Zodiac Academy 4: Shadow Princess

I lay on my bed, bobbing my head to Camila Cabello’s Real Friends while I wrote my Tarot assignment, finishing up the final sentence.

As Tarot decks vary from pack to pack and often contain Elemental and Astrological symbols hidden within the pictures, predictions will be more or less viable depending on the Element and star sign of the interpreter. As such, Tarot is one of the more complex of the Arcane Arts but when the study is proficient, it is one of the most accurate.

I chewed on my lip as I read that over and mentally added another sentence. Which is why Astrum’s cards are confusing as hell but make total sense by the time they come to light.

What was the point in having a glimpse of the future if it wasn’t clear until it was too late to do anything about it?

I reached into the drawer of my nightstand, taking out the last one we’d discovered. The Empress.

In the Palace of Souls, rests a secret untold.

Find the light who burned on after the fire…

The Palace of Souls belonged to the King and Queen. I wondered what the Council had done with it now, or if it just sat empty. Would Tory and I really be able to lay claim to it? The idea of inheriting something like that made me nervous. I certainly wasn’t ready to be a Princess, but I was ready to find out more about my past. And though Tory seemed reluctant to learn more, that need wasn’t going to die out for me.

How could she not want to learn about where we’d come from? It fascinated me as much as it scared me.

A knock on the window sent my heart rate rocketing through the ceiling. What the hell??

I jumped up, heading across the room and raising a palm defensively as I pulled the curtain aside, fearing the Heirs had come to fulfil their promise of destroying us.

Orion stood on the window ledge one hundred and fifty feet above the ground as if he was totally safe. My breathing became unsteady and my heart turned to hot dough. I unlocked the full-length window, pulling it open so he could step into my room. It was past eleven and the dark was thick outside. I was sure he’d been cautious coming here, but my stomach still fluttered with nerves at the idea of him being seen. This thing between us was all-consuming; I’d fallen down the rabbit hole and I didn’t want to ever leave Wonderland, but it wouldn’t be my choice if we were ever caught.

I took his hand, finding it cold to the touch from the frosty air. He circled an arm around my waist, lifting a hand to cast a silencing bubble before he uttered a word.

I stopped him with a grin, using my free hand to cast the spell instead, letting it expand around us until it touched every wall in the room.

Orion smiled broadly, but there was a heaviness in his gaze, darkness ringing his eyes.

“What’s wrong?” I asked on instinct.

“I’m alright,” he said soothingly, leaning down to press a soft kiss to my lips that sent a chain of butterflies diving into my stomach. “I’ve just been at Lionel’s house tonight with my mother and the rest of the asylum. Stella gave us a lesson in the shadows…she hurt Xavier.”

I inhaled sharply, my brow creasing. “Is he okay?” He was the only decent Acrux from what Tory had told me about him and it saddened me to know he was being kept prisoner in his own home.

“Yeah,” he sighed wearily. “I just wish there was more I could do to help.”

I cupped his cheek. “I’m sure you’re doing everything you can.”

He stepped past me, dropping down onto my bed with a sigh. “I’ve been training Darius to wield dark magic for years in the hope that it would give him an edge in a fight against his father. We’ve plotted to get rid of him for so long, I can hardly remember a time before that. But now Lionel has made himself ten times more powerful with the Fifth Element. Not to mention all of his damn friends.”

“Us too though,” I urged. “And you haven’t wasted that time. Lionel might have the Fifth Element but he doesn’t know how to cast dark magic as well as you, does he?”

Orion lifted his chin, meeting my gaze with a smile pulling at his lips. “No, you’re right, Blue. He doesn’t.” He patted his thigh and I grinned as I moved to sit in his lap, wrapping my arms around his neck. He placed a kiss on my jaw that sent a rush of tingles along my skin.

“Do you want to know a secret?” he whispered into my ear and a delicious shiver ran through me as I nodded. He brushed his fangs against my throat and his hold on me tightened, his need to drink suddenly so obvious I didn’t know why I hadn’t realised it the second he’d stepped into the room. “You’re what I latch onto to bring me back from the shadows.” His fangs drove into my neck and I gasped, shifting in his lap to wrap my legs around him while he fed.

I combed my fingers through his hair, clenching my thighs around his waist as a deep heat built at the base of my spine.

Orion stood, cupping my ass to keep me in place before turning and dropping me down onto the pages of notes scattered across my bed. I smiled, holding onto him as he laid his weight on me, his hand sliding up my top and growling as he found no bra there to slow him down.

