Zodiac Academy 5: Cursed Fates
Cursed Fates: Chapter 44

As the school year drew to a close, exam season hit hard. There were Sphinx support groups for anyone suffering from a study addiction, constant Fae on Fae fights breaking out as people snapped under the pressure and a whole host of supposed study enhancing amulets, potions and spells were being sold around campus to any idiot gullible enough to buy them.

I’d retreated to King’s Hollow with the other Heirs as often as possible to study away from distractions. Principal Nova had even granted us permission to take rare texts from the Venus Library so that we could avoid the fan clubs lurking in the stacks and I was just glad to be able to effectively avoid Mildred in as many situations as possible.

The only downside to our segregation was that I was seeing a lot less of Roxy than I wanted. I still ran with her every morning and even though I hadn’t touched her again since we’d run up onto the cliffs and tried to deny the stars, it felt like a lot had changed between us since that day. She’d been the one to initiate that. And even though I was fully aware that she found it a lot easier to express herself physically than to open up emotionally, I now had every reason to believe she wanted both with me. It was a blessing and a curse.

With Lance gone, there wasn’t anyone available to dedicate much time into researching a way out of our Star Crossed status. Especially as he’d been hunting the archives for answers and half the scripts down there were in ancient languages that none of us could read even if we had the spare time to look. So that meant that effectively, any progress that might have been made in undoing the curse on me and Roxy had come to a grinding halt. Not that I was convinced there even was a way out of this, but I’d embarked upon a feeling which might just come back to bite me in the ass, rip my heart out and leave me choking on my own heartbreak in the end – hope.

The more I considered the idea that we could find a way out of this, be together somehow, the more my soul ached for it to be true. And no matter how much the rational part of my brain didn’t want to give myself to the feeling, I couldn’t help it. Every time I learned something new about her, I just came up with more questions to ask. Every time I caught sight of her, I just ached for her even more ferociously than the last time. I was lost to this idea. Lost to her. And there really wasn’t any coming back from that even if it really was all hopeless.

I’d asked her about the place she’d been living before coming to stay at the academy and she’d given me a half answer, calling it a dive and moving on without elaborating. It was eating at me that I hadn’t told her that me and the other Heirs had been there. The bag with her and Darcy’s belongings was sitting in the base of my closet, burning at my conscience every time I got clothes out. The problem was, I wanted to get her alone to talk about it with her properly and doing that was impossible. And I also didn’t want to sabotage her exams by possibly upsetting her during them. So for now, I had to live with the fact that I was a lying asshole. Then I’d beg forgiveness when I could admit that we’d been there, and offer her the chance to have a full conversation with me about it. I just hoped she wouldn’t be too upset by us intruding on her privacy and end up hating me all over again.

I’d been heading home more regularly recently too, wanting to check in with Mom and Xavier as much as I could. Fortunately, Father was away from home more and more often with Clara. He was searching for the Imperial Star but so far, he didn’t seem to have had any luck in finding it. We were doing our own research into its location too, desperate to lay our hands on it before him, but as it stood, I hadn’t found a single solid lead to follow in our search. I was growing afraid of the day he found it, because he was searching with such fervour that I could only imagine that him getting his hands on it would be disastrous. But unless we figured out how to find it first, I didn’t know what we could do about it.

I knew I was going to have to challenge him soon. But now that I didn’t have Lance to help me practice dark magic, I couldn’t risk trying to progress that training on my own. I still met with Roxy and Darcy to practice with the shadows, but it wasn’t the same. Dark magic was linked to the shadows, but the power of the bones and other spells of that nature had little to do with them. And I couldn’t risk the girls getting too close to the destructive power of that kind of magic. It was outlawed for a damn good reason. I just wished I had some other way to gain an edge over Father. But if I challenged him before I was ready, the punishments he’d rain down on me would be immeasurable. And his rage would circle out to encompass anyone I cared about too. I couldn’t risk his wrath falling on those I loved. When I struck at him, he had to lose. More than that, he had to die. And as much as it pained me to admit it, I wasn’t strong enough to win that battle yet.

We were finishing up our final exam – written Astrology – and as soon as this was done, it was all over. Then I was staring a long, lonely summer back at Acrux Manor right in the eye. 

To make it worse, I knew I was going to rank last among the other Heirs in a lot of my subjects. Particularly in the written exams. The four of us easily outstripped every other student in every subject in our class, but it was always a battle between us as to which one would steal the top spot. But with Lance so far away from me, the Guardian bond itched and burned with a desperate need which I couldn’t fulfil. It was like a gremlin breathing in my ear all the time, its rancid breath dancing beneath my nose and refusing to let me ignore it. Which was distracting to say the least. It had made studying damn difficult and even concentrating on my exams was proving close to impossible.

