Zodiac Academy 7: Heartless Sky

I’d stayed up late into the night, hoping the sound of Darius’s arrival would carry to me, but instead my ears only picked up faraway farts and the grunts of someone having sex a few doors down. Could have used a silencing bubble for the sake of the Vampires in the place, but did they? No fucking siree.

Eventually I’d fallen into exhaustion, holding onto Darcy and hating Seth with every atom in my body for ruining my night with her. Echoes of the battle kept clinging to me, holding me tight until I was suffocated by the horror of it all over again. I replayed Clara dying in my arms until it was scored into the inside of my skull. But I focused on the peace that found her as she left this world and reminded myself she was somewhere better now. And in a way, I really had saved her in the end, just not how I’d imagined. Her soul was free of Lavinia and no more torment would find her beyond the Veil. My sister was resting at long last, and for that I had to be grateful.

I stirred from a restless sleep and refused to open my eyes as I drew Darcy back against me, wondering if I could steal her away somewhere within these caverns to seize this girl as mine before she ever slipped from my grasp again.

I nuzzled into the hair brushing against my cheek, but frowned at the masculine scent carrying from it, wondering if it was those washalilies that lingered on her, and wanting to brand her with my own scent instead. My arms tightened on her and as I crawled deeper out of the haze of sleep, I realised she didn’t feel right at all. She was too muscular, too large, and as my eyes snapped open and a growl rippled along my throat, I knew I’d be starting this day with a gruesome murder.

“Capella!” I barked, launching him away from me across the room and he slammed into the wall with a yelp, hitting the floor butt fucking naked as he scrambled to regain his senses.

“You broke my thucking nothe.” He held a hand up to heal it as it pissed blood down onto his bare chest and I shot out of bed in a blur, tearing forward to finish the job of beating the hell out of him, but slamming into an air shield instead as he cast it between us.

“What the fuck were you doing in our bed?!” I snapped. “And where the hell is Blue?” I jerked around, hunting for her, but it was just me and the mutt. Which meant there’d be no witnesses when I ripped his spinal cord out and stuffed it up his ass.

“It was cold over there.” Seth pointed at his own bed. “And there was a chilly breeze blowing in under the door.”

“You’re an air Elemental,” I spat, stalking back and forth in front of his shield as I heaved breaths in and out, hungry for a fight.

“Yeah and I’m a Werewolf!” He got to his feet, wiping away the blood from his now healed nose on the back of his hand. “I need snuggles. Without snuggles, I get cold and lonely. And Darcy went to get breakfast, so your bear arms were going to waste, and I snuck in for a little hug time. I don’t see what the big deal is.” He grabbed some sweatpants from the floor, yanking them on.

“I don’t snuggle,” I snapped.

“Liar,” he scoffed. “You snuggle with Darcy and Darius all the time. But where’s my snuggles, Lance? Where’s. My. Snuggles?”

“You’re fucking insane,” I hissed and he let out a whimper, stepping toward me with his eyes going all large and dog like. As if that would ever work on me.

A knock came at the door and I almost ignored it in favour of blasting Seth’s air shield to bits and strangling him to death with my bare hands. But then Gabriel called out from beyond it, saying three words that made my heart leap into my throat.

“Darius is back.”

My breath caught in my lungs and I spun around, shooting toward the door with my Order gifts and yanking it open, coming face to face with my Nebula Ally. He grinned, yanking me in for a hug and patting me on the back.

“Where is he?” I asked. “What happened?”

“He’s been with Tory all night,” he said.

“All night?” I barked, stepping back. “Why didn’t you come to me sooner?”

“Trust me, you did not want to go and interrupt them. I had to keep myself busy all night just so I wasn’t plagued by visions of my sister being railed by a fucking Acrux.”

“By the moon, why would the stars show you that?” I grimaced.

“Because they’re assholes who have a sick sense of humour, Orio. Now go see him before he gets mobbed by the Heirs. He’s gonna be in the dining hall in two minutes. Go straight to the end of the corridor, first left and keep on until you get there.”

