Zodiac Academy 6: Fated Throne

I walked along the dark tunnels beneath the palace grounds with a Faelight hovering ahead of me to illuminate the way. I was dressed in a fitted black leggings and sweater combo to help keep me hidden for when I started sneaking around later. I was still working on perfecting illusions and as Highspell was about as useful a Cardinal Magic teacher as a rotten turd, I was struggling. There was only so much I could learn from books and what I really needed was a good teacher. The Heirs were swamped with their own work and they were already giving me extra combat lessons. I couldn’t take up more of their time.

Lucky you’re going to see your old professor then.

The thought came out of nowhere and I immediately rejected it. I wasn’t going to ask him for help. But then again…I didn’t know how long I was going to have to wait with him before Tory showed up. I was going to have to say something to him. So maybe keeping our conversation on work was a good idea. It definitely beat making small talk or dipping into uncomfortable territory like all the crap that hung between us. And it would absolutely beat sitting there in deathly silence.

I headed up the passage that led to the hatch and soon arrived beneath it, hesitating as I fought away the dread in my stomach over what was waiting for me beyond it. The worst thing was, I wanted to see him. And that made me want to boob punch myself because I should have been done pining for him a long time ago.

Well I can’t linger here like a bad smell for the rest of eternity.

I sighed and reached up to press my hand to the Hydra symbol on the wood. It clicked open and I pushed it up a second before someone else took hold of it and Orion appeared above, crouching down as he looked in at me. A beat of silence passed where my eyes became stuck on his like glue and my lungs decided they no longer worked automatically. Seriously, how do I even goddamn breathe??

He’d shaved his beard back to a coating of stubble and his hair was cut neatly and swept back over his head. He looked how he used to before our whole world had imploded and I was captured by the need to move closer to him. But there was no chance of me acting on that urge.

“Hi,” he said in a deep tone that resounded right through my bones and I gave him a tight smile in response.

“I can get out if you move aside,” I said and he frowned.

“You can also get out if you give me your hand,” he countered and my heart did somersaults as I gazed up at him with pursed lips.

He gave up with a sigh, standing and moving away from the hole. I cast air beneath my feet and flew up into the kitchenette, kicking the hatch closed as I landed on the floor.

The place was dark, just a couple of lamps on in the corners and my gaze hooked on a book resting open on the arm of a chair beside one of them. A bottle of bourbon was down to the dregs beside it and the scent of it hung in the air, reminding me so viscerally of him that my lungs seized up again. Whiskey and my ex were apparently a deadly combination. Get a grip, dammit.

I glanced at him, feeling the silence stretching already and his jaw ticked angrily as he gazed at me. Had I pissed him off? Probably. Did I give a shit? Absolutely not.

I headed away from him just so I could breathe again and I moved to examine the large blue dresser which was busy with beautiful little ornaments. I picked up a delicate seahorse carved from stone and ran my thumb along the ridges of its back, wondering how long I could stand here examining it for before I looked like a crazy person.

“Do you want a coffee?” he asked, heading to the coffee machine.

“Sure.” I shrugged, stealing a glance at him and taking in the smart blue shirt that was hugging his muscles. He had smart pants on too like he was dressed for work and the way they clung to his ass was just fucking perf – get your eyes off his ass, dipshit! “Milk and-”

“One sugar, I know,” he growled, not looking at me as he grabbed two mugs out of the cupboard, slammed them down on the counter then set about brewing the coffee like the angriest man in the world. I swear he broke the machine at one point and punched it to get it going again.

I placed the seahorse down and moved across the room, gazing at the seating options. I settled on perching awkwardly against the back of the couch, half leaning, half sort of sitting and unsure what to do with my arms. Do they normally just hang there like that??

“Is everything…okay?” I asked.

“Lionel attacked Darius, stabbed him with a fucking steak knife,” he muttered and my breath snagged.

“Is he alright?” I gasped.

“He is now,” he sighed and my breathing eased a little.

