Zodiac Academy 6: Fated Throne

Agony ripped through my side as a Nymph got close enough to drive its probed fingers into my flesh and I roared a challenge as I swung towards it. The axe Darcy had forged for me in Phoenix fire blazed with blue flames as it carved a path through the air and the Nymph’s neck in turn.

The foul creature didn’t even have time to shriek in pain before it died and it crumbled to dust which swirled around me on the storm Darcy and Seth had summoned to hide our advance.

Not that that plan had worked. The fucking Nymphs had realised we were here the moment we stepped foot outside the clearing where the clubhouse was concealed. I didn’t know if we’d set off a magical alarm when we arrived via stardust or if we’d just been unlucky enough to be spotted, but it didn’t matter now. We were right in the thick of the shit storm with Nymphs closing in on all sides.

I pressed a hand to my side, healing the worst of the wounds with a curse as I was forced to pause my advance.

Caleb appeared as nothing more than a blur of red and blue flames as he shot all around the forest with his Vampire speed, the twin daggers Darcy had crafted him tearing through the Nymphs before they even realised he was close.

My skin prickled with the urge to shift and a Dragon’s roar left my lips as smoke coated my tongue, but there was no room for me to shift here between the trees. Besides, I liked the way it felt when my new axe carved through my enemies too much to abandon it.

When Darcy had presented us with these weapons, my heart had ached for her. For the pain she was in with her sister and Lance gone and the weight of the world pressing down on her. I shared the torture of their loss with her so I understood the burden of it more than well enough. But instead of crumbling beneath the agony of their loss, she’d risen to the challenge and spent the summer helping us to try and track down the Imperial Star. Roxy had made the sacrifice Gabriel had predicted, stopping Father from finding it for now and we refused to allow her sacrifice to be for nothing. And now that Darcy had armed the four of us with weapons that could withstand the Nymphs and cut through them as easily as if they were made of paper, there was nothing that could stop us from finding it.

Max bellowed a challenge from his position on Seth’s back in his huge white Wolf form as they charged through the clearing and he fired an arrow flaming with Phoenix fire right over my head. A Nymph exploded into dust as the arrow punched a hole in its chest and Max guided it back to him on a gust of wind in a move he’d been practicing tirelessly since Darcy had forged his gift. He instantly placed the arrow in the bow and aimed again as I raced forward behind them. Seth’s front paws were clad in gleaming metal, the claws able to ignite with Phoenix fire and tear through the barky flesh of the Nymphs like a hot knife through butter.

I swung my axe with savage abandon, black blood splattering my face and arms as I killed again and again but no matter how many enemies I destroyed, it felt like the tide was never ending.

My heart was pounding to a frantic rhythm as I searched the darkness between the trees for Darcy. She’d run ahead using a concealment spell despite my command for us to stick together, and panic was warring beneath my skin for every moment that passed without a sign of her. I’d given Roxy my word that I’d protect her sister before she’d fallen into the shadows and been taken by my father and it was the only thing I could do for her at the moment.

Besides, I’d formed a bond with Darcy of my own in the last six weeks. We’d been meeting up as often as I could get away from the manor in secret so that she could try and burn the shadows out of me. If I could just get free of them then Clara couldn’t control me anymore and I’d be able to strike at her and Father. But it wasn’t fucking working. I was pushing and pushing for Darcy to use ever stronger flames, but they were coming closer to roasting me alive from the inside out than they were to destroying the shadows. She’d refused to attempt it at all this past week since I’d passed out from the agony of them and Max had struggled to heal me in time to save my life. But I didn’t want to stop trying. I needed to break free so that I could stand against my father and rescue the girl I loved.

The pain of my separation from Roxy cut me open and made me bleed with every day that passed.

Father held her life in his hands and he’d threatened her to stop me from trying to track her down. Not that that had stopped me. I knew he held her somewhere in the manor and I’d been spending every waking hour searching for her, but I’d never even found a clue to her whereabouts. But sometimes, in the dead of night, I woke suddenly, sure I’d heard her screaming, alone in the dark.

I hoped that I was just having nightmares. But I was almost certain I wasn’t.

A huge blast of Phoenix fire came from the clubhouse at the centre of the clearing and Nymphs screamed as they died beneath Darcy’s wrath.

