Zodiac Academy 7: Heartless Sky
Heartless Sky: Chapter 20

I sat in Darius’s lap, my forehead pressed to his as our heavy breaths mingled. I smirked to myself as I tried to summon the energy to dry us out after I’d managed to distract him enough to freeze him to a chair before climbing into his lap and taking control as I rode him to a climax that had made my fucking head spin while the heat of his Dragon worked to melt the ice away. Safe to say, it had been hot as hell and we’d both ended up drenched by the time he fought his way free and was coming inside me with a growl that made my entire body shiver with pleasure.

His magic was still thrumming within my skin and I rested my hands on his chest, feeling the solid thump of his heartbeat as his hands lingered on my waist and we remained there, enjoying the feeling of being so connected to each other.

It had been almost a month since Darius and Xavier had rescued the Pegasus herd from the academy, and since then a lot of time had been taken up with rescuing more of their kind from Nebular Inquisition Centres and using tip offs we’d received to stop Lionel’s persecution of their kind.

Gabriel and his family had been working to test the extent of Vard’s Sight, showing up at rallies and press conferences to try and strike small blows at Lionel that tested Vard’s abilities. They couldn’t hit very hard considering Lionel never went anywhere in public without having protective spells around him or anti-magic zones forged by the FIB, but the newspapers were filled with images of the false king covered in Griffin shit, splattered with Victoria sponge cake and even covered in glue that was mixed with Pegasus glitter. I wasn’t entirely sure what Gabriel was learning about Vard’s abilities, but whatever it was, it was sure as shit funny to see Lionel’s day ruined time and again for the sake of it.

Darius and I were meant to be meeting the others in Darcy’s room to discuss what to do about striking back at Lionel, but then Darius had slapped my ass and told me he couldn’t wait to own it later and I’d seen that domineering Alpha glint in his eye, so I’d been forced to remind him who was in charge in this relationship. And that was me.

“Sometimes I wish the Savage King had never died,” he murmured, almost to himself as he kept me close. “I think about how different everything would have been if he’d managed to stop my father before this all happened. How much longer I would have had with you…”

I sighed, shifting my fingers up to his jaw and tilting his chin so that he looked at me.

“We have all the time we want now,” I said. “The past is done. We can’t change it, so why think about it?”

His brow pinched and he slid his hands up my spine until he was caressing my shoulder blades where my wings lay dormant beneath my skin, making me arch my back and moan softly in pleasure.

“Roxy, on Christmas Day, when I thought-”

A banging sounded at the door and I turned my head to look towards it as Max called out to us.

“I’m taking this break in the rampant lust to mean you’ve stopped fucking and are just doing the cuddling shit – so stop making us all wait for you and get your asses in here so we can figure out how to do this.”

I breathed a laugh, unable to even feel bad about making them wait as the man in my arms tightened his grip on me and I looked back to him. We’d had to wait a long damn time for this taste of happiness so I was going to savour it as often as I could.

“Give us ten minutes,” I called.

“No,” Max snapped. “Darius will be good to go again in five. Then it’ll be a whole other round of us watching the damn walls rattle while Gerry tells us tales about the gardeners who have watered her fucking lawn, and I swear to the moon I will go on a killing spree if she brings up a single fucker other than me.”

“It’s super weird that you know how long it will take me to get hard again, asshole,” Darius called back, a laugh colouring his voice.

“It’s super awkward for me to be feeling so much lust all of the time too, but you two literally never stop, so here we are.”

I laughed as Max’s footsteps moved away from the door and Darius cocked his head at me.

“He’s wrong anyway,” he said, shifting his hips beneath me so that I was left with no illusions as to how hard he already was, and I bit my lip at the temptation in his dark eyes.

“You were saying something about Christmas,” I said, trying to keep my damn head because we really were running late at this point.

“Forget it,” he said, shaking his head slightly. “It was only about how fucking amazing you looked when I saw you waiting for me at the end of that aisle. I know it wasn’t ever meant to be our wedding day, but I’ve spent years knowing I was going to be married off to that hag Mildred and I can’t tell you how many times I fantasised about it being a girl like you.”