God, we needed to deal with Lionel. I hated that so many of the people I cared about were at risk all the time. Whenever Tory or Darius had to go to him, I wanted to scream. And now Darius had been hurt and it wasn’t like it was the first time either. He probably didn’t even tell me about half the times his father laid into him. And though Tory still hadn’t spoken to me about exactly what Lionel had done to her, I’d gleaned enough from the haunted look in her eyes to know it was something terrible. It awoke a monster in me that needed cold, hard vengeance. And I wouldn’t rest until I got it.

I kept my gaze on the swimming pool beyond the tall windows, the moonlight rippling across its surface as I wrestled with my demons.

Silence hung between us for so long that I swear I could hear every drop of water filtering through the coffee grains.

Orion finally walked over to me, handing me a mug with a raincloud on it and standing far too close for me to be able to think straight.

“Are you going to sit down or continue to perch there like a constipated owl?” he asked dryly and my lips dared to twitch.

“T’wit-twoo,” I made an owl sound as my answer and he pressed his tongue into his cheek before walking away to stare out the window.

I cupped the coffee mug between my hands, casting a little ice on my palms to cool it down before taking a sip.

A breeze howled against the summerhouse and rattled the windows while I gazed at Orion’s back before my eyes slipped down to his ass again. For fuck’s sake.

“Can I ask you something?” Orion asked and I ripped my eyes away from his butt.

“You just did,” I pointed out.

He glanced over his shoulder at me with one of his professor looks and I suddenly felt far hotter than the coffee in my mug. Not that he was going to have any idea of how much he was affecting me. I knew how to keep my emotions on lockdown these days. And it wasn’t just that, I could handle them better too. He might have destroyed me when he ruined us, but he’d made me stronger as well. I guessed sometimes you had to watch your walls crack and crumble so you could figure out how to build a better kingdom.

I rolled my eyes and shrugged. “Go on then.”

He turned back to face the window, taking a long sip of his coffee before he spoke. “Are you always going to hate me?”

My chest cleaved apart and I let the silence stretch as I bit my tongue on all the things I wanted to say in response to that. I wish I could hate you, but I feel something far worse than that. A love that won’t die for the man who broke me.

He turned to me again just as the clouds drew over the moon outside and a rumble of thunder sounded in this distance, the storm drawing in. My heart missed a full beat and I tried to push down my emotions before he caught a glimpse of them.

“I don’t hate you, Lance,” I admitted.

He was cast in shadow so I couldn’t see his expression in response to that, but he started moving closer again, his steps slow and deliberate in that way of his that suggested he was always one moment away from becoming a bloodthirsty predator.

“And why not?” he asked, his tone deadly like I was angering him. Did he want me to hate him?

I considered giving some bullshit answer that meant nothing, but I found I didn’t want to. I’d had a thousand conversations in my head with Orion since he’d gone to prison. Conversations I’d been owed. Explanations I’d been denied. If he wanted my truth then fine, because maybe that meant I’d get his in return. And maybe I might finally get some damn closure. Because no matter how hard I’d tried to move on from him, it felt like I hadn’t moved a single inch away from wanting him. I guessed the promise I’d made to him really had meant something to me, unlike it had for him.

“I don’t hate you because I know what you did wasn’t spiteful. Unless I’ve got you all wrong, I assume you didn’t throw yourself into Darkmore as an easy way out of our relationship.” The joke came out kind of bitter, and I couldn’t say I felt bad about that.

Orion nodded, taking that in and draining his coffee before planting the mug down on an ornate silver table. “So why do you think I did it?”

I scoffed, shaking my head at him. “I don’t know, Lance, you never gave me the courtesy of an explanation.”

He rushed toward me at speed and I cast a solid air shield around me before he could get close. He stopped just before it, his hand brushing the barrier and he released a furious breath through his nose.

“An explanation?” He laughed a cold, mirthless laugh. “You have no fucking idea, do you?”

“About what? How you broke our promise? Or how you ripped out my heart and tore it into fifty pieces? Or was it the part where you gave me no choice in any of it?” I demanded, my temper rising as I shoved my coffee cup between the two couch cushions behind me to keep it there.

He tsked. “You think I wanted it to be this way? I had no fucking choice.”

“Bullshit,” I snarled, dropping my shield in favour of shoving him in the chest with a gust of air as my anger spilled over. I hadn’t wanted this. I’d planned to come here and keep things simple, but maybe I should have realised that things with him would never be that. And now we were going there, I couldn’t stop my rage from pouring out.