I raced forward, cutting through the Nymphs who were trying to escape her flames until I finally made it to the stone house where she was waiting for us.

For a moment the light from her fire cast her in shadows, making her blue hair appear black as she smiled savagely in victory, looking so like her sister that my heart dropped right down into the pit of my stomach. Guilt rose up in me like an all too familiar curse and I forced my mind off of it so that I could focus on this fight.

“Did we get them all?” Darcy called as her flames guttered out and the illusion was lost to me.

“What the fuck was that?” I demanded as I came to stand before her, my muscles burning with fatigue from hefting my axe which now hung loose in my right hand. “The plan was to stick together.”

“Calm down, Darius,” she replied, flicking a lock of blue hair back over her shoulder. “I was just rounding up the stragglers.”

“You could have gotten yourself killed,” I snarled as Seth padded up beside me in his Wolf form and Max slid from his back.

“Well, I didn’t. So you don’t have to worry about breaking your precious promise,” she muttered bitterly.

“It’s the only thing I can do for her at the moment,” I growled in reply, my heart twisting with the truth of those words. We’d vowed to do everything we could to get Roxy back, but it turned out that there was nothing we could do. Not so far anyway. Even Gabriel hadn’t been able to see anything to help us. The whole situation was fucked.

Darcy’s gaze softened at that and she nodded. “I know. But I’m not some fragile thing that needs protecting.”

“Well you are a princess,” Seth teased as he shifted back into Fae form.

Darcy rolled her eyes as she turned away from him flashing his junk and Max tossed him a pair of sweatpants from his bag.

Caleb shot towards us as we waited for him to pull them on, a wild look in his eyes as he extinguished the Phoenix flames which coated his daggers.

“There are more coming,” he panted as he pointed away through the woods. “Too many. We need to search this place and get the fuck out of here.”

I cursed as I looked up at the huge stone building which had once been home to the Zodiac Guild. Darcy had discovered this place mentioned in an old tome which had been kept at The Palace of Souls and we’d come here as soon as we could, but the damn Nymphs had still been faster. Just like they had at the last four places we’d searched.

I didn’t know how they were managing to do it, whether the stars really were against us or if they were spying on us somehow, but it was like we couldn’t catch a fucking break.

“Let’s make this quick then,” Darcy snarled as she turned towards the building and made a move towards the door.

I caught her shoulder, my gaze flickering to Dragon slits as she huffed at me and I moved her aside so that I could go in first. She might not want me to protect her, but I’d promised Roxy and I wasn’t going to back down on that.

The door was heavy and stuck as I tried to open it, magic locking it in place. I quickly placed my axe in the holster on my back so that I could concentrate on opening it.

I closed my eyes as I focused on the lock, working my own magic into it and cursing as I struggled to break it.

“Hurry up, man,” Seth hissed behind me and I grunted in frustration as the lock continued to hold me back before finally breaking through it with a surge of power.

The door swung open with a groan and I threw a handful of Faelights into the dark space to illuminate it ahead of us as we stepped inside.

The clubhouse was immaculate, dominated by a huge open area filled with leather armchairs and dark wooden furniture. A few doors led off of the central room and we glanced around as we moved further into the space. It must have been spelled to stop the dust from settling here, because though the room looked untouched, the taste of magic on the air was long since faded. No one had been here in a long time.

“We’ve got five minutes, tops,” Caleb warned. “Then we need to get the fuck out of here. I’ll check the back rooms.” He shot away without waiting for us to reply and the rest of us fanned out to search for anything that could relate to the Imperial Star.

We hunted with a feverish desire that was bordering on aggressive as we tore through the room, using detection spells to locate anything that might be hidden.

I cursed as we failed to find anything, tossing books, ornaments and anything else I came across in a heap on the floor and my pulse pounded as the minutes ticked down.

“Shit,” Darcy gasped and I whirled around, finding her in the middle of the room with a tarot card in her hand.

She’d explained about the messages Astrum had been sending the twins from beyond the grave a few weeks ago and the look in her eyes said she’d just found one more. 

“What does it say?” I demanded.

The last person who we suspected to have been in possession of the Imperial Star was Astrum and I could only hope that this breadcrumb trail he’d been leaving the twins was designed to lead them to it.