I was visiting him weekly, but it wasn’t anywhere near enough to sate the bond’s needs and my grades were going to suffer. Which in turn meant father would be furious. If the other Heirs bested me in too many subjects, rumours would start up about me being the weakest of the four. And though I knew that was bullshit and that the other Heirs would never try and take my position from me, Father hated any kind of scandal to do with weakness.

I sighed beneath my breath as I looked down at my completed paper and pressed my thumb to the bottom of the page to seal it with my magical signature. I caught Professor Prestos’s eye to let her know I was done before getting up and striding out of the examination hall which was on the ground floor of Jupiter Hall.

The other Heirs were lingering in the sun outside as they waited for me and even the fact that they’d all finished before me was an indicator of how much I was lagging.

“We’re free!” Seth howled as he spotted me and Max whooped in excitement as he shot himself into the air with a blast of air magic in celebration of the exams ending.

I laughed along with them, breathing a sigh of relief as I let the pressure of the exams slide from my shoulders. They were over. And even if I did end up ranking beneath the other Heirs, I’d still out do the rest of our class by a mile. I was capable of performing magic that even seniors couldn’t attempt, and I’d proven it repeatedly throughout the practical exams as well as showing it in the written tests. So there was no point in me worrying beyond that.

“I can’t wait for the party tonight,” Caleb said with a wide smile as he tilted his face back to let the sun kiss his skin.

I shrugged out of my blazer and loosened my tie for good measure as they all began discussing the party which was being thrown at the Shimmering Springs. It was being hosted by Max as Aqua House had won the most points this year and he was insufferably smug about the whole thing.

“I’m taking Grus as my date,” Max announced and we all looked at him in surprise.

“She said yes?” Seth asked, cocking his head like an excitable puppy.

“No. She has actually refused me about fifty separate times,” Max admitted. “But I’m just going to show up at her door and demand she comes with me. I even got the green light from Dad to date her publicly…assuming I can pin her down.”

“How the hell did you manage that?” I asked. Geraldine Grus and her family were so pro royals that I wouldn’t be surprised to find out she had Roxy and Darcy’s faces tattooed on her ass cheeks.

“I just told him how good it would look if one the Vegas’ biggest advocates suddenly jumped ship and started riding the Heir express instead,” Max replied innocently.

“That’s not what you want her to be riding,” Cal quipped.

“And there’s no way she’s gonna switch her allegiance,” I snorted dismissively.

“I know that…but my dad doesn’t.” Max grinned so widely that I didn’t have it in me to tell him that this plan sounded like a terrible idea which would only blow up in his face once his dad realised that Geraldine was firmly Team Vega. I wasn’t going to burst his bubble.

We headed toward The Orb and I trailed at the back of the group as I pulled my Atlas from my pocket and considered messaging Roxy. We generally didn’t message each other until the evenings when we were alone in our beds and we could concentrate on our conversations, but the freshmen had had their final practical assessment this morning and I wanted to know how her exams had gone.

Fuck it.

Darius:

What are you wearing?

I wasn’t really sure at what point that had become our standard conversation opener, but we hadn’t actually started sexting each other. A part of me really fucking wanted to, but every time we got talking, I got so caught up in all the things she said that I never quite went there. And I was afraid the stars would notice if we crossed that line and stop us from messaging each other too. I couldn’t risk it. They definitely hadn’t liked it when we’d used Caleb to get around their rules and I couldn’t bear losing this point of contact with her.

In answer to my message, she sent back a photo with the caption this is either hilarious or mortifying, but I’ve had a few tequilas so I’m going to let you decide. In the photograph, she was standing in the locker rooms at the Pitball stadium, pouting at the camera in an overly suggestive way as she wore my Pitball jersey like a dress.

My gaze roamed over her in it, taking in her knee length academy socks beneath it as well as the crumpled uniform tossed on the bench in the background. I swallowed a lump in my throat. I swear that girl was never hotter than when she wasn’t trying to be.

Darius:

You should keep it, it looks better on you.

Roxy:

I’m choosing to take that seriously. I need a new shirt to sleep in anyway, your other one is getting seriously battered.

I frowned as I tried to figure out what she meant by that. Was she saying that she’d been sleeping in one of my shirts? Because it really seemed like she was. And the idea of that made me grin like an idiot.

