Zodiac Academy 5: Cursed Fates

Good morning, Gemini.

The stars have spoken about your day!

A recent decision will cause sparks to fly in all aspects of your life during the coming weeks and you may be tempted to regret your choice. But take heart, if you stay steadfast in your resolve, this storm will blow over and you will find yourself much happier on the other end of it. Though change can be daunting, making decisions and sticking to them is always character building. And with a bit of hard work, this choice may just work out in your favour.

I blew out a breath and almost laughed. I was a motherfucking Princess. I mean, I guess I always had been but now that I’d stood up with Darcy and claimed it, it felt more real somehow. Maybe I should have been holding court and walking corgis while eating tiny cakes or something. Instead, I was just going to go for my morning run as usual.

An article had been published in The Daily Solaria today entitled The Vegas officially announce their intentions to claim the throne. Tyler’s Mom had even had some pictures left over from the last photoshoot we’d done with her, and alongside the interviews we’d given over the phone last night, they’d completed the eight page spread. The two of us were pictured in beautiful gowns while sitting in enormous wooden thrones and with a little addition from photoshop, the old photos had been updated to give me authentically black ringed eyes and the two of us were sporting some rather extravagant crowns. We looked hot as fuck and totally badass too with full resting bitch faces and challenging glares.

I should have been nervous about it. It was basically a red rag to the Lionel Acrux bull, but fuck it. I was done hiding in the background, letting him talk shit about us and spread lies in that rag The Celestial Times. From now on, we intended to release a counter interview every time an article was published about the Heirs, the Council or Darius’s fucking wedding. Any and every time they made a show of power, we’d make one right back.

My gut churned at the idea of Lionel trying to strike at us, especially now that we knew he wielded such power over the Nymphs. But I’d stayed up talking the whole thing over with Darcy late into the night and we’d decided to press forward regardless. Lionel had never left us alone before we made this decision anyway and we knew there was nothing to stop him from trying to strike again. In fact, we were hoping that by officially announcing our intentions, we’d actually be gifted some protection from him. It would be even more suspicious if we had a sudden accident now and we were hoping that he’d be forced into the position of waiting for us to make an official challenge.

I wasn’t going to waste time worrying about how long it would take us to hone our skills enough to do that. The point was, one day, we would. And come hell or high water, we’d see that asshole fall.

His control over the Nymphs was its own separate level of terrifying, but it also might work in our favour. What he was doing went beyond trying to claim more power – it was treason. He’d infected himself with the shadows and aligned himself with the mortal enemies of Solaria. So the plan we had for dealing with that was even simpler than trying to claim our birth right – we were going to expose him.

If we could get irrefutable evidence of his allegiance with the Nymphs then we could turn Solaria against him, not to mention the fact that the other Celestial Councillors would be forced to take him down. And Lionel may have managed to make himself strong enough to face the other Councillors one on one in the Fae way and win. But if he’d broken the law then that was a whole different kettle of fish. It was the one and only time that the other Councillors would band together to use their combined strength to defeat and arrest him. And the idea of him being carted off to prison in magical cuffs that cut off his access to his magic made me all kinds of happy. 

I dressed in a matching white sports bra and leggings combo and headed down for my run.

My heart began to beat a little harder as I closed in on the door at the foot of the stairs. Every day, without fail, Darius had been waiting to run with me when I stepped outside. It had been six weeks now and he’d shown up every single day. But…I got the feeling that was about to end. Yesterday we’d stood up and laid claim to the throne after swearing we didn’t want it since the day we’d first arrived at the academy. It was the root of all the issues I’d ever had with Darius and the article which had been published today was nothing less than a declaration of war. A political war, but a war all the same. And I just knew that was going to be the end of whatever tenuous relationship we’d been nurturing with these runs.

After he’d escorted me back to Ignis House last night, he’d stripped off, shifted and took off flying without even looking at me, much less uttering a word.

It had hurt, but then I could hardly complain about it considering the rejection I’d given him. And if he’d decided that this was the final nail in the coffin for us then I could accept that too. It wasn’t like these moments we’d been sharing could do anything other than pave the path for some kind of awkward friendship anyway. And it was never going to be easy for me and Darcy to befriend any of the Heirs with the constant rivalry between us.