“Seek the fallen hunter.” Darcy looked up at me as she held out the card for me to see.

The World tarot card looked back at me, a naked woman dancing above the earth holding a staff in each hand while she was watched by various creatures. That at least was positive – the card symbolised things falling into place, even if the message that went with it seemed like nothing more than a riddle.

“I can’t find anything,” Max called from across the wide space.

“Me either,” Caleb announced as he shot back into the room, his blonde curls dishevelled.

“I don’t think it’s here,” Darcy said bitterly. “We wouldn’t have found a card if it was.”

A terrifying shriek sounded from somewhere out in the woods and we all looked around in alarm as the Nymph army drew closer.

“Then I say it’s time to go,” Seth said, moving to join us as he opened an old bottle of whiskey, drinking the few inches in the bottom of it before tossing it aside.

“Yeah, let’s get the fuck out of here,” I agreed, pulling a pouch of stardust from my pocket.

“One moment,” Caleb said, shooting away before I could object.

The howls and shrieks of the Nymphs outside were so close that my muscles tensed and magic raced to my fingertips.

Caleb reappeared with a jerrycan beneath his arm which he must have found outside and as he twisted the cap off, his eyes lit with excitement.

“Faesine,” he announced, upending the can in a whirl of motion as he shot around us so that every surface in the building was coated with the incredibly flammable substance.

Seth howled with excitement and I tossed the pouch of stardust to Max as we all moved closer together.

The Nymphs were so near that I could hear their rattles now, the cold feel of their presence dampening our magic as Max took a pinch of stardust out of the bag and grinned around at us.

Darcy caught my eye just as the first window shattered and the Nymphs shrieked with excitement as they spotted us.

Darcy sucked in a sharp breath and my heart leapt as they fought their way inside and the horrifying sight of their gnarled bodies and soulless red eyes made my pulse race.

Max tossed the stardust and I flicked my fingers, flames leaping from my palm and hitting the Faesine. The tremendous whoosh of the fire met with a blaze of heat that washed over us and the screams of the Nymphs filled the air as they burned half a second before the world spun around us and the stars whipped us up into their embrace.

Our feet hit solid ground and Seth howled excitedly as we found ourselves in the dark woodland beyond my family’s estate.

I could just make out the colourful lights which had been strung up in honour of my birthday in the grounds. I fought back a snarl as I realised I was going to have to sit through an evening of bullshit as Father put on a show of family love and respect for the press and his fake ass friends. I couldn’t even attempt to pull out of it. He’d made it clear that any public show of dissent would cause him to hurt Roxy and I couldn’t risk that. He had me by the balls and he knew it.

He’d effectively leashed and muzzled me and there wasn’t a fucking thing I could do about it. And the way he looked at me since the start of the summer made my insides boil with hatred. His eyes glinted like he knew something I didn’t. Like he held this great secret he was just bursting to spill and every time I thought of him doing it, I was filled with a mixture of dread and a desperation to know what it was.

There was one small sliver of hope which I clung to all the time he continued to taunt me and hold Roxy captive at his mercy. Ever since the night I’d almost killed him, he hadn’t once come near me without Clara at his side. In fact, she never seemed to leave his side at all anymore. And I was filled with this deep hope that the reason for that was fear. He knew just how close I’d come to besting him that night. To ending him. And only Clara and her control over me via the shadows kept him safe from my wrath.

So if I could just get him alone, figure out a way to take her out of the picture, then I was sure I could finish him for good. But he was proving to be an un-Fae asshole as well as a treacherous bastard, putting his Guardian between us rather than face me like he should.

“Will you be alright alone in the palace tonight?” Seth asked Darcy, a soft whimper escaping him as I handed her the stardust so she could head home. Obviously a Vega wasn’t welcome at a party filled with people who backed our claim for the throne so she couldn’t come in. If the press caught wind of how much time we all spent together these days they’d have a fucking field day. It certainly didn’t seem like we were on opposing sides of a war to me.

“I’m always alone now,” she said in flat tone which made my heart twist with guilt. I was starting to seriously worry about how she was coping. First Lance had been taken from her and now Roxy; I knew Geraldine had been staying with her a lot, but it wasn’t the same.

Before any of us could offer up anything in response, she tossed the stardust over her head and disappeared.