He growled as he stumbled back a step, but did nothing to counter the air I kept blasting at him.

“There’s always a choice, and you chose to ruin us.” I’d suppressed all of this for so long, and why shouldn’t I say my piece?

He bared his fangs, his muscles bunching. “You think I wanted to give you up? You think any of this has been easy for me?”

“You were the one who made it hard!” I yelled, my Phoenix flames tingling against the inside of my skin. “You didn’t have the right to make that choice for me.”

“It was the only way,” he pushed and I gave up on blasting him with magic, throwing my palms into his solid chest instead.

“You don’t get to decide my life for me, Lance,” I snapped. “You could have died in that fucking prison. And what the hell for?”

He captured my wrists as I tried to shove him once more, his eyes blazing. His skin on mine was the most tempting kind of torture, heat melting into my blood and calling me to him.

He remained silent and I yanked my hands free of his grip, turning my back on him and putting some distance between us again as I moved across the room. Rain started to patter against the windows, and I gazed out at the dark droplets smattering the glass.

Nothing. He gave me nothing. Even after all this time, he still wouldn’t give me an answer to why he’d done it. It didn’t matter if Darius had tried to convince me of one reason or another, the only person I needed to hear it from was Orion. And his silence spoke volumes.

My Atlas buzzed in my pocket and I took it out, finding a message from Tory saying she was on her way, but she was waiting for Jenkins to stop hovering around on the stairs.

“Is that him?” Orion grunted and I turned around again as I shot her a reply.

“Who?” I muttered, dropping into an armchair and watching the rain. Anything but look at the guy who was the reason it felt like a knife was sliding into my heart and twisting.

“Seth,” he said icily, his shadow looming in my periphery as he drew closer again.

“What does it matter?” I said, following the path of a droplet as it weaved its way down the glass.

“It matters because he’s a fucking asshole,” he growled.

“Things change,” I said firmly.

He tutted. “How? The guy cut off your hair and fucked with us for months.”

“He also saved your life and was there for me when you weren’t,” I said scathingly, a part of me regretting the callous blow, but another more bitter part of me wanted to hurt him for hurting me.

He remained silent for so long that I couldn’t resist looking over at him and the hurt in his eyes made my stomach knot.

“He’s changed,” I went on, my tone softening a little.

“Are you…happy?” he asked in a gruff tone.

“Happy?” I scoffed, glaring at him. “No, Lance, I’m not happy. I won’t be happy until Lionel is dead and I know that everyone I care about is going to be okay. That everyone in the kingdom will be okay. What he’s doing to people, to the Tiberian Rats…” I shook my head as emotion welled in me, threatening to rip me open.

He moved to sit in the chair opposite me, running his palm over his face as he sat back in it.

“I know,” he said heavily. “It’s fucking awful.”

“I just feel so helpless to it,” I breathed, balling my hands into fists. “And dwelling on it only makes it worse.”

“Well…maybe we should talk about something else,” Orion suggested and I nodded, needing that. “How’s school?”

I frowned. “It’s okay.”

“Liar,” he murmured and I sighed.

“Fine, it sucks. Everyone’s miserable, the Orders are forced to be apart, I can’t grasp the next level of illusion spells because Highspell won’t demonstrate anything and just throws me in detention if I try to question her. She basically won’t pay attention to any of the ‘lesser’ Orders at the back of the class and, not surprisingly, all of us back there are starting to fail.”

“Why the fuck are you at the back of the class?” he snarled.

“Because I refused to go along with Lionel’s Orderist bullshit,” I said heatedly and a smirk tugged at his lips.

“Well fuck Honey Highspell, beautiful, I’ll help you with whatever it is,” he said and my throat thickened at what he’d called me. He hurried on like he was trying to ignore that little slip while I held my breath. “I mean, if you want me to.” He shrugged and I tugged my lower lip between my teeth as I nodded.

Anything was better than sitting here and dying of awkwardness. His dark eyes stilled on my mouth for a second and the world seemed to fade into a blurry grey haze around me.

I cleared my throat. “I can picture just how I want the illusion to look, but whenever I do the cast it comes out wrong,” I explained.

