Filed To Story: Cursed Legacies Series Free PDF by Morgan B Lee
“Oh my gods,” Kenzie gushes in a whisper. “Can you believe we’re both keepers? What are the odds of that? This is amazing!”
I stare at her hand on my bare wrist until she lets go, offering an apologetic smile.
I must not be hiding my dread of going onstage very well because Kenzie grimaces. “Yeah, I’m nervous, too. So nervous I might puke. But in a good way—is puking from excitement good? Whatever. I’m excited for you, too, May. I hope you get matched up with some really great legacies. Doesn’t everyone deserve their perfect matches?”
Her optimism gives me a headache, but I mean every word when I say, “Not everyone, but you do. Good luck.”
I’m the last in line, but the queue moves quickly ahead of us. Finally, we near the stage, and I can see what’s happening better. One by one, each newly identified keeper receives some sort of blessing from the prophetess. Then they stand in the center of the stage as any matches they have light up and make their way through the crowd, ascending the stairs. The headmaster announces each member by name, formally introducing the new quintet before excusing them.
A few quintets leave right away, probably to speak in private. That, or they’re already eager to fuck each other’s brains out. Not all quintets are romantic or polyamorous—some remain entirely platonic. But most quintets are made up of people who balance each other out, perfectly suited to work together as a group. That, combined with the typically high libido of their kind, tends to develop into sexual relationships sooner rather than later.
Finally, it’s Kenzie’s turn. She turns to give me a wide-eyed look before sashaying onto the stage. Pia, the prophetess, blesses her and steps back. For a moment, Kenzie scans the crowd, practically shimmying with excitement.
Then, one all-too-familiar vampire blurs onto the stage, and Kenzie wilts. I frown on her behalf because no fucking way is she supposed to be matched up with
Luka, the vampire who bullied her for months before I got here. The one I hexed to make it impossible for him to have a boner.
A tall shifter guy and a dark-skinned elemental girl join them onstage. I only know the girl is from the House of Elementals based on her silvery-white dress, so I’m curious which element she can manipulate.
Professor Gibbons introduces Kenzie officially, along with her incomplete quintet. He adds that they’ll likely be here for the next Seeking to find their missing piece, and then they’re ushered off the stage. Poor Kenzie looks queasy about getting matched with Luka, and as they rejoin the crowd, I decide to find her as soon as this is over.
“And now for the last of this Seeking,” Gibbons says, waving me forward impatiently.
Being the center of attention of hundreds of hopeful legacies practically salivating over the chance of joining a quintet is not pleasant. I decide to ignore the onlookers altogether, staring instead at Everbound Forest in the distance, well past the courtyard.
Time to get this over with.
Pia steps up behind me and rests her hands gently on the crown of my head. I wince momentarily before relaxing because, oddly enough, her touch doesn’t bother me. Her voice is smooth and so soft that I’m sure only I can hear her.
“Maven, who has chosen the last name of Oakley.”
I frown. No one knows that Oakley isn’t my surname. I had to have a last name when coming to Everbound University, so I’d adopted Lillian’s.
“Have no fear, my fearless one,” Pia whispers, sounding like she’s smiling behind that veil. “I know you far better than you might think. Perhaps better than you know yourself.”
What a creepy thing to say. It almost makes me like her.
She says four words in a language I don’t understand, but I feel them. Each word seems to wrap around me like a blanket, sinking into my chest to soothe the emptiness inside. It’s the strangest sensation, this warmth. Like it was supposed to be there all along.
And then, one by one, three legacies light up in the crowd. Their Houses quickly part so they can make their way through, but I still can’t see what they look like because of the multitude of people. There sure is a lot of whispering going on.
Three matches? This can’t be happening.
But then a fourth one appears—literally just appears
—directly in front of the stage before he saunters up the steps, his consuming gaze trained on me. His dark hair is messy, sweeping over his forehead except on one side where it’s close-shaved, revealing that the mix of pale and dark swirling tattoos on his neck and arms also extend onto his scalp. His ears have multiple piercings, and a barbell piercing glints at the end of one of his eyebrows. His irises are a rich purple flecked with silver.
By the strong reactions of everyone watching, including the interim headmaster, I put two and two together and realize who this must be. After all, I’ve been hearing rumors about his whereabouts for two long weeks.
Crypt DeLune. An incubus better known as the Nightmare Prince.