We’d snuck out here an hour ago to meet her, the moment she’d figured out our latest search destination but now that guests were starting to arrive for my birthday party, it would be a lot harder to sneak back in. Especially with Father’s extra guards patrolling the grounds. He’d supposedly hired them to guard against Nymphs, but they were either just a front to keep up appearances, or they were to make sure no one got close to the house without him knowing in case anyone figured out what he was doing here.

I slipped the axe and holster from my back, pulled my ripped shirt off and glanced at my brothers. There was a simple way to get them back into the building, but doing it meant breaking the code my father had always insisted I stick to.

Why do I even give a shit about his codes?

“You’re going to need to construct a decent cloaking spell,” I said to them as I tossed my shirt and axe to Max.

“Why?” Cal asked, eyeing me like he couldn’t figure out what I was up to even though I had to guess it was clear I was going to shift. Strip shows really weren’t my thing.

“Because I’m going to fly us all back in.”

“No fucking way,” Seth breathed, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet as Max grinned excitedly.

“You mean it?” Cal asked, his eyes widening.

“Yeah, I mean it. I’m sick of you assholes always being stuck on the ground. It’s time you realised how much better it is to be a Dragon than any of your shitty Orders.”

Max snorted a laugh and Seth began to howl half a second before Cal slapped a hand over his mouth to silence him.

“Very subtle, asshole,” Caleb chastised.

Seth peeled his hand back off of his mouth then leapt forward and ran the pad of his tongue right up the side of my cheek. “Holy shit, I’m so fucking excited I could pee myself. This is as good as the time when I was on the moon and I jumped clean over that crater when everyone said I wouldn’t be able to.”

“If you piss on me, I’ll toss you into the lake,” I warned, dropping my sweatpants and handing them and my sneakers to Max to put in his bag too before turning away from them so I had room to shift.

My body split apart and reformed and I fought to contain a roar as fire washed beneath my scales and I flexed my claws so that they dug into the sun-baked dirt beneath me.

I’d only ever let Lance and Roxy ride me before now and I’d been breaking the rules to do it, but that suddenly seemed so pointless. Father was obsessed with the idea of Dragon supremacy, but who gave a shit if I wanted to let some of my friends ride me through the clouds? It didn’t make me a fucking pack mule. It just showcased what my Order could do.

I turned my head to look at the other Heirs as they hesitated. I mean, yeah, it was a pretty fucking huge deal, but I needed them to move their asses before Father came looking for me. If he realised we’d left the manor, he might figure out that we’d had something to do with the deaths of a bunch of his Nymphs.

Seth stepped forward first but Caleb shot into action a moment later, leaping up onto my back and settling himself between the spines on my shoulder blades with a breath of excited laughter.

Max and Seth climbed up right behind him and I walked forward several steps as I adjusted to the feeling of them all riding me at once before risking my wings.

“Are you sure about this, Darius?” Max asked, but the edge of laughter to his tone said he absolutely didn’t want me to change my mind.

I twisted my head to look at them, blowing a puff of smoke into their faces in answer before snapping my golden wings out either side of me and launching myself into the clouds at speed.

Seth whooped in excitement a heartbeat before a silencing bubble washed over my scales to contain the noise alongside a concealment spell to make sure no one spotted them and then they were all yelling and cheering as I beat my wings hard and shot into the sky. 

I flew as hard and as fast as I could, my heart pounding as I broke through the clouds and soared beneath the stars, showing them the world the way I loved it the most for a few endless moments before diving back to earth again at breakneck speed.

The other Heirs all yelled and whooped as we plummeted through the clouds and I twisted through the air to give them a real ride. I could feel them clinging to my spines with all their strength as they almost fell and I released a burst of Dragon fire from my mouth which whipped around us as I dove through it.

I snapped my wings out and swooped over the roof of the manor at the last second before coming to land on the flat roof of the tower which held my rooms.

The Heirs slid from my back, laughing excitedly before I shifted back into my Fae form and I offered them half a smile. It was good to see them enjoying themselves, but I hadn’t been able to take real joy in anything since Roxy had been taken from us. My heart felt like it was locked in a cage of ice and if we didn’t manage to find her soon then I wasn’t sure what would become of me.

I looked towards the other Heirs just as Max disbanded the concealment spell around them and my eyes managed to focus on their smiling faces instead of only seeing darkness where they’d been.