“Did someone say Heirs?” Seth called behind me and I clapped Gabriel on the shoulder in thanks and shot away before the mutt could tag along.

I sped through the stone tunnels, shooting left and straight down through double wooden doors into an enormous cavern which was brimming with people. People who started to fall quiet as I came to a halt and they spotted me standing there in my sweatpants.

“Isn’t that the Power Shamed professor who Dark Coerced a Vega?” someone hissed.

“Why is he here?”

“He should be ashamed of himself.”

“I’d rather die than be Power Shamed. I’d just slit my throat right there and then in court.”

The hacking sound of someone retching drew my attention to Hamish whose eyes had found me. He doubled over, working hard not to throw up the oatmeal he’d been eating as his eyes watered and he twisted in his seat so that he didn’t have to look at me. I clenched my jaw, trying to ignore the way everyone was turning their backs on me and pretending I didn’t exist. This Power Shaming bullshit was something I hadn’t had to deal with much yet, but down here it looked like I wasn’t going to be able to escape it.

I spotted Blue sitting with Geraldine and a group of the A.S.S. members at the far end of the hall and her eyes found mine like a magnet. She rose from her seat, but I shook my head minutely, not wanting her to have to be seen with some Power Shamed Fae. It was making my blood chill. My life was wrecked beyond repair. I would never be seen as an equal in society ever again. Darcy and I were officially done. Because how could I ever really hope to date a Vega princess again? It would muddy her name, destroy the support she had for the throne. It was bad enough what they thought I’d done to her to earn my place in prison, but in ways this was even worse. Because I was a disgraced Fae and there was no fate more horrifying than that for my kind.

I momentarily forgot all about my ruined reputation when Darius said my name behind me.

I turned, finding him standing there with his arm slung around Tory’s shoulders, his eyes as gleamingly brown as they had been before he’d been Star Crossed. My heart lifted as he drew Tory closer and not a single tremor rocked the earth, no sign of the heavens crying out to tear them apart. They were free of their bond, it was as clear as day, and I couldn’t have been happier for them.

“What did you do?” I asked in astonishment, my hand going to the place where the Leo mark had been branded on my skin for so many years. It was gone. My shackles broken at long last, my life returned to me and no longer pledged to someone else. And the weight of that truth only hit me now as I saw the truth in his gaze, that he really had done this. Somehow, he’d broken the bonds.

“I prayed to the stars and they answered,” he said with a smile brighter than I’d seen on his face in years. I’d almost forgotten he could smile like that, without the weight of a thousand burdens drawing it down.

“This makes no sense,” I said in disbelief, shaking my head as I stepped closer, unsure where things lay between us now. I didn’t know what we were without the bond, we’d been friends before it, but we’d changed so much over the years since then, what if we weren’t as close anymore? What if this broke us?

I forced those fears from my head, shooting forward with a burst of speed and punching him in the gut. He doubled over as I barked a laugh, shoving him upright, tempted to do it again just to prove I could, and the smirk on his face said he was up for the fight.

But before we could break out into a full-on tussle, the Heirs appeared, descending on him and pulling him and Tory into their arms, crushing them in a tight hug circle while Seth howled his joy. They all started to echo it until the crowd in the room were cheering and I stared on, feeling out of place as my heart seemed to shrink two sizes.

“All rejoice! The true queens and the Heirs to the Celestial Council are united at last on the path of freedom and prosperity for us all!” Geraldine cried, her voice bouncing magically around the room and causing more and more people to cheer at the sight of my best friend as I was pushed away from him.

The crowd shoved past me, knocking me further back while keeping their eyes averted from me and my throat tightened. I stared at Darius over their heads while Max scruffed his hair and Caleb jumped up and down with Seth bouncing around them.

Darcy made it to them next with Geraldine in tow and they all hugged again, practically spinning around in circles as Geraldine started singing.

“Oh a great and merry day has come! The stars shine brightly on us all, us all,” she sang and half the room joined her, apparently knowing this random song as she went on. “Oh now the gleaming moon has come! To glow upon us all, us all.” 

