Zodiac Academy 8: Sorrow and Starlight

Darkness was everywhere, pushing me down under a river of shadows that tried to snuff out who I was at my roots. But I was fighting to stay here, refusing to give up, because the moment I did, I’d never come back. This was the end of me, the Shadow Beast would take over and the fragments of my soul would be devoured by its power.

Every time I clawed my way back to the surface, the Shadow Beast’s will slammed against mine, forcing me back down. Or maybe it was Lavinia’s will, or the power of the curse. I didn’t know anymore. All I knew was that with every inch of power I gained against the Shadow Beast, it claimed triple back.

I couldn’t fight my way out. I couldn’t even see a path that might lead me back to myself anymore.

Blood hung heavily under my nose, and I was lost once more, chasing a dark haired man who flew above me in the air, calling out to me with words I couldn’t comprehend.

I hungered to kill him like it was written into the fabric of my skin. He would die in my jaws and this rage in me would be sated. It was eternal, this torment. And the only thing that could settle it was death.

My mind hooked onto the bloodstained girl who had laid beneath me just moments ago, and something cracked in my head, allowing me to see clearly again for a single second.

Tory.

I roared at the Shadow Beast in my mind, refusing to back down as I held onto that sliver of control. This monster had turned my own body against my sister, and I was going to force it to bow down to my might, because I was not submitting. I was not going to forget who I was again. I was not giving up.

I fought tooth and claw to regain control, my eyes falling on Orion where he stood above me on a gust of air, begging me to come back to him.

I’m here.

But I couldn’t get to him, no matter how hard I tried to escape the Shadow Beast, it wouldn’t relinquish me.

“Calm, little beastie,” Lavinia’s voice circled in my head. “Rest.”

The Shadow Beast’s grip on me shattered in a wave and I gasped as the shift flooded over me, my knees hitting the floor as I returned to my Fae form, my mouth wet with Tory’s blood and horror racing through me at what had happened.

The shadows coiled thickly around me, hugging my body even as I tried to banish them, their touch weakening me to the point of dizziness. If there was any magic left in me now, it was down to dying embers, and I certainly felt none of it present.

“I’ve got you, Blue.” Orion was there in the next heartbeat, pulling me close even as I tried to push him away.

“I hurt her,” I said, pain driving a stake into my heart. I was shaking, panic blinding me, consuming, devouring, swallowing as I became fully myself again.

“I hurt her,” I repeated, her blood in my mouth, my hands, everywhere. It was everywhere. I was frozen in shock, terror binding my limbs as I thought of the terrible, impossible possibility that she was gone. That I had ripped her out of this world, and nothing could ever undo it. If that was true, I would never recover. I couldn’t live without my twin, I wouldn’t.

Orion caught my head between his hands, and I stared at him, unable to blink, to do anything at all but tremble in the wake of what I’d done. My twin. My fierce, remarkable sister who had been my heroine more times than I could count. She was passion and resilience and fire set alight. She was my burning beacon, and I may have just doused her flames forever.

“She’s alive,” Orion spoke slowly and deliberately to me, forcing me to hear those words. “Caleb took her. He’ll heal her, I promise you, Blue.”

“I hurt her,” I breathed again, my mind stuck on that single reality. The memories were flooding in, of me holding her down, my claws breaking her skin, my bite deep and venom rushing from me into her.

“It’s not you, how many times must I tell you that?” He shook me a little and I drank in the honesty in his eyes.

“If I was stronger, I could have held it off. I’ve fought it off in the past. Why not this time?” I croaked, finding new words to speak, but they were weaponised, cutting me open as I faced this awful reality. That I was responsible for nearly killing Tory, and all I had now was the hope that Caleb would save her. But what if he couldn’t?

“This is a shadow curse,” Orion growled. “And I’m starting to think the entirety of the shadows drives this power. I thought your Phoenix could burn it out, but maybe the curse can’t be destroyed by will alone. Maybe it can only be broken by the terms set out upon it. You can fight with all the power of the stars in your veins, and still, it won’t be enough. I think perhaps there is only one answer to this, and it is me fulfilling Lavinia’s deal.”

“What if this is all a game?” I whispered my most desperate fear. “What if Lavinia knows that the curse will consume me before three moon cycles are up? That doesn’t break her deal. It doesn’t break the terms.”

