Zodiac Academy 7: Heartless Sky

We crept along the stone passages which crisscrossed beneath The Palace of Souls with Geraldine in the lead singing some strange as fuck song beneath her breath while I bit down on my tongue and tried to force myself to follow her without complaint.

But it was fucking hard. 

She had literally changed direction down here for no reason at all three separate times and even though I knew that her choices were leading us further from Vard’s rooms instead of closer to them, I couldn’t say a damn word against it. 

‘Are you sure this is the way you want to go?” I asked through gritted teeth while Orion smirked at me, knowing full well that this was pissing me off to no end. But seriously? Was I really going to have to follow her commands throughout this entire trip even when I knew she was making insane moves that just dragged this whole thing out? “I feel like we should be trying to take a more direct route-”

“Of course you do,” Geraldine sighed, sounding utterly exasperated with me even though I’d only opened my mouth a total of three times during the hundred instances I’d wanted to since we’d entered these tunnels. “Because yours is the linear and simple mind of a well-bred dairy cow. When you see the grass you want to go directly to it – no matter if a bog monster awaits you in the swamp ahead.”

“In what way are we risking running into a bog monster?” I hissed and Orion chuckled.

“We aren’t,” she replied hastily. “Because we are swimming the fair and tranquil waters of lady fate and her whims alone shall guide us to success tonight.”

I gave up on trying to reason with a mad woman and just kept my internal grumbling within my own head as she found a hidden staircase and led the way up it. Up and up and up, far beyond the second level of the palace where I knew Vard’s rooms to be.

“Avast!” Geraldine announced suddenly, pulling a door open and tossing a tapestry aside as she stepped out into the palace. “Onwards dear brother and my faithful sharp tooth, there is a game afoot!”

We hurried out into the corridor behind my insane stepsister, and she took off towards the far end of the hall with purposeful strides.

My fingers flexed for the feel of my axe in my hand but I left it strapped across my back, knowing I was already going to be tempted enough to cut Vard’s fucking head off when I saw him. I didn’t need the added temptation of having a weapon to hand to make it easier to do. I had to keep repeating that in my head though.

Do not kill the motherfucker who helped torture the woman I love. Do not kill the motherfucker who helped torture the woman I love. Do not kill the motherfucker who helped torture the woman I love. 

But I could sure as fuck butcher him a bit in payment for what he’d been a part of doing to her.

A scuttling sound made me whip around as some dark shadow caught the corner of my eye and I frowned, almost certain I’d heard something there as I felt the weight of eyes on my back.

“Did you hear that?” I muttered to the others, knowing our silencing bubble would keep my words private.

“Yeah,” Orion replied, his sharp gaze scouring the far end of the hallway as that feeling of being watched increased.

“I sense a crafty cretin in the wings,” Geraldine whispered, removing her flail from her back and swinging it menacingly as she stepped in front of us to get a look. “If we are ambushed, then you must run sweet brother, for my lady requires your services more than she is in need of mine, so I shall take the fall if it comes to such a fate.”

“My services?” I asked, still frowning down the hall and finding no one there. 

“Yes. You do warm her cockles in a most pleasing way. Even if you are a bothersome beast, you clearly know your way around her lawn.”

“Err, thanks?” I glanced at Orion who seemed way too fucking amused by this whole thing and shot him a scowl.

“Please do not accost my ears with tales of your wally-whacker. I do not need the visual inspired by such recounts to press in on my mind, causing incestuous thoughts of your performance.”

“We aren’t actually related so they wouldn’t be inces-”

“Yonder. We must forget the possibility of a wandering Norman following us and keep on with our task.” Geraldine turned suddenly and shoved her way between me and Orion, shoulder checking both of us and knocking us aside as she stormed off in the opposite direction to the noise I’d been certain I’d heard.

“You heard the lady,” Lance said. “Yonder.”

I snorted and turned to follow her, my mind instantly falling on the thought of us taking Vard by surprise which was quickly followed by the desire to dismember him for the things he’d done to my girl.

“I brought my sun steel sword so you can cut him up good,” Lance said conversationally as we walked. “I figured it was the least he deserved for what he did to Tory.”

“Seriously?” I asked, feeling way too thrilled about the idea of being able to permanently scar that motherfucker than was probably healthy, but I wasn’t gonna psychoanalyse myself over the fact.

“Yeah. I know you have to be aching to finish him. Hell, I’d gut him myself if I could. But maybe Tory will be able to claim the honour when she returns.”

“Whenever the fuck that is,” I growled, my mood instantly souring as I thought of the month I’d already lost with her. “I missed her fucking birthday.”