“Show me,” he encouraged and I swiped his book from the arm of my chair, realising it was an old tome about dark concealment spells. I laid it in my lap and focused on the leather cover, flexing my fingers over it as I pictured a different cover until King Arthur and The Knights of the Round Table appeared over it. Only it wasn’t quite right, the faces were off and the colours didn’t fit. It was clear to see it wasn’t a decent illusion if anyone looked close enough.

“Why did you pick that book?” he asked in surprise and I shrugged.

“It was the first one that came into my head,” I said and he frowned, pushing out of his seat as he moved across the room to a bookshelf and plucked another book off of it.

He shot back over to me and knelt down at my feet, placing the book on my knee beside the one I’d disguised.

“There’s a step you’re missing in illusion. Honey was never any good at it in her training.” He sniggered and my mouth pulled up at the corner.

“But surely she’s hiding behind fifty beauty illusions, the woman shines like the damn moon,” I said.

He grinned darkly, shaking his head. “It’s paid for. She holds the spells of others in that ugly necklace she wears.”

I released a laugh. “Please tell me she looks like the ass end of a rhino normally.”

“I don’t know, I’ve never seen her without that necklace, but I reckon she’s at least got warts and a hunchback,” he said.

“Maybe she has rotten teeth and a beak for a nose too.”

His hand slipped to the edge of the book, his fingers grazing my thigh as he chuckled. The sound made my toes scrunch up in my shoes and I quickly flattened my smile and looked back at the books. Nope.

“So what am I missing?” I asked.

“You need to practise memory imprinting,” he said. “The more recently you saw something, the better your memory of it is to create an illusion. But that’s very limiting. Unless the memory is particularly clear, you’ll never be able to create a perfect image without memory imprinting.”

“How does it work?” I asked, my heart thumping a little harder as he met my gaze and I felt myself leaning closer to him without really deciding to. I mentally yanked myself back by the hair because hell no.

“You tried to conjure the image in your mind of this book from some old memory, but to become really proficient at this, you need to start building new, imprinted memories that you can access for illusions whenever you need them.”

“Okay,” I said slowly. “Show me what to do.”

He reached out and took my hand and my stomach flipped over as he guided it onto the copy of King Arthur, encouraging me to brush my fingers over it. That was definitely not a sexual thing to do and yet heat spread between my thighs and I tried to convince myself it was to do with the buck toothed dude on the cover who was covered in chainmail. Yup, that’s definitely what’s doing it for me. Not the guy who used to fuck me until I couldn’t walk straight and made me come ten times before he even considered being done with me.

“Focus on the image, let your mind relax,” he instructed, releasing my hand. I did as he asked, trying my best to ignore how close he was to me or how my breathing was getting unsteady. “When you think you have it memorised, close your eyes and draw some magic up to the image. Don’t let it take any form, just pull it closer to the picture in your mind until it merges.”

I nodded, drawing on the well of power in me and encouraging some of that magic towards my mind. A light seemed to grow around the image I could see in my head and I sucked in a little breath in surprise.

“Got it?” he asked in a deep tone and I nodded. “Now let it go. Try not to think of it at all.”

I let my mind go dark and the image seemed to snap against my brain like a rubber band. I inhaled as I reached for it again and it came into my mind’s eye as clearly as if I was looking right at it once more. Woah.

“Open your eyes,” Orion growled and I did, immediately falling into the dark well of his irises and realising my fingers were an inch from grazing his on top of King Arthur.

I curled my hand up and tried to wet my desert dry mouth as I looked down at the book of dark magic beside it.

“Try the illusion now,” he encouraged, taking the copy of King Arthur out of sight.

I gazed at the other book and drew on that memory just like I’d been taught in class before rubbing my forefinger and thumb together as I cast the illusion. The cover immediately altered, and the size of the book too, everything shifting to look exactly the way the real copy of King Arthur had.

I released a squeal of excitement, picking it up and examining it for errors. But there weren’t any. It was the most perfect illusion I’d ever cast. Holy shit.

I looked to Orion and found him watching me with an intensity that made my cheeks burn.

“Thank you,” I said earnestly.

“Any time,” he said gruffly, pushing to his feet. “Seriously, just text me or call if you ever need help with anything.”

