Zodiac Academy 6: Fated Throne

I woke early in a soft bed that felt familiar and strange all at once. There was an ache in my chest and the memory of a dream haunting me as the shadows curled and writhed beneath my skin.

I fought to push them aside as I tried to remember the dream. I’d been standing in the rain on a cliffside and someone else had been with me. Someone who had made my heart beat a lot faster than the slow and steady rhythm it was maintaining now. My lips tingled with the memory of a touch I couldn’t place, the taste of something so much sweeter than I deserved…

The shadows writhed impatiently beneath my skin and I rubbed a thumb over the Aries brand on my left forearm as it itched.

I sat up and turned to take my Atlas from the nightstand beside me, my fingers seeking out Lionel’s number as the urge to see him grew in me until it was almost unbearable. I’d only been away from him for two nights, but I could hardly think of anything aside from returning to him. How was I supposed to make it through the rest of the week before seeing him again?

I pressed dial and held the Atlas to my ear as it began to ring, my muscles tensing with each moment that passed and the need to be closer to him growing in me as I held my breath and waited for him to answer.

‘What is it, Roxanya?’ Lionel growled, his voice rough with sleep like I’d woken him and as my gaze strayed to the dim light of the rising sun beyond the window, I realised I must have.

‘I missed you,’ I breathed, the words seeming to form of their own accord on my tongue and my gut twisting uncomfortably for a moment before the power of the shadows within me swept through my limbs, causing pleasure to tumble down my spine instead.

‘Who is that, Daddy?’ Clara’s voice came in the background as Lionel grunted irritably.

‘My other love,’ he explained in a flat tone with a sigh of frustration that made me bite into my lip nervously. ‘You’ll have to learn to cope with the cravings, Roxanya. I don’t have time to mollycoddle you every time you ache for me.’

‘I ache for you, Daddy,’ Clara moaned. ‘I ache to please you.’

‘So do I,’ I said a little petulantly as the sound of Clara moving around on the bed filled the speaker for a moment.

‘Good. Then come and see me tonight,’ he said, making my hopes lift a fraction as Clara started murmuring praises in a husky tone that made my skin prickle. ‘I have a meeting I want you to attend by my side. And then we are going to need to talk to the press.’

‘Okay,’ I agreed instantly.

“Oh, Daddy, let me lick you like an ice cream,” Clara begged and I gritted my teeth as I tried to ignore her.

‘Come straight from classes. I’ll send you the details,” Lionel said to me, making some of the tension in my limbs relax.

‘I will,” I promised.

Clara started moaning loudly in the background and my thumb landed on the screen to end the call as my lip peeled back in anger. I threw my Atlas across the room where it slammed into the wall before thumping down onto the carpet and shadows poured from my skin to embrace me.

My furious outburst turned into a groan of pleasure as the darkness writhed within me. Its caress eased my mind and soothed away whatever had been getting me so worked up. But it was hungry too. The shadows liked to gift me pleasure, but only so long as I fed them in pain. And as a shiver of darkness raced down my spine, my fingers flexed with the desire to do just that.

I let the shadows rise up in me until they were coating every inch of my flesh and I could hardly even see through them while I mechanically pulled on the uniform that was hung in my closet. My hands followed patterns that were ingrained in my memory without me really paying much attention as I brushed my long, dark hair and painted makeup onto my face. Before long, I was ready to go hunting for what the shadows craved.

I paused beside the door, moaning beneath my breath as the shadows stroked my body before forcing my will over them and taking them into my control the way Clara had taught me.

They withdrew reluctantly and I watched in the mirror as they slid back beneath my skin until the only visual clue that they were there at all was hidden in the black ring that surrounded my irises.

My gaze stayed locked on that ring for a long moment as the echo of something important tugged at my memory. I shivered as I almost felt the kiss of snow on my arms, tasted tears on my lips, felt a stab of pain directly into my heart. But as I sucked in a sharp breath at the almost memory, the shadows fluttered in my chest and soothed it away for me.

The hint of a smile touched my crimson painted lips and I pulled my door open as I headed outside.

The corridors of Ignis House were quiet due to the early hour and I walked on silent feet in my stiletto heels down the stairs to the empty common room before heading down the next set of stairs to the exit.

I pushed the door open and stepped out into the cool morning, almost calling on my fire magic to warm me through before the shadows licked beneath my skin and drew my attention away from the cold.

I took a few steps, but a prickling sense of awareness drew my attention to more shadows at my back and I clenched my fist as I reached out with my own hold on the dark magic to claim control of the threat.

There was a grunt of discomfort from the source of the shadows, but the owner of them made no attempt to pull them back under their own control and I slowly turned to look at him.

I flinched as my gaze fell on Darius, standing there in a pair of grey sweatpants and a white tank. His muscular, tattooed arms flexed with tension and his gaze tightened as his eyes moved over me.

‘Roxy,’ he murmured and I fought to stay impassive as the echo of pain and fear washed through me at the sound of that name in his mouth.

