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  Forbidden Power

  Harem of The Mindslayer Book 1

  Willa Hart

  Happily Ever After, Inc.

  About this book

  I have a secret; a secret that could get me killed. I’m a Dreg, but that’s not the secret; that’s obvious. I live in the Ninaku Slum where a Dreg life is worth less than nothing. I’ve always known my life has little value ever since the day my parents sold me and my sister Huali to Dribble, the Dreg that owns the Ninaku Laundry. But my secret is a secret that could get not only me, but also my sister killed—I have The Curse.

  Mindpowers.

  Only the highest of the high; the Eliterrati are gifted with Mindpowers; for a Dreg having any ability of the Mind is known as The Curse. Only the Roya Aristocracy is allowed to read the thoughts of others; any Dreg thought to have The Curse suffers a cruel and painful death. Not only is the Dreg killed; but their entire family dies as well.

  I’ve heard the thoughts of others since I can remember. I must find a way to contain my powers; keep any knowledge of my abilities away from the Dregs and also the Eliterrati. Which would’ve worked if I could control my temper. An angry outbursts alerts the Roya Tripsett; Sarkany, Leo, and Taraz, who are on the cusp of becoming the Kings of The Realm to not only my illegal abilities but also the fact that I may have more ties to both the Eliterati Aristocracy and the Wolveskin than anyone could’ve ever imagined. The Roya Tripsett needs their Queen and the Kingdom needs their Unifier and it’s a surprise to me, but I might just be both the new Queen and the fulfillment of a prophesy long ago spoken and forever hoped for.

  Forbidden Power is Book 1 in the Harem of The Mindslayer series.

  Find Book 2 Forbidden Journey: Harem of The Mindslayer HERE!

  Find the FREE PREQUEL, Forbidden Mindslayer on your favorite ebook retailer HERE!

  Contents

  About this book

  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

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  EXCERPT FROM FORBIDDEN JOURNEY

  Also by Willa Hart

  Afterword

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  Meela

  When you have no memory of your parents or your childhood, you find safety wherever you can; and for me, safety surrounds me in the silence of the forest outside the Ninaku Slum. Trees rise up, silent sentries with brilliant green canopies that shift above me. A bright blue sky peeks between the leaves. A cool breeze caresses my arm. The scents of forest undergrowth and rich earth.

  Here, I’m safe. Or I pretend that I’m safe. A Ninaku Dreg in the Eliterrati world is never safe. But here, away from both Dreg and Eliterrati, I can be my true self. The self that made my parents desert me and the same self that could get me and my little sister killed. Here in the forest, my thoughts and my mind can be free, without the fear of anyone realizing that I’m cursed. Because should anyone realize that I have within my mind the Fatal Curse, then me and Huali will die.

  Here, I don’t think about my parents abandoning Huali and me and fleeing in the night to avoid what they must’ve realized was their fate when my secret was discovered. Here, in these woods, outside the walls of Ninaku, I don’t have to pretend to be something I’m not. Here, I can simply be me.

  I close my eyes and listen to the forest. High above me, in a tree, a Whippoorwill calls to its mate. The scrabbling of squirrels chasing each other up a tree. The light footsteps of a fawn behind its mother as they rise from their afternoon bed, ready to forage. The rabbits—

  Hey, hey, you’re too close to my burrow…take a step back, you big dumb human girl!

  I open my eyes and look down. A skunk stands at my feet. She peers up at me, her head tilted and eyes bulging, looking indignant that I nearly destroyed her home.

  Sorry, I think and take a careful and cautious step back.

  I should spray you for nearly making my roof cave in.

  Please don’t, I think. I close my eyes and take a deep breath; if I return to the Ninaku laundry smelling like skunk, Dribble, the owner, will beat me—once for stinking and again for wandering outside the Ninaku Wall. One good thing about the stink, though, is that it might keep Dribble’s wandering hands away from me. That is the one and only time I use my Fatal Curse: when he comes after me or Huali I give Dribble a splitting headache. So far it’s saved us from having to endure Dribble forcing himself on us.