He grew hard against my thigh and I arched my back, needing to get closer. I tugged at his shirt and he pulled it over his head before dropping his mouth back to meet mine. His kisses became fierce, lighting a fire in me that sent me tumbling into a pit of desire.

“Lance.” I scraped my nails up his back and he groaned into my mouth. He lifted his weight off of me, his hand sliding down to my waistband, dipping his fingers beneath it and –

His head suddenly jerked up and a knock came at the door a second later.

“Who the fuck is that?” he growled.

I pushed his chest, shaking my head in answer as my heart beat a mile a minute. “I don’t know. Go.”

“Don’t answer it,” he begged but I gave him a firm look.

“It could be Tory,” I said.

“Whoever it is, get rid of them.” He pecked my lips then grabbed his shirt and shot into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.

I tried to steady my racing heart and tame my wild hair as I stood and moved to the door, turning the handle and pulling it open.

Diego stood there in jeans and a shirt, his hat in place and a taut expression on his face. He was about the last person in the world I’d expected to find standing there – barring the Queen of England herself.

“Hey Darcy.” Diego cleared his throat, then did it again when I remained quiet, unsure what the hell to say.

“Hi,” I forced out eventually.

“I know it’s late,” he said with a frown, tugging at one side of his hat. “But look I, er…can I come in?”

I glanced over my shoulder, my eyes falling on the bathroom door before I looked back at him. I folded my arms, resting my shoulder against the doorway. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

“I just want to talk,” he said, pulling at the collar of his shirt as if he was too hot. “To apologise.” He dipped his head. “I’m sorry for what I said to you. And I’d like to explain…” He shot a look over his shoulder as if he was nervous and I frowned.

“Explain what?” I asked.

“Please, Darcy. Not out here.”

I sighed, giving in as I stepped away from the door to allow him in. Orion was going to be privy to whatever he said, but there wasn’t much I could do about that.

I shut the door and Diego’s eyes darted around the room. “Can you cast a silencing bubble? I’m not great at it yet.”

“I’ve done it already,” I said as Diego pulled out my desk chair and dropped onto it, wringing his hands together.

I lowered onto my bed, folding my legs beneath me and waiting for him to start talking.

“Okay well…firstly I want to say that I didn’t mean what I said about you and your sister. I mean, I do still hate Orion, that’s just something I can’t change, but the rest of it was horseshit. And I really am sorry for the rest of it.”

“I know Orion can be a dick to you,” I sighed, not bothering to lower my voice. It was the damn truth and his Vampire ears would pick it up anyway. “And I shouldn’t have hit you. That was awful of me. I just had a knee-jerk reaction. I’m sorry too.” It felt so good to be talking it out at last. Diego had been one of the first friends I’d made at the academy and I didn’t want to lose him. I knew I’d been out of line to hit him for talking shit about Orion, but I just got so damn protective when it came to him.

“I’ll say all of this to Tory too, chica,” Diego went on. “But there’s something I need to get off my chest. I’ve been debating it for days since…” He cleared his throat, looking to me with a pinched expression. “Don’t freak out, okay?”

“Er…okay,” I said cautiously, magic rising to the surface of my skin.

“I know you have the shadows,” Diego said and I gaped at him, feeling like I’d just been punched in the gut.

“You – what?” I spluttered in alarm, sure Orion was having a similar reaction in my bathroom right about now. “How can you know? Did you hear something? Who told you?”

“It’s okay,” he said quickly, raising a hand in innocence. “No one told me. But I can sense them. I have no idea where you got them. Or your sister…or Darius Acrux…or Professor Orion.”

My mouth was literally hanging open like a cartoon character as I stared at him, waiting for some explanation to this that made any sense. “How?”

Diego leaned forward in his chair, his eyes wild with anxiety. “You have no idea what trouble I’d be in if my family found out I told you this.”

“Told me what?” I breathed, my heartbeat thrumming in my chest like the wings of a hummingbird.

Diego frowned heavily. “My family use magia oscura – dark magic.”

My lips parted and I nodded slowly, waiting for him to go on.

“They’ve been using it ever since I can remember. My mother, my father, Uncle Alejandro. My father fights it, but the other two…” He shook his head. “They’re ruled by the darkness. They gave into its clutches a long time ago and who they were before just desapareció – disappeared.”

“Diego…” I breathed as questions cascaded through my mind. “Do you use it too?”