But this wasn’t the indistinct pain of memories I couldn’t quite grasp. It was the smack of electricity slamming into my flesh and burning me from the inside out. It was the taste of charred flesh on my lips and the sound of my screams filling the air. He was responsible for that. And even the idea of lingering in his company had me fearing it happening again. But I couldn’t show him that. My king had been very clear about that.

‘Why are you standing out here?’ I asked him, forcing myself to take a step closer even as I remembered the scent of burning flesh in the air and had to fight the desire to bolt. ‘You didn’t seriously think you could sneak up on me, did you?’

‘I was waiting for you,’ he replied, his brow pinching like he thought I should have expected that.

I released my hold on his shadows a touch as I tried to understand why he’d expect me to be out here this early. But as I tried to figure it out, a different memory rose in me of him forcing me beneath the surface of a swimming pool and bringing my nightmares to life. And the darkness in me ached to make him pay for it.

‘Why?’ I ground out, my jaw tightening as the shadows whispered dark thoughts in my ears, urging me to claim vengeance for the things he’d done and all the pain he was responsible for. I tightened my grip on them, using them to hurt him.

My lips curled up as a curse escaped his lips and I watched as the shadows dug their claws into him and fed on his pain, filling me with a sense of euphoria that was utterly addictive.

Darius clenched his jaw and I felt a sharp tug on my hold over his shadows as he took back control of them. I expected him to lash out at me and drew on my own darkness even more in preparation to fight him off, but instead he just stepped into my personal space and caught my cheek in his rough palm.

‘Because I’m not giving up on you, Roxy. I don’t care what I have to do or what it costs to pull you back out of the shadows. I won’t stop until you’re yourself again,’ he swore roughly.

For a moment I just stood there, my gaze raking over his face as the shadows rippled through my flesh and I smirked at him. 

‘You think I’d choose to relinquish my hold on the shadows?’ I asked him. ‘For you?’

‘Not for me. For you. For your sister. For-‘

The ground beneath our feet began to tremble and I knocked his hand off of my cheek, but took a step closer to him as I raised my chin.

‘I think you’re under the impression that I’m some kind of damsel in distress, Darius Acrux,’ I said in a low voice as shadows flickered before my eyes and shimmered over my skin. Even the mention of his name sent the memory of agony pulsing through my chest, but I held the shadows closer to fight off the sensation. He didn’t step back as I moved right into his personal space, but he swallowed thickly and my gaze tracked the movement of his Adam’s apple as it bobbed before I looked up into his dark eyes again. ‘But I have everything I could ever want and more with my king. I have power and love and freedom. What else could I possibly desire?’

‘You don’t have love,’ he growled, his eyes flashing with reptilian slits as the Dragon beneath his skin peered out at me too. ‘You don’t love that monster. You love Darcy. You love…’ His brow creased and he shook his head. ‘I love you. And you promised me forever once. So if I have to-‘

‘Forever?’ I asked, a memory pushing into my mind but fleeing again before I had a chance to look at it. 

My heart slammed against my ribs at his words and the memory of my flesh burning and charring while I screamed in agony made bile rise in my throat and a ringing start up in my ears.

I flinched away from him as my king’s voice filled my head. Who do you love?

‘I love my king,’ I hissed, stepping back and sneering at the man in front of me as he tried to follow.

The shadows rose up in me to soothe the ache of the lightning that had crippled me time and time again. All of that pain, all of that suffering was his fault. Every time I’d been burned by the power of the storm, ripped apart and set alight in the heart of it had been because of him. My king had healed me of that agony and I wasn’t going to let him poison me with his lies. The deeper I fell into the shadows, the less I remembered that pain and the more I craved the dark.

Darius took a step closer to me as the expression fell from my face and I tightened my fist, yanking on the shadows inside him as I invaded them with my own.

‘Stay away from me,’ I warned him as his muscles tensed against the pain I was driving into his flesh.

‘What if I won’t?’ he gritted out. 

‘You will,’ I insisted, pushing more shadows into him and making him swear as he fought to stay on his feet through the pain of them.

‘I promised you forever too, Roxy,’ he growled. ‘And I intend to keep my word.’

My gaze skipped between the black rings that surrounded his irises just like mine and I almost drew the shadows back for a moment before a stab of pain resounded in my chest like a bolt of lightning.

With a hiss of anger, I threw the shadows at him hard enough to knock him back against the glass wall of Ignis House then turned and strode away from him without another word.

I constructed an air shield around myself that was utterly impenetrable as I walked up the path, focusing on the feeling of the shadows as they snaked beneath my skin and soothed the aches in my flesh.

They weren’t hungry anymore, sated by the pain they’d caused Darius, and yet somehow I still felt unsettled by the interaction. 

I reached into my pocket, my fingers curling around the edge of my Atlas as I considered calling my king again, then sighed as I forced myself to release my hold on it. I’d be seeing him tonight. I could last that long without him. But the ache in my body was only going to grow more urgent until then.

