Zodiac Academy 6: Fated Throne

The stardust brought us to the courtyard just outside the palace gates after a long week at school and I shared a look with my brother that spoke louder than words. We had our game faces on already, the cold masks the Acrux name required of us. But as the reporters spotted us, I found I wanted my position even less than I ever had. I fucking hated this legacy. I wished I could cut my ancestry from my body like the rot it was. And I wished more than anything that I didn’t have so much of my father in me. If I hadn’t, if I’d been stronger and more willing to make up my own mind and stick to my convictions then maybe none of the things that had pushed Roxy away from me would have taken place. Maybe she never would have said no to me when we’d had our Divine Moment and I wouldn’t have deserved all of the shit the stars were sending my way now.

I couldn’t even count the number of times I’d dreamed of that night going differently. And of the man I would have been for her if she’d given me the chance to prove I could be. But there were some things that night had changed in me which I wouldn’t want to take back. Because losing her for the man who had donated his genetics to my creation was the final straw to have broken all ties I’d still felt to him. Any loyalty I’d been clinging to or desire to please him and make him proud had withered away with every second that had passed since.

What he was doing to her now only made my hatred burn deeper and my thirst for his death more potent. When his time came it would be bloody and brutal and agonising and it still wouldn’t come close to payment for all he’d caused. But I’d relish every fucking minute of it no matter if it happened in the blink of an eye or if I was gifted months to slowly carve him apart.

I strode forward with Xavier at my side, trying to ignore the flash of the cameras as Fae yelled questions at us, hoping to get an answer for the biased rags they reported for.

‘Are you settling in well to the palace?’

‘How are you finding your father’s new regime?’

‘Is it true that Lionel is considering Order segregation throughout the kingdom?’

‘Do you believe in your father’s vision for a new Solaria?’

‘Prince Darius, can you tell us how it feels to be next in line for the throne?’

That one pulled me up short and I cut my gaze to Gus Vulpecula, the sneaky little Fox Shifter who always managed to get the story he wanted no matter how loosely his facts were based on the truth.

‘What did you just call me?’ I snarled, unable to help myself even as Xavier snorted a low warning in his horsey way. I’d let it slide the last time someone had called me a prince, but I didn’t want it catching on. I was an Heir just like my brothers and I had no intention of rising above them.

‘Prince Darius,’ Gus replied, a cunning smile on his lips that said he’d gotten me right where he wanted me. ‘Your father is the King. His Heirs have also been gifted the Fifth Element, so it only stands to reason that you are now more powerful than the other Heirs. Just as your father is more powerful than the Celestial Councillors. So, it’s a simple assumption to make that they will go on to form a Council in support of you while you sit upon the throne after your father, is it not?’

A low growl escaped my lips at the thought of me betraying my brothers like that and Xavier took a step forward, plastering on a fake smile as he saved Gus from having his head ripped off by intervening.

‘Right now, we are simply adjusting to Father being the King. We certainly aren’t thinking about Darius or anyone else taking his place any time soon, so maybe we should just focus on the matter at hand for the time being?’  

Xavier nudged me to get my ass walking again and I flicked a glare at Gus while he smirked like he’d won some point here. I mentally promised him a horrible death if he kept pushing at me like that.

The golden gates before The Palace of Souls opened and a fucking horse and carriage pulled up before us to take us to the palace doors. It was a long walk but this shit always seemed unnecessary to me.

Xavier exchanged a look with me, rolling his eyes where no one could see and I hopped up into the damn thing before taking a seat as the cameras continued to flash like mad as we were driven away.

I tossed a silencing bubble over us and sighed loudly. ‘I don’t know how much more of this I can endure,’ I growled, heat lining my palms as my fire Element moved to the surface of my skin.

‘I know. I hate having to come and see him too, but Mom is all alone here with him and I worry about her,’ Xavier said, reminding me that I was failing yet another person I cared about. 

‘I feel so fucking useless in all of this. Why can’t we catch a damn break?’ I asked bitterly. ‘Everywhere I look, people I love are being hurt by that monster and we can’t even stand against him publicly. He has me by the fucking balls and the longer it goes on the more reckless I feel like becoming. Like maybe I should walk right into the palace and shift on his psycho ass and bite him in half before he even realises what happened.’