No, Darius wasn’t going to be here this morning. And that was just fine by me. We’d always been destined to fight on different sides of this war anyway.

I bit my bottom lip, raised my chin and stepped outside.

Darius was leaning against the wall in his running gear like usual, his eyes brightening as I stepped out and my gaze locked on his.

“You’re here,” I breathed before I could stop myself and his eyebrows rose in surprise.

We never spoke to each other in the mornings. Not once. He waited for me, we exchanged a look, I ran, he followed, he got my coffee for me in The Orb then he left. That was it. Every day. I didn’t even know what to make of it or what it meant to me. Except that being faced with the idea of him not showing up this morning had forced me to admit to myself that it meant something.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” he asked, his rough voice sending a shiver down my spine.

We weren’t close to each other, but we were alone and distant thunder rumbled in warning. I ignored it for the moment but I knew we didn’t have long before the stars made more effort to push us apart.

“Because…well, I just thought, the article, the throne…”

“I’ve always known who you were, Roxy. The only difference is that you’ve realised it now too. You’re a Princess, one of the two most powerful Fae in the whole of Solaria. You were always going to challenge me eventually. Just don’t start thinking I’ll roll over for you because you’ve decided you like the idea of wearing a crown.”

My lips twitched at the challenge in his tone and I raised a hand, spinning earth magic to my command until I’d constructed a crown out of twisting green vines with little red roses dotted all over it. I placed it on my head and smirked at him tauntingly, taking a step closer before I could stop myself. “You have to admit it looks good on me, though.”

Darius gave my entire body a lingering look that dragged up from my feet to the crown on my head and my flesh scorched everywhere his eyes landed.

“It looks even better on me,” he countered, raising his own hand and fashioning a beautiful crown of ice which sparkled in the morning sun as he placed it on top of his black hair.

Fuck, I didn’t realise I had a Prince Charming fantasy until right now. Although that wasn’t right, Darius was no Prince Charming, more like a prince of darkness and he’d already corrupted me beyond recognition.

Thunder crashed overhead and thick raindrops spilled from the sky, but for a long moment neither of us moved.

“Ice melts,” I pointed out.

“Flowers wither,” he countered.

“I guess we’re both screwed then.”

“I was already aware of that.”

Lightning flashed through the clouds and I bit my lip as I turned and sprinted away from him. His footsteps chased me up the path and I ran even faster as I headed off down the familiar route.

The rain continued to pound down on us until we’d passed through Fire Territory and into Water, but I just waited for it to stop then siphoned it out of my clothes with my magic. The stars left us to it as we finished up our run and by the time we’d made it to The Orb we’d both tossed our crowns away. It was just a shame that the real thing wasn’t so easy to forget about.

Darius moved forward to open the door for me but he hesitated before opening it as he stepped close, reaching out to pull a red rose petal from my hair.

“You’d better be ready, Roxy,” he purred in a deep voice which made my toes curl even as the ground trembled in warning beneath my feet. “Because the wolves are about to descend now you’ve staked your claim.”

My lips parted to ask him what he meant by that, but he pulled the door wide for me and I gasped as I was met by a tumult of noise. 

The Orb was full of the usual breakfast buzz, but the sound of excited chanting and cheers washed over me as heads turned my way and I was suddenly accosted by the sound of my name being screamed from countless lips.

Justin Masters caught my hand and tugged me into the crowd and I glanced back at Darius as he watched me go with an almost resigned look on his face. He turned and headed to the far side of The Orb where a just as raucous crowd were screaming their support for the Heirs.

There was a divide right down the centre of the room and it looked like everyone was picking a side.

My pulse raced as Justin swept me into his arms, placing a kiss on my cheek before lifting me up to stand on a table beside Darcy who was looking just as overwhelmed as I felt.

“This is insane!” she shouted so that I could hear her over the chant that Geraldine had started up.

Vegas for the throne!

The true queens are home!

Vegas for the throne!

The true queens are home!

“Why do I feel like our lives just got a whole lot more complicated?” I yelled back and Darcy laughed in a way that was bordering on hysterical.

“No going back now,” she said.

“No going back,” I agreed as I turned to look out over the sea of bodies that filled The Orb.