“Like me?” I teased but he didn’t smile back at my playful tone, only pushed up until his lips were brushing mine and my breath was catching in my throat.

“No. Not like you. It was you. Even before I ever laid eyes on you, it was you, Roxy. Only ever you.”

He kissed me and I fell for him. Not in the way I already had, but in this utterly captivating, moment of clarity kind of way which let me know right down to the roots of my soul that it was always going to be him for me too. This was it now. Me and him, bound together in a way that we didn’t need the stars to grant us, because it was ours and we’d chosen it, fought for it and won it with blood, pain and heartache and no mate bond gifted to us by the heavens could ever compare to that. I didn’t want silver rings in my eyes. I only wanted this man before me and the knowledge that we were the ones who had fought to claim one another without needing any help or guidance from any celestial beings. Because it was ours. And no one could claim it but us.

I pulled back reluctantly, tasting him on my lips and letting our magic coil together in a mixture of fire and air that dried us out and left my hair looking a lot less recently fucked.

Darius pushed to his feet, lifting me as easily as if I weighed nothing and striding across the room as I wrapped my arms around his neck and let my gaze run over the strong features of his face, the dark stubble lining his jaw, the frown which never seemed to entirely abandon him.

He placed me down beside the wardrobe that Caleb had built for us and pulled on a white t-shirt and some black sweatpants, then took some clothes out for me. I smirked at him as he dropped to one knee and dragged a pair of black panties up my thighs, dressing me with a dangerous look in his eyes that promised he’d be the one undressing me again soon enough.

He helped me into a pair of stonewashed jeans next, standing slowly and tugging them over the curve of my ass before buttoning them for me, tugging me forward a step by the waistband so that he could steal a kiss.

I moaned into his mouth as his hands caressed my breasts as he kissed me, tugging on my nipples just enough to make me ache before breaking our lips apart and pulling a long sleeved green crop top down over my head.

“I know what you’re doing,” I accused, looking up at him as he carefully pulled my long, dark hair out of the collar of my shirt.

“What’s that?” he rumbled, his lips brushing my ear.

“You’re trying to get me worked up so that you can force me beneath you again later on and you can go all Alpha on me.”

“Don’t pretend you don’t like it, Roxy. You always come the hardest when I have you pinned beneath me.”

He moved back before I could punch him, his deep laughter making me want to smile and battling against my desire to beat his big head in with my shoe. I decided on a nice midpoint and flipped him off instead, kicking my high-top sneakers on and striding out of the room ahead of him.

Darius only seemed more amused by my bratty behaviour, and I made a mental note to stop letting him get away with his shit with me so easily. But it was a lot harder to stay mad at him than it used be these days thanks to all the freaking orgasms he gave me. I’d literally been yelling at him, calling him a lizard asshole with an ego the size of one of Jupiter’s moons the other day, and he’d told me to keep insulting him while dropping to his knees and pushing his head beneath my skirt where he proceeded to make me forget why I’d even been angry with him in the first place. I was sure that I’d remember at some point and give him hell for it again, but as of now I was still blinded by the memory of that orgasm and couldn’t recall for the life of me why I’d been intent on calling him every name under the sun.

I pulled open the door to Darcy and Orion’s room and my twin looked around at me, rolling her eyes dramatically while I just shrugged like I was as innocent as pie and slipped into the room, taking a seat beside Caleb who was perched on the couch alone.

He gave me a smile, shifting his posture and dropping his arm along the back of my seat as the others all greeted us or muttered less than subtle commentary on how long we’d made them wait.

“I’d say I’m sorry, but I’m not,” Darius said with a shrug as he took a seat on the other side of the room to me beside Orion, his gaze flicking from me to Caleb as he growled a little warning which I was guessing was aimed at the arm which lay over the back of my seat.

Caleb ignored him, the corner of his lips lifting in amusement as he looked to me instead of the Dragon asshole. “We’ve just been discussing the issue we have with the Nymphs being tainted by the shadows,” he explained, pointing to Diego’s hat which Seth was currently sniffing while he sat cross legged on the bed. “Because if your little knitwear loving friend wasn’t an evil, mindless creature when his hat was helping him stay grounded, then it makes sense that the shadows are at least in part to blame for the Nymphs all acting so psycho all the damn time.”