“I know, brother, I missed Darcy’s too. But Gabriel is certain they have to do this. They need to learn everything The Palace of Flames has to offer if they’re going to be strong enough to take down Lionel and-”

“It’s not the same for you,” I snapped, realising I shouldn’t have said it as his gaze darkened and he bared his fangs at me, but he didn’t know the truth. I hadn’t just missed her fucking birthday, I’d missed the only birthday of hers that I would ever get a chance to celebrate with her properly. I’d lost my shit entirely that day, shifting and flying away from The Burrows, determined to find my father and destroy him so that she could return to me and I could make full use of the small amount of time I had left with her without the dark cloud of his presence still hanging over us. 

But of course that hadn’t worked out. I’d flown halfway to The Palace of Souls before Gabriel had shown up like a bat out of fucking nowhere and told me that my future would end that night if I continued along the path I was on.

So I’d been forced to turn back, unable to bear the thought of never seeing her again even if I had been willing to take the chance with my own life to destroy the man who had dominated and destroyed so much of it. But I couldn’t bear losing her without a goodbye. Just like I couldn’t bear watching the weeks, days, hours and seconds tick by without her, knowing with such certainty that my time was running short.

I had just under five months left and it was never going to be enough, but now even the short amount of time I did have was being stolen from us, and Gabriel still had no answer as to how long I would have to wait for her to return. He’d even admitted that there was a chance it would be after Christmas which meant I may have already stolen my last kiss from her lips, her last smile, laugh, all of it over before it had even really begun and I was so furious at the stars, myself and everything in between that I couldn’t even keep this secret to myself properly anymore.

“How isn’t it the same?” Orion growled, grabbing my arm and wheeling me to face him while Geraldine headed on down a set of stairs as if she couldn’t even hear us. “You think because she was your Elysian Mate that makes your bond to her stronger than mine is to Darcy?”

I opened my mouth, half willing to agree to that just so that I could feel the force of his rage and let it distract me from this endless agony I was in over the time I was losing with the only woman I would ever love. But then I hesitated, almost spilling the truth before realising that that would be selfish too. I’d kept this secret for a good reason because we all needed to be focusing on the war, not wasting time trying to fight the stars on my fucking hopeless fate. I’d made my choice and I was going to have to own it.

“It’s not that,” I gritted out, forcing myself to keep my head despite my desire to lose it. “I just know I’m going to have to go up against Lionel soon and I feel like I could be losing the only time I’m going to get with her. There are no guarantees I’ll win that fight even with you teaching me the dark magic I’ll need to give me an edge and you know it. So if it comes down to that before she returns then I might not get the chance to say goodbye.” 

I knew it was a dick move to offer him a half truth like that, but I had to hope that they would all be able to forgive me and understand my reasons for lying in the end.

Lance relaxed, his brow furrowing as he shook his head. “You will win that fight when the time comes for it,” he said fiercely. “We just need to get Lavinia out of the way first then you’ll have the shot at Lionel which you’re owed, and you’ll see him bleeding out at your feet for all the things he has caused you and the rest of us alike. Tory will be back before you know it and you’ll be able to look forward to a future where you create mini Dragons and Phoenixes to chase around after each other in a kingdom which thrives in peace.”

I locked my jaw, unable to say any more about Roxy or why I couldn’t look forward to any of those things in a dream or otherwise and I nodded once.

Lance made a move to turn away from me but I caught hold of him, making him meet my eye again.

“You have always been a brother to me,” I said roughly. “And the love I feel for you is mightier than any bond placed upon us ever could have forced us to feel. If I do die, I want you to know that-”

“Darius, don’t-”

“Look after her,” I growled, taking his hand in mine and forcing him to make this vow with me. “If I’m gone, promise me you’ll do all you can to help her move past it and see her happy again. Love her like a brother and help her find…peace beyond me. Swear it. I need to know she won’t be alone without me.”

Lance looked like he wanted to protest but then the same fear and darkness that consumed me so often these days shifted in his gaze and he nodded.

“Only if you swear to do the same for Darcy if the worst happens to me,” he replied.

I should have told him I wouldn’t be around to do that, but I didn’t, knowing that I would keep this vow in this life or the next anyway and needing him to make it for Roxy’s sake. 

“I swear,” I agreed and as he did too, a flash of magic clapped between our palms that bound us to it.

I dragged him towards me by our clasped hands and wound my arm over his shoulders, hugging him tightly for a brief moment before releasing him, hoping he hadn’t realised that I was trying to give him a goodbye in case I didn’t get a chance to give him another before my time was truly up. Because I knew that if Christmas rolled around and my countdown came to an end, I wouldn’t spend my final day surrounded by the people who loved me. I’d fly to the Palace of Souls and give all I had to make sure my father and his fucking minions were destroyed along with me.