‘You know that’s not how it would go,’ Xavier said sadly. ‘Tory would jump between you and Clara too and then-‘

‘I know,’ I snapped, hating that I was now being a dick to him too, but this useless feeling was driving me to be the worst version of myself.

Xavier clapped a hand on my arm and I sighed as I forced myself to get it together.

The carriage pulled up before the palace doors and we got out of it, heading inside as two doormen tugged the doors wide. We followed Father’s butler, Jenkins, as he offered up a formal greeting.

By the stars, I hated that old bastard. He’d seen so much of what our father had done to us over the years and I swear he got off on it or something. His expressionless face never so much as twitched to give his feelings away, but more than once when he’d found me bleeding on the floor after one of Father’s beatings, there had been this wild kind of light in his eyes that told me he would never be someone I could ask for help. I didn’t know what my father had done to earn such unyielding loyalty from him. Maybe it was nothing more than admiration for the sick and sadistic creature who had been responsible for bringing me into this world, but whatever it was, I wished nothing but ill will to him.

We finally arrived in the sprawling throne room and I had to force myself not to react as I found Father sitting on the dark stone throne with its back shaped like fifty Hydra heads for the Savage King’s Order.

Roxy was perched on the step sitting by his fucking feet like a dog while wearing a trailing black gown and the Dragon in me shifted angrily at the sight of her. She flinched a little as she saw me and my teeth snapped together as I fought to contain my rage.

Clara was perched on the arm of the throne, stroking Father’s hair and kissing his neck as he barely even seemed to notice she was there, his cold eyes fixed on me and Xavier as we approached. Mom stood on his other side in an emerald dress, perfectly made up as always with that plastic doll look on her face that I loathed so much. Lance’s mother, Stella was beside her, all in black like a gothic Barbie doll and a cruel smile on her lips as she watched me and Xavier carefully.

‘Seriously?’ I snarled as Jenkins left the room and the door closed behind him. ‘Claiming the throne wasn’t enough? You have to sit a Vega at your feet too?’

‘Well, I could have her sucking my cock if you don’t think it’s enough,’ Father replied with a cruel twist to his lips and it took everything in me not to lunge at him as my entire body flooded with rage. ‘Would you like that, Roxanya?’

Roxy lifted her head to look at him, blinking slowly and shrugging one shoulder. My girl would have punched him in the fucking balls for even thinking about that and I hated to see her so fucking vacant over the suggestion. At the very least I could be glad that she hadn’t been too enthusiastic, though my gut clenched at the thought of him making her do that. 

Clara hissed like a snake and moved her hand down Father’s chest possessively. ‘Daddy doesn’t fuck the whore,’ she growled and Stella clucked her tongue, narrowing her eyes on her daughter. ‘I’m the favourite. I’m the one who gets to please him like that.’

It felt like my lungs fucking decompressed at those words as relief filled me in a wave. I’d been driving myself insane worrying about that, night after night wondering if he was forcing her to give her body to him and hating myself more than words could convey for not being able to rescue her. That had been my worst fear for her in all of the nights she’d spent locked up at his mercy and though I knew she had to have faced so many atrocities from him, the fact that he hadn’t been raping her sent relief through me in droves. I swallowed thickly against the surge of emotions in me as I looked at Roxy helplessly, aching to just grab hold of her and take her far away from this place. I’d give up everything to do that. To just pick her up and run and run until Solaria was no more than a distant memory of a nightmare we’d escaped and I could know that she was safe at last.

‘For now,’ Father added dryly. ‘It has occurred to me that poor Roxanya is in a predicament with the new regime though. With crossbreeding outlawed, and no male Phoenixes currently in existence, she cannot procreate. I have been considering making an exception for near extinct Orders like hers. And of course, a Dragon with our fire gifts and ability to fly, not to mention our immense power would be the closest thing to a match for her. A child inheriting either Order would at least be powerful, even if their blood was mixed.’

‘You can’t seriously be thinking about making her have a baby?’ Xavier demanded and I stiffened as Father’s hateful gaze slid to him.

‘Mind your tongue, runt,’ he snapped. ‘I am yet to decide on what to do about anomalies such as you. You have Dragon blood as pure as spring water running through your veins and yet you turn into a fucking horse when you shift.’