Darius:

Consider it a gift. Speaking of which, when are you going to go and see your bike? Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ FɪndNøvel.ɴᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

I knew I was asking her about the bike a bit too often, but it was niggling at me that she still hadn’t been to look at it. I couldn’t totally figure out why not. If she didn’t want it, she could have just told me to take it back, but if she did want it then why hadn’t she even been to look at the damn thing?

Roxy:

I have a gift for you too, so I guess we can swap…

I fell still as I read her message. Why did she have something for me? It wasn’t my birthday. I hadn’t done anything to earn a gift. I needed to send her a reply and I didn’t know what to say.

“Why are you grinning like someone just offered to suck your cock?” Seth asked me and my head snapped up as I tried to school my features.

“I don’t grin,” I replied, rolling my eyes at him. “I occasionally smirk. That’s about it.”

“Well, what are you occasionally smirking about?” Cal asked, shooting forward and snatching my Atlas out of my hand.

I cursed him, but he just laughed as he shot away to read it.

“Why does it feel like you’re gonna blush?” Max asked, reaching out to catch my arm as he tried to get a read on my emotions.

“Fuck off. I definitely don’t blush.”

“Tory’s bought him a present,” Cal cooed and I groaned as he started typing a reply to her.

“Give that back,” I grumbled without bothering to try and snatch it. He was too damn fast for me to catch him if he didn’t want me to.

“She’s gonna meet us at the parking lot in half an hour,” Cal said, tossing my Atlas back at me with a grin.

“Us?” I asked with a sigh as I looked down at the messages he’d sent. He’d called her sugar baby three separate times and ended each message with a row of ridiculous emojis and countless kisses. I considered messaging her again to explain that that wasn’t me, but the laughing emojis in her replies made me think she’d guessed.

“Yeah. You need a chaperone, remember,” Cal said, pointing up at the sky like the stars were listening in. And they probably were. Sparkly assholes.

“Why does that have to mean you douchebags?” I asked as we started heading for the parking lot.

“Because she’s bringing her little Ass Squad too,” he replied like it was obvious that we’d want to make this some huge group situation. Though I guessed we didn’t have much choice about that as we couldn’t be alone.

“Is Grus coming then?” Max asked instantly and Seth groaned dramatically.

“You seriously need to start playing it cool with that girl,” he said. “You’ve totally lost your game when it comes to her.”

“Her busty Barrys have him blinded,” I joked, happy to move the ribbing off of me and onto Max.

“I can’t help it,” Max groaned. “She’s like my own personal brand of fucking insane, curvaceous, utterly addictive Killblaze.”

“You’re comparing her to a drug addiction?” Seth scoffed. “The entire world is going to shit. You guys do realise that, right? We’ve told the whole school – no – the whole kingdom to pick between us and the Vegas and now we’re off to hang out with them and exchange little gifts and Max is gonna go down on their chief supporter and it’ll end up getting leaked to the press and then fuck knows what will happen.”

“For someone who’s complaining, you sound pretty damn happy about all of that,” I commented.

“I’m ecstatic,” Seth agreed with a wolfy grin. “The Vegas might be a total pain in our asses, but life has been so much more interesting since they came along.”

We all laughed at that and we upped our pace as we headed to the parking lot.

No one mentioned the fact that if we somehow managed to succeed in this little plan to force the stars to reconsider me and Roxy, we’d have a whole new problem. But I guessed none of us wanted to consider the implications involved with me ending up with a Vega. There was no reason to think this would even work yet anyway. And if it ever did…well, we’d just have to figure out how the fuck we were going to cross that bridge when it came to it.

We arrived before Roxy and her friends so we took up positions leaning on the hoods of our expensive cars as Seth switched on the ignition of his white Faezerati and started up some music.

Cal shot away from us and returned within two minutes with a crate of beer and I accepted one as he tossed it to me, trying to join in the conversation as we waited for Roxy to arrive.

A tingle of magic rushed over my skin as her presence set off the detection spell I’d set up around the bike a moment before the elevator doors opened.

Roxy was still wearing my pitball jersey as she stepped out with Darcy and Geraldine who were both stumbling a little from the effects of their celebratory drinks.

“There you are you lickable lobster,” Geraldine hiccoughed as she spotted Max, raising the tequila bottle in her hand to point at him.

Max grinned like all his dreams had just come true as she sauntered towards him, dancing to the music playing from Seth’s car as if she were in a night club instead of a parking lot.