“They’re still the bad guys though,” Max added, drawing my attention to him where he sat beside Geraldine. “Whatever way you cut it, they get their magic by stealing ours and they do so by killing us.”

“Oh of course your simple little sausage of a mind would see it as so,” Geraldine chastised. “But our dear Diego didn’t probe anyone while he was at the academy. He didn’t slip so much as a digit into any orifice of mine and I was in his company on many an occasion.”

“You were literally attacked by a fucking Nymph the night he tried to drug the twins,” Max said in outrage and Geraldine sighed loudly while Orion swiped a hand down his face like he was praying to the stars to give him strength.

“In that vision we saw of Diego getting his powers from that Fae girl Alejandro had locked in his murder shed, he felt the shadows and heard the call of the Shadow Princess for the first time. So what if him using his probes like that was kinda like us using our Order gifts for the first time? So it awakened that side of him and his connection to the shadows which gave her a way in?” I suggested.

Orion nodded thoughtfully, leaning forward and tapping his finger against the book which was laying there, the spine of it encrusted with what looked like emeralds. “Over the last few years while me and Darius have been out hunting the Nymphs, we have noticed them gathering dark objects – the kinds of things that could easily be linked to the shadows. Diego mentioned his family treating the Shadow Princess like she was some kind of deity, so what if they were answering her calls, using those objects to help link themselves to the shadows more firmly so they could hear her better? It would have brought them closer to the creature they’d chosen to worship while allowing her to gain greater influence over them at the same time as she tried to find a way to cross back into the Fae realm.” sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ ꜰindNʘvel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

“There has to be more to it than them just linking up a few dark objects to one another,” Darius said. “The few times we caught them with something like that they’d always been carrying it. So what if they were trying to take them somewhere?”

“So how can we figure out where they were taking them?” Darcy asked, twirling a lock of dark blue hair around her finger.

“By golly, I think I know,” Geraldine gushed, raising her hand like we were in class and she had an answer to offer up to the teacher. Orion fell back into his professor role without even seeming to notice and pointed at her, giving her permission to speak. “We catch one of the dastardly Daniels and our very own bothersome barracuda uses his gifts to take a root around in its Nymphy noggin!” She looked to Max with an excited expression and he raised a brow.

“You want me to interrogate a Nymph?” he asked, looking kind of excited by the challenge in that suggestion.

“That could work,” Seth said keenly, pushing himself up and bouncing on the bed a little. “You could go full Siren on its woody little ass and dig all of their secrets right out of its brain.”

“That didn’t go so well when our parents tried to interrogate one,” Caleb pointed out, shifting forward in his seat so that his knee knocked against mine and Darius growled at him in warning again.

“That is because your parents, much like the four of you, have no finesse,” Geraldine cried. “You don’t catch a trout on a hook and expect it to lead you back to its lair. You slide a slippery worm down its blowhole and tickle its tentacles until it’s offering you its secrets as willingly as a wildebeest.”

“Trouts don’t have blowholes or tentacles,” Max muttered in confusion and Geraldine groaned dramatically, throwing the back of her hand over her eyes and almost hitting him in the face with her elbow.

“Heavens save me from the linear minds of men!” she cried.

“I think what Grus is saying is that you should get the Nymph under your thrall before it even realises you’re there,” Orion translated as I laughed. “So that rather than trying to probe anyone or attempting to hide its secrets, it just wants to offer them up to you.”

“It won’t hurt them, right?” Darcy asked in concern, and bless my fucking sister for her sweet soul. I mean, she’d killed a bunch of Nymphs  – like, a whole bunch – but I knew since seeing Diego’s side of things she was worried about attacking someone innocent. And I guessed she had a point.

“It won’t, beautiful,” Orion said, looking at her like he’d just fallen for her a bit harder.

“You’re gonna have to seduce a Nymph,” I said, barking a laugh and pointing at Max who scowled at me.

“Fuck off,” he growled. “I’m not doing that.”

“You don’t think you can?” Darius taunted and Max bristled.

“I could seduce you away from Tory if I had a fucking mind to, asshole. Don’t doubt my power.”

“Prove it,” I said.