My gaze fell on the four Heirs who were standing up on a table amongst a cheering crowd of their own. Mildred was screaming her support alongside Marguerite, Kylie and countless others, but I was surprised to find it was a fairly even split. Even with all the shit Lionel and the Heirs had spread about us to the press, there were plenty of people willing to ignore them and throw their lot in with us.

I expected hatred, animosity and outright hostility when I met the Heirs’ gazes, but that wasn’t what I found. Instead, they were all looking at us with a challenge in their eyes and a hint of anticipation too. Like this was what they’d been waiting for. And they were ready to give as good as they got.

Bring it on then, assholes.

***

The last few days had been…bizarre.

For a start, no one knew about Lionel and the Nymphs so even though our little group was still reeling from the information and desperately trying to figure out ways to divide him from his newfound army and supposedly save Clara too, nothing had changed. Though that last part was all Lance and the rest of us were too nice, or maybe too chicken shit to point out that the girl was batshit with a capital B and needed putting down pronto. The idea of that tore at me after everything we’d done to help him get her back and I could totally sympathise with his desire to believe his sister still resided in her shadowy soul, but I was having a hard time seeing it.

Clara hadn’t just been seduced by the shadows, wielding them in her Fae form the way we were all learning to do. She’d literally been devoured by them and sucked into the Shadow Realm for years. I mean, what did she even eat while she was there? No one ever mentioned that, but it seemed pretty important to me. I’d seen enough of the barren wasteland which housed the shadows to feel confident that there wasn’t a toastie maker just sitting there waiting to be fired up. You couldn’t order up a Dominos either. And people needed food to survive for years somewhere. Which made my theory irrefutable in my opinion. No food, no Clara. Whatever that thing was that Darcy and Orion had dragged up out of the Shadow Realm, it wasn’t his sister anymore. It may have worn her face and stolen her memories, but it wasn’t her.

Even our spies in the Acrux Manor hadn’t given us any reason to suggest otherwise. Not that anyone knew about Darius’s mom reporting to me now as well as Xavier messaging him. But it would be kinda hard for me to explain why she was helping me without being able to reveal what I’d done for her in return. And the last thing I needed was to break a star pact and goad the stars into cursing me with years of bad luck. Those assholes had it out for me as it was.

I expelled a heavy breath and forced myself to forget about all of that for now. As insane as it was, we knew that the world was in the process of being taken over by a psycho lizard king and his shadow whore – Catalina’s words, not mine – but there was nothing we could do about it. I had to admit that I kinda loved Darius’s mom. Weird, I know. But we were kinda becoming…text buddies. I guessed she was pretty lonely stuck in that fucking manor while still having to pretend to be bound by Lionel’s Dark Coercion. So she’d been using every little excuse to message me about all kinds of things, a lot of which she couldn’t even pretend were related to information on what Lionel and Clara were up to. She was desperately afraid for Xavier and couldn’t even risk approaching him any differently now that she was free in case Lionel realised that he wasn’t controlling her anymore. In my opinion, the idea of him stealing her ability to love and care for her children from her was actually the worst of the things he’d done to her.

But today I had something more important to do than worry about all of that. Today, I had to win a cheer off.

I stood in the locker rooms at the Pitball arena, diligently tying the pink ribbon intended for my hair into a choker around my neck as Bernice knelt behind me and drew on my ass cheeks with the face paint.

My entire mini squad were in the process of doing the same thing. Everywhere I looked, hair ribbons were becoming chokers, smoky eyes and blood red lips were replacing the sticky pink lipgloss Marguerite’s squad usually plastered on and ass cheeks were being decorated. Perfect.

Bernice finished her paint job on my ass and stood up beside me with a grin, rearranging her cleavage in the navy crop top with the silver ZA printed on it.

I glanced around at the group of girls as they all beamed with excitement.

In fact, I was smiling too. As much as I hated to admit it, cheerleading was actually fun. And these girls were all pretty cool. Bernice was like my soul sister. Snarky comments and bare faced insults tumbled from her lips in a way that was so cutthroat that she often drew a surprised laugh from me. As a squad, we laughed a lot and we’d worked our asses off to perfect this routine. Much to my surprise, I actually cared about winning this thing for more reasons than just kicking Marguerite and Kylie’s asses. I wanted to cheer at the upcoming Pitball match against Aurora Academy, screaming my sister and Geraldine’s names as they played.