Roxy snickered at her and Darcy offered me a half smile as she skirted me to snag a beer from the crate before hopping up to sit between Cal and Seth on the hood of his car.

“I finally got you here, then,” I said, stepping closer to Roxy as she watched me with interest.

“I’m weak,” she admitted. “I knew the moment I looked at the bike I’d be drooling all over it and riding it all day and night. So if I wanted to have any hope of resisting, I had to avoid it.”

“Is that how you feel about Darius too?” Seth called and I growled at him halfheartedly. This whole group hang out situation was seriously annoying already. I just wanted her to myself and the way she was looking up at me made me wonder if she was wishing for the same thing.

“Is there a reason you’re wearing my Pitball jersey?” I asked as my gaze raked over her.

“We decided to have a private celebration in the Pitball stadium for the end of exams,” she replied with a shrug. “We were playing a game of dares and Geraldine thought this was hilarious.”

My lips twitched with amusement as I glanced over at Grus who was looking pretty damn pleased with herself. In fact, all of them were staring at us and I cleared my throat as I looked away again, wanting to get some measure of privacy.

I pointed out the bike on the far side of the lot with a jerk of my chin and Roxy fought a smile as she fell into step beside me.

I watched her from the corner of my eyes as she approached the bike. I’d thrown a cover over it, but I was wondering if I should have put a bow on it or something too. But she didn’t really seem like a bows kind of girl and I wasn’t really a bows kind of guy either.

She bit into her full bottom lip as she stopped before the bike and I reached out to grab the cover as the others all fell still to watch too.

I tried to ignore the feeling of their eyes on us as I focused on her and I whipped the cover off while my gaze stayed trained to her face.

Her eyes widened and her lips parted as she took in everything about it from the bodywork to the engine to the custom navy blue paint job and the diamonds inlaid in the shape of her constellation over the engine cover.

“Holy shit, Darius,” she breathed as she stepped closer and ran her fingertip over the diamonds. “How much did this cost you?”

“I’d buy you fifty of them if I knew they’d all make you smile like that,” I replied dismissively as I stepped closer to her.

“This is a limited edition, they didn’t make fifty of them,” she scoffed, smacking my arm lightly as her gaze stayed glued to the bike.

“You wanna take her for a ride?”

“I’ve had a bit too much tequila,” she pouted.

“You can still start her up.”

Her gaze lifted to meet mine and the smile she gave me was all danger as she moved to straddle the bike, placing the key in the ignition.

She started it up and the deep roar of the engine filled the space as she closed her eyes and moaned in appreciation. She looked so freaking hot straddling that thing in my Pitball jersey that I was hard for her instantly and I damn near groaned at the fact that I couldn’t touch her.

She revved the engine a few times with a huge smile on her face before finally cutting it and letting our ears recover.

“I know I totally won this and I don’t have to thank you for it or anything,” she said as she looked up at me.

“But?” I asked.

“Thank you,” she replied, her voice rough in a way that made my dick twitch.

The way her gaze kept slipping to my mouth made me wonder if she was aching to close this distance between us as desperately as I was. I reached out slowly and plucked at the edge of my jersey so that it shifted against her skin.

“I like you wearing this,” I said as my gaze drifted over my name where it was splashed across her back.

“Is that so?” she asked, her eyes sparkling with amusement.

“Yeah. A bit too much,” I admitted and her gaze dropped to my crotch as she bit her damn lip again.

I groaned as I had to force myself to release my grip on the jersey before the stars set her new bike alight or something.

“What did you get for him?” Seth called and I growled at him irritably.

“Can’t you just be the kind of chaperones who just shut the fuck up and look at the wall or something?” I snapped.

“No chance,” Max called back.

“Don’t be a bothersome barracuda,” Geraldine chastised and that might have even been worse.

Roxy snorted a laugh and slid off of the bike. Although she claimed to have consumed too much tequila to drive, she didn’t seem drunk to me, so I was guessing she’d only had three or four shots.

“It’s…a bit of a strange gift,” she admitted hesitantly. “And you don’t have to accept it if you don’t want it.”

“Why wouldn’t I accept it?” I asked.

“Because it’s kind of permanent,” she replied.

“You’ve lost me,” I admitted.

“Right. Well, before Orion was…” She cut a glance at her sister apologetically before going on. “Before he left, he gave us some books on Phoenixes and our gifts and things we might be able to do with them. And a lot of it seems like speculation or myths or maybe we just haven’t figured it all out, but there was also stuff in this old script and – well, long story short, Darcy figured out that we can imbue things with Phoenix fire. And then I did a bunch of research and managed to find this dusty old book which detailed the way Phoenixes can block out interference from other Orders and Dark Coercion. So basically, I made this.” She pulled a large, gold bangle from her wrist which looked like a pair of Phoenix wings gilded in flame and spread wide to create a semi circle.