Seth howled louder and a chorus of howls carried up from a large group at the back of the hall who I recognised as the Oscuras. And if they were here-

“Must be sad having no friends.” A hand landed on my shoulder and I turned, finding Leon Night there with his long golden hair and broad chest puffed out. He’d been in Gabriel’s year at Aurora Academy and I’d played against him in Pitball a few times back when I’d been attending Zodiac, before he’d gone pro and ended up living the dream I’d always ached to live myself.

“I’ll still be your friend, buddy,” he said with a Lion’s grin. “It must be lonely back here. All alone, without people.”

“I’m fine,” I muttered, my eyes falling on Darcy as Seth lifted her up on his shoulders and Tory was lifted up on Darius’s a second later. My teeth ground in my mouth and I forced myself not to intervene as Darcy laughed, reaching out to hug her sister with happy tears in her eyes. Fuck, that girl deserved this. Both of them did. There’d been too much shit in their lives to wade through ever since I’d brought them to Solaria.

“I wouldn’t be fine if I was Power Shamed,” Leon said sadly. “I can’t think of a worse fate actually. I’d rather be eaten by acid slugs, or chomped up and swallowed by a Bear Shifter, or dropped from a really, really, really, really-”

“I get it,” I gritted out.

“Really high building,” he finished with a sympathetic smile. “Oh shit, gotta go, dude. I put glimmer glue in Dante’s poptarts.” He darted away into the crowd and I saw Dante’s huge form barrelling through the crowd as he tried to shout at Leon, but his lips were stuck together with a thick purple gloop so all he managed was a furious growl.

I watched Darcy until my eyes burned and I remembered to blink, slipping back into the shadows at the corner of the room. It was a relief to escape the disgusted glances that came my way, the backs turned on me and offering me insult upon insult as I was treated like a living plague. I tried not to care, but I did. Though I only had myself to blame for it. I’d known the fate I was dealing myself when I’d sat on that stand in court and proclaimed myself a monster. And I was sharply aware of how little I could ever really be to Blue again because of it.

So long as she becomes the queen she is destined to be, it will be worth it.

Xavier and Catalina arrived for breakfast though she remained concealed within her fake identity and a new wave of laughs and sobs broke out as they hugged Darius. For a moment there was so much peace in the room, it was hard to remember that we were at the start of what would likely be a bloody war.

I edged around the side of the cavern as the songs and dancing finally came to an end, making a swift exit out the door and moving into the darkness of the tunnel, not really wanting to endure everyone treating me like I didn’t exist and instead waiting in a dark alcove for someone to appear with a fresh coffee in hand. I’d shoot past them and steal it, then find the stores in this place to see if they had any of the ingredients I needed for the Zodiac Guild elixir. Then I could decide who might make good candidates to initiate into the Guild. I’d have to brew it from scratch again over the next six weeks and there were a few things I’d have to go and fetch myself, but it was something to focus on besides the feeling that now the bond was gone between me and Darius, he might not need me anymore.

Gabriel appeared walking down the corridor and I knew there was no point even trying to hide from him as his eyes moved immediately to me in the dark.

“That’s no way to make friends, Orio,” he taunted and I shrugged.

“I wasn’t looking for friends,” I said smoothly.

“Are you sure?” He gave me that twinkly Seer look that said he knew better than me, but he didn’t. If Darius wasn’t drawn to my company anymore then I’d Fae up and deal with it. Though even thinking that sent a dagger through my heart.

And what about Blue?

My gut tugged at the thought of her among the Heirs, laughing with Geraldine and her sister too. She looked like she was where she belonged at last and honestly, where did a Power Shamed loser fit into that?

“You’re too hard on yourself,” Gabriel growled, moving toward me and giving me a firm look.

“I didn’t say anything.” I folded my arms, hitching on my favourite give-no-fucks expression and he clucked his tongue at me like a mother hen.

“It’s your aura. I can read you like a book,” he said sternly. “But I can see you’re not in the mood to talk about it, so why don’t you go and do what you were planning to instead?”

