Zodiac Academy 5: Cursed Fates

I woke from a darkness so thick, it had bled into every part of me and held me captive. The world was a haze and I couldn’t piece together which parts of my nightmares had been real and which had been imaginary. A heaviness weighed on my heart and a prickle in my right arm made my hand twitch. But I couldn’t piece together what that feeling was, even though it was achingly familiar.

A warm body pressed me down and I reached for her, knowing her by scent alone. But there was another scent in the room, tainting everything about this moment of waking up with her which should have been so perfect. Blood.

What happened? Where the hell am I?

Slowly, it came back together, the memories stirring in my mind in a thick pool of oil. We’d brought Clara back, and then…

I shuddered and Darcy groaned softly in her sleep.

Clara…my own sister, she’d driven the draining dagger into me and drank too much of my blood. I remembered Blue gazing down at me, each of her tears making me ache. The words I love you had fallen from her lips and sounded like the sweetest song in the world. Then darkness, nothing but darkness.

My head throbbed, but my chest hummed contentedly with the fuel of magic and I recalled being awake in that cave, drinking from Darius and-

“Fuck!” I bolted upright and everything tilted. Seth.

Darcy sprang to her knees in alarm, staring at me in shock. “Are you alright?” She reached for my hand and I realised she was shaking.

“Blue,” I groaned, grabbing her and pulling her against me, needing her like I needed air to breathe.

She wound her legs around me, burying her face in my neck and clutching onto me like the world would stop turning if she didn’t. She released a sob that wracked through her whole body and the pain in it hurt me too.

“It’s okay,” I hushed her.

“Lance, you have no idea-”

I silenced her with a kiss, seeking out her mouth and tugging her so close it felt like our hearts were about to collide through our flesh. I let my magical barriers down and she gasped, our power merging and dancing together like they’d missed each other.

“What happened?” I asked heavily as she drew away, unsure if I wanted to know. “How did I get back here?”

“Darius,” she said, resting her forehead to mine. I held on tight to her waist, not letting her get any more space between us than that.

“He turned up at last then did he?” I snarled, my fangs extending in anger. My thoughts were still a fog and the shock of what had happened was too much to process. But my rage over Darius letting me down was as keen as it had been before.

“He said something happened.” She shook her head, clearly not knowing any more than that.

“And Tory?”

“I don’t know. I left my Atlas back at the cave. Yours is broken.” She pointed to the device on my nightstand, a huge crack splintered up the centre of it.

I lifted a hand up and curled a lock of her hair around it which was coated with blood.

“Come on,” I said gently, meaning to scoop her into my arms and carry her to the bathroom, but my strength failed me. “Fuck,” I hissed as a tremor wracked my body. I was dizzy with blood loss and I blinked away a haze of darkness curtaining my eyes.

“Here, it’s alright.” She guided me out of bed and I growled, hating to appear weak in front of her.

There was so much we needed to say, but both of us were dirty and bloody and I couldn’t bear to see her looking like that a second longer so I let her gather up some clothes and lead me through the house to the bathroom on the other side of the lounge. I didn’t want to let myself think about Clara just yet, because I was fairly sure my heart was going to break when I did.

We headed straight into the large shower unit and my vision faltered for a second as I turned the water on. I gazed down at her bloodied clothes and flesh and my heart crushed in my chest. I turned her around, washing the blood out of her hair, pulling her clothes off as I made sure I got every last bloody mark. I found bruises all along her spine and choked back the razor sharp lump in my throat as I healed them away.

This is my fault. I was the one who asked her to be there last night. I should have realised it wasn’t safe. That Clara might not be herself.

The water swirled around us, turning red by our feet, taking the evidence of tonight with it, but taking none of the lasting hurt inside me. The scar across my stomach would likely never go completely, but I brushed a line of healing magic over it anyway, helping it fade a little more.

Darcy turned to me when she was clean, stripped bare and her eyes full of pain and relief, the two emotions so raw they ate at my heart. She tugged my clothes free and washed away the lasting imprint of blood on my skin until there was nothing but a sea of unspoken words hanging between us and the water.

Something told me she didn’t want to voice them, and I certainly wasn’t ready to face the impact of this night. So I pressed her back against the wall and laid kisses on her to chase away the horrors in her eyes. She ran her hands over me like she wanted to be sure I was real and I let her explore every inch of my skin before I lost myself in her body. The only words to pass our lips were I love yous and they were the only ones I cared for right now.

We stayed joined until the world weighed a little less and I could finally think straight again. Then we headed from the shower and I put on a pair of sweatpants and Darcy pulled on one of my T-shirts.

I glanced toward the window as we exited the bathroom, finding the sky beginning to pale, snow still tumbling against the pane. Something told me when the sun rose today, the world would be a much darker place.

I led Darcy back to my room and caught the sound of movement just before we stepped through the door. Darius stood by the window, his arms folded and his body draped in gold from chains to rings and a thick bracelet.