I didn’t answer that, unsure if I should really open up a line of communication between us. But then again, I was falling behind in Cardinal Magic because of Highspell and I really couldn’t afford to do that with Lionel in power. I had to make sure I passed my exams and more than that, I wanted every advantage I could gain against the Dragon Lord. But it was Orion. If I started talking to him on a regular basis, my head could get messed up. No. I couldn’t do it.

A tap came on the window and I spotted Tory there, beckoning me to come out.

I gave Orion a tight smile and if I wasn’t being totally crazy, I swear he looked kind of dejected. Maybe any company was better than none while he was locked up here twenty four seven.

“Guess I’ll…see you in a bit,” I said with an awkward smile.

“I’ll wait up,” he said, his throat bobbing.

I walked away, ignoring the way my heart throbbed and ached as I slipped quickly out the door. I didn’t look back as Tory took my hand and pulled me along at speed, guiding me onto a path between two tall hedges before she slowed again. Her magic met mine and merged easily as we cast an air shield around us to keep off the rain.

“Did Lionel give you another dose of Order Suppressant?” I asked as I tried to reach her Phoenix with mine and came up against nothing.

“Yeah,” she sighed. “And then we…snuggled. You know, usual fucked up shit.”

I squeezed her fingers tight in mine, trying to get my head around the insanity of that fucking bond he’d placed on her and silently vowing for the millionth time that I’d find a way to free her from it.

I pulled the syringe of antidote from my pocket and Tory smiled at me as she accepted it and quickly injected herself.

She sighed in relief as her Phoenix returned to her and I relaxed as we kept walking.

“Everything okay?” she asked and I shrugged.

“It’s just awkward with him,” I murmured. “Anyway, is Darius okay? Orion said Lionel stabbed him.”

“He’s alright now. Lionel just went full psycho as usual. And I couldn’t help. I had to just stand there and watch,” she said in a choked voice and I gripped her arm.

“I’m sorry,” I breathed. “That must have been awful.”

She sighed, dropping her gaze. “It just makes me think how precious shit is, you know? How quickly we could lose people we care about. And look, I know this isn’t the time to talk about it, but you and Orion…”

“Don’t, Tor,” I begged.

“But you’re meant for each other, Darcy. And the two of you are so sad, I can’t bear it. I swear I saw you guys for two seconds and it felt like watching a funeral procession.”

A sharp lump formed in my throat and I shook my head. “He made his choice. Now I’ve made mine. There’s no going back.”

She sighed, squeezing my fingers then releasing me. “Come on then, let’s go.”

“Where do you think we should start looking?” I asked as we headed along the path and passed through a rose garden that was being battered by the rain. The flames beneath my skin kept the cold out but my breath still fogged before me in the air.

“Gabriel said we’d know.” Tory frowned and a glimmer caught my eye ahead of us.

My breath hitched and I tugged Tory’s sleeve, pointing out the large footprint shining on the path. It looked like the print of a man’s boot and my heartbeat quickened as I shared a look with Tory. The rainstorm suddenly fell away as if it never was and the clouds parted above to reveal a glittering expanse of stars. The air thickened and a chill swept through me. I knew in my soul they were watching us, and they were hoping to show us something just like they had before.

Tory’s hand slid into mine and we silently released the air shield around us and walked toward the footprint. It faded away as we reached it and another one appeared further ahead, leading us down a path through the gardens I wasn’t sure I’d ever taken before. We moved between the bushes as we were guided across the grounds, passing through an orchard where the grass glistened wetly. Beyond it, a huge stone amphitheatre loomed out of the dark, the path leading right up to two enormous silver doors. The boot prints guided us towards it and my fingers tightened on Tory’s as we made it to the entrance. The immense curved wall towered above us and my skin prickled, something about this place setting me on edge.

Tory pressed her hand to the door and it unlocked at her touch, parting in the middle to allow us access. Shadows waited for us beyond it, the only light cast by another glistening footprint waiting for us in the dark.

“Do you think it’s safe?” I whispered.

“I think so,” she breathed and I shared a look with her that said there was no way either of us were turning back anyway. This was important. Everything in the atmosphere told me that.