We headed down into my rooms and I used water magic to clean the dirt from my flesh as Seth took to my bathroom and set the shower running.

I changed into the charcoal suit Mom had left out for me and styled my hair like a diligent little Heir as I prepared to face the charade which was my birthday party. I didn’t know many twenty-year-olds who chose to celebrate with a sit-down banquet and a formal dance, but I didn’t give enough of a shit to complain about it. If I had my way, we wouldn’t be celebrating at all. Hell, if I had my way, I’d have spent the day alone with Roxy doing literally anything and it would have been perfect.

Seth lingered in the shower until Caleb cursed him and shot in there to toss him out. Max had cleaned himself off with water magic too and he chuckled as he tightened his tie, a little knowing smile on his face as he glanced towards the bathroom where the sound of them arguing spilled from the doorway.

Seth fell out of the room a moment later, soaking wet and butt naked with his ass leaving a print on my carpet as he cursed Cal out.

Caleb’s laughter came from the bathroom and Seth stomped away, drying himself with air magic before dressing in his grey suit. Before he’d even managed to pull his jacket on, Cal shot back into the room and dressed himself in a flash of Vampire speed before coming to a rest leaning against the door and inspecting his fingernails as if he’d been waiting for us for ages.

A knock sounded at the door and I called out for Jenkins to enter a moment before the wizened old butler stepped into the room.

“Your guests are waiting for you, Master Darius,” he simpered, bowing low like he wasn’t a conniving asshole and I dismissed him with a flick of my hand.

I looked around to make sure the others were ready and Seth used air magic to style his long hair into perfect waves as he hurried to catch up with us.

The closer we got to the banquet hall, the heavier the weight in my chest felt. I didn’t want to put on this show. I didn’t want to play this part. I ached to make a public challenge against my father and expose his lies and treason to everyone in the kingdom. And instead I was being trotted out like a fucking show pony. It made me sick to my stomach to think of sitting through his bullshit all night, but we had a plan which might just make it worth it.

Tonight, the other Heirs were going to stay with me in my rooms and we were going to use our combined magic to try and locate where the fuck he was keeping Roxy. I knew the power of the Guardian bond would continue to bind her to him even if we got her away from him, but I just had to get her out of his clutches.

If we could just get her back to her sister, I was sure we could find a way to pull her out of the shadows and then the Guardian bond could be dealt with in its own way. Even if the only way to sever it was to kill my father, that was alright because I planned on doing that anyway. His tie to her only gave me more motive.

The sound of a string quartet reached me as I approached the banquet hall and Seth brushed his hand down my back in a comforting gesture as if he could sense how much I was dreading this farce. Max pushed calming emotions over me and I allowed them to slip beneath my skin, needing all the help I could get to hold it together tonight.

Jenkins hurried ahead, announcing our arrival as the huge double doors were swept open and the guests all turned to applaud me as I entered the room.

I smiled politely and let myself be passed from hand to hand as I was greeted with enthusiastic handshakes and praised over everything from the breadth of my shoulders to the cut of my suit to the noble sacrifice I’d made when I’d chosen to become Star Crossed. It was a fucking sham and I hated every moment of it but I smiled and nodded, complimented fugly dresses and praised the beauty of women older than my mother as they pressed their fake tits against me and offered up flirtatious suggestions.

Father was nowhere in sight yet thankfully, but Mildred sped through the crowd with a squeal of snookums! before planting a wet kiss right on my mouth and painting aubergine lipstick all over my jaw.

My smile was tight, my posture rigid, but no one noticed. No one cared. They wanted to buy into the pretty lie of my perfect life and get as close to the most powerful Fae in the room as they could manage.

Eventually there was a call for us to take our seats for dinner and Mom appeared out of the crowd. She offered me a pat on the cheek and her eyes burned with understanding before she whisked Mildred away, directing her to a seat further down the table from mine so that I at least didn’t have to endure her pawing me throughout my meal.

I sat to the right of the chair at the head of the table with Xavier on my left and mother opposite him.