The Dragon in me rose to the surface of my skin as I instantly recognised the value of it and I had to work damn hard not to snatch it and growl mine at the whole room.

Roxy’s green eyes danced with amusement like she’d read that desire in my gaze and a smile tugged at the corner of my mouth as I waited for her to go on.

“Erm, yeah, it’s pretty and all but if you want the magic of it to work then you don’t get to keep it. At least, not like this,” she said.

“How then?” I asked as she pressed it into my hand and the warmth of the metal made my skin tingle.

“It’s called a Phoenix Kiss. And it’s basically a conduit,” she explained. “I think I can use it to place an ounce of my Phoenix fire beneath your skin. But when I do, the bangle will fuse with your flesh and brand you, kinda like your Guardian mark-”

“It would bind me to you?” I asked.

“No. It will bind you to an ounce of my fire. I’d gift it to you and the brand would keep it safe beneath your skin. There’s no link to me involved, I’d be giving up the flame I offer you for good. But without the magic of the brand, the fire would burn too hot and, erm, burn its way back out of you again…painfully.” She smiled sheepishly and I barked a laugh.

“Why would he want to risk your fire burning a hole in him just to get a new tattoo?” Seth asked from behind me and I huffed at the interruption. Why couldn’t they just pretend they weren’t here?

“Because once it’s living in you, it will work like it does for me. No one will be able to influence your mind. Not even-”

“This can stop my father from Dark Coercing me?” I breathed as my heart stumbled over itself.

“Yeah. At least, it should do, if I made it right…” Roxy gave me a shy kind of smile which didn’t have an ounce of bullshit to it and I didn’t think I’d ever been more furious at the fucking stars for stopping me from kissing her than in that moment.

“She made it right,” Darcy interrupted. “She must have gone over that magic a thousand times before she was willing to give it to you.”

“I just didn’t want to do it wrong and accidentally burn a hole in you,” Roxy explained, rolling her eyes.

“I would kiss you right now if the stars wouldn’t smite us for it,” I groaned as excitement surged through me and I had to physically restrain myself.

“Not near the pretty bike,” she agreed though her gaze fell to my mouth again like she was sorely tempted. “So, you want me to do it?”

“Fuck yes.” I made quick work of ripping my shirt off before offering her my right arm to do whatever she needed to.

The others all drifted closer, forming a circle around us as they watched but I ignored them, my gaze fixed on Roxy as she slid the bangle over my right hand and up my forearm until it was pressed to the bare patch of skin beneath the crook of my elbow.

“Ready?” she asked, looking up at me from beneath her lashes as if she was nervous.

“I trust you.”

She leaned forward and pressed her lips to the bangle, her black hair falling all around her and concealing my arm as a deep burn pulsed through the flesh where the metal was touching it.

I grunted as the intensity of the flames picked up and the burn slid beneath my skin and into my veins before rushing through my body like a storm until I could feel it everywhere.

I was well used to all kinds of fire, but I’d never felt anything like it before. It was wild and tempestuous, savage and free. I could taste it on my tongue and hear it crackling in my ears. It was all consuming and never ending and yet somehow utterly euphoric too.

Roxy pulled back, looking up at me hopefully as her flames finally settled beneath my flesh until they weren’t overwhelming anymore, just present. They danced with my own Dragon Fire and the sensation almost tickled as they skipped around my body.

“Well gobble my goose and call me Gertrude,” Geraldine breathed and as I looked down at my arm.

Where the bangle had been, I found a new tattoo on my flesh instead. A pair of stunning wings which almost seemed to ripple with life as they curved around my arm.

“Did it work?” Roxy asked, her gaze cutting to Max as she stepped back again to put distance between us before the stars intervened.

Max caught my eye before placing a hand on my shoulder and pushing happiness beneath my skin. He fed me enough to make me grin, then I started laughing harder and harder until it felt like I’d never stop. But that wasn’t right, I didn’t want to laugh, and the moment I decided I didn’t, I stopped. It wasn’t like putting up mental shields. The Phoenix fire didn’t work like that. It simply listened to my command, swept through my body and destroyed Max’s magic like it was nothing but tissue paper trying to stay firm before a flamethrower.