“Not now that I’m at the academy,” he said firmly. “I wanted to come here to make a new life. I wanted to escape my family…that house.” He shuddered. “Mi casa es donde vive el diablo. I don’t want to ever go back. But the shadows…”

“What about them?” I whispered as a prickle ran up my spine.

“I can’t escape them. I never wanted to be connected to them but mi abuela said it would help us all, that they’d help us hear dark predictions of the future. So she found a way to connect us to the Shadow Realm permanently. I refused, but Mamá insisted.”

“What did your grandmother do?” I asked, fear sliding into my veins.

“She…” Diego looked down at his feet, his cheeks reddening as he struggled to speak the words. He took a long breath. “Darcy, do you know what the shadows are made of?”

My throat constricted as I searched for the answer, but I realised Orion had already given it to me.

“Souls?” I breathed, the hairs rising along the back of my neck.

Diego nodded, his eyes dark. “Si…so mi abuela did something unspeakable.” He lifted a hand to tug at the corner of his hat and I swear a cold wind swirled through the room. Either that or I’d seen one too many horror movies. He lowered his voice to barely above a whisper, but I knew Orion’s Vampire hearing would pick up every word even though I had to lean forward to do so. “She used the darkest magic of all to bind her soul to objects in the Fae realm. To keep her spirit grounded here before she gave herself to the shadows.”

“What objects?” I whispered, my mouth desperately dry.

Diego reached up, pulling the hat from his head and knotting his fingers in it. “This is one of them.” He held it out to me, but I recoiled, unsure what I was even discovering right now. That his grandmother’s soul is knitted into that freaking hat???

“I don’t understand,” I said, withdrawing from him.

He swallowed, putting the hat back on and tugging it low over his ears. “I can hear the shadows when I’m wearing it.”

My jaw went slack and I half expected Orion to burst into the room and start laughing over this elaborate prank he and Diego had concocted together. But silence rang out and the truth weighed heavily on my shoulders.

“Mi abuela speaks to me through it too,” Diego said. “She gave every part of her soul to ensure each member of my family would be bonded together through the garments she made.”

I nodded mutely, shocked into total silence.

“And the dark magic threaded into it allows me to hear them clearly…to translate the ancient tongues they speak. Also it…” He bowed his head, seeming ashamed. “It helps me control them. When I’m not wearing it, I fall prey to the darkness that lives in my veins. The shadows reside there since mi abuela did this terrible magic. I am bonded to them, but I can’t wield them. And I can see them too, like I do in you and the others.” Diego reached for me and I tentatively took his hand, squeezing gently. “Don’t hate me for this next part.”

“I’ll try,” I said uncertainly.

“Uncle Alejandro works for Lionel Acrux,” he whispered. “He asked me to get close to you and your sister. He wants information, but I’ve never given him anything of any importance. I didn’t expect to like you both and I…I never thought of you as anything more than a friend. Alejandro was pressuring me to get information and I thought kissing you was a good way to get near you, but-”

“You’re spying on us,” I gasped in alarm, my eyes whipping to the bathroom door and back to him. Orion made no appearance, not that I really expected him to, but this news must have been driving him into a frenzy.

“Not anymore,” he promised, truth shining from his eyes.

“But if you’re all connected to the shadows, can’t your grandma listen in?” I asked, anxiety clinging to me.

“No,” he said. “They only hear what I let them hear. Look, I don’t want to go against you and Tory. You’re my friends. You’ve become more like family to me than mine ever were. I’m loyal to you and her, I swear it.” He slipped from his chair, dropping to his knees and bowing his head. “You’re my Queens and I’ll do whatever it takes to make this up to you. Anything.”

I stared at him, trying to process all of this and work out what was true. Diego had been spying on us for Lionel Acrux? Though the look on his face now made me want to believe he hadn’t wanted to do it, but how could I accept that?

“This is a lot to take in,” I said on a shaky breath, pushing a hand into my hair.

Diego looked up at me with a deep frown. “I know, I know. It’s all so crazy. I wish I’d told you sooner, but I was afraid. And look, I know this isn’t an excuse, but on the day of the Fairy Fair I wasn’t wearing my hat. Sometimes it’s suffocating. Sometimes the voices drive me crazy. So when I went with you…I wasn’t myself. I fell into the darkness in me and it stole away everything else.” A tear fell from his eye and my heart twisted sharply. I knew how powerful the shadows could be, I fought them every day.

I dropped to my knees before him, squeezing his arm. “It’s okay. I believe you, Diego. It’s just a lot to take in.”