I frowned. “I was planning something?”

He sighed like seeing everyone’s futures was exhausting sometimes. “The Zodiac Guild elixir.”

“Right, yeah. I’m gonna check the stores.”

“I’ve already gathered what we need from the stores. Right now, you need to go and get the rothium grass from the Wasted Mountain.”

“But I don’t need to add that ingredient for weeks,” I said in confusion.

“Trust me,” he urged, moving to walk past me but I caught his arm, giving him an intent look.

“How did Darius do this?” I asked, stumped as to how he’d pulled this off.

“Honestly? I’m unsure. I cannot see the stars’ decisions, so I don’t know what conversation he had with them and he wasn’t forthcoming when he emerged from the chamber where he made the deal. All he wanted was to reunite with all of you, so we made our way here.” He frowned, glancing away and I sensed there was something more he wasn’t telling me.

“What is it?” I demanded, my grip on him tightening.

He flashed me a smile, shaking his head. “Nothing, Orio. Just the Seer’s curse. Too many fates, too many unanswered questions.”

I nodded, letting him go, though I wasn’t entirely convinced by that answer. Gabriel knew when not to tell me things though in case I swayed the course of fate, so I had to trust that whatever dark destiny was troubling him could be resolved so long as we followed his guidance. And as he’d encouraged me to go and find the rothium grass, I guessed I was going on a field trip.

Gabriel walked away into the dining hall and I put on a burst of Vampire speed, tearing into the bathhouse to wash, dress and latch my Phoenix sword to my hip before zooming through the dark corridors and making it back to the door in the clock that let me out into the farmhouse. I’d hunted Nymphs a few times on Wasted Mountain before with Darius, and I wasn’t going to take any chances today.

I walked through the entrance hall, stepping outside into the icy wind and the four guards posted there looked to me with raised eyebrows.

“You can’t leave without permission,” one of them said, while the others glanced away from me, clearly trying to balance their duties with wanting to turn away from the Power Shamed Fae before them.

“Whose permission?” I growled in irritation.

“A Grus or a Vega’s,” he said, his upper lip curling in distaste at me. “Now get back inside, Power Shamed rat. Or there’s some rope in the barn if you wanna off yourself.”

“Good one, Jim,” one of the guards said as the rest of his little buddies had a little chuckle at that, though they didn’t turn to look at me again.

My fangs snapped out as I glared at this asshole who I was no doubt ten times stronger than, the beast in me raising its head and demanding I put him in his place. Part of being Power Shamed meant I wasn’t legally allowed to challenge other Fae, but as I was already a fugitive and gave zero fucks about the law at this point, I didn’t plan on abiding by the rules.

I shot forward, throwing out my fist, taking the savage route like I’d had to in Darkmore and catching the guy off guard as my knuckles connected with his smarmy face. He hit the snowy ground on his ass, his lip busted and dripping blood as he raised a hand to fight me off and the others all turned to look at last.

“You nothing scum, I’ll have you cast out of The Burrows for that,” Jim spat, blasting water magic at me, but as I’d predicted he wasn’t anywhere near as strong as me and I froze it with a flick of my hand, the jet of water turning rock solid and slamming down onto his leg. 

“Argh!” he wailed.

“What did you call him?” Darcy’s voice made my heart jerk in my chest and I turned, finding her striding out of the farmhouse, her blue hair fluttering behind her and flames blazing in her eyes. Eyes which were locked on the piece of shit at my feet.

“M-my lady Gwendalina,” Jim stammered, bowing his head like the dog he was. “I’m sure you’re quite uncomfortable being in the presence of your abuser. We can remove him from The Burrows. It’s no bother at all.”

“I asked you a question,” she growled, glaring down her nose at him and I swear I got a semi for her right there and then.

“I called him a-a nothing scum,” Jim forced out.

“He is more than you will ever be,” she hissed. “And if you speak to him like that again, I will have you cast out of The Burrows, do you understand me?”

“Y-yes, Lady Gwendalina.”