I stopped laughing instantly and Max grunted as he pushed more of his magic into me. The others started laughing around me, all except Roxy and Darcy whose own fire burned through his command to protect them from it.

When he finally gave up, I was grinning for a wholly different reason than his power.

“You set me free,” I breathed, staring at Roxy like she was some kind of mythical creature given flesh as I tried to figure out what the hell I could ever do to repay this. She’d just answered every wish I’d ever begged of the stars with a smile pulling at her lips and was offering me up a shrug in return like it was nothing.

“I wasn’t going to let you head back to that house with that fucking monster for the summer and be at his mercy,” she growled fiercely. Protectively. Like I was something she cherished and wanted to protect in the same way I ached to look after her.

I glanced at the others, but I didn’t really care that they were here to listen to this. They already knew how I felt about her, so why shouldn’t I just say it in front of all of them?

“I already told you I love you, Roxy,” I growled and her eyes widened as she looked up at me in surprise. “But now I’m telling you I want you too. Only you. No matter what it takes to make that happen.”

“Darius,” she breathed, her gaze flickering to the others as they backed away a bit to give us some privacy. I could have thrown a silencing bubble over us, but what was the point? I didn’t care if they knew how I felt about her. They were our family and despite all the reasons why they should have been encouraging us to stay apart, they’d been trying to help push us back together. Because when it came down to it, they cared about our happiness more than some fucking throne and I should have realised a lot sooner that that was more important too.

“I get it,” I said as I stepped closer to her. So close that we were almost touching. “I understand why you made the choice you did. Forever is a hell of a long time to give to someone you don’t trust. But what if forever was just a day? What if all we had was today and the clock was ticking down to midnight? What if giving yourself to me meant just that? Being mine until the strike of midnight. Would you be mine forever then?”

Roxy’s eyes widened as she looked up at me, dragging her bottom lip between her teeth as my heart thrashed against my ribs and I could only think of all the reasons she still had to say no.

“Why would you want to spend forever with me after what I did to you?” she asked, and I frowned at her as I tried to understand how she could doubt that. “You were offered true love by the stars and opened your heart up to it willingly, only to have me crush it in my fist. So why would you want a second shot at this at all?”

“Because in my heart I know I deserved the answer you gave me,” I replied honestly. “I wasn’t worthy of your love then and I’m still not worthy of it now. But if you gave me forever then I’d spend every second of it trying to be.”

She was looking at me as if she’d never looked at me before and I had to fight with everything I had to hold her eye and wait for her answer. Because I had to have it. I had to know if she was willing to try and fight this too or if I really had ruined everything beyond all hope.

Her eyes were wide and fearful as she looked up at me, but there was something else in them too. Something strong and fearless and unbroken despite everything she’d been through in her life at my hands and the hands of others.

“Yes,” Roxy breathed, her voice shaky like she was afraid of saying it out loud. “I can’t keep denying it anymore. I’m sick of denying what my heart wants.”

“Forever?” I confirmed, moving so close to her that the sweet scent of her skin enveloped me and I never wanted to exhale again.

“Forever,” she agreed, with a finality that weighed on us so heavily that for a moment I couldn’t breathe.

“Then we need to figure out a way to force the stars to reconsider,” I growled fiercely. I’d been fighting all my life for one thing or another, but there was nothing I’d ever wanted like the girl standing before me. And I was willing to fight for her until my dying breath.

The others started cheering and Roxy laughed as I rolled my eyes at them. The day that I could get her alone again would be an absolute dream compared to this goddamn chaperone hell.

“Gabriel,” Roxy said, her eyes shining with hope as she looked up at me. “He can give us a reading.”

My heart pounded as she grabbed her Atlas and sent him a message. Knowing she was as sure about this as me was making me feel all kinds of overwhelming emotions. And more than ever, I just wanted to wrap her in my arms and never let her go again.

“He’s going to meet us in the amplifying chamber,” she announced and I glanced at Caleb, but he was too interested in something Seth was saying to have heard her.

Roxy pushed through our friends and headed for the opening on the far side of the parking lot as she yanked my Pitball shirt off and climbed up onto the ledge in her bra and panties. She tossed a grin over her shoulder at me before she leapt out into the air and her flaming wings blossomed from her back as she took off.

I cursed as she sped away without me, kicking off my shoes and dropping my pants before folding them and clamping them between my teeth as I leapt out after her.

I shifted as I fell and I beat my wings hard as I raced after her while the others whooped and cheered behind us.