He’s the infamous illegitimate son of a member of the Immortal Quintet. Even without breaking his curse, he’s made a name for himself. They say he’s unhinged. A sociopath. He left the university five years ago without any matches. Now, I’m pretty sure every other unmatched legacy in the audience breathes a sigh of relief that he’s no longer a possibility for them.
Crypt stops at my side without a word, but I can still feel his attention on me.
And if being matched to the Nightmare Prince wasn’t enough of a problem, I recognize the next person to ascend the stairs. Chillingly beautiful, with white-blond hair and crisp, perfect features. An ice elemental model turned professor: Everett Frost, heir of the wealthiest family of legacies in existence.
The whispers are increasing, but Professor Frost doesn’t look at me as he takes his place on the opposite side of the stage.
I’m so shell-shocked that it takes me a moment to realize my next match has stopped directly in front of me. I have to tip my head back to see the imposing shifter better, and I groan internally.
Baelfire Decimus’s amber eyes gleam with nothing short of hunger as he flashes me a toothy smile. His dirty blond hair and tanned skin make him look like the epitome of a golden boy. I’ve never seen him this close-up since I’ve carefully avoided him and every other highly-ranked legacy at this school for the last two weeks.
We’re not supposed to speak during the Seeking, but he whispers, “Finally found you.”
Whatever that means.
When I give him no reaction, Baelfire just winks and moves to my other side. He stands close enough that I shuffle an inch away as subtly as possible.
The final legacy who joins us onstage has me barely refraining from cursing the gods out loud. Because I know him, too. How could I not? Even if we weren’t in the same House, everyone knows Silas Crane. The other casters practically worship him. He was mentored by the revered and deadly Garnet Wizard, who practically raised him after the rest of the Cranes all died within months of each other.
Now, Silas is the most cutthroat blood fae ever to attend Everbound University, and like all blood fae, he has dark curly hair, pale skin, pointed ears, and eyes red as blood. I quickly look away from his intense ruby irises as he moves to stand near Baelfire.
Fuck my life.
Why did my matches all have to be as high profile as possible? This is ridiculous. The gods must be laughing at me right now.
While the headmaster introduces us as a quintet and begins rattling off our names, I try to ignore the warmth humming through my veins at their proximity. I risk a glance to my right. Bael winks at me again while Silas’s attention is firmly on whatever Headmaster Gibbons is saying. On my other side, Crypt still studies me. Professor Frost stares out at Everbound Forest just as I was earlier, as if he, too, would rather be anywhere else. Maybe he’s embarrassed that he’s been matched with a student, even though he can’t be much older than I am.
It doesn’t matter. I’m not staying matched with these legacies—or anyone else, for that matter.
They’re probably all insulted that the gods would pick someone like me as their keeper. I’ll use that to my advantage.
The moment we get somewhere private, I’ll put us all out of our misery.
BAELFIRE
“…the keeper of this very impressive duet is Maven Oakley of the House of Arcana,” Gibbons drones.
Maven.
So that’s my mate’s name.
I catch her looking and can’t help the smile that springs to my face just having this ounce of her attention. I wink, but once again, she turns away without an expression. It’s fucking impossible to tell what this caster is thinking. I like that. She’s a pretty little enigma.
My pretty little enigma.
For two weeks, I’ve been tortured with need, knowing my mate was nearby. I’d happened across a dead vampire in a hallway and planned on walking right past to report the body, but that’s when I’d scented it.
Her fragrance. Subtle and cold, like a sweet midnight.
Of course, it had been mixed with the scent of blood. Probably the vampire’s blood, but even just the idea of our mate bleeding had set my asshole inner dragon off something fierce.
I’ve been jacking off to just the memory of her scent for days, but no matter where I went or how much I changed up my schedule, hoping to track her down or run into her by chance, it never happened. She was always frustratingly just out of reach, almost like she knew precisely where not to be when I needed her.
But that all changes now.
My heart is pounding as I glance down at her again. I’ve never seen her around Everbound—never even heard of her—and now she’s about to be the center of my world.
Maven.
My inner dragon growls possessively, and I smile in agreement. We won’t be officially bound together until graduation, but that just gives me an entire semester to learn everything there is to know about my mysterious mate. She’s hiding it well, but I’m sure she’s psyched to have a rare dragon shifter all to herself.
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.