Clara cackled loudly and Mother’s eyes glimmered with barely restrained emotion, but Xavier just held his head high and took the insult like the Fae he was. Anyone could see how fucking powerful he was in every way that counted, and Father’s Orderist bullshit couldn’t change that. 

‘I have a few matches in mind for you, but of course I cannot risk wasting a female Dragon with good breeding on you if you may pass on this condition. So, for now, you will just remain as you are.’

Neither of us replied to that, probably because we were just relieved he hadn’t found a fucking Mildred to chain Xavier to. Yet. 

Mother’s eyes had tightened as she listened in on our conversation, but she didn’t open her mouth and didn’t move an inch, making me wonder if Father had placed new Dark Coercion on her. In fact, I didn’t need to wonder, I knew the old bastard would have done it without a thought.

‘But in answer to your question about Roxanya’s fertility options, I am still undecided. Perhaps you would like to put the bastards in her belly, Darius? After all, your blood isn’t tainted and I have no particular objection to you fathering bastards so long as you’re producing fine Dragon Heirs with Mildred too. I’m sure Roxanya would be accommodating to you if I told her to be. Wouldn’t you?’

Roxy turned her dark eyes on me and there was no mistaking the shiver of fear that ran through her at the prospect of that. My heart bunched as I saw it. What had he done to make her fear me like that? Why did she flinch and recoil from me like she was expecting me to attack her at any moment?

‘You’re forgetting the stars won’t allow us near each other,’ I snapped. ‘So even if you wanted to force us to do that, the stars would never let it happen.’

‘You’re right,’ Father sighed, leaning back in the throne and gripping the heads of the stone Hydras that created the arms of the chair. ‘I suppose if I decide to follow through with that idea, I’ll have to put the bastards in her myself.’

Clara snarled loudly and shadows rose up around the room as she lunged towards Roxy as if she’d been the one to suggest it, but Father managed to catch her arm to stop her.

‘I haven’t made any such decision, my love,’ he said to her firmly. ‘You are still my favourite. But you won’t be if you attack my pet.’

‘I can give you bastards if you want them, Daddy?’ she offered and he laughed coldly before pushing her back to stand to the side of the throne, looking away from her.

‘What use would I have for Vampire bastards? Your Order is as common as soot and worth a whole lot less. Besides, you’re a void of darkness inside, Clara. I can only imagine you’re barren anyway.’

Clara’s face scrunched up in pain and she burst into tears before jumping up and tearing away from us with shadows billowing around her in a sea of darkness. She ran up the stairs at the side of the huge throne room and her sobs echoed back to us as she raced away.

No one said anything for a long moment and I actually almost felt sorry for Clara. Not that she deserved anything less than an excruciating death for her part in all the evil my father had brought upon Solaria, but sometimes I wondered if there was anything of Orion’s sister left in her. Especially as I was so adamant that Roxy was still trapped inside the vacant vessel which currently sat before me. But then my girl hadn’t spent years alone in the Shadow Realm, so it was a lot more likely that she was still essentially herself beneath the corruption.

“I’ll calm her down for you later, Your Highness,” Stella simpered, rounding the throne and moving up the steps to take Clara’s place on my father’s left. She reached out to run a hand up his arm and the look he gave her had me wondering if he was still screwing her too despite the way he’d shot her down the other day. Fucking hell.

‘I didn’t actually summon you home for the chance to have this thrilling discussion,’ Father said once Clara’s sobs had faded into the distance. ‘Today I intend to begin cleansing Solaria of all of its issues and the stars have guided me towards the first and most worthy cause which requires my attention.’

‘You don’t need to bother with that star bullshit in front of us,’ I said in a low voice as I glared at him. ‘We all know that you’re just a psychotic megalomaniac who has such a hard on for power that you’d do anything and everything to claim it.’

“You will not disrespect the King like that!” Stella exclaimed but Father silenced her with a shake of his head.

Father’s fingers curled into a fist as he glared back at me but rather than strike me himself like I’d expected, he nodded once at Roxy who immediately got to her feet.

Shadows darkened her eyes until all I could see in them was black as the thick fog of the dark power rose up all around her.

‘Please don’t,’ Xavier begged at my side, trying to move in front of me but I just flicked my fingers, creating a lasso of water magic to tug him away from me before she could strike.