Father’s newest groupie slunk into the room while everyone was distracted by finding their places and my gaze snagged on him as he moved to claim a seat at the table. Vard was a Seer who had turned up at the start of the summer claiming to want to help my father rise to greatness, and of course the vain bastard had accepted instantly. I didn’t like the Cyclops one bit. There was something seriously disconcerting about him and as he swept his long, black hair away from his face my attention caught on his mismatched eyes. There was a scar running through one of them which had left it swirling with darkness that seemed all too clearly linked to the shadows for my liking.

There were around a hundred guests in attendance and the other Heirs took seats further down the table with their parents where they shot me sympathetic looks as I forced myself to engage in polite conversation and we waited for my father to show up.

Lance’s mother, Stella, strode along the table, shaking her ass as she walked and looking like she thought every man here was hers to choose from. But it was more than obvious to me that the only one of them she wanted was my father. Unfortunately for her, despite her continued loyalty and devotion, Father seemed more than happy with the trade he’d made to her daughter so she could shake her ass all she wanted but it didn’t seem to be luring him back.

“Happy birthday, Darius,” she purred as she dropped down into the chair opposite mine, to the right of where my father was due to sit. “I do hope you’ve had an exhilarating day.”

I hesitated a beat before responding as I tried to figure out if she knew something or if she was just being her usual odd self. The bulk of Father’s Nymph army were currently camped out in the grounds of her estate and I’d been hungering to strike at them there since we figured that out. Especially since Darcy hoped to get hold of the soul hat Diego had left for her somewhere in the woods. But there were far too many of them there for us to be able to risk it.

On the raids we’d completed up until now, we’d been diligent in making sure not a single Nymph survived us. Just one witness would have our cover blown and if Father found out we’d been working against him with Darcy, everything could go to shit fast. But as Stella gave me that plastic smile of hers, I felt certain her question hadn’t been relating to the fight we’d just had so I just gave her a bullshit smile in return.

“Who doesn’t love birthdays?” I deadpanned, making it clear I wasn’t much of a fan. At least not this year. But of course she just grinned like I’d told her it had been the best day of my life and took a moment to adjust her short, black hair as she greeted my mother like they were old friends. Mom acted like she was interested in what Stella had to say and of course there was no mention of the fact that they clearly hated each other.

“Lord Acrux and his Guardians, Clara Orion and Roxanya Vega!” Jenkins announced as the double doors swung open and my heart fell right through the pit of my stomach as all heads turned towards them.

I pushed out of my chair, almost knocking the thing to the floor in my haste as my mouth fell open and Father swept into the room with Clara on one arm and Roxy on the other.

She was heart stoppingly beautiful, wearing a full-length black gown which clung to her figure like a spill of ink. Her mahogany hair had been curled and hung down her spine and her makeup was like a work of art, dark and sultry around her eyes which only highlighted the ring of black the stars had given her and her lips were painted a deep, blood red which made me ache to taste her kisses again.

Father moved into the room, strutting like a peacock with an ass full of new feathers, but I only had eyes for her. 

The guests had all broken into murmured conversations and gasps of surprise and the other Councillors moved to join my father as he began to spin some bullshit story about how Roxy had seen the light and decided to throw her support in with them.

Roxy didn’t add to the conversation, but she offered up her left arm, showing them the Aries brand on her flesh as proof while smiling lightly.

She didn’t look my way. She didn’t even seem to care where she was. She just stood there as my heart splintered right down the centre and I was frozen, not knowing what to do. I wanted to stride over there, rip her out of his arms and take her as far away from him as physically possible, but instead I was rooted to the spot. I didn’t know how to handle this. She wasn’t kicking or screaming or trying to escape, she was just standing there like she was made of stone and nothing in the world could touch her. I’d look insane if I tried to prise her away from him by force but was I seriously just going to stand here and stare at her?

My gaze raked over every inch of her body as I hunted for signs of mistreatment, but of course there wasn’t a physical mark on her because that would be all too easy to heal. Any trauma she bore was on the inside where no one could see, but she did look slimmer, paler…

I’m going to rip his fucking heart out!

A hand landed on my arm and Max’s power pushed against my barriers as he tried to soothe my rage. I couldn’t tear my eyes from her, but I could feel my muscles bunching, my hands curling into fists and some tiny, rational part of me knew that if I let myself give in to the desire to attack my father in front of all of these people then it wouldn’t help anything. Roxy and Clara would throw themselves between us and as much as I was willing to destroy Clara, I couldn’t lift a hand against Roxy. I’d sooner burn my own heart from my chest than put her in harm’s way.