“My name is Darcy,” she snarled then grabbed my hand and stepped over him, towing me away from them while I stared at her with my pulse thrashing.

“You can’t come with me,” I said suddenly, realising Gabriel must have sent her here. “It’s not safe for you to leave this place so soon. Lionel will have the world hunting for you.”

She rounded on me with her gaze alight. “That sounded like an order.”

“Maybe it was,” I said, an edge to my voice.

“You don’t get to make my decisions for me,” she said, raising her chin as I stared down at her, the space between us alive with tension.

I sighed and we walked along, heading across the flat expanse outside the farmhouse until we made it over the magical boundary surrounding The Burrows.

“I’m just trying to protect you. I’m never going to stop doing that.” I pulled her to a halt as she took a pouch of stardust from her pocket.

“Well Gabriel said you can’t leave here without one of the true queens’ approval.” She arched a brow, taunting me and a growl rolled along my throat. Fucking Gabriel.

She turned away from me, tossing her hair. “I guess I’ll see you when I get back then.”

“You’re asking for trouble,” I warned, my cock twitching in my pants at her attitude. I wanted to rip through this tension between us and reclaim her, but I didn’t know if I had the right to do that anymore. We may have loved each other, but there were still too many reasons not to be together, not least that I’d had my status stripped from me and would never be able to offer her anything she deserved.

“Maybe I am,” she agreed, a dare in her eyes. She tiptoed up, so close her breath caressed my mouth and a hungry noise left me as I leaned forward to eat up the distance parting us.

I’d cut my heart out to claim that mouth alone.

“Think of the Wasted Mountain,” she whispered before I could try and steal a kiss and the image of it filled my head a second before she threw a pinch of stardust over us.

We were torn away into the fabric between worlds, spinning through a beautiful sea of stars before my feet hit solid ground again and Darcy landed lightly beside me, no hint of a wobble in her steps. I kind of missed my clumsy little princess, but as she stepped forward onto the loose shingle at the base of the mountain, her foot slipped and my wish was granted.

“Stoney fuckwits,” she cursed.

I shot forward to catch her with a grin, drawing her upright again and she glanced up at me with a tint of pink lining her cheeks.

“Well, who puts a load of shingle at the bottom of a freaking mountain?” she scoffed.

“Let’s blame the stars.” I smirked and a smile pulled at her mouth as she nodded.

We stood there half a second too long, still touching each other and lingering in the unspoken words between us which were starting to drive me to insanity. Then Darcy turned to look at the view waiting for us and I knew now wasn’t the time to bring it up. It took me a beat longer to pull my eyes from her to take in the mountain towering up above us which had supposedly been blessed by a Vega prince long ago.

“So where’s the rothium grass?” she questioned, walking toward a patch of greenery near an animal track.

“It could be anywhere on this mountain,” I said with a frown. “It’s not that. It’s pink.”

“Oh.” She stood upright then pointed to the animal track. “I guess we’d better get looking then.”

She ducked down the small path and I had to practically bend right over to fit along the overgrown track too where the thorny shrubs collided above the height of whatever creature had created this track. But as Darcy realised I was getting hooked on every thornbush we passed, she used her earth magic to part all the foliage around us, pressing it back so I could walk along without touching any of it.

We started climbing the winding track, hunting for the grass while my eyes occasionally strayed to Darcy’s ass, and I had to force myself to focus. But she was the definition of distracting.

We searched around every rock and grassy knoll, but there was no sign of the colourful grass we were looking for.

“I bet it’s right at the top,” Darcy laughed, looking out over the incredible view as we crested a high ridge.

“Well at least I’ll get to spend the whole day on this mountain with you,” I murmured.

“What?” she called back, glancing over her shoulder with the light spilling over her shoulders in a glorious haze. She was so fucking beautiful, it was like the stars had plucked her from my most desperate fantasies.

I opened my mouth to answer but then a rasping, sucking rattle sounded somewhere to my right and I fell deathly still. I locked eyes with Darcy and drew the Phoenix sword from my hip, my muscles coiling in preparation of an attack.

Nymphs.