He may have had three Elements, but he had very little control of them and there was no way for him to fight off my magic.

The shadows struck me right in the chest as Roxy drove them into me and I grunted as I took the hit, refusing to even shield against them as I accepted the pain she was driving into my body. I didn’t care what happened to me now anyway. I only cared about doing anything and everything I could to save her from him.

Darkness flooded my vision as the pain of a thousand cuts slicing into me from the inside filled my body and I dropped down to one knee as I fought to stay conscious.

Just as I was certain I was going to black out from the agony, a fist crashed into my jaw and I was knocked onto my back before a heavy boot slammed into my side over and over again, catching me in the face too.

I cursed as I clenched my teeth against my father’s assault and rolled onto my side just as Roxy pulled the shadows back out of me.

‘Heal him and make sure he’s presentable before you join us on the balcony,’ Father’s voice came from far away and I grunted in pain as I moved onto my hands and knees, spitting out a mouthful of blood as a procession of footsteps moved out of the room and Stella muttered something about me learning respect.

A soft hand caught hold of my chin and I looked up at Roxy in surprise as I found her there instead of Mom, tilting her head to one side curiously as healing magic slid from her fingers into my skin.

‘Do you truly remember nothing?’ I asked her as the taste of my own blood lingered on my lips.

I rocked back onto my knees before her as her touch awoke every aching piece of my heart, but as I looked closer, nothing in her expression said she knew me at all.

‘About what?’ she asked, her gaze cold, expression void. Other than the flickers of fear she sometimes directed my way I never got anything else from her and that was somehow more gutting than if she’d been sobbing and broken in a more obvious way. This felt like she wasn’t even her anymore. Like every stubborn, infuriating, obnoxious, addictive, delicious, beautiful piece of her was gone. Like she might as well have been dead. And I was the one who had killed her. Father clearly had her in the grip of Dark Coercion as well as the shadows and whatever the fuck he’d done to her to make her fear me, and I was lost without a way to combat any of it for her.

‘Us,’ I breathed, catching her hand as she moved to withdraw it and pressing her fingers to my cheek like if I just held her there, I could force her to feel it.

She stiffened as I held onto her but didn’t do anything to stop me as she remained crouched in front of me with her gaze hunting mine. I didn’t try to hide anything from her, showing her every broken, bloody, hurting piece of my soul because it belonged to her anyway.

‘I remember…’ For a moment it was like a cloud shifted across the sun and the light shone free within her. But I barely even saw it before shadows swept over her eyes and she drew back with a sharp inhale, wincing a little as she stood again, looking down at me. ‘I remember all the reasons I have to hate you. And you’re just lucky my king doesn’t want you dead, or I’d make sure you were.’

‘You don’t hate me, Roxy,’ I growled as I got to my feet and towered over her, but as I tried to take a step towards her, I found she’d frozen my feet to the ground.

The chandelier above our heads began to make a loud jingling sound as vibrations rocked the foundations of the palace due to us being left alone, but I didn’t fucking care. I needed to speak with her and the stars weren’t getting a say in it this time.

‘No, I don’t hate you,’ she agreed and I swallowed thickly as she moved closer to me, brushing my father’s boot marks from my shirt before tucking it in for me. I inhaled deeply as she smoothed the creases over my shoulders then traced her fingers across my chin as she washed away the blood there using her water magic. She ran her dark gaze over me critically, tiptoeing up to push her fingers into my hair and I growled with the ache in my heart as my hands slipped around her waist and I tried to draw her closer to me. ‘I don’t care about you at all.’

I froze at the coldness of those words as she spoke them, and she was gone before I could fully comprehend how clearly she’d meant them too. That had been the truth. The honest to stars reality of the person she was now. She didn’t care. Not about me or Darcy or any of her friends or anything at all aside from that fucking animal who had stolen her throne.

My blood pumped hot and furiously through my veins as my heart broke for her all over again. But I wasn’t given the luxury of having a moment to process the cruel words as she wrapped a rope of air magic around my wrist and tugged me out the door after her.

The chandelier fell still as I followed her, and I had to fight to get my mask back in place as she led me through the palace and down a long corridor towards the west wing.