With a grunt of effort, I let Max calm me, just enough to take the edge off. To let me think rationally, try and come up with a plan, some way to separate her from my father and keep her away from him.

The Councillors broke apart and Father turned toward me with a cruel smile lighting his face. To anyone else he was just a father wishing his son a happy birthday. But I knew this was a test, a challenge, a game. And I had to figure out how to win it.

“Ah, Darius, I’m so sorry we’re late. The girls were a little excitable while we were getting dressed,” Father purred as he approached us.

“Excitable?” I asked, forcing my tone to remain neutral as my gaze stayed fixed on Roxy.

She wasn’t looking at me, her eyes were on my father as he spoke, her gaze focused on his face.

“It’s hard to concentrate when Daddy takes his clothes off,” Clara giggled, stroking his arm and running a hand down his chest. Stella stared at them venomously, but said nothing.

Roxy’s upper lip pulled back the smallest amount as she narrowed her eyes on Clara and for a moment it seemed like she was angry or bitter or…I refused to even consider the word jealous.

“Clara, be a dear and take your seat next to Xavier,” Father said, shaking her off dismissively and she pouted as she stomped around the table and dropped down beside my brother. “Roxanya, say happy birthday to my son.”

My heart stilled as Roxy turned to look my way, her gaze sweeping over me slowly, like she hardly even recognised me. She was so deep in the shadows that the girl I knew barely even seemed to be there anymore.

She released my father’s arm and he gave her a little nudge towards me so that she moved to stand so close that I could have reached out and touched her.

Max released my arm and backed up, tossing a silencing bubble over us to give us some sense of privacy as I could feel the eyes of the whole room on us.

“Happy birthday, Darius,” Roxy said, her voice rough and dark like it was swimming in sin.

She stepped closer to me and leaned in, brushing her lips against mine in a cruel mockery of all the kisses we’d shared before. Her lips were cold and her gaze empty. A shiver raced through me as I tasted the darkness on her. There was nothing in that kiss, not a single piece of the girl I loved and it felt like every part of me was breaking apart as I looked down at her in horror, wondering what the hell had happened to her to leave her so empty. How the shadows could have stolen so much and what else my father had been doing to her in the time that she’d been missing.

She pulled back but I caught her wrist, wanting to beg her to come back to me, hunt for some piece of the girl I knew in her eyes. But the moment my skin touched hers, a jolt of pain and darkness speared through me as the shadows in her invaded my body and wound their grip tightly around my heart.

My eyes widened and I struggled to draw breath as spears of agony slammed into me and cut me apart piece by piece. A smile curled up the corners of her lips as she watched me suffer and I was paralysed by the strength of her power.

“Let him go, sweetness,” Father murmured, holding a hand out to her with a serene smile on his face. “It is his birthday after all.”

Roxy tilted her head as she watched me suffer for an extra moment before suddenly drawing the shadows back out of me. She took my fingers in her grip and gently peeled them off of her arm and I watched her with my heart pounding and shattering and falling to pieces as I hunted for anything familiar in her eyes.

“Don’t you know me?” I breathed, unable to hide the raw edge to my voice as I studied the black rings in her green eyes and begged the stars to let her see me.

“You’re Darius,” she replied, that rough edge still coating her voice. “The man who promised he’d never hurt me, even though he always enjoyed it when he did.”

I shook my head, wanting to argue against those words but Father held a hand out to her and she took it with a smile which seemed painted on, but the adoring look in her eyes as she gazed at him was all too real.

“Sit down, Darius. Everyone is waiting for the birthday boy before they can eat.” Father pointed me to my chair and I fell into it, not knowing what else to do.

Max gripped my shoulder for a moment, pressing more calming energy beneath my skin before dropping his silencing bubble and returning to his chair along the table.

Father took his seat at the head of the table and heat invaded every cell in my body as he tugged Roxy down into his lap.

A growl ripped from my throat and I half lurched out of my seat, but Clara caught hold of the shadows in me and forced me back down again before anyone noticed. I sat rigidly in my chair, pain and terror shredding me apart as Roxy arranged herself more comfortably on Father’s knee.