“Go yonder on a quest for true and brightest love!” Geraldine cried and I glanced back over my shoulder as she fell sobbing into Max’s arms. He didn’t seem to mind that at all and I shook my scaly, Dragon head as I charged after Roxy.

That girl was utterly fucking insane. But I had to admit she was growing on me a little.

By the time I landed beside the lake and shifted back, Roxy was already wearing my Pitball jersey again and she headed down into the amplifying chamber without waiting for me to pull my pants back on.

Gabriel was waiting for us in the Elementally balanced dome beneath the lake. I eyed him nervously as he waved a hand for me to take a seat opposite him beside Roxy without looking up from the deck of tarot cards he was shuffling.

“I can’t promise that I’ll be able to see anything,” Gabriel murmured as he cut the deck and held it out for us. “Whenever I’ve tried to see anything about Elysian Mates before, the stars have been less than helpful.”

“We just want to know if there’s any chance,” Roxy said as she reached out and took a card from him without hesitation. “Just the slightest indication that we could change this…”

Gabriel offered her a sad smile then looked at me. His gaze instantly narrowed and I got the distinct feeling that he was pissed at me.

“What?” I asked.

“You’d better mean this, Darius,” he growled. “If you’re not going to offer her the world then I’m not going to help you. And if you ever hurt her again, I’ll hunt you down, cut your balls off and wear them as a necklace.”

“Jesus, Gabriel,” Roxy muttered and I glanced between them as they seemed to be trying to communicate via eyebrow motions alone. It was weird.

“Am I missing something here?” I asked.

“He’s going to find out before the end of summer anyway,” Gabriel said with a shrug, his eyes on Roxy. “And he will keep it secret until we’re ready for the world to know.”

“Know what?” I demanded.

Roxy sighed and cut me a look. “During spring break, we kinda figured out that Gabriel is our half brother.”

“What?!” I yelled, my voice echoing off of the glass roof above our heads as Roxy arched an eyebrow at me. “You’re a Vega?” I demanded, looking back at Gabriel like I’d never seen him before.

“No. He’s our mother’s son,” Roxy said, rolling her eyes at me like I was being dramatic. “He’s also the greatest Seer of our time and we aren’t ready for Lionel to find out and paint a big fucking target on his back. So…”

“Shit.” I stared between them for a long moment then just swiped my hand over my face. “Anything else you’ve been hiding from me?”

They exchanged another look and I growled at them.

“Nothing you need to know right now,” Gabriel said, closing off the conversation as he offered me the deck. “Just focus on the question you came here to ask.”

I blew out a breath and forced myself to calm down, focusing on Roxy beside me. On how much I wanted her to be mine and what I’d be willing to sacrifice to make it so.

As I reached for the cards, one of them sang for me and I pulled it from the deck instantly.

Roxy placed her card down and none of us were surprised to see The Lovers looking up at us. I placed The Devil down beside it and chewed on the inside of my cheek. That wasn’t the end of the world, The Devil could represent restriction, but it could also mean addiction and I certainly felt like I was addicted to Roxy Vega.

Gabriel offered her the deck again and she placed The Tower down. Chaos, upheaval, personal transformations…the various meanings behind the card were the kind of things we could expect by trying to change our fate like this.

My next card was The Star which would have been good if it hadn’t been reversed. Despair, disconnection…failure, if I was reading it right, which I didn’t want to believe for a moment I was.

Gabriel’s jaw tightened and he offered Roxy the deck again. The Wheel Of Fortune. In reverse. Fuck.

Roxy chewed on her bottom lip and Gabriel gathered the deck without commenting, shuffling them again.

“I warned you,” Gabriel muttered, seeming irritated by the fall of the cards.

“Did you read an answer there?” I asked.

“Not really,” he huffed. “Heartache, chaos, carnage – that’s basically the recipe book for your relationship anyway. It’s certainly not a yes or no.”

Roxy released a breath of laughter as she drew another card. The Lovers.

This time Gabriel got her to draw every card and then he laid them out slowly, muttering beneath his breath as he interpreted them.

“It’s not looking good,” he admitted as he gathered the deck again.

“So how bad is it?” I demanded, but he just held the deck out for me without answering.

I went through another reading with him in silence and eventually he just huffed and gathered the cards up.

“Nothing,” he replied with a sigh. “Nothing concrete anyway. It’s like your fate is balancing on a knifepoint and until you tip the balance one way or another, I can’t see how this will play out for you. I won’t be able to get a better read than that unless something changes. And even then…”

“What?” Roxy demanded.

“I still don’t know how much the stars will reveal. I think that this is just something you’ll have to try and figure out together.”