‘Where are we going?’ I asked when she offered up no explanation. There were plenty of members of staff scurrying to and fro in the hallways so at least the stars left us alone as we walked.

‘The Reception Hall,’ Roxy replied flatly, not even glancing back at me. ‘My king has an announcement to make to his subjects.’

‘What’s wrong with any of the halls and ballrooms down this end of the palace?’ I muttered, mostly because I was feeling like I’d been sucker punched and I just wanted her to fucking talk to me.

‘Since my king took possession of the palace, some of the rooms and wings have locked themselves and as of yet he hasn’t had the chance to figure out the spells that unlock them again,’ she replied without a single inflection in her voice.

‘Wait – are you telling me the palace has locked itself to him?’ I asked, my mood lifting at the thought of that.

‘In part,’ she replied. ‘For now.’

A smirk lifted my lips at that little nugget of truth and I filed it away as I wondered whether there might be some way for us to make use of that against him. The palace had clearly been spelled to keep it protected from usurpers and as I was certain that Darcy hadn’t had any issues like that while living here, I had to hope that there was something at work here specifically targeted against my father.

We reached a heavy wooden door and Roxy glanced my way as she pulled it open before stepping through it and leading me after her.

I followed her, schooling my features as I stepped out onto a balcony where Father stood above a crowd of onlookers as they cheered for him in a huge hall with white pillars running along the length of it.

Roxy’s magic tugged me along as we walked to join Mom, Stella and Xavier where they stood watching at the back of the white stone balcony and I found myself standing so close to her that our arms were brushing against each other.

I looked down at the girl the stars had picked for me while her adoring gaze stayed fixed on Father and I breathed out slowly as the ache in me became unbearable. Gabriel was supposed to be getting the Nymph cage to us within a matter of days and I was so hopeful that we would be able to bring her back to us once we could reawaken her Phoenix, but every second that this went on, I felt like my soul was being shredded and the stars were fucking laughing at us.

‘I stand before you today to speak of a grave matter that has come to my attention recently,’ Father called as the crowd quieted to listen to him. ‘A matter which I know has been concerning Fae all over the country for quite some time. Of course, I am speaking about the lack of midnight amethyst stones in our great kingdom.’

I fought the urge to arch a brow as I tore my gaze away from Roxy to look at my father. What the fuck was he talking about? Who gave a shit about midnight amethyst being hard to come by recently? I mean, yeah, there had been a bunch of stories about how the stones which were the luckiest objects in Solaria had been dwindling in numbers over the last ten years or so, but I’d never really paid those stories much attention.

Less powerful Fae relied on things like lucky stones to get them through life, but I preferred to chart my own path. Besides, it seemed fairly obvious to me that if enough people really believed that those rare stones might change their lives then they’d be in high demand. Fae who owned them would be secretive about them and guard them carefully. Plus they were damn rare in the first place.

‘It has come to my attention that a conspiracy has been taking place beneath our very noses,’ Father growled, allowing smoke to slip from his lips to showcase his Dragon for the crowd and cameras watching him. ‘A group of Fae have been stealing these precious stones and hoarding them away to make sure that their kind are the only ones to benefit from owning them. This group of Fae are all of one specific Order. A prey Order. The kind to seem inconspicuous, innocent, harmless even. And yet many members of their kind – if not all members of their kind have been quietly stealing these stones and using them to gain power and influence in their communities while robbing hard working, more powerful Fae of their rightful places above them.’

The crowd began to boo and shout for answers and I glanced beyond Roxy to Xavier, wondering if he had any idea what the fuck was happening here because I was getting the horrible feeling that I might just know, and I really didn’t want to be right. My brother’s eyes widened a fraction and he gave me the hint of a shrug as I turned my gaze back to watching my father as he riled up the crowd.

‘These Fae – no, these Rats, have been working to gather midnight amethysts for years. Slowly increasing their power and influence despite the fact that their very nature demands they stay at the bottom of the pecking order. And to prove to you that I am correct in this discovery, I have brought their leader here for you to see.’

Father waved a hand towards a door at the far side of the balcony and two of the palace guards dragged a terrified looking Fae out to kneel before my father. His hair was ice white and his skin the colour of paper, his features slightly pinched like a rodent’s and his grey suit dishevelled. I would have guessed he was a few years older than me, but the cut of his suit looked expensive and despite his clearly terrified expression, something about the way he was put together told me he was important.