“Is everyone ready?” I called, drawing the attention of my squad as I prepared to give them their pep talk.

But before they’d finished calling back to me in excitement, the locker room door opened.

“Make sure your fannies are tucked away!” Washer called as he strutted straight into the room wearing a Lycra all in one suit which I guessed was intended for cycling. The thing was red with a silver zip running down the centre of his chest which of course wasn’t even closed half way. It had cut off sleeves and ended at his knees but with how tight the fucking thing was, he might as well have been naked.

“We’re just heading out to the pitch,” I said through gritted teeth as he wiggled his way through the group, brushing his hands over the girls’ arms as he passed and drawing faint sighs from them as he exerted his Order gifts over them.

Since he’d been allocated to assist Orion with overseeing Pitball and Cheer practice, we’d been subjected to these kinds of visits way too often and if I had to listen to him suggest we add more bending and splits to our routine one more time, I was gonna scream.

“I just wanted to come and offer my services for your performance,” he said with a wide smile. His teeth were too white in his orange face, but it seemed to be a choice he’d made. “I just feel like the finale would really pop better if you were all wet for it.”

“What?” I asked with a frown.

“You know, a water display at the end. Just a little squirt or two and you could all be flicking wet hair around as you pump and grind to the music and-”

“We can’t exactly change up our routine at this point,” I said through gritted teeth.

“Okay,” he agreed, sounding disappointed. “But maybe you girls can use it in your next one?”

“Maybe,” I agreed in a tone which clearly said no fucking way, barrelling on before he could make any other gross suggestions. “Right, girls – let’s go fuck up those bitches!”

Yeah, my pep talks rock.

The girls whooped in excitement as they all ran out into the stadium, heading onto the pitch and I jogged out amongst them.

We found Marguerite’s squad, Team Twinkle, already assembled before a section of the stands where Orion had gathered the Pitball team to watch us. Professor Prestos and Principal Nova were waiting too, each holding clipboards to score our routines.

“Oh good, the Heirs got front row seats,” I muttered as I spotted them and Bernice snorted a laugh.

“Well at least you can show that Dragon what he’s missing,” she joked.

Her words instantly made my gaze flick to Darius and the heated look he was giving me made me want to straighten my cheer uniform self consciously. I didn’t, because I refused to give a shit about what he thought, but still.

Washer swept forward to claim a seat beside Seth in the front row and I exchanged a smile with Darcy as I spotted her front and centre next to Geraldine.

Marguerite turned to look at us as we moved beyond her squad to take our own seats.

“Get comfortable watching from the sidelines, Vega,” she snarled, her upper lip curling back. “Because this is the last time you’ll get to wear that uniform.”

“Don’t say that,” Caleb groaned. “Seeing Tory in her cheer uniform is a damn important part of our practice sessions. Isn’t it Darius?”

I tried to fight it but I couldn’t help but glance at him again and I was instantly sucker punched by the filthy look in his black ringed eyes. It really shouldn’t have been legal for him to look at me like that because then I just ended up remembering where those looks had led us before and how that wouldn’t be happening ever again and – gah.

“Yeah. It is,” Darius agreed, running his hand over the stubble lining his jaw as he sat there in his letterman jacket. Apparently the team wasn’t going to practice at all today and this session had been given over to our competition, so he was wearing jeans and a black shirt which clung to his muscular frame beneath it. Not that I appreciated anything about the way he looked. But if I had, I’d have to admit he looked good enough to lick.

“It’s kind of sad how desperately you’re trying to get his attention after he turned you down,” Marguerite said loudly enough for everyone to hear. “And it’s kind of pathetic the way you keep lingering around him like a bad smell dressed up in desperate.”

Errr pot and kettle? Seriously, is this bitch for real?

“What’s the matter, Marguerite? Are your manticrabs biting or are you just stressed out because you know the Vixens are about to wipe the floor with you and your basic bitch routine?” I taunted.

Marguerite tossed her red hair and stepped towards me, raising her voice to make sure everyone heard what she was going to say.

