Zodiac Academy 8: Sorrow and Starlight
Sorrow and Starlight: Chapter 21

The grass was soft beneath my fingers, the cool wind brushing my cheeks while drops of rain fell through the branches of the magical tree above me, parting the golden leaves that coated the wooden wing of the Dragon who kept watch over the people laid to rest here.

My chest was tight and aching, my cheeks dry, though my eyes burned with the pain of the reality I lay within.

“Where is she?” I breathed, my fingers brushing against the ice of the coffin to my left, my head turning that way as I looked to him for an answer I knew I wouldn’t get.

It was a certain kind of agony coming here, lying with him without truly being with him at all. There was no answer, no sense of him in the heavy presence that accompanied the cold body in those walls of ice. He wasn’t here. He wasn’t anywhere anymore.

The pain in my chest sharpened, the ache of my reality cutting deep as always and still I didn’t cry. I wasn’t sure I had any tears left in me.

“God, I wish I could hate you the way I used to,” I hissed, my fist closing against the ice then crashing against it, sending a spiderweb of cracks through the side of the casket before they crystalised and hardened once more.

I was losing control. The power within me was a rampant, violent thing and it burned so hot all the time that I felt like I was in an endless battle to contain it. One I couldn’t even decide if I wanted to win or lose.

I pushed myself to my feet, unable to lay with the body that wasn’t him any longer, and striding away without once looking back.

The shattered pieces of me cut deeper with every step, like I was abandoning him or failing him with each moment that passed without me doing anything which would help me keep the promise I’d made to him.

I drew in a deep breath then screamed at the top of my lungs as I looked out over the mountainside towards the sky beyond, a deep and roiling rain cloud pouring its contents over everything and reducing the view to a blur of nothing.

The silencing bubble surrounding me kept the sound from travelling beyond my own personal destruction, but the action did little to soothe anything inside of me.

I was wasting time and I didn’t know which way to turn to stop it. My sister was out there somewhere, needing me and lost in the dark, and I had no idea how to even begin the hunt for her.

My mind tossed every thought or idea I’d had since the battle around and around, but it never threw up anything which seemed in any way likely to help me find her.

I needed Gabriel to see a way for me to do this, to tell me what path to take while I struggled to think of a single one which could even come close to setting me on the path I had sworn to follow. Sᴇaʀ*ᴄh the FɪndNovᴇl.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Where are you, Darcy?

I turned and stalked inside the crumbling ruins without looking towards the huge camp the rebels had erected as a temporary home in the wake of our defeat. I knew there were eyes on me, watching, waiting, expecting. But I had no answers for them and even less hope. We couldn’t stay here much longer either, the pressure of that decision weighing heavily on my shoulders even though I had never asked for the burden of carrying it.

The absence of sound from the central worshipping chamber where we’d set up something of a war council let me know that a silencing bubble was already in place around the room. No doubt the ex-Councillors were in there debating everything to within an inch of its life. I swear they and Geraldine would argue what colour the grass was if they ever ran out of subjects to talk to death. And none of it was getting us anywhere. Days had passed with no decisions really being made beyond providing for the people who were waiting on more important choices beyond these walls.

I knew I should have been weighing in more but between the loss of Darcy and Gabriel, my grief over Darius, and the unfulfilled promise which still lay scarred across my palm, I couldn’t find it in me to sit for hours and argue with them over every small decision.

Four heavily armed rebels stood to attention in the passageway leading to the war council, one of them shifted into his Centaur form, his huge body only just fitting in the space and his head brushing the roof. I assumed he was using his gifts to help him keep watch too, but I doubted any form of magic or Order gift would be of much help to any of us if Lionel and his army found us now, licking our wounds and lost in the wilds.

The rebels bowed as I approached, a woman silently opening the door for me and the people inside all turned to look as I joined them.

My gaze swept over the empty places at the round table, the two throne-like chairs beside Geraldine, one for me and one for Darcy, despite her ongoing absence. Another place which I assumed was intended for Orion and one for Gabriel too. The three Councillors sat to the left, united as one, the way they had every time I’d been summoned to this chamber to listen to their plans and ideas for an army which wasn’t theirs to command. They were too used to being in control, and I knew it was up to me to put them in their place, but I hadn’t made any attempt to do so. Yet.