He took my hands, drawing me closer, his eyes the most vivid I had ever seen them, like the night sky lay right there within his irises. “I will break this curse, come what fucking may. Do you hear me, Blue? It is a truth as certain as the sky is above us and the ground is below.”

I opened my mouth to answer that, to echo my constant fury over him offering himself up to this curse and hating that he had to go through hell for me to break it. But then a tug in my chest told me Lavinia was summoning me and my body turned to smoke before I could even try to resist.

Orion cursed, shoving to his feet and as Lavinia yanked on the tether of my soul, I was forced to answer her call, flying through the air towards a vent in the wall.

“Darcy!” Orion called after me, casting away the ice that covered the doors before I could slip away through the vent, I willed the Shadow Beast to take the path through doors instead. I rushed that way and Orion shot alongside me with his Vampire speed, following the dark fog I was lost to as I flew through corridors left and right.

I arrived before Lavinia and she forced the shift over me, a roar tearing from my lips that made the chandelier above tremble as the Shadow Beast took control once more.

I still had my mind, but for how long?

Lionel didn’t flinch, standing before us in the huge hall with thirty or more Dragon Shifters surrounding him in their Fae forms, dark blue robes hanging from their shoulders.

Orion came to a halt at my side, pressing his hand against my shoulder, his fingers knotting in my fur, and I kept hold of my mind, focusing on his presence as the rage in me simmered down.

“You did not consult me about this!” Lavinia screeched at Lionel, stepping closer to me.

The shadows danced in her hands threateningly and I realised that this was some kind of standoff. That the Dragons weren’t simply standing close to Lionel, but that they were surrounding him protectively, a few growls carrying from the open door at his back letting me know that there were even more of them close by.

Was this it? The moment when Lionel and Lavinia’s unholy alliance fell apart? Had she summoned me here to fight for her?

I worked to keep my head, though if she wanted me to attack Lionel, I couldn’t see me objecting to that. I’d savour the opportunity. Though the Shadow Beast didn’t try to take hold of me fully regardless.

“I am the king,” Lionel said calmly. “I do not need to consult anyone on my plans, nor do I see why you would have any reason to object to them.”

Lavinia gnashed her teeth together near one of Lionel’s Dragon guards and he raised his chin, a flicker of fear in his eyes, but he didn’t back down.

It was then that I noticed the Aries mark branded on Lionel’s guard’s left arm near the crook of his elbow. My eyes flashed to the next Dragon, then the next, realising what Lionel had done with a sinking, ominous sensation in my chest. No.

My eyes moved to Lionel’s arm last, and he turned it outward as if welcoming the inspection, the corners of his lips twitching up as Lavinia and I stared at the line of star signs which were now branded all the way up his inner forearm. All twelve symbols, some seeming thicker and darker than others, implying more souls with that star sign had been bonded to him. Holy shit, how many Dragons had he made into his Guardians? How many of them were now set to throw themselves between him and death when it came calling his name?

Orion’s fingers tightened on my fur as he noticed it too and I felt the keen rush of his magic tingling against my side, reminding me that he was free of his cuffs.

“I have ensured that I am safe from all enemies,” Lionel said smugly. “I cannot be touched.”

Lavinia flicked her finger and Lionel’s shadow hand lifted, latching tight around his own throat. At once, several Dragons ran to his aid, their combined strength dragging the shadow hand back from his neck and freeing him from Lavinia’s control.

She shrieked like an alley cat, raising up on a plinth of shadow and wailing furiously.

“You dare do this on the night when I have worked so tirelessly to birth you a worthy heir!?” she demanded.

I shifted my paws, looking to Orion, finding him baring his fangs at that news. Could this night get any worse?

“Then where is this heir?” Lionel demanded. “Bring him to me at once, my Queen, if you have fulfilled the promise you made.” I could have sworn there was a touch of mocking to the title he gave her, but it was hard to be certain.

Lavinia released a high-pitched noise that made me flatten my ears and growl in discomfort. A thump sounded in the room above us, the ceiling trembling from the weight of whatever had just landed on it.

Lionel frowned, peering up at the ceiling as heavy footfalls travelled overhead.