He glanced between us, realisation in his eyes and I gritted my jaw. Fury sliced me apart and I didn’t even care that he was seeing us together because fuck him.

“Where were you?” I snapped and he bowed his head.

“We need to talk alone,” he said. “Gwen, you need to go and talk to your sister.”

“Why? Is she okay? What have you done to her?” Darcy demanded and I frowned at Darius, trying to figure out what was going on.

There was something different about him, but I couldn’t work out what it was apart from the general air of defeat about him. It hit me that something serious had happened as I felt the weight of it in my chest. The Guardian bond burned a little hotter, demanding I help him and I resented it forcefully because where had he been when I needed him?

“I haven’t done anything,” Darius said, avoiding her gaze. “She did it to us.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Darcy snarled, hurrying to the window.

“You can’t go out in this storm like that,” I said in alarm, stepping forward.

She glanced back at me as Phoenix fire swirled in her gaze. “I’ll be just fine.” She looked to Darius. “If you’ve hurt her, I’ll kill you.”

Darius nodded like he didn’t even hear her and my heart crushed as she threw me a look of goodbye.

“You’ll be okay?” she asked and I nodded firmly.

“Yes. Go,” I urged, though the last thing I wanted was to be parted from her right now. But it was clear Darius needed me. Even if I did want to rip his head off in that moment. The bond didn’t give me much choice.

Darcy slipped out the window and Darius shoved it shut behind her, tugging the curtains across sharply.

I turned to face him and he strode to the nightstand, switching the lamp on and beckoning me closer.

“What’s going on?” I asked in a low tone, moving toward him, half wanting to punch him for not showing up tonight, but the look in his eyes was staying my hand. And as I got closer, I realised it wasn’t just the look in his eyes. There was a fucking black ring around them.

“No,” I gasped, grabbing hold of his shoulders as I moved right up close to be sure, my gaze flicking between each of his irises as I begged the stars that this wasn’t true.

“We had our Divine Moment,” Darius said flatly, like he didn’t have enough energy to say it with any emotion.

“Who?” I breathed, but I knew who. He didn’t have to say her name, but he gave it to me anyway.

“Tory,” he sighed, the first time I’d ever heard him call her anything other than Roxy. “She fucking said no, Lance.” He fell against me and I wrapped my arms around him, gripping him tightly as the world seemed to fall apart all over again. Last night had changed everything. I’d thought almost dying had been bad, but this…

“Fuck…Darius.” I gripped him closer, the bond between us practically wailing as his pain suddenly washed into me more keenly. I clenched my jaw against it, gripping the back of his head as I did the only thing I could do and stood there until he found enough strength to move.

“It’s over,” he rasped. “It’s all fucking over.”

I shook my head like I could offer something in denial, but no words came. My best friend was Star Crossed. And no one in the history of the world had ever been able to go against the stars once that decision had been made. But it was such a rare choice anyway…there was only one famous case I could distinctly remember where a woman had refused her Elysian Mate after he’d been responsible for killing her father. But that choice made some sort of sense, Tory’s didn’t. Darius might have hurt her, but didn’t she understand the weight of this kind of Star Bond? It would overcome anything, everything. Darius would have spent the rest of his life making up for all he’d done to her, he would have watched over her more fiercely than the moon did the Earth. He’d have given her the world.

Had she even realised the immensity of what she’d given up? Had she really been so stubborn that she would choose a life without love in it? Doomed to pine for Darius for the rest of her days and never have him. The stars would make it their mission to keep them apart now. Nothing would go their way even if she regretted the decision. It was impossible. It was downright cruel. To herself. To him.

Darius pushed me back onto the bed and fell down beside me, winding his arms tighter around my waist. Our bond flared like it never had before, because there was nothing I could do to help him. This was beyond my control. But I was still forced to act, to do something to make this right even though there was nothing I could offer.

Thankfully, having him this close started to ease the ache and the bond hummed with need as it drew us closer until my hand was knotted in his hair. It took everything I had not to fucking kiss him, or drag him into the shower and soothe him like I had Darcy. It was totally messed up.

Fuck you Lionel. Fuck you right up the fucking ass for all you’ve done.

“Don’t say it’ll be alright,” Darius growled.

“I won’t,” I sighed.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you,” he said. “By the stars, you could have died.” His rough jaw grazed against mine and I groaned, trying to draw back enough before this bond took too much control of me.

“It’s alright, I didn’t.”

“It’s not alright. Fucking hell, Lance. Could this night get any worse?”

“Doubt it,” I muttered. His flesh was scalding hot against mine, but I didn’t let him go even when smoke coiled out of his mouth. He needed me this close and I’d burn for him if I had to.

“Sorry,” he said, shutting his eyes as he tried to rein in his Dragon. “It just hurts so fucking much. What the hell am I gonna do now?”

I shook my head, wishing I had an answer, but I came up empty. We fell quiet and he rested his forehead to my shoulder as he tried to deal with this awful fucking thing that had happened to him. And tomorrow, everyone would know. The whole academy would see the rings in their eyes. It would change the way people behaved around them. Elysian Mates wasn’t something any Fae took lightly.