“I just don’t see how you ever could have thought he’d say yes to you,” she said. “I mean, sure, you’re a Vega. But what does that even mean? That you’re the daughter of a man who brought chaos, death and terror to his people during his reign. You didn’t even grow up in Solaria. You’re practically a mortal,” she spat like there could be nothing worse than that. “You don’t know anything about being Fae. You were raised in a gutter and learned to spread your legs to get what you needed from men who you tricked into falling for your shit with your trashy clothes and near constant position on your knees for sucking cock. You’re scraping by here on your power level alone, but no true Fae would ever follow a cheap pair of trashy whores who don’t even know our customs let alone how to claim their power with class. It’s no wonder Darius said no to you. Can you imagine how embarrassing it must be for him to have his Mate go around screwing every guy on campus? You’re a cheap, ignorant, gold-digging bitch. And everyone in Solaria is praising their lucky stars that he had the good sense to say no to you.”

Anger prickled along my skin at her outburst and I opened my mouth to tear her a new one, but before I could, Darius spoke.

“Roxy said no to me,” he said in a low voice which cut Marguerite short. “Not the other way around. And I’m pretty sure I told you not to talk shit about her once already.”

Marguerite balked, her face paling as her lips opened and closed like a goldfish. She stammered something which might have been the start of an apology, but he didn’t give her the chance to speak it.

“I don’t know where you get off claiming to have something going on with me anyway. I barely even dated you and I certainly didn’t take an interest in anything you had to say. I fucked you because I was bored. And I dumped you because I hadn’t realised that getting into your pants would be even more boring. So keep your fucking mouth shut about me and Roxy otherwise we’re going to have a problem.”

I flushed hot all over, my jaw grinding as I tried to figure out how I felt about him jumping in like that. I’d never been the girl who needed saving by the valiant knight.

“Asses in seats, Vixens,” Orion said lazily as he waved my squad towards the stands to watch Team Twinkle do their routine. “Contrary to popular belief, watching cheer squads dance about is not actually a hobby of mine and there are other things I’d like to do with my evening once this is wrapped up.”

“Maybe I should be the head judge then, Lance?” Washer suggested enthusiastically casting a hopeful look at Nova like he thought she might give him the position. “I’ve been something of a cheer enthusiast my whole life and I know all the ways their flexible young bodies should be bending and flexing and moulding into the moves. So, if you want to swap, I can-”

“Is someone gonna get the music playing or what?” Orion barked, totally ignoring him and I was swept along in the midst of my squad as we took seats in the second row up behind the Pitball team.

I ended up in a seat right behind Darius as Kylie fiddled with the sound system to set it up for their routine.

“I didn’t need you to jump in and rescue me,” I muttered, unable to bite my tongue as I looked at the back of his head.

Darius turned in his seat and rose an eyebrow at me. “I was just telling the truth. I’m not asking you to thank me.”

He rested his arm on the back of his chair and my knee brushed against it, sending a shiver dancing up my leg.

“So you were just in the mood to point out how terrible she is in bed?” I asked, ignoring the pang of jealousy that went through me at the thought of him and her.

“Yeah.”

“Was she really that awful?” I asked because morbid fascination was a bitch and apparently I was in the mood to torture myself.

“It was like sticking my dick into a sack of potatoes and shaking it around to see what happened,” he deadpanned. “I would have had to question my own performance if it wasn’t for the way she was screaming.”

“Is that so?” I refused to blink at the subject matter, but my fingernails were most definitely cutting into my palms. I just had to hope he couldn’t tell.

“Yeah. She sounded like a pig with a carrot stuck up its ass. I didn’t even finish.”

A laugh tumbled from my lips before I could stop it and suddenly all of the other Heirs, Geraldine, Darcy, Orion and well everyone actually, were swivelling in their chairs and staring at us.

“Liar,” I hissed.

“Am I?” There was a smirk playing around his lips which drew my attention to his mouth and suddenly I was too hot in my skimpy outfit and memories of the two of us tangled together on the throne at the Palace of Souls were slipping to the front of my mind.

The first beat of the music started up and everyone looked away from us as Team Twinkle began their routine to Can’t Stop The Feeling! by Justin Timberlake, but Darius stayed looking at me for a moment longer.

“Well, at least I have her beaten in that department,” I teased. “You definitely finished with me.”

“Yeah. I could come just thinking about you,” he agreed. “And I do pretty frequently.”

My lips popped open and I almost let him render me speechless before forcing myself to respond in a low voice. “Well that’s handy, seeing as we’ll never be touching each other again.”