‘I present to you, Eugene Dipper, High Buck of the Solarian Mischief of Tiberian Rats,’ Father called. ‘And the instigator behind this treachery to our nation.’

‘I’m not!’ Eugene squeaked. ‘I didn’t steal anything, I swear. I’m a collector – I paid for all of my stones and I made no attempt to conceal my ownership of-‘

‘So you admit that we found a hoard of over eight hundred of these rare and valuable stones in your possession?’ Father demanded and my gut fell as I saw this for what it was. He was turning everyone against this man and every one of his kind. And surprise, surprise, Eugene Dipper just happened to be the leader of one of the Orders my father hated the most. 

‘L-like I said, I didn’t steal anything,’ Eugene stammered, casting a terrified look between my father and to my disgust, myself and Xavier too like we were complicit in this.

‘Well, we will soon get to the bottom of that,’ Father replied, his lip curling back in distaste as he flicked his fingers and Eugene was dragged away again.

The crowd booed and catcalled after the Tiberian Rat Shifter, their minds already made up about him despite the fact that he didn’t seem to have done anything wrong as far as I could tell. There was no law against buying multiple rare items even if they did hold a sway over luck or good fortune. But my father had made him out to be some kind of thief, stealing those things from other Fae. And the assholes in the crowd were dumb enough to lap it up.

My stomach churned as Eugene screamed while he was dragged out of sight and my arm twitched where it hung beside Roxy’s. The back of her hand slid against mine, causing heat to prickle across my skin and for the briefest moment, her little finger hooked around mine, making my heart leap as I looked down at her.

She didn’t look back, didn’t blink or react in anyway as our hands stayed joined for just a few seconds before she released me again. But it had happened. I just didn’t know if that was proof that some part of the girl I loved was in there fighting to get out or if I was just kidding myself because I needed to believe that so desperately.

‘I propose we start up an inquisition into the matter of the theft of luck from the Solarian people!’ Father bellowed, gaining screams of support from the crowd as he looked down over them. ‘Every Tiberian Rat in the kingdom is formally requested to come to the new Nebular Inquisition Centre that I have opened up in outer Caronis. It is a holding facility where you will be questioned by a Cyclops who will get to the bottom of these accusations. If you are innocent, then there is no need for you to refuse this request and you will of course be released. But if you are guilty then the people of Solaria will have their answer – and I will demand payment for this theft in blood!’

The crowd roared even louder as my father stood there, lording it over them and smirking in that fucking way I’d always known proceeded violence in him and it fucking terrified me. 

That wasn’t going to be an inquisition. There would be no Tiberian Rats found innocent. I wasn’t a fucking fool. And once he’d proclaimed the lot of them to be guilty of stealing everyone’s goddamn luck, he’d come calling for that blood payment. 

It would be genocide. And I knew in my soul that the Rats would just be the beginning.

***

King’s Hollow was full with all of us here, Geraldine bustling about like a mother hen while Darcy sat in the armchair opposite mine beside the fire. The others had plenty to say but I just gazed into the flames with my brow furrowed and my heart aching.

‘It will work,’ Darcy insisted and I glanced up to find her looking at me. Or more like glaring at the doubts which were clearly written across my features.

‘I know,’ I agreed. ‘She won’t be able to escape the cage or cast the shadows beyond the confines of it. But…’

‘But?’ she demanded and I knew she was just worked up on behalf of her sister, and if she needed to use me as I punching bag she could.

‘I just know my father. He’s not one to do things by halves. Yeah, he got her to give herself up to the shadows and he bonded her to him to make her feel loyalty to him even when the shadows are numbing everything else. But I don’t think that would be iron clad enough for him. He would know that the moment she was away from him we’d be trying everything we could to bring her back to us and yet he still sent her here alone. There’s more to this that we aren’t seeing, and I’m just concerned that releasing her Phoenix isn’t going to be enough to bring her back to us.’