  You’re lucky I’m feeling generous, the skunk continues. Every time I see you, you’re making trouble. She turns and waddles off toward the undergrowth near a pine tree.

  Every time? There are a multitude of animals that reach out to me with mind-tendrils when I’m in the forest, but I don’t ever remember a skunk communicating with me before today. But then again, I don’t remember anything before my parents abandoned me and Huali. The Healer says I might never, that perhaps it was a block placed in my mind by my parents, so I’d never know who they were. I don’t tell the Healers why I believe that to be true; to tell the Healers of my mind abilities would only put them and me in worse jeopardy. My parents must’ve hated me and Huali to leave us with Dribble in the Ninaku laundry to fend for ourselves.

  How could anyone loathe their children that much?

  I look up at the blue sky that bursts above the bright green treetops and make the wish I’ve made since the first memory I have: please, Goddess, don’t let anyone find out I have the Fatal Curse.

  I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I don’t make the wish so much for me, because with all the voices and thoughts that scream into my mind some days, it would be a blessing to end the Curse that I carry. No—I make the wish for Huali. If it’s discovered I carry the Fatal Curse, then the Eliterrati Mindslayers won’t just kill me, they’ll kill my little sister too.

  A buzzing sound grows louder above me and drowns out the forest sounds, and the brilliant blue sky is blocked by the black Whirleygig that hovers three feet above my head.

  “Meela, watch this!” Jix calls from the far side of the clearing.

  I look at my best friend. He’s in the very first childhood memory that I have, and he doesn’t look much different. He’s tall and lean, although this year he’s starting to look more like the men in Ninaku instead of the boys. His skin is fair, olive with sunflower yellow undertones. His eyes are dark; they look nearly black. His nose is flatter than mine, and his eyes are more oval. A shock of straight black hair falls into his face. All that’s changed about Jix since we were eight is that he’s taller and bigger. Now that we’re both of mating age, he calls himself a “man,” but when we come out here to test his inventions he acts just like he did when we were little kids.

  Jix pushes a button on the control that he holds in his hands. The Whirleygig zips up and back and up and back making a giant figure eight in the sky.

  I know I’m supposed to be impressed by Jix’s ability to scavenge Old World technology and parts from Dead City and fix and utilize them when most members of the Engineers Guild don’t even know how to make an engine turn on. But the Old World technology feels so cold to me, so unreal, and yet Jix loves making old parts into new things. It’s a testament to how smart Jix is that the Eliterrati even allow him into Dead City. All Jix has ever wanted is to be accepted to the Engineers Guild of Ninaku so that he can spend his days scavenging in Dead City and building things from Old World technology. And Jix does wa
nt one more thing: to be mated to me.

  But what Jix doesn’t know is that I know he wants me for his mate. Or that unless I put up a mind block, I can hear Jix’s thoughts.

  Like now.

  Goddess, I hope Meela is impressed. She looks so beautiful. How does the sun make her brown hair glow golden like that? Her skin is nearly bronze in the light and glows like her eyes? If I could stare into those green-gold flecked eyes, I would for a lifetime. I just…I want to kiss her and press my co—

  I build a block in my mind; I visualize giant bricks falling into place so I don’t hear Jix’s thoughts about what he wants to do to me or how he feels about me. If I don’t, I’ll hear every one of his thoughts and quite possibly see every one of the things he thinks. I picture giant brown soundproof bricks made of clay building up around my mind, and the thoughts that inhabit Jix’s mind disappear from mine. It’s rude for me to listen to Jix’s thoughts about me…I mean, I did listen a couple times and sometimes, at night when I feel very alone…I’ve listened and watched his thoughts of what he’d like to do with me. But that’s not fair to Jix or to me, because I simply don’t feel the same way about him. I love him, but not like that.