The smirk fell off of Darius’s lips and shutters slammed down behind his eyes as his expression darkened. “Thanks for the reminder, but I’m well aware.”

He turned away from me before I could try and take it back. I hadn’t meant it as a taunt or an attempt to drive the knife in further. I’d just blurted out the first thing that had come to mind. And it wasn’t the first time I’d done that to him and hurt him. I felt like I was so preprogrammed to go on the defensive all the time that I almost couldn’t stop the shit that poured from my lips sometimes. Just like when I’d told him that us being together meant nothing to me. The urge to be honest and tell him how much this was hurting me too swelled in my throat. I almost did it, but I couldn’t. It was weak and selfish of me, but I’d never been good at being vulnerable and I wasn’t even sure what the point to it would be now.

My gut churned guiltily and I released a breath. Maybe Gabriel had a point about me needing to own more of my shit. I probably owed him an apology too.

I stared at Darius for another moment but as Marguerite leapt into the air, my gaze was drawn to her squad instead and I let it drop. It wasn’t like it mattered anyway. I’d made my choice. It was better that I continued hating him and he hated me too. Even if that thought just knotted me up inside and left me aching.

I noticed Caleb watching me still and glanced at him as he offered me a dazzling smile. I frowned a little as I returned it, wondering what he was after and he flicked his fingers, a single leaf spinning from them before he tossed it into my lap.

I glanced down at it, seeing the words which he’d formed on it.

Do you want to come on a hunt with me again soon?

I raised an eyebrow at him, wondering what he was thinking. We’d basically agreed that we weren’t going to be hooking up again and the hunt stuff had really just been foreplay for us. But I had to admit that I was tempted. I missed the rush I got from the hunt, trying to escape him as adrenaline coursed through my veins. And really, the biting wasn’t that bad. But if I won I’d have to think up a different prize…maybe I could convince him to give me some tutoring with my earth and fire magic…

I pushed my magic into the leaf, changing it so the the word maybe stood out on the waxy surface instead then flicked it back at him before focusing on Marguerite’s routine.

Team Twinkle were good. I hated to admit it, but they were. They worked seamlessly together, jumping, spinning, shaking their colour changing pom-poms and combining magic with all kinds of impressive gymnastics.

“Tuck that hiney!” Washer called enthusiastically. “Flip that dipper!”

I bit my lip as I watched them, nerves warring inside my stomach like a hoard of angry wasps.

“C’mon Minor, I know you can spread your legs wider than that – get it right over your head!” Washer yelled.

I exchanged a look of disgust with Bernice as she gave me an exaggerated shudder.

As the routine came to an end, Kylie and Jillian shot up into the air, spinning as they came back down and landing perfectly just as Marguerite threw a fireball up over their heads. As the flames began to fade, the words Go Zodiac! flared within the fire.

Team Twinkle were all beaming with triumph and shaking their pom-poms or jazz hands respectively as the music faded and I had to wonder whether or not our finale would be appreciated.

The Pitball team all clapped, a few guys from the sub bench whooping their support as they moved over to congratulate the mean girls. I was guessing they were the manticrab spreaders, but I couldn’t say I particularly knew any of them.

“Come on then, Vixens, let’s see if you can top that.” Orion pointed us forward and we headed down to the pitch as Bernice hurried over to start our track.

We’d gone for something a little different to the usual peppy routines. Our song had a fast beat and plenty of spots which encouraged tricks and flashy magic. It was really more of a show piece than a dance, but I didn’t mind admitting the whole thing was shit hot.

I took my position in the centre of the squad, not a pom-pom in sight as we all leaned on each other and waited for the music.

My heart was pounding with a combination of nerves and excitement as the girls all closed in around me. On the one hand I knew this was just some stupid routine for a club I hadn’t even wanted to join, but there was something freeing about doing something for no other reason than having fun and I was actually hoping really damn hard that we were about to win.

U Can’t Touch This by MC Hammer started up and the music took over as we all leapt into motion, dancing in perfect synchronisation in moves that were pretty well suited to a night club but worked all the same.

Two of the water Elementals threw a sheet of glimmering ice crystals before us and we sprang into a set of flips, twists and cartwheels. Every time the backup singers called wooaah, a different pair of squad members were thrown into the air, shooting flames, ice, or flower petals from their palms. Then the air Elementals shot above everyone else.