“You want me to seduce Darius?” Max teased and I glanced over at my big Dragon boyfriend, wondering if my jealousy could take a backseat long enough for me to enjoy watching that show before my gaze fell on Seth who was still bouncing about like a puppy on the bed behind him.

“Nah. I’ve got a better idea,” I said. “You should make Seth and Cal hook up instead.”

Seth’s lips popped open and he gave me half a death glare mixed with half an I love you glare while I just smirked at my master plan. Subtle? Not so much, but genius all the same.

“Too easy,” Max said dismissively, waving me off and ruining my master plan as Caleb straightened in his seat beside me.

“So are you gonna get us the information we need or what?” Orion asked, cutting through our game with his bossy professor tone.

“Is it information or Nymphormation?” I asked, barking a laugh at my own joke and Darcy fell apart with me while the others just looked at us like we’d cracked. “That was fucking funny,” I grumbled when none of them joined in.

“It wasn’t, babe,” Seth said, shaking his head at me like I was some poor pathetic soul. “You’re not the funny one. Just try and stick in your snarky, bitchy lane, yeah? It suits you better.”

I opened my mouth to protest that, but Darius turned and punched him in the arm before I could. “Don’t tell her she can’t be funny, dickhead,” he warned like my own personal dark knight.

“Well tell me this, Darius,” Seth said seriously, looking him square in the eye. “Did. You. Laugh?”

Silence followed as Darius glanced at me, knowing full well he hadn’t laughed, and I tried to look pissed off over that fact as the others all fell apart. Caleb broke first, shoving me playfully as I tried to hold out on my indignation over what had been a perfectly valid joke, but I gave in as Seth leapt on top of us and I found myself at the bottom of a dog pile a moment later.

I felt Darius leaping onto the pile as the air was driven from my lungs and I kicked and punched before he managed to drag the others off of me and toss them on their asses, stealing the spot Caleb had been sitting in and tugging me into his lap.

“Papa has been getting regular reports on Nymph movements and he has the locations of several known ragamuffins who the false king has given lodgings to near The Palace of Souls. We could sneak up on one of them like two geese looking for a gander,” Geraldine suggested, her eyes bright.

“Maybe you should go without Grus,” Orion suggested as Max got to his feet, seeming more willing to do it now that Geraldine was up for tagging along with him. “So that you can keep your mind on the task of seducing the Nymph instead of her.”

“Oh good gracious, you’re right, oh shameful one,” Geraldine cooed, instantly dropping back into her seat. “Papa will give you their location and I will stay here so as not to distract you from your gallant work.”

“Great,” Max grunted, heading towards the door. “Anyone wanna come with me then or am I just going alone?”

“Fine, I’ll come,” Darius said, getting up and placing me back in my own seat, while keeping a hand on my shoulder like he was planning on forcing me to stay behind, but I wasn’t really interested in sneaking up on Nymphs and watching Max do his thing, so he needn’t have worried about that.

“You boys have fun,” I called as Seth and Caleb got up too, the four of them exchanging grins at the thought of their little hunting trip.

“You coming, Lance?” Darius asked as they made it to the door, but he shook his head.

“I think I found something in this book earlier, but I need a bit more time to make sense of it so I’ll finish that,” Orion replied, his grabby little hands already curling around the gemstone book possessively and I couldn’t help but grin at him for being suck a geek.

“You’re too cute.” Darcy kissed him on the cheek and he smirked at her.

“I think I’m gonna go for a swim and have a nap then,” I announced, looking between the girls. “Wanna join?”

“I’m in,” Darcy agreed as Lance opened the book and stuck his nose into it, seeming to have forgotten we were here already.

“Well ruffle my feathers, I can’t say no to some girl time with my queens,” Geraldine gasped and I grinned as we walked to the door.

“I’ll text Sofia and Angelica,” Darcy said, taking out her Atlas and I smiled, peace washing over me as we headed down the corridor.

This place might have been a temporary reality away from the war raging up above us in Solaria, but it was a haven I was damn happy to enjoy for as long as I could. Because down here with my sister, Darius and my friends, it was as if time had stopped and everything was so perfect I just wanted to press pause and stay here forever.

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