  Heat rushes up my neck and floods my cheeks. So, I know. I know what Jix thinks and wants and how he believes that he loves me, and I love Jix too…I just…I’m not sure if I love him in that way—the same way that Jix seems to love me.

  I don’t want to mind-drop on other people’s thoughts; especially since Dregs have no idea that I have the Fatal Curse. Listening to people’s thoughts without them knowing makes me feel dirty and mean; almost like watching someone undress through a window when they don’t know you’re there. A shiver races up my spine. I can’t do that. It’s not fair to the person I mind-drop on. Worse, what if I accidentally did it to an Eliterrati? I’d be dead before the sun set on the Ninaku Wall.

  “Fuck!” Jix yells.

  I snap my gaze back to where he stands with one hand on the control and one hand grabbing his straight black hair; there’s a wild-eyed, tortured look on his face.

  “What is it?” I step over a felled log and the heel of my boot presses into the damp dirt of the forest floor.

  “It…it went over there.”

  Jix points to the Roya land; forbidden land to Dregs and anyone who isn’t Eliterrati.

  “Shit,” I whisper. To step onto land owned by the Roya family means instant death for trespass.

  “I was testing its range…and I didn’t realize. Then all of a sudden, it wasn’t responding to the remote and—”

  “Did it fall from the sky?” A shiver races across my skin. “Over there? Did it fall?”

  “No. I mean, I didn’t hear it, but it would’ve, yeah. Once it was out of range. There wasn’t enough power for it to go very far.” Jix slaps his hand to his forehead and turns in a circle. “What am I going to do? I’m supposed to turn the Whirleygig in to Ansel at the Engineers Guild by tomorrow so that he and the rest of the Guild Council can make a decision on my application.” Panic races through Jix’s eyes.

  His emotions cascade up and into my chest; his panic has burst through my mindwall and I can feel Jix’s breathing growing short, the panic in his belly. I take a deep breath and visualize the clay blocks and form a barricade around my heart.

  “If I don’t turn it in tomorrow, I have to wait another two years for the next entry and”—his eyebrows pull tight and he shakes his head and swallows—“I don’t think I’ll live another two years between my brothers and my dad.”

  My gaze drops to the angry purple bruise on Jix’s right cheek. He’s not exaggerating. Who knows which of his meathead brothers hit him in the face. The scar over his left eyebrow is where his father got drunk and hit Jix so hard the Healer couldn’t get the cut to close and heal for nearly three moons.

  “It’s…” Jix lowers his voice and slides his gaze toward the ground. “That he’s getting worse.”

  I know what that means. While I have to fight Dribble off me and Huali, I have my hidden Curse to help us. Jix fights off his drunken dad and three brothers with his hands; none of his family have any of the same interests as Jix. All of them are thick hulking giants that just want to get drunk and fight. All three brothers are already in the Laborers Guild with Jix’s dad.

  “Mira, I can’t wait another two years and I can’t rebuild the Whirleygig by tomorrow.” Jix shifts his weight from one foot to the other. He shakes his head. “What am I going to do?”

  I lick my lips. No, Jix can’t stay any longer with his father and brothers. He’s lucky that his father doesn’t already have him digging ditches in Ninaku; he definitely won’t avoid labor for another two years and Jix is not like his brothers. Jix is smart and can use his brain, but he won’t survive the laborer camp. No—he’d last one day and end up fodder for the newest ditch being dug.

  “Let’s go,” I say. I clench my hands into fists and turn toward the forbidden land. Where is this bravery coming from? If we’re caught, we’ll be killed. But finding the Whirleygig is Jix’s only way of surviving; either way someone could die, and sometimes a chance at survival is more important than following the law.

  Jix reaches out his hand and plants it on my chest.

  Oh fuck, he thinks, those are her boobs!

  I re-enforce my mental wall.

  “Wait,” Jix says, “if we’re caught they can…they can kill us.”