“He has likely found some bodies to devour in the wake of your little party,” Lavinia said bitterly, and I prayed those bodies didn’t belong to anyone I loved.

“Party?” Lionel spat. “An entire wing of the palace has nearly been obliterated, I have lost around thirty Dragons, and the amphitheatre lays in ruins. I may have emerged victorious this night, but the rebels will pay for their insolence in trying to assassinate the King of Solaria.”

“I do love when you get bloodthirsty, Daddy,” Lavinia crooned, her voice becoming honey sweet as though she hadn’t seemed set on death a moment before.

My hackles rose as Lionel’s new Guardians sized me up and Mildred stalked forward to the front of the line, raising her hairy chin and assessing me through beady eyes.

The thumping sound carried down the stairway beyond the room and I turned to look that way as everyone’s gaze fell on the door. It swung slowly open, revealing no one beyond it, but my senses told me to beware.

A grotesque creature arrived, scuttling across the ceiling, its features sharp among the shadow it was clearly made of. It was as big as a Dragon Shifter, its hulking form falling from the ceiling and landing with a thump at Lavinia’s side.

I fought the urge to recoil as the shadows sank into the thing’s skin, a man slowly appearing from the darkness, his face a picture of handsome cruelty. A demonic smile curved his lips and a sinister emptiness stirred in his gaze. He was naked, his powerful body marked with scars of shadow which seemed to pulse like living veins against his tanned skin.

“Hello, Father,” he purred, his voice a wicked seduction.

Every muscle in my body locking tight, knowing on some soul deep level that an apex predator had just appeared among us, his appetite for blood insatiable.

The Dragons all shifted protectively in front of Lionel, closing ranks, their eyes taking in this new, monstrous arrival and a low growl rolled from my throat.

“I named him Tharix,” Lavinia cooed, reaching up to brush her fingertips along his jaw and as I looked between them, I could see similarities, the slant of his cheekbones were just the same as hers, and the cruel curve of her lips mirrored in his. Though how the hell she’d birthed this fully grown man a matter of hours ago was beyond me. “It means prince in the language of old. Isn’t he perfect? Come closer, Daddy, say hello to your son.”

Lionel lifted his head, eyeing the monster with caution, but with a hint of intrigue too. “He does appear to be a powerful specimen,” he observed, his eyes roaming over every inch of Tharix’s body with approval, and I noted some similarities between them too, this impossible union of their DNA, all packaged up and ready to fight for them.

“But is he Dragon born?” Lionel added sceptically.

“He is of his father’s seed,” Lavinia replied proudly. “He is just as pure-blooded as you, my King, and he is gifted with all four Elements. Though I will admit, he is blessed with the gift of the shadows too.”

This dire reality closed in, the immensity of their offspring’s power unthinkable.

“Show me,” Lionel demanded, and Lavinia gave Tharix a curt nod, ushering Orion and I back to make room for him.

Tharix remained entirely still as we retreated, the Dragon Guardians all tensing as they remained in place surrounding Lionel, ready for an attack, but none came.

Instead, Tharix leapt forward with a feline pounce that became a shift so abruptly my heart leapt at the change.

A Dragon form burst from his body just as Lavinia had promised, its scales a matte obsidian which seemed to suck all of the light from the room into them, making it near impossible to define any details beyond his immense size and poised wings.

The Guardians closed ranks around Lionel, magic glimmering in the air as they threw shields into place.

“Oh my,” Mildred gasped, fanning herself as if she was flustered.

Tharix reared back, showing off the full size of him, my heart plummeting as I realised he was at least as large as Lionel in his shifted form, perhaps even as big as Darius had been. The roar which echoed from him was a thing of nightmares, screams breaking out in reply to it from all around the palace as servants and guards were terrorised by the mere noise which spilled from him. And that was nothing compared to the shadows pouring from that deadly jaw, coiling from his mouth in hungry strikes which I had no doubt would peel the skin from the bones of any Fae unlucky enough to find themselves within range of them.

“That will do, sweet pea,” Lavinia purred, shooting closer to the enormous beast and trailing a hand along his flank.

Tharix complied instantly, shifting back into his Fae form, that wicked smirk in place once more and now that I knew what lurked inside of him, I could recognise the darkness which peered out of his eyes. A nightmare given flesh.

