bottom of the stairs this morning, looking up at me all excited, all three of them, a huge suitcase at their feet, my backpack perching on top of it. I’m a witch, and my grandma isn’t my grandma, but a guardian sent here to protect my family, or something. My parents are my real parents, at least, that’s what they said. After hearing I’m a witch, nothing would have surprised me, probably.

  I don’t know, I kind of stopped listening after those words, those three little words, ‘you’re a witch’. My parents did mention something about hiding me away from something because of some prophecy about me being some ‘fated bride’ to ‘unite the kingdoms’ or something like that. Don’t quote me on it, like I said, I was still trying to process the whole ‘long line of witches’ part of what they were saying.

  After that, we all went upstairs, to the attic, and there was a glowing door in the middle of the otherwise very bare attic. A door! It was fucking glowing. I can’t even... I guess I underestimated my capacity for surprise, because that definitely surprised me.

  Which was, of course, the moment my parents chose to inform me that I wasn’t attending the college I’d been trying to get into for the last four years, working my ass off, but instead would be attending some elite magical academy, like fucking Harry Potter or something. My life just turned into a Harry Potter book, only my parents are still alive, and I didn’t have some horrible abusive childhood, as far as I know.

  There, we said our goodbyes. They did anyway, I was still trying to catch up with what was going on, and failing.

  Forgive me, but don’t spring this on a girl before her first coffee in the morning, you know? Give me some time to wake up, and adjust to the speed of things around me. I don’t function before coffee, they knew that.

  Also, this very efficient ‘Good morning, you’re a fucking witch’ to ‘Goodbye, see you over fall break’ spiel took under five minutes. Not that I can check, since my phone is still on the nightstand at grandma’s —the guardian’s— house.

  As I walked/was pushed through the glowing door, I stepped out on some old style square with high walls on all sides, and doors opened and closed all around me, letting more and more people thought, just like I had done. And everyone moved to the cobblestone street going off the square, probably up to the academy. Some people looked excited, most of them looked like they were just waking up, but they all started moving in the same direction, dragging their own suitcase behind them. All normal here then, at least, for this place...

  There were some people my parents’ age, probably teachers or others working here, who kept announcing that breakfast would start in an hour and to get our names signed in at the gates so that we could be
assigned our hall of residence for the year.

  At home, it had been about ten or eleven in the morning, I didn’t check the time, but I’m not one for waking up early, and the sun had been high in the sky, not yet noon, but close enough. The way the sun is still just peeking over the houses around me and the pink colour of the sky overhead, it must be much earlier here. How did I just step through a door to a place a couple of timezones later without flying or anything? What?

  And what are those things in the sky?

  I look up again.

  They’re definitely not birds, I know that much. They don’t have the right shape, or size, for birds, but I have no idea what else they could be. They look a little like ‘fairies’ from fairy tales, the way their wings are positioned at their back and the almost human shape of their bodies, but they’re way too big for fairies, and the shape of their wings are like a bat’s not the wings of dragonflies or butterflies.

  I don’t realise I’ve stopped moving to look up until some girl bumps into me and lets out a low growl as she steps aside. I accidentally meet her eyes, and with a shock realise that they’re red. It’s not just the whites of her eyes, like when you’ve got a hangover or just haven’t slept for days, but her whole eyes are red, whites and all, totally red, with a simple black pupil in the middle.

  “Keep moving, or all the good tables for breakfast will be gone.” Her voice is all growly and rough. Maybe it’s supposed to be like that, or maybe she also hasn’t fully woken up yet, right now, I’m betting on both. “I don’t know if you like being late or anything, but I do know that you don’t want to sit at the back of the room, it’s draughty there.”

  “Right.” I start pulling my suitcase again, not wanting to get bumped into more and draw the wrath of one of the less friendly looking people around. Now that I’ve seen the eyes of the girl, I catch more differences in the people around me, like the boy in front of me whose ears are pointier than would be normal, or the icy hair of the girl walking a couple of steps over.

  The red-eyed girl keeps her pace with me, walking in silence for a while before she opens her mouth and I see a flash of sharp teeth, not human teeth, but like a predator. “Where are you from? I don’t think I’ve seen you around. Are you new?” She seems very curious for someone so grouchy.

  I shrug, trying to look nonchalant, like talking to a girl with predator teeth and red eyes is the most normal thing in the world. “Around. You probably didn’t notice me.”

  The girl smiles, revealing those teeth again. “Oh, I would have noticed you...” Then she shrugs. “Fine, keep your secret. But the secrets of fresh meat don’t tend to stay secret for very long. We don’t get a lot of new people around here, you’ll find that out soon enough.” She raises a perfectly sculpted eyebrow before she starts walking ahead of me. Strange girl. ‘Fresh meat’? Really? That’s what they call new people here?

  We finally reach what looks like gates to the academy grounds, and people are waiting outside, holding stacks of paper, just like the printer paper that we use in the normal world. I’m starting to compare the two, because the longer I’m here, the more I realise that this world definitely isn’t normal.

  As soon as I reach one of the adults at the gates, she looks up. “Name?”

  “Litha Brown.”