She didn’t resist as he pulled her close but she didn’t just sit on his dick either, perching on his knee instead with her spine straight as her gaze trailed over all of the people at the table who were staring at her, before she looked away again dismissively.

Xavier’s hand gripped my knee beneath the table and I could feel his own horror at this, but I couldn’t spare an inch of my attention for it.

The first course was served and I could only watch her as Father made conversation with people around the table and Clara kept me trapped within my own body.

Stella laughed loudly at everything he said, tossing her short hair and leaning forward so that her tits threatened to spill from her dress and Father hardly even seemed to notice.

He reached around Roxy’s back and toyed with the dark curls of her hair where they spilled down her spine and she just sat there, not reacting in any way. No horror or disgust, no pleasure or excitement either. She was like an empty vessel filled with shadow and everything from the coldness of her gaze to the emptiness of her expression made me seethe with rage and fear.

“I can see what had you so captivated, Darius,” Father murmured as the next course was served and everyone was distracted. “She really is a beautiful girl. And so…tenacious. I have to say I really enjoyed breaking her in and beating that wildness out of her.”

“If you’ve laid a fucking finger on her, I’ll cut you into a thousand pieces and burn you alive in Dragon fire,” I snarled, but Clara’s hold on my shadows stopped me from doing any more than tightening my grip on my goddamn spoon. If I could get close to him, I’d gladly find a way to make a spoon lethal though.

Father didn’t bother to respond, only offering a knowing smile as he rested his fucking hand on her hip. Rage unlike anything I’d ever felt before consumed me as I was locked in my fucking chair, forced to endure the show he was putting on for me, taunting me with the girl I loved like she was just some plaything.

I didn’t eat a bite of my food as the courses came and went. I had no appetite even when Clara allowed me to move enough to eat. I pushed the odd thing around my plate, but my gaze never wavered from Roxy. And I never stopped trying to fight Clara’s hold on me so that I could rip her right out of my father’s lap.

As the dessert was served, Father leaned close and whispered something in her ear. She nodded once and got to her feet, turning and sweeping from the room without a word.

Clara released me just as Roxy got to the doors and I shoved to my feet instantly, practically running out into the hallway after her and not giving a shit who saw or what they thought.

By the time I made it out into the hall, Roxy was already at the far end of it and I called out to her as I broke into a sprint to catch up.

She made it onto the stairwell in the centre of the house before I caught up to her and she turned back to look at me with an eyebrow raised like she had no idea what I might want.

“What did he do to you?” I choked, my heart racing as I reached for her, but she shifted so that I couldn’t catch her hand and I could have sworn fear flickered in her eyes for a moment before she hid it again. “Tell me and I’ll rip him apart for it. Tell me what I have to do to break you out of this.”

“Out of what?” she asked in a cold tone.

“The shadows, Roxy, you need to break free of them, you need-”

“Why would I do that?” she asked dismissively. “The shadows bring me more pleasure than you can even imagine. They feed my soul and steal my pain. Maybe you should consider joining me in them.”

“Joining you?” I sneered. “The girl I love would never-”

She stepped forward suddenly, her hand pressing to my chest right above my heart as we stood eye to eye with her on the steps.

“That pain you feel doesn’t have to rule you,” she said, moving so close that her lips almost brushed mine but the look in her eyes was hollow, bottomless, void. “You could join me in the dark. We could have it all.”

“What about love?” I murmured, my hands slipping around her waist as I drew her closer to me, wanting to hold on to her until I forced her to come back for good.

“I only love my king,” she breathed.

“No,” I snarled fiercely, denying her words with every fibre of my being. “You don’t love him. You’d never love him.”

A dark laugh escaped her as my grip on her tightened and a swell of power burst from her hand where it was pressed to my chest, the shadows slamming into me and knocking me back against the heavy doors at the front of the house and pinning me in place.

“Let me know if you change your mind,” Roxy said dismissively, turning away and continuing up the stairs towards my father’s quarters without a backwards glance.

The shadows held me against the door long after she’d walked away and by the time she released me, she was long gone.

I hunted the entire house for her, but she’d disappeared once more. And I felt her loss all over again, just as sharply as the night she’d been taken. Or maybe even more so. Because until now I’d had hope that I could save her if I could only find her. And now I had to fear if I would ever get her back again.