“What happened with Clara?” Darius asked, his voice heavy like he was afraid to ask. “She was the one who stabbed you?”

I nodded as pain ripped into my chest. “She’s gone…I don’t know where. I don’t know if it was even her, I’m doubting everything.” My heart started to splinter. I still didn’t want to face this, but I knew Darius needed something else to focus on. So the bond pushed the words out even though I wasn’t ready to voice them. “Maybe it wasn’t her at all, just a phantom in the shadows.”

“She was real enough to hurt you,” he growled. “Shit, what if…” He trailed off and I leaned back to get a better look at his expression.

“What?” I pressed.

“Well, she was bonded to my father the same way you are to me. If that bond still exists, maybe…fuck, maybe she’s gone to him.”

My throat thickened at that idea. It was an awful fucking thought. That she still held some allegiance to Darius’s father in her heart. But if the shadows really had consumed what had remained of my sister, it made sense that she would be drawn toward that dark path.

“Let’s hope not,” I breathed, wondering what I’d do now. I needed to find her, but if she had been willing to kill me, I didn’t know if there was anything to find. Maybe she was just a husk filled with darkness. Maybe her face was just a memory and her words had just been sweet lies to make us do her bidding.

I thought of the way she’d hurt Tory in the shadows and cursed myself for being so reckless. For taking Blue that close to her. It was a miracle she’d spared her…

My heart finally came apart, wrenching open the wound which had almost mended during the time I’d thought I could save my sister. The loss which had broken me full bodily and now had come back to haunt me in the flesh.

“Drink from me,” Darius demanded, but I shook my head. “Please, it’s the least I can do.” He tilted his head to one side, fisting his hand in my hair as he dragged me nearer. My nose brushed his neck and the pounding of his pulse called to me like a Siren’s song.

“I don’t want to cause you more pain,” I said through my teeth, trying to pull back despite the hunger carving out my insides.

“You won’t.” He forced me closer and I succumbed to the urge, slicing my fangs into his throat and tasting the intoxicating heat of his blood.

I groaned, holding him still as I swallowed mouthfuls of his power. The bond sharpened, but I focused on Blue, forcing all treacherous thoughts from my head about Darius. I would never break our trust for the sake of Lionel’s twisted magic.

I finally found the strength to pull away and dropped down onto my back, putting some distance between us. Darius rolled onto his back beside me too and we stared up at the ceiling in silence.

“When I saw you in that cave, I thought…” Darius cleared his throat. “I thought I was about to lose you, too.” He took my hand and I automatically linked my fingers with his. “I’d be lost without you. I’m so sorry for everything. For what my father did, for Clara.”

I swallowed the jagged lump tearing at my throat, squeezing his hand. “I’m sorry too, Darius.”

He released a heavy breath and I figured now was the time to say everything. Because my scrape with death had put a lot of things into perspective for me.

“I’m in love with Darcy Vega,” I stated, not looking at him. “And she loves me too.”

“I know,” Darius answered in a low voice. “I knew the second I saw her in that cave crying over you, and I knew the moment I saw you walking into this room with her.”

I couldn’t gauge how he felt about that, his jaw locked and his eyes still set on the ceiling. My heart pounded as I waited to see if he’d say anything more.

“I tried to tell you the day you and Tory hooked up, but then…” I frowned, my gut twisting at how we’d argued over the Vegas. How stupid that seemed now.

“You thought I’d hate you for it because of what I said about them,” he guessed in a broken tone.

I didn’t answer, because there was still that possibility. Even after what had happened to him, I didn’t know how it might change his view on them. Maybe he’d hate them more. But whether he did or not, I was done pretending. And I’d deal with whatever way Darius decided to react to it. For Blue.

Silence stretched between us and Darius released my hand. My heart squeezed as I waited for him to shout and lose his mind as he sat up and stared down at me. “Don’t ever let go of her, Lance. You fucking fight for her until your last breath, you hear me?”

I moved to sit and knocked my forehead against his with a huge sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

He clapped me on the shoulder. “You got any more deep dark secrets you wanna share, brother? It’s almost dawn and we might as well start tomorrow without a single lie between us.”

“Just one,” I said with a frown pinching my brow. “Seth found out about us at the Halloween party. He’s been threatening to tell Nova, making Darcy do whatever he likes to torment her.”

A dangerous growl slid from Darius’s throat. “He won’t bother you anymore.”

I bowed my head as relief rushed through me and loosened the knot around my heart. But with a glimmer of hope for me and Blue, came a lifetime of misery for my friend and her sister.

“Darius,” I said seriously, fixing him in my gaze. “I vow on everything I am, if there’s a way to change your fate, I’ll find it.”

His mouth twitched, but I could see my words gave him no hope at all. So I drew him back into my arms and held him until the birds sang the dawn in and the sun dragged its way into the sky like it weighed a thousand tons.