“Magnificent,” Lionel breathed, stepping forward, causing his Guardians to scatter to make room for him. “Will he do as I say?”

“He is entirely obedient to your whims, my King,” Lavinia promised. “Try it out.”

“Break three of the Vampire’s ribs,” Lionel commanded, and I roared in answer to that as Tharix closed in on Orion and my faithful mate didn’t so much as concede a step.

“Don’t fight when he breaks your ribs, pet,” Lavinia commanded lightly as Orion tensed in preparation to attack the monster closing in on him. “This will count as part of my torture.”

Orion snarled and I swung around to protect him, placing my body between his and Tharix.

The horrible creature lowered to the floor in a crouch, scuttling beneath me and leaping to his feet at my back so fast that I could do little more than twist around, snapping my jaws at him. Lavinia cast a leash around my throat before I could pounce, yanking me back.

Orion gazed at the horrid new Heir as it approached him, Tharix casually prowling into his personal space before reaching out and gripping my mate’s sides, his dark eyes alight with excitement.

I thrashed, trying to get to Lance, and Lavinia laughed like we were playing some game, pulling me back once more as Tharix squeezed and Orion’s ribs broke with a snap, snap, snap.

Orion hissed in pain, his fangs bared, and the moment Tharix released him, he cast a blade of ice in his hand and slammed it into the monster’s temple with a roar of defiance.

Tharix crumpled to the floor with a thwack, blackish blood pouring from the wound. Lavinia screamed in rage, but Orion had obeyed her order to let Tharix break his ribs, she had said nothing to hold him back after it was done.

“Who released you from your cuffs?!” Lavinia screamed. “Come here this instant and do not cast a single spell more or I will cut off your pretty little Vega’s fingers and toes tonight.”

Orion stalked over to her, darkness in his eyes while glaring defiantly at Lavinia.

I flinched in alarm as Tharix twitched then began to move, death somehow having spared him as he slowly recovered, pulling the ice blade from his temple with a jolt before tossing it to the floor and returning to his feet.

The Dragons shared disconcerted glances, but Mildred clapped excitedly.

“Oh, he’s perfect, isn’t he Uncle Lionel?” Mildred cooed. “What a big strapping son you have. He is quite the catch too.” She fluttered her lashes at Tharix who seemed unaware of her existence, his gaze falling on Lionel like a feral dog hoping for a bone.

“He hasn’t gained my full approval yet,” Lionel said, eyeing the creature carefully before his gaze moved to Lavinia. “But well done, my Queen. I look forward to seeing his capabilities in battle.”

“You will enjoy his barbarity, my King. He has quite the thirst for blood.” She smiled widely, her eyes roaming over the Dragons around Lionel before she bowed her head in submission. “I will bid you goodnight. I must find my pet some new magic blocking cuffs before I punish him for hurting my poor baby.”

“I’ll come to your chamber once you are done with that,” Lionel said, his gaze roaming over her appreciatively, and I fought the urge to gag as their weird ass relationship turned on a dime once more.

Lavinia preened beneath his attention and she pushed her fingers into Orion’s hair absentmindedly, then yanked the leash around my neck tight, making me snap my teeth in fury.

I was forced to follow her out of the room, leaving Lionel and his beastly new Guardians behind while Tharix followed at my heels, his eyes two pits of nothing, no soul within them at all.

“Heal yourself, pet,” Lavinia whispered to Orion, and he raised a hand to do so, fusing his ribs back together, but when he dropped his hand, Lavinia caught it, threading her fingers between his and making me bristle.

We were taken back to the throne room, and the gates of hell seemed to close at our backs. This night was draped in despair, and I couldn’t escape the clutches of it.

I thought of Tory and tipped my head back, a saddened howl rising from my throat and colouring the air as black as this forsaken evening. My twin needed me, and I couldn’t reach her. We were a single entity torn in two and cast to opposite sides of an uncrossable river. I had to return to her, some way, somehow. Because without her, fate couldn’t change. I knew that from the depths of my being.

But until I could cut the Shadow Beast out of me and slay it once and for all, I couldn’t be close to her. Not now that I was one of her greatest threats.