Zodiac Academy 7: Heartless Sky

I stared at Darius, shocked into silence as fear made my lungs cease to work. Darcy headed after her sister, her wings bursting from her back as she chased her into the sky and I took a step towards Darius, but the Heirs got their first, surrounding him like a pack of Wolves and demanding answers. I couldn’t hear them though. I couldn’t hear anything but the ringing in my ears as I tried to process the fact that one of my best friends in the whole world had traded his life and was going to fucking die.

And the worst thing was, I should have known. I should have realised the bonds wouldn’t be broken for nothing. And deep down, maybe I had. Maybe I hadn’t pushed him on the subject because I knew there was a price and I couldn’t bear to know the truth of it. Or maybe I was just a shitty fucking friend who hadn’t realised this whole star damned time that there was a secret lurking in his eyes. Because it was so fucking obvious now. He’d been evasive, he’d made comments I’d shrugged off, he’d even said goodbye to me though I’d put that down to him talking about worst case scenarios, but now it made a whole lot of sense that left my head spinning.

“Noxy,” I turned to Gabriel and he reached out with pain in his eyes, gripping my arm as Leon gathered up Rosalie and Dante, the three of them heading away inside. “You knew?”

“I’m so sorry, Orio,” he breathed. “Really. I am. It wasn’t my place to say.”

I nodded, my head hanging as Seth’s mournful howl filled the sky and I felt the pain of that noise cleaving my chest right open down the centre.

“There’s no way to stop this?” I asked Gabriel even though he’d said it already, but I had to hear it again, because surely there had to be a chance. Even one percent of a chance. Some fate that could spin on a coin and change for him. But he just shook his head sadly, closing that tiny window of hope in my heart and bolting it shut.

The Heirs took it in turns to embrace Darius and Caleb went to sit on a boulder, his head sinking into his hands as Seth hurried to sit at his side and nuzzled into him. Max spoke in a low tone with Darius, his hand on his arm like he was syphoning away some of the emotions raging within him and I picked up the odd words about him offering to make this easier for everyone if that was what Darius wanted. But I didn’t want that. If this was really going to happen, then I was going to face every soul wrenching slice of it. I wasn’t going to shy away from the pain, even when it was the most tempting thing in the world to cling to denial and use it as a pacifier. But Darius’s eyes said it all and as he met my gaze and inclined his head in an offer for me to come closer, I gave in to the need in him, striding forward and wrapping my arms around him tight.

“Fuck you,” I snarled in his ear and he clapped my back as emotion burned all the way down my throat into the pit of my stomach.

“I’m so fucking sorry, Lance.”

“You don’t get to be sorry, you asshole,” I ground out. “Because I know why you did it.”

“You’d have done the same thing,” he said and I wanted to punch him in the head, but instead I held him more firmly, refusing to let go, terrified of the moment hanging over us in the future where I’d never get to hold him like this again.

“What can I do?” I asked helplessly, wanting to solve this like I always wanted to solve everything. I wanted to dive into my books and search for an answer, I wanted to shake Noxy until he came up with one too, because doing nothing wasn’t an option.

“Don’t change,” he begged. “Don’t treat me like a dying man. Just be you, the Lance Orion I fucking love, who tells me when I’m being an asshole and tries to convince me to share the throne with the Vegas.”

I laughed weakly, still not letting go of him.

A horrified whinny broke through the air and I turned, finding Xavier there running along with Catalina at his heels. Caleb stepped out after them, a grim look on his face that said he’d fetched them and told them the news.

“Darius, tell me it’s not true,” Xavier demanded and I released his brother, letting Xavier step up and grab Darius by his shirt, fisting it hard as he bared his teeth at him.

“I’m sorry, Xavier,” Darius said heavily as Catalina collided with him, sobbing so loudly it seemed to fill up the whole world. And when Darius explained once more, Xavier sagged against him, clinging to him as cried into his brother’s chest and somehow that was worse than feeling it myself. Seeing everyone fall apart around him. It was like standing at his wake, only he was alive and staring back at us. But his fate was just as sealed, just as impossible to change.

Gabriel slid a hand onto my shoulder and guided me away. I knew I had to give Darius time with his family and the Heirs drifted after us too. And as we headed inside, I glanced back at my friend, knowing I would never be ready to say goodbye to him.