I cast a Faelight, sending it out ahead of us as we crept inside. The moment we entered, the doors shut behind us with a loud thud that echoed around the stone corridor we were in and set my heart galloping.

The boot prints headed to our right and we followed them ever on until they led us down several dark stone steps. A door waited open for us at the bottom and the cool night air wafting in told me we were going outside again. We stepped through it together and my feet met sand as we arrived in an enormous circular pit at the centre of the amphitheatre. It looked like something from the Roman empire, but the place was no ruin. Stone benches ringed the whole arena, circling high above us and far ahead of us was a huge throne set back into the stands with several smaller chairs either side of it. An archway covered them all, carved with each of the four Elemental symbols and the Vega crest at the very top of it. Around the edges of the pit were Nymph cages just like the ones we’d trapped Tory in, and the thought of what they might have been here for made my stomach knot.

The footprints marked a path across the sand to the very centre of the pit where something lay on the ground, waiting for us. We moved cautiously towards it, the air stilling as we walked, the silence pressing in.

We came to a halt in front of a shield made of polished metal, our reflections cast on its surface and we knew what to do. We knelt either side of it, sharing a hopeful look before turning our gaze to the metal. The stars had shown us our mother before, what more did they want us to see?

Our reflections changed, giving way to a scene set in the bright light of day, looking down on this very amphitheatre. A stern and handsome man sat on the throne, his eyes sharp and narrowed on the pit below him. I recognised my father, Hail Vega, looking younger than he had before he met my mother in the previous visions I’d seen of him. To his right was Lionel Acrux and beyond him were the other Councillors, all looking tense as their gazes were set on the pit.

A man was hauled to the centre of the sand in rags, his wrists cuffed so his magic was blocked. Around the edges of the arena, the black metal cages were filled with Nymphs that shrieked and roared at the crowd, the sight making my pulse spike.

“My king!” the man in the pit cried. “I’m innocent.”

The crowd jeered and the guard holding him shoved him to his knees before backing up and bowing to our father.

“Who is he?” the Savage King murmured to Lionel.

“A thief, Your Highness,” he whispered. “The Rat stole a hundred gold coins from my cousin Benjamin.”

Hail scoffed. “Benjamin Acrux is a gambler who has brought plenty of shame on your name, Lionel.”

“Be that as it may, the word of a Dragon is worth more than a Rat’s,” Lionel hissed and my blood burned hotter.

“Nonsense,” Hail said, waving him off before calling out to the man below. “Speak your case!”

The Tiberian Rat ran a shaky hand through his hair. “I won the gold from Mr Acrux fair and square in a game of Minojack,” he said urgently. “Have a Cyclops check my memories.”

“This is an outrage!” cried a man who I assumed was Benjamin Acrux from the way the Rat was glaring at him.

He stood up in the crowd and looked like a squatter, uglier version of Lionel. His eyes were bloodshot and the way he swayed a little suggested he might be drunk.

Lionel leaned closer to Hail and murmured, “You will show no mercy, sire. A Dragon’s word is law. But the decision has come from you, now forget my words.” The power of his Dark Coercion filled his voice in an undertone that made my stomach lurch.

Hail blinked, leaning back in his seat and horror filled me as he called out to the crowd. “You have been found guilty of your crime. You will be given the Fae right to fight for your life. If you live, you will face twelve years in Darkmore Penitentiary.” The King waved his hand in some signal and a sword was thrown into the pit as the guard cast himself out on a gust of air beneath his feet. A wave of the guard’s hand opened one of the cages and a Nymph rushed out with a bellow of rage, the hunger in its eyes clear as it raced towards the Rat shifter. He lunged for the sword, but before he even got close, the Nymph swatted him aside and the cracking of bones filled the air followed by the cheers of the crowd.

Bile rose in my throat as the Nymph stepped down on the Rat’s chest and a lasting scream filled the air as it drove its probes into his heart. The vision shifted abruptly and I couldn’t tear my gaze away as I absorbed the truth laid out before me.

Hail stood on a huge balcony under the light of the stars, holding something in his hand and speaking a strange word to it as a glint of light peeked between his fingers. “End the plague in Maresh,” he asked. “My people are dying.”                                    