Gabriel’s shoulders dropped and I huffed out a breath as I turned to look at Roxy. Her jaw was set in that stubborn way which I’d come to know as her don’t fuck with me look. It was actually pretty hot when she didn’t have it trained on me.

“I can try scrying,” Gabriel offered. “And tealeaves. I’ll get a crystal ball too and…”

I frowned at him as he trailed off and fell unnaturally still, his eyes glazing over as he was lost to a vision.

“Fire,” Gabriel growled in a voice which echoed off of the walls around us and sent a shiver of dread coursing down my spine. “Everything you know and love burning. Chaos and carnage. The end of all you seek. The rise of The Devil.”

“What?” Roxy gasped, reaching for him, but I snatched her hand and yanked it back. I knew better than to touch a Seer when they were lost to a vision.

There was a strange smell in the air like sulphur and the iron tang of blood.

Gabriel gasped and tipped his head back, looking up at the glass dome above our heads.

We looked up too and my heart leapt as I watched the water writhing against the glass until a vision appeared within it.

Roxy’s fingers tangled with mine and I grasped her tightly as a ripple of dark energy coated the room.

I watched as the vision showed my father, lifting something wrapped in a red cloth and holding it close to his chest as triumph blazed in his eyes. The stars screamed and cursed as he began to unravel it and I shook my head in a fierce denial as the object he held bent them to his will.

The heavens turned against everyone we cared about. I could only stare as they showed us Lance in prison, silent threats lurking all around him and growing more dangerous the longer he remained behind bars. Darcy fell into a well of sorrow and rage, lashing out against the world without a care for her own fate. The other Heirs and Xavier were swept up in the carnage as bad luck trailed them, keeping them from happiness and putting them in danger time and again.

Meanwhile, luck favoured my father. He wielded the Imperial Star and used it to achieve his plans as he cast my mother aside and rose to the throne with Clara at his side. 

A shadow fell over the whole of Solaria as his power grew and grew and even though I knew the visions couldn’t predict the movement of the Nymphs, I felt in my heart that it was their influence I was watching.

“Chaos, carnage, despair, death,” Gabriel’s voice echoed off of the walls and an unbearable coldness slid into my veins. “Unless you find the Imperial Star first.”

The vision faded and my gaze slid to Roxy’s as she looked back at me with a fearful look in her eyes.

“Is he going to win?” she breathed, tugging her hand back out of mine like she was going to bolt, but I moved to block her escape.

“Wait,” I begged, my voice cracking as I tried to get my head around what we’d just seen. “There has to be something we can do. Maybe if-”

“What if it’s already too late, Darius?” she demanded. “If his power grows like that he’ll kill me. He’ll kill Darcy. I can’t let that happen.”

Gabriel panted as he shook off the effects of the vision. “He hasn’t found it yet,” he growled. “There’s still time. Still things that could change this fate.”

“What can we do?” Roxy asked, shifting forward like she wanted to comfort him from the horror of the vision he’d just been subjected to.

“I…” Gabriel concentrated for a moment, his eyes glazing before he huffed in frustration. “The exact answer is hidden from me. But I do know that he’s on the right trail and if we don’t come up with a way to draw his attention away from his search then we won’t have the time to find it before him.”

“How long until he finds it?” I demanded and Gabriel’s gaze unfocused as he dove back into the swirling current of his visions to try and find our answer.

“Three weeks. Unless you manage to stall him,” he replied finally. “There are six ways this can go and only two of them will stop him from finding it in that time frame. But the price of stalling him will be high.”

“What?” Roxy demanded. “What is the price?”

Gabriel frowned as he hunted for the answer and when he finally gave it, my blood ran cold.

“A royal sacrifice,” he announced. “Of the highest kind.”

“It won’t come to that,” I growled, refusing to even consider it. No one would pay in blood and death to stop my father. He’d caused too much pain already.

“That’s all I know,” Gabriel said, dropping his head as he fought against the weakness brought on by the intensity of the vision.

“Then we’ll find the star before him,” I announced. “Three weeks is plenty of time to screw with his fate.”

Roxy watched me with wide eyes as I got to my feet and strode from the room, leaving her to care for her brother.

It tore at me to abandon her after I’d just sworn to fight for her, but I had to figure out how to find that fucking Imperial Star before my father did. Because as much as I’d been raised to hate and fear the blood of the royals, I knew now that the real monster in this kingdom had always been much closer to home.

And I refused to let him hurt Roxy or her sister while I still drew breath.

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