‘You’re wrong,’ Darcy growled angrily, getting to her feet. ‘I know my sister and I know she is still in there fighting for us. I’m not giving up on her and once her Phoenix is released, I just know it will be enough to pull her back from the shadows. He could have placed a thousand Dark Coercions on her, but it won’t matter because they’ll all be burned away the moment she can use her Order form again. Once the shadows’ grip on her loosens we’ll be able to figure the rest of it out.’

‘There still isn’t any way to sever the Guardian bond though,’ I muttered bitterly, knowing I was only riling her up, but I couldn’t help it. All the time that I was parted from Lance while he was in prison, I’d felt the ache to be close to him so desperately that it cut me open. And even though I could visit him more frequently, it still wasn’t enough. I’d been going back there almost daily and yet I still yearned for him, worried about him, cared for him. We couldn’t do anything to stop Roxy from feeling that way about my father too. And it would be even worse for her because the Guardian felt it all five times over. As the Ward, I got the easy ride, only really feeling that way because he’d been gone for so long.

‘Well, there is one way to sever the bond,’ Darcy growled. ‘We just have to cut Lionel’s head off.’

‘Assuming that won’t kill her too,’ Seth piped up helpfully. ‘Because my mom once told me that Guardians can’t survive the death of their Ward. She said they’ll throw themselves between them and death or follow them into it if they fail, so-‘

‘Shut the fuck up, Seth, that’s bullshit,’ I snapped.

I got to my feet and glared at him and he stepped up to me instantly, bumping his chest against mine as he growled in response to the challenge I was offering him.

‘Back off, man,’ Max demanded, moving to grab my arm as he tried to force me back and the Dragon in me stirred with rage. 

Caleb caught Seth by the shoulder and drew him back too and Seth muttered something about reptiles being fucking crazy as he tore his gaze from mine. I blew out a mouthful of smoke as I strode away to the kitchenette, shaking Max off as he tried to push his gifts over me to help calm me down.

‘Stop that,’ I snapped, grabbing a bottle of whiskey from the cupboard and pouring myself a way too healthy measure before sinking it in one and enjoying the burn of the liquor on the way down.

‘She should be leaving The Orb soon,’ Darcy pointed out, getting to her feet. ‘Maybe we should get into position.’

‘Yeah,’ I agreed, tugging my shirt over my head and rolling my shoulders back as the urge to shift rippled across my skin. We were about to herd the girl I loved into a fucking cage like a sheep being herded by a wolf pack and the thought had me more than a little on edge.

‘Oh magical muscles, look at the size of that six pack!’ Geraldine gasped as she looked at me. ‘You truly are one beastly specimen of a man, Darius Acrux. No wonder my lady Tory is so enamoured with your swollen banana. I did sometimes wonder if she’d been drinking at the moose juice when she kept falling under your spell, but getting a close up look at your man-parcel really has me all of a dither-‘

‘Stop looking at his fucking man-parcel,’ Max snarled, moving up behind her and slapping a hand over her eyes as I snorted a surprised laugh. That girl was seriously off her fucking bagels but there was something about her that was growing on me. The beastly specimen comment probably helped.

‘Do not tell a goose where to gander, you overgrown seahorse!’ Geraldine cried, scrambling to get out of Max’s arms as he glared at me like this was somehow my fault.

‘Put your fucking shirt back on, man,’ he snapped at me.

‘I’m about to shift,’ I replied, shaking my head as Caleb laughed his ass off and Seth looked like he was a popcorn bucket shy of settling in for a show.

‘Unhand me you slippery sea urchin!’ Geraldine shouted, throwing a hand into Max’s stomach and knocking him off of her with a slap of water magic.

‘Well stop staring at Darius’s dick then,’ he growled.

‘Excuse you, sir, but I am doing no such thing! For one, the delicious Dragon has not revealed his man ham for the room to peruse at leisure, so I was only appreciating the powerful physique which he uses to please my lady! And for two, I would never lay so much as a chin whisker upon the flesh of the man my lady is destined to love by all the stars in the sky! I am merely expressing my approval for his ability to pleasure her physically, even if his personality has left a lot to be desired-‘

‘Hey,’ I growled as Darcy muttered, ‘She’s got a point.’ But neither Max nor Geraldine were paying any attention to either of us anymore.

‘Well if you don’t want him, then don’t fucking look,’ Max demanded. ‘I don’t like it.’