  I press my hand to my hip. “They’re Eliterrati, they can kill us whether we’re on Roya land or not.”

  Jix nods. It’s true. A Dreg life has no value except in how a Dreg can serve an Eliterrati. I scan the horizon. I reach out with my mind; Jix doesn’t know that I have the Curse and has no way of knowing that because of my mind ability we’re safer than we’d be if we simply entered the Roya land. I sense no presence other than Jix and the animals around us. “We’ll be fine,” I say and continue marching toward the wire fence that surround the Roya’s private hunting grounds.

  Jix’s eyebrows crease, but he doesn’t call for me to stop.

  She’s going to get us both killed, he thinks.

  For a second, I consider turning and telling-off my best friend because I’m tired of hearing his sexual fantasies about me and how inept I am all in one afternoon; but to tell Jix of my Curse is the same as signing a death warrant.

  “Are you coming for not?” I call. “Don’t think you’ll like the day-labor camp.”

  The thought of being stuck in the day-labor camp with his dad and brothers is enough to get Jix moving, and he catches up to me. We walk between the tall trees, beneath the green leaves. Fear emanates from Jix.

  My belly tightens; fear inhabits my body too. The fence that surrounds the Roya land is in front of us. I stop. Crossing over this fence, if we’re caught, will be death.

  “There it is—” Jix points. Sure enough, three hundred feet in front of us on the other side of the fence near a huge brush of Aspen caught on a branch is Jix’s Whirleygig.

  “You were right,” I say. “Let’s go get it.”

  “No, I’ll get it,” Jix says. “That way, if anyone comes only one of us will die.”

  “And how are you going to get it down?” I ask. “There aren’t any low branches, and really the only way we’re getting the Whirleygig out of the tree is if we work together and one of us lifts the other up.”

  Why does she always have to be so fucking smart? Jix thinks.

  Jix purses his lips. He doesn’t always love the things I tell him, but he does love my brains. I smile.

  “Come on,” I say. “Let’s hurry.” I scan the area with my mind one more time. Nothing. I press my hand to the fence and climb up, and just as I reach the top of the fence, I pause.

  What the fuck? My brain feels scrambled almost like…I shake my head.

  “Are you okay?” Jix asks.

  “Yeah…yeah…I’m fine.” I drop to the ground on the other side. The fuzziness in my brain is weird, and I scan the area again. I’ve never
experienced this feeling in my mind before, almost like it’s… it’s…empty. Like the entire place is devoid of any living creature.

  But then a ground squirrel darts out in front of us. Hey buddy, I think, focusing my mental energy on him. But he keeps darting—he doesn’t stop or go upon his hind legs, or…nothing. I don’t hear him respond. What the hell?

  “We…we…need to hurry,” I say, realizing that something on this side of the fence in these forbidden lands is messing with my abilities. And if it can mess with my abilities, then I don’t have a clear read over who is or isn’t around. I run to the tree and Jix follows.

  Panic clutches my belly.

  “Here you go.” Jix bends down and cups his hands. I press my foot into his palms, and he lifts me high. He looks up and I know he has a clear shot up my skirt. I grab for the drone. My fingertips scrape the metal wing. I wait for Jix’s thoughts about my legs or my underwear or whatever else he can see, because I can’t concentrate enough to get the Whirleygig and fortify my mental block. And when an eighteen-year-old guy sees the underpants of a girl he wants to mate…the force of those thoughts are intense enough to most penetrate the blocks I’ve mastered.

  Nothing. Not one thought penetrates my mind. Panic crawls from my belly and grasps my heart.

  I glance down.

  “Hey, careful,” Jix says. “Can you grab it?”

  I swallow, look back up into the branches and reach higher. I nearly fall and grab the trunk of the tree. Deep breath. I reach up again, scrape the bottom of the wing, and the Whirleygig shifts. I press and push, then my hand grasps the metal. “Yes! Got it!”