We parted and took off after Geraldine, hurrying to catch up to her and spotting her just as she reached the third floor of the palace and headed out into the corridor there. It was still an entire floor above Vard’s sleeping quarters, but I couldn’t be bothered to try and ask her why she was taking yet another indirect route, instead trying to remind myself that Gabriel had seen this working so long as we stuck with her.

“Oh sweet onions on a basket of rye!” she exclaimed as the door swung shut between us and Lance and I broke into a sprint, drawing our weapons and gilding them in Phoenix fire as we burst through the door at her back, finding ourselves in a huge chamber with a floor length painting of the dead queen hanging from the wall before us.

Geraldine had thrown herself to her knees and was murmuring praises to the dead woman despite the fact that she was clearly no more than paint on canvas, and I muttered a curse at her ridiculous ways as I sheathed my axe once more, extinguishing the flames.

I had to assume that this was one of the rooms which had locked itself to my father as it seemed untouched. It was still full of things which related to the Savage King and his queen and I wondered briefly why we were being gifted access to it.

“Geraldine, I don’t think we really have time to be praising random paintings,” I said.

“Oh you cod bellied, Dragoon,” she sighed. “You are so irksome sometimes it is hard to function at all around your overbearing, borish ways.”

“We literally came here to get a shadow eye,” I hissed. “Not to take a fucking tour of the palace. Who knows how long the others will be able to keep my father and Lavinia away from here?”

“Fine,” she gasped with a tone that said she found me irritating as fuck and I sighed, biting my tongue in favour of just getting this shit over with.

We made a move to head on again, but Geraldine screamed suddenly, raising a hand and pointing a shaky finger at the wall. I turned towards it, reaching for my axe then hesitating as I realised what she was pointing at. A pair of glimmering silver wings had appeared on the wall below the painting, a hum of energy about them which made them hard to ignore.

“Darcy told me that Queen Merissa left visions for her marked by a symbol like that,” Orion breathed, stepping towards the marking with a look of awe on his face.

I arched a brow in suspicion. “Why would the queen have left a vision for us to find?”

“You are right,” Geraldine breathed. “You are most unworthy, a scaled salamander of suspicion, spawn of the false king, an unequal rapscallion of a man. And let us not get started on the Power Shamed scandal in the room.”

“Alright, Grus, that’s enough,” Orion grumbled as he stepped forward with his hand outstretched and I followed.

The moment my fingers brushed the stones, I was drawn into a vision which stole my breath as I was gifted a peek at a life that could have been.

“This future was stolen from us all,” Merissa Vega’s voice echoed through my skull and my jaw fell slack as I watched a lifetime of memories on fast forward where the Vega twins had been raised with me and the other Heirs.

Lance and Clara had grown up with us too, all of us spending countless hours in each other’s company, growing together and planning for a life where we were united as the force of power destined to rule Solaria.

I was gifted visions of Roxy and I, looking younger than we were now, drawn to each other time and again, sharing our first kiss in this very palace during her fifteenth birthday party and getting caught by her father who damn near bit me in half as he chased me the hell out of there.

Lance and Darcy fell for each other when he came home on his first break in the middle of a pro Pitball season and had a whirlwind romance which the press were all over like a rash. Roxy and I kept sneaking around, trying to fight what we were to one another because of our positions and what it would mean for the Celestial Council.

But in time we stopped fighting it and my lips parted as I watched image after image detailing the way I’d given up my seat for her, marrying her and handing my position to Xavier in my place. 

The entire kingdom was at peace and in love with their princesses. When it came time for them to ascend, I was right there at Roxy’s side while Lance stood by Darcy. And everything was so fucking good that I could almost taste it. This future which had never truly been on the cards for us thanks to my father.

Geraldine began to sob as the vision faded, murmuring her love for the true queens over and over again while I tried not to grieve a life I would never get the chance to live in any way. Because my death was coming on swift and certain wings. I wouldn’t be in any version of Roxy’s future now. But as the impression of that vision lingered within my mind, I began to wonder if a future with the two of them claiming the throne really would be as bad as I’d feared. 

With the other Heirs there to guide them, perhaps they could learn what was needed for the rule of our kingdom. But I wouldn’t be around to find out if that was the future they would face or not.

And though the ache of grief over everything I’d never had weighed heavily in my chest, I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if I truly did manage to destroy my father and tear him from this world before I was forced to follow him beyond the Veil. Because just maybe, once I was gone, the age of the Dragons would fall, and it would be time for the Phoenixes to rise once more.