  Her eyes go over the list, and then the next page, and the next page, and she meets my eyes. I realise her irises are a really pale blue, almost like ice, and a chill runs down my spine. “What year are you in?”

  “First year.” What was going on? Was this some sort of prank? Like today could get much worse.

  “Let me check again.” She holds her finger next to whatever list she’s checking. “I don’t see that name here. Do you have your acceptance letter with you? Maybe there is a mixup.”

  A letter? Now what? I take the backpack off and open one of the zippers, but it’s just the stuff I stuck in there yesterday.

  Behind me, the line is starting to get longer and longer. I don’t deal well with nerves like this, I hate it. Why is all the attention now on me? I like being invisible, I like people not paying too much attention to me.

  I look up at the woman with ice-eyes, but I don’t think I’m getting any support there... I glance down again, opening the next pocket in the bag, and finally, three pockets later, I find a letter in the very front of the backpack, like I’m a little kid. Mum used to put any important papers in there all the time when I was in primary school, and by now, I feel small and little anyway, scared and nervous, stressed. Not a good day today...

  The name of the academy is in big letters at the top of the envelope ‘Lughnasadh Elite Academy’, and then, it lists my name, but it has a different last name, it says Vigil instead of Brown. What? Why is there a different name on the letter, even though the address is correct and the first name matches mine? Why is there a different last name?

  With a shaking hand, I give the envelope to the woman and then pull the backpack onto my back, my movements choppy and awkward, so ready to be out of here.

  “It’s a pleasure to have you join us, miss Litha. We’ve been expecting you.” Suddenly she’s smiling at me, making me even more nervous and confused. “If you can go to the fourth building on your right, you will get your room assigned there. Have a great year.” She moves her arm to the side, indicating for me to step through the gate.

  She’s expecting me here? What? What did I get myself into? First the things my parents told me, and now here, people expecting me?

  When will I be waking up, in my room, surrounded by my own things and a stack of books on my desk to take to college in a week? I’m ready to wake up now. The joke has been going for long enough...

  2

  “Fresh meat!” Next to me, on the roof of our hall of residence, Kit crows as he leans forward, an excited look on his face. “Oh, I’d totally do her. Yes, please.”

  I smack his arm, snickering. “Of course, you would. Apart from the three of us, I don’t think there’s anyone you haven’t done at this school yet.”

  He eyes me, looking me over, winking before he wiggles his eyebrows. “I totally would, you know... do you.”

  I sigh, shoving at him. “Yeah, no thanks.” Then I look over the throng of students coming through the gates.

  The new year has started. We finally made it to college, no longer constantly controlled by rules imposed by teachers. We’re actually allowed to leave the damn grounds of this campus when we want to, so much more freedom.

  “Where is she?” This is an elite of the elite academy for the four surrounding kingdoms, almost everyone here is either part of the royal families of our races or related to important people. This means that we’ve basically all grown up together, we don’t get a lot of new people, especially not now we’ve reached college. So a new girl joining us is interesting.

  Finn points over the crowd with one of his long pale fingers, moving his arm as she’s probably making her way to one of the halls. “Dark brown hair, army boots and looking like the world owes her some sort of explanation for what she’s going through. I agree with Kit, she’s pretty.”

  I follow his finger, catching sight of a face I didn’t expect to see here, especially without warning. “That’s her.” My heart skips a beat. She’s grown up well, she’s not just pretty, she’s stunning. Her full red lips, her blazing eyes, full of anger, the dark hair framing her delicate face. Wow.

  “Her? Are you sure?” Rune, who has been dozing off in the morning sun on my other side, also sits up. “No way.”

  “Oh, I’m sure.” Her, Litha Vigil, the one girl who could break our whole friendship apart. The one girl fated to marry one of us and finally bring peace to the centuries-old struggles between our countries and races. The prophesied girl-to-be-queen who went missing just hours after being born.

  At least, that’s what people think. I know that my dad has been part of a secret group who protect her. Who have been protecting her until she’s old enough to come back to our world.<
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  And here she is, just walking through the gate like nothing is wrong. She’s back.

  I’m surprised Dad didn’t say anything, or put extra security in place to protect her, even at the academy... This may be neutral ground, right in the centre of the four countries, but there have been assassination attempts on people on campus before. Two years ago, when we were still in secondary school, just a campus over from here, someone tried to assassinate Rune. Rune is the dragon’s crown prince. We were lucky that the assassins didn’t expect three more princes to show up, ready to protect him and fight them off. But that had been a close call. Way too close.

  “So, that’s her...” Kit follows her with his eyes, a rare glimpse of seriousness crossing his face. “The girl. The queen.”

  I guess it’s one thing to know that there is a girl out there who will be your fated mate, who will bring peace to the kingdoms when she marries you, who will bring an end to all the fights and struggles. But to finally see her... I never expected this heavy feeling inside.

  And after the years of friendships with the other guys, knowing that she will have to choose one of us over the others and break us apart... We all knew it was going to happen, but are we ready?

  Litha is beautiful. I want her. Even from this distance, the wolf inside me growls to be with her, I want to touch her and feel her, taste her. I want her to be mine. But that will also bring an end to our years of friendship...