“I know,” he croaked, swallowing back more tears. “I don’t want to be a coward, but you don’t know what my family are capable of. Betraying them is the most terrifying thing I’ve ever done. And they can’t know.” He clutched my hand, squeezing so hard it almost hurt. “They can’t know,” he begged of me and I nodded quickly.

“They won’t. How could they find out?”

“I have to keep giving them information,” he said, sounding panicked.

“Are you going to tell them about this? That we have the shadows?” I asked, my heart drumming wildly.

“No, I promise I won’t.” Diego swore then his brows lifted. “What happened to you anyway? How did it happen?”

I pressed my lips together. “I can’t talk about it.”

“You don’t trust me,” Diego said, hanging his head.

“I don’t trust anyone right now,” I sighed.

“I understand,” he said gently, rising to his feet and I went with him. He moved toward the door, his fingers resting on the handle. “Will you tell Tory?”

“Yes,” I said and he nodded.

“Good. I think she’d rather hear it from you. I don’t think she’ll forgive me. In fact, I don’t know if she ever really liked me.”

“Don’t say that, it’s not true,” I said firmly and he nodded sadly, opening the door and slipping into the corridor.

“Maybe I can sit with you at breakfast tomorrow?” he asked hopefully.

“Sure,” I said, conjuring a small smile as he headed away and stepped into his room.

I pushed the door closed, sagging against it as I tried to work through everything I’d just heard. Orion was at my side in a flash, tugging me down onto the bed and forcing me to face him. He tilted my chin up so I met his eyes and I found the strength of a warrior gazing back at me.

“You are not to spend time with him ever again,” he commanded and I blinked in surprise at his words.

“What?” I blurted. “He just said-”

“I heard what he said!” Orion barked and I flinched. His eyes flickered with darkness for a second before he went on. “That boy is dangerous. I don’t trust a word that comes out of his mouth.”

“Why would he lie about all of that? Dark magic, the shadows? He’s putting himself at risk by telling me.”

“His uncle is working with Lionel Acrux,” Orion snarled, his fangs bared.

“I know and he admitted it,” I pressed. “Diego already knew we had the shadows, he could have told his uncle already if he wanted to betray us, but he didn’t. He came and told me, what other reason would he have for doing that?”

“I don’t know.” Orion caught my hands, leaning forward to fix me with one of his fiercest Professor stares. “But you will not be friends with him.”

I tsked, dragging my hands free of him. “You can’t tell me what to do. I’ll make my own mind up about this, Lance. If you think I’m going to be bossed around by you-”

“I’m not trying to control you, Blue, I’m trying to protect you!”

I stilled at the passion in his tone, seeing that this was coming from a good place. “Why don’t you trust what he said?”

Orion clenched his jaw. “It’s not about him. He’s connected to every member of his family through the shadows. Besides, soul magic is the most fucked up magic I know of and it corrupts everything it touches. I don’t want you near it.”

“He was fighting it,” I insisted and Orion dragged me toward him so we were nose to nose.

“I don’t care,” he growled deeply. “Him and his family are bad news. What’s to say this isn’t just some ploy to get close to you again? He fucked up and now he’s trying to cover his ass and get more information.”

“What information?” I laughed hollowly. “I don’t have any information to give him. I hardly know anything about my heritage or the way Solaria works. I’m not exactly a fountain of knowledge.”

Orion’s grip on me eased and a frown pinched his brows. “I just want you to be careful.”

“I’m always careful,” I said gently.

“And yet you and your sister still end up in more trouble than anyone I know,” he said with mock accusation.

I let my hand drift down to his bare chest, the anxiety easing from my body. “Well I think that has a lot more to do with the Heirs and Lionel Acrux than it does to do with me looking for trouble.” My fingers drifted to his waistband and I glanced up under my lashes as he gave me a heated look.

“And what about us?” he asked in a rumbling tone which sent sparks darting through to my core.

“What about us?” I asked with a playful smile, rising onto his lap and pressing him down onto the bed. His hands landed on my hips and I pushed them away with a smirk.

He groaned, cupping them behind his head to keep them away from me and I tracked my fingers up the hardened ovals of his abs. “Is this my fault, Professor?” I teased, circling my finger around his naval and feeling him harden between my thighs.

“Yes,” he breathed, sucking on his lower lip as I rocked my hips.

“No Lance…” I leaned over him, my hair spilling around us in a veil of glittering blue. I dropped my mouth to his chest, trailing lower until he groaned with need. “I think this is all your fault and it’s time you learned your lesson.”