I moved inside The Orb and took a seat at a table to the rear of the room with a single chair at it and a fireplace right beside it, wanting to replenish my magic while I focused on my task. There was only one reason for me to be in this place after all and I wanted to make sure I didn’t disappoint my king, so I was going to spend every moment I had studying and perfecting my hold on my magic just like he wanted. The stronger I was, the better I could protect him and that was the one, single thing I knew I needed to do with my life.

I pulled my Atlas from my pocket, my gaze skimming over the horoscope that had appeared on it as I took in the words.

Good Morning, Gemini.

The stars have spoken about your day!

Though it may seem that you are lost in the dark at times, just remember what is dear to your heart and you will always find a way back to yourself. Fortune favours those who follow their own path, but beware – pitfalls await you if you allow yourself to be tempted off of the route your heart desires.

Well, that seemed clear enough. I needed to follow my heart which meant I needed to please my king. And there was nothing that would make me stray from that path in this world or the next.

I took a moment to look at the screensaver Clara had saved on the device for me as I pressed my fingers to the Aries mark hidden on my forearm beneath my shirt and sighed. The picture was a posed shoot of Lionel, standing tall and proud with his shirt off to reveal his muscular physique while he held a sun steel sword in his hand with the tip thrust into the ground. Behind him, an image of him in his emerald green Dragon form was roaring, releasing a burst of flames into the air which highlighted the golden colour of his hair. I closed my eyes to drink in the image, but somehow, behind the confines of my closed eyelids, I found myself imagining a golden Dragon instead.

I frowned as I tried to figure that out and suddenly my moment of peace was interrupted by the pounding of a fist against my air shield.

My eyes snapped open and I looked up to find Geraldine Grus knocking her fist against my shield like it was a door while holding a plate stacked high with bagels in her other hand. She smiled broadly as my gaze met with her deep blue eyes and she waved before pointing at the plate of bagels then at me.

My stomach growled, reminding me that I needed sustenance and I released the magic securing my shield.

‘Oh, thank golly for small miracles, I thought you might have been napping like a narwhal in November and you’d have missed out on my buttery bagels while they were still fresh from the bun oven,’ she gasped while I just regarded her in silence. ‘How are you, my lady Tory? It has been a long and mournful summer without the pleasure of your happy face and joyful presence to enhance it. I have missed you something chronic. I do hope that loathsome lizard didn’t subject you to too many mishaps while we were hunting for you? I swear I don’t think I’ve slept a full wink since I realised you were taken by that rotten reptile and I have been begging the stars to return you every moment of every day. I have been wracking my brain all night, wondering what might help you return to your senses and I wondered if a buttery bagel in the morn might spark something helpful.’ She placed the tray of bagels down on my table so that she could swipe tears from her eyes before peering at me hopefully like she’d only just realised that she hadn’t heard me speak yet.

‘You can fuck off now,’ I said flatly, realising she wasn’t going to actually leave unless I told her to.

‘I can…I can…you want me to…’ She gaped at me like somehow I hadn’t been clear while the tears in her eyes built up and up as she clutched her chest like she’d been mortally wounded.

I sighed, flicking my fingers at her and knocking her back several steps with a blast of air magic. 

‘My lady!’ she gasped in horror as I lifted my Atlas again and gave my attention to studying. My king wanted me at this academy to learn so that was what I was going to do. I was going to become the strongest Guardian he could ever wish for then maybe I’d be his favourite instead of Clara.

Geraldine continued to splutter hysterically, making me seriously consider using a stronger show of magic to make her back off before a dark voice interrupted her ramblings. I looked up to find Darius standing there, perspiration now coating his flesh where it was on show and his breathing heavier than usual like he’d been running. I stayed silent as I took him in, the faintest niggle of recognition stirring in me again like his morning routines were supposed to interest me for some reason.

‘Now isn’t the time, Geraldine,’ Darius said in a tone that didn’t allow for arguments and I cocked my head at him as I tried to figure out what he wanted.

His gaze darkened as he looked back at me and for a moment, I swear I could taste the pain on him as the shadows rose up in me, hungering for more of it.

He placed a mug of coffee down in front of me and I eyed it like it was a bomb set to detonate, though it just sat there innocently.

‘I know you’re still in there, Roxy,’ he said in a low voice that made the hairs along the back of my neck stand on end. ‘And sooner or later, I’ll figure out how to save you from this.’

Darius turned away without me responding, taking hold of Geraldine’s arm as her sobbing turned hysterical and he directed her across the room.

I watched them go with the faintest urge to follow them rising in me before the shadows smothered it out and let me relax back into my chair again.

But as I took a sip of the coffee Darius had left for me, the strangest stirring twisted my gut and for the first time in months, even the shadows weren’t enough to quiet the whispers in my mind. But I still couldn’t hear what they were trying to say.