‘And why should I care what a villainous cad such as yourself thinks? You don’t even believe I am capable of making decisions about my own life correctly.’

‘That’s because you’re prone to making terrible fucking decisions!’ he yelled and my brows went up as I realised this fight was clearly about something way bigger than her checking me out, but I had no fucking idea what.

‘Guys, let’s just take it down a notch, yeah?’ Seth suggested with a little whimper to show how much he didn’t like this arguing, but Max and Geraldine didn’t seem to give a shit about that.

‘I am not the one who got my tail in a knot over a little arranged marriage!’ Geraldine cried. ‘You seem to be under the misguided impression that I belong to you just because I tangled with your tentacles once or twice, but you are very much mistaken in that belief! I made myself clear to you when I said that I had made my choice and you are the one who refuses to listen. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a princess to rescue!’

Geraldine turned and fled the room, disappearing down the stairs and leaving all of us feeling seriously awkward as Max ran his hands down his face and groaned. 

‘Fuck. My. Life,’ he said and I glanced between Seth and Cal, wondering if they had any idea what was going on.

‘Did she say arranged marriage?’ Darcy asked in a soft tone as she stepped forward and tugged Max’s hand from his face.

‘Yeah,’ he sighed. ‘She told me about it a while back, but they’ve been keeping it secret so that they can fool around with other people for a while. I was hoping to get her to pick me instead. And the other night after I saved her from Highspell, we went back to mine and she kissed me. I guess I stupidly thought that meant she was changing her mind.’

He looked so fucking defeated that I didn’t even know what to say as Darcy glanced back over her shoulder in the direction Geraldine had taken. ‘Let me go and make sure she’s okay to go ahead with the plan.’ She took a few steps towards the door then paused, shooting Max a sympathetic smile. ‘I’m sorry, Max.’

The moment she was gone, Seth stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Max, howling for him as he looked so damn hopeless that it cut into me.

‘Who is she marrying?’ I asked, hating seeing him in pain like that. I swear it seemed like none of us could catch a fucking break at the moment.

‘Justin Masters,’ he spat, his lip curling back in disgust. ‘He’s a great big Royal ass licker and I guess that’s all she gives a shit about.’

‘You want me to accidentally barbecue him the next time I see him in my Dragon form?’ I offered and Max laughed.

‘I heard he’s got a hot sister who graduated before we came here,’ Caleb added. ‘I could bang her and make a sex tape. His family wouldn’t seem like such amazing Royalists if everyone knew she’d been sucking Heir cock.’ 

‘Let’s not do anything too hasty,’ Seth laughed kinda aggressively as he slapped Cal on the shoulder harder than necessary. ‘No need to go whoring yourself out, Cal, let’s just fuck the guy up and threaten his balls until he agrees to break it off. No cock sucking required.’

‘Sure,’ Caleb agreed, blowing out a laugh as he glanced at Seth then looked to me quickly. ‘Not by the Masters chick anyway.’

Seth smirked at him and Max groaned loudly. ‘Stop flirting, you two, you’re just making me feel worse about my shit.’

‘Flirting?’ I balked, glancing at Seth as he shrugged innocently.

‘I can’t help it if all of my friends are stupidly hot and I like to suck the odd dick from time to time,’ he said innocently. “But if you guys ever wanna ditch the girl drama and build a sausage heavy harem then I wouldn’t take a whole lot of convincing,’ he said, his gaze falling to my bare chest for a moment before he looked at Cal again and winked.

‘Right. Well, as much as I like brunettes, I’m currently hooked on one who needs us to chase her into a cage and drug her, so shall we get on with that?’ I suggested and they all agreed.

‘I’ll go check that Darcy and Geraldine are in position,’ Cal said before shooting away and I nodded to the others as I hoisted myself up and out of the hatch set into the roof. 

I stripped out of my shoes and jeans, tossing everything down into the treehouse before taking a running jump off of the roof and shifting into my enormous Dragon form, my golden scales catching the light of the setting sun. 

I refused to focus on all the things that could go wrong with this plan and instead set my mind on the small pinprick of hope that it was going to go right. That I might just be about to get my girl back and we were finally going to strike a blow against my father that could really make a difference. 

Because if this went to hell, I was out of fucking ideas. And I didn’t even want to consider what that might mean for Roxy.