I stayed in the centre of the pack, twisting and grinding between the other girls to the music as I sent a combination of all of my Elements flying at different times in the routine.

As the music hit the breakdown, Bernice and Alexa tossed me up into the air and I shot above the rest of the squad, using my air magic to propel me up with a mixture of flames, ice crystals and petals all falling from my fingertips as I spun on the spot. I descended just as the verse kicked off again and the other girls all flipped and cartwheeled around me.

“That’s it! Legs behind your head!” Washer cried, but I only had eyes for Marguerite as I moved between two of the other girls and we formed a line with all of our hips locked together, winking at her as we ground our hips in a way that may have been bordering on pornographic. But if she was going to go around calling me a whore all the time, I didn’t want to disappoint.

The girl at the far left of the line threw her hands up, casting fire which she tossed behind her head to the next fire Elemental in the group. So on and so on until it had bounced over all of us, where the girl at the back of the crowd shot it up towards the roof.

I threw my hands up, blasting a ball of Phoenix fire into it which exploded overhead into a red and blue fireball. Sparks of molten gold rained down on us as we all turned our backs on the stands, bent over and flipped our skirts up to expose the face paint on our asses as the music came to an end.

Silence greeted us as the Pitball team were all gifted a view of the words Zodiac kicks ass! scrawled across our actual ass cheeks and I exchanged a grin with Bernice.

“Fuck me,” Caleb breathed half a second before Darcy and Geraldine both began whooping in excitement and clapping enthusiastically.

By the time we straightened and turned around, everyone else was clapping too and the grin on my face felt suspiciously real. Like…maybe I was actually happy in that moment.

My squad all began screaming in excitement, leaping on me and crushing me beneath them as I couldn’t help but laugh too. That routine had been totally badass. If they didn’t pick us then it was a damn travesty, but at least I knew we’d performed it to perfection. The rest was up to the stars and as I was pretty sure they hated me, that didn’t bode well, but whatever, we’d done all we could.

Silence fell as Orion, Nova, Prestos and Washer began to discuss our routines, making little notes on their clipboards.

It was kinda ridiculous but I found myself aching to win.

“It was a little…suggestive,” Washer said in a disapproving voice that carried and my mouth fell open. That fucking ball sack.

“Zodiac has always pushed boundaries though,” Nova said, her gaze sweeping between us and Team Twinkle who had moved to stand on the pitch a little way from us to wait for the decision too. “We don’t follow standards, we set them. And they’d certainly draw a crowd.”

“It’s not every day you can show off Phoenix fire skills,” Orion added with a smirk as he glanced my way.

My heart pounded as the four of them exchanged looks and Nova nodded as she pointed at something on the clipboard.

“The Vixens took it,” Orion announced, but I barely heard him as the girls surrounding me all shrieked like banshees, leaping on top of me and squeezing me so hard that I was in danger of popping.

I laughed along with them as we rolled on the ground and for a moment I felt light and free and just…happy.

***

The darkness whispered to me with promises of oblivion as I lay in my bed. The lingering happiness from our win had faded away to let them in again and after that fleeting moment of freedom, the pain had hit me tenfold. I’d been hoping to make it through the night without giving in. But…

My fingers twitched and shadows coiled between them, drawing a sigh from my lips as they kissed my flesh.

I need to learn how to wield them better anyway.

But I was going to have a night off. I’d decided on it and I meant to stick to it.

That was before the nightmares though, before the pain tried to drown me while I slept again…

If I could take one night off from them I’d know I wasn’t getting addicted, that was the bargain I’d struck with myself.

That was before the agony came back though. And half a night without them is still proof that I don’t need them…

The shadows slid up to coat my arms and I sighed at their gentle caress. They knew just how to soothe the darkness in me. And I didn’t need much, just a taste to take a bit of the pain away.

A moan escaped me as the shadows slid over my skin, my back arching against the bed as they delved inside me, feeding on my pain, offering me solace for a moment. But I could still feel that well of sadness in my heart which bled for Darius Acrux and I didn’t want to feel that.

My fingers chilled as I called on my water magic, forming a blade out of ice so that I could offer up a little more of myself.

I needed to bleed for them, just a bit, just enough to take the edge off and then-

I dropped the blade I’d created suddenly as something brushed up against my skin, calling me back out of the dark with a promise of safety unlike anything I’d ever really known.