Whispers filled my head as if from the stars themselves and I suddenly realised what was in his palm. The Imperial Star. “It is done, father of the flames.”

Hail spoke another word to it which I didn’t understand before speaking to it once more.

“Protect my people from foreign invaders,” he asked and the star’s reply filled my head.

“They shall be protected,” it whispered.

The vision faded away and my breaths came quicker as I found myself on a battlefield with Hail in bloodied armour and hundreds of dead bodies stretching out before him and his army.

Lionel stood at his side as Hail flicked his gaze to a town beyond the dead and turned to walk away. Lionel caught his arm, speaking in his ear and his voice sailed to me on the wind.

“Leave none alive, everyone in the town must die. And they must die at your hand. This is your decision, you shall forget it was ever mine,” he growled, his voice thick with Dark Coercion and I wanted to cry out and stop the power from taking root in my father, but his eyes blackened and he turned to look at the town once more. He ran forward and his huge Order split apart from his skin.

His Hydra form was enormous, as large as a building as he took off into the sky on leathery wings, all the eyes of its many snake-like heads directed at the town. Screams carried from the villagers and magic twisted up into the sky as they tried to defend themselves. Lionel watched with an envious expression as the King blasted the town to ruin with purple fire pouring from his lungs.

Tears wet my cheeks as women and children were destroyed beneath his impossible power and the real monster stood observing it all with a twisted smile on his lips.

The vision shifted and Hail knelt on the huge balcony beyond his bedroom again, clutching the Imperial Star in his hand as he whispered to it in desperation. “Help me, I don’t know my mind anymore. I don’t know who I am. Why do I do the things I do? I need to know what’s wrong with me. Let me see things clearly,” he begged of the star in his palm and my heart twisted painfully as I watched our father break. He spoke words to it that I could barely comprehend, the magic in them clear as they buzzed through the air and the star shone brighter in his palm.

Whispers filled my head from it in answer. “I lie in the palace of the flames. Where the ground is deep and the dead are old. Where the last of them lie. Only there shall you find peace.”

“What does that mean?” Father demanded. “Please, let the madness stop.”

“Keep the broken promise,” the star answered.

“What?” he growled, but the light went out in his palm and as he spoke a strange word to it again, it pulsed with light, but only answered him in riddles.

“Give me back my mind,” he gasped at last, clutching it to his chest in desperation as he stared up at the sky. “No more shall die at my hand.”

“It is not your hands,” the star whispered and Hail groaned because he didn’t understand. And it hurt me, because I did. I knew the truth, and it looked like he’d died without ever knowing it.

The vision fell away and we were suddenly looking at our own reflections once more. I dragged my eyes up to meet Tory’s and found tears tracking down her cheeks too.

“He wasn’t a savage,” she rasped and I moved toward her, the two of us embracing hard.

“It was Lionel, all fucking Lionel,” I growled and she cursed him with every swear word she knew.

“He has to die,” she snarled, even though she looked a little ill at the idea thanks to the bond he’d put on her. “He has to pay for our mother and our father.”

“And he has to pay for what he did to you,” I said in a deadly voice and she winced as she drew back, grappling with the Guardian bond.

“But I also can’t bear the thought of him dying,” she croaked, clutching her heart and it pained me to see her that way.

“When he’s gone, you’ll be free,” I promised and she nodded, though I could see the desire in her to bite back at me over that. And it killed me. “The stars wanted us to see this,” I went on and her features hardened.

“How can we even trust them after everything?” she hissed as we got to our feet and I gazed around the pit which had once served as an execution ring, a shudder rippling down my spine.

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But there must be a reason they showed us this. Maybe they’re on our side in some ways.”

“Gabriel says they don’t pick sides,” she muttered and I nodded. But why would the stars give us this information if they didn’t want us to fight Lionel? Or maybe it was all just part of some bigger, crueller plot I couldn’t see yet. I knew the stars couldn’t lie, but I still never understood why they showed us what they did.

I guessed all we could do was take what we’d been gifted and use it against Lionel as best we could. Because there was one thing we now knew for sure, the Imperial Star held unimaginable power. And if Lionel ever got his hands on it and it granted his wishes, the whole of Solaria was doomed.