I gasped as I sat up, the shadows receding as I tossed the covers back and my skin prickled with heat. 

I hadn’t closed my shutters last night. Hell, I’d barely even remembered to shower, let alone caring about that, but this particular slip in my standards was actually a slap in the face. That moment of happiness with the cheer squad had cost me dearly. Coming down from that high had put me into a really dark place again.

The stars shone brightly in the navy sky outside, twinkling innocently as they looked back at me like they hadn’t cursed me to a fate of misery and loneliness. 

My lip curled as I glared at them and I got to my feet, stalking across the room to throw the shutters over to block them out.

Screw the stars. Screw fate. Screw every fucked up thing that led me here, chewed me up and spat me out. Screw the throne and the Council and this academy. Screw being a fucking Vega.

I released a long breath as I fought to regain control of my temper before I ended up breaking something. 

Shadows coiled around my hands, twisting further up my arms as they whispered promises of oblivion and freedom in my ear again. 

I inhaled deeply as I closed my eyes, teetering on the brink of their embrace. How easy it would be to dive into them, just for a little while, just long enough to forget…

A soft noise caught my attention and my eyes snapped open as I whirled toward the door. 

My pyjamas consisted of a pair of black panties and the mortifying reality that was Darius Acrux’s old T-shirt. Fuck the stars for making me pine for him even now. They knew just as well as I did what reasons I’d had for my decision. Yet I was to be punished alongside him for this failure. What kind of fate was that?

I padded across the soft carpet towards my door, my magic brimming to the surface of my skin as I heard another low sound from beyond the wood. There was someone out in the corridor, I was certain of it. 

I reached the door, my fingertips caressing the handle as I considered opening it to see who had disturbed my sleep, but something stayed my hand. 

The desire to return to my bed consumed me for a moment and I almost turned away before my Phoenix fire flared beneath my skin and burned all thoughts but my own from my mind. 

I was done listening to the stars. 

I reached out hesitantly and pressed my hand to the wood before my face.

I gasped as heat washed against my palm, a fierce and hungry magic licking the other side of the door as its owner stood so close that I could feel the deep well of their power. 

“Darius?” I breathed and the magic flared as if in surprise, but no answer came to me. 

My heart pounded with an ache so pure that it burned me right down to the depths of my soul. 

I leaned forward until my forehead pressed against the wood, exhaling deeply as I dropped the walls surrounding my own power. 

I groaned as his magic flooded past my barriers, my fingers pressing against the wood more firmly as if I might be able to claw my way through it to him. It was ecstasy and agony all rolled into one. I wanted to bathe in it until I drowned and never again have to spend a moment suffering for the choices we’d both made.

He still didn’t speak, but there was no denying his power was there. I could almost feel his fingers pressing to the wood just as mine were, like the thin barrier of this door didn’t divide us. But it did. Just like everything else did. 

“What are you doing here?” I breathed, my voice barely a whisper and yet seeming like a scream in the darkest of nights. 

He didn’t reply and my heart pounded fiercely as I lingered between the desire to open the door and tell him to leave again. I didn’t do either.

All the things we’d never said to each other hung in the silence and all the things we should have said too. But they kept company with all that had passed between us and so much of it was dark and cruel and ugly that I didn’t even know where to begin with it. Neither of us did. We never had. Which was half the problem, though not all of it by a long shot. And now none of it even mattered anyway. 

My lips parted and I tried to force the words I needed from my throat, but I wasn’t even sure I had them. 

“Darius, I…”

His magic withdrew suddenly and I shivered as I was left cold, leaning against my door in the wake of his presence. 

I drew in a shuddering breath and a tear slipped down my cheek. 

I might not have had the words but he’d come here, come so close that maybe I needed to be the one to make up the difference. 

I shifted back, wrenching my door wide and opening my mouth to call out for him to stop-

There was no one there. 

My heart pounded to a dangerous tune as I looked back and forth along the corridor. 

I’d been so sure that he was right here, but as I stepped into the empty corridor with every intention to call his name, I found nothing but shadows waiting for me. 

Another tear tracked along my skin as I backed into my room again. 

The space inside felt colder than before. 

And I doubted I’d find sleep again.

But I had found the strength to resist the shadows once more.