The three Heirs sat together in the chairs between their parents and Xavier, who lingered close to Geraldine’s side, their allegiance more tenuous than it had been before. It was hard to remember the feeling of us all being united, working as one against Lionel and Lavinia, when right now all I could see was that line in the sand. The one that had pushed them to be our enemies from the moment we’d first laid eyes on them.

There was no chair left vacant for Darius.

I stilled, a lump rising in my throat as my hands curled into fists at my sides, fire racing along my limbs and begging to be set loose.

“We were expecting you an hour ago,” Tiberius clipped, his eyes scouring over me from the black crop top to the ripped jeans, a single raised eyebrow casting judgement as he adjusted the cuff of his crisp blue shirt. The earth Elementals within the camp had been producing their own cotton to spin yarn, weaving all manner of clothing for the needs of our army, especially those of us at the top of the food chain. It hadn’t escaped my notice that most of the rebels themselves wore simple, plain shirts and pants while much more effort had gone into the creation of outfits for the people in this room.

Geraldine herself had crafted me several obnoxious gowns before I’d firmly begged her to just give me something I could feel normal in. I hadn’t been up for playing the role of pampered princess before the world had fallen apart at my feet, and I wasn’t going to start pretending now.

“A queen arrives at precisely the right moment, no matter the preferences of her subjects,” Geraldine quipped, and the corner of my lips quirked in amusement.

“As you well know, most of the people in this room do not recognise Roxanya and Gwendalina Vega as our monarchs,” Tiberius replied firmly.

I shrugged as I forced my feet to move, heading for the chair which was clearly a throne and dropping into it with as much arrogance and contempt as any king or queen of old may have held.

“If that’s the case, then why do you care so much for my timekeeping?” I drawled.

“Because certain members of this group refused to so much as begin discussions of anything vital until you had arrived,” Tiberius said tersely, the weight of his irritation colouring the air and I arched a brow at him as his emotions pressed at mine.

“Are you unable to control your Order form or are you purposefully trying to rile every person in this room with your gifts?” I asked.

“I think we would do better to question your capabilities of controlling your gifts after witnessing that outburst of them at the Acrux Manor,” he replied in a level tone.

“A controlled outburst,” I pointed out. “A control which I have never once let slip the way you’re allowing your power to burst from its dam right now. If I had, then there would likely be a lot of dead corpses smouldering in my wake at all times.”

Caleb coughed a laugh which he tried to hide at a hard look from his mother, but Seth’s lips hitched with amusement too and some of the unease I’d felt over the power dynamic in the room shifted. Perhaps the lines weren’t drawn as clearly as they seemed to be, though I had to admit that I felt outnumbered sitting alongside Geraldine while facing all six of them – Xavier I wasn’t certain on yet.

Tiberius clicked his tongue and the feeling of his irritation disappeared so suddenly that it felt like a slap of cold water to my cheek.

Melinda Altair stayed silent throughout the exchange, but there was a glimmer in her dark blue eyes which hinted at amusement and made me feel about one percent less hostile towards her.

“My stepmother and sister have sided with Lionel,” Max said in a low voice, seeming to want to excuse his father’s behaviour and I nodded in understanding. Caleb had already filled me in on that fact, and I guessed I could cut Tiberius a little slack considering the weight of the betrayal he must have been feeling.

“Is that how you were captured?” I asked curiously. “Did they sell you out?”

The Councillors exchanged looks before Tiberius nodded. “I believe so. We had already come to the decision to publicly denounce Lionel as our king and join the rebellion, we were just working to secure our families’ safety before making our position clear to the citizens of Solaria. We came together with the intention of fleeing his wrath and finding you, but before Melinda could send a message to you to tell you we were coming, we were summoned to Acrux Manor, our families used as bait to draw us there. We suspected a trap, but Lavinia used her shadows to poison our own bodies against us and choke the very air from our lungs the moment we arrived. We awoke with our blood and magic spilling into that fucking thing outside Lionel’s home.”

“Do you know how they managed to open another rift?” I asked. “We were under the impression that the rifts occurred naturally, through some power from the other side punching its way through the fabric of the worlds. We’d closed them all and didn’t think any more could be created.”

The ex-Councillors exchanged loaded looks, seeming to silently communicate the desire to answer or not between themselves before finally replying.

“Stella Orion was there crafting dark magic,” Antonia said. “She had a knife unlike anything I have ever seen before, the blade cast of moonlight and shadow combined. It looked to me as though the cost of wielding such a thing was steep though – the bitch was half dead when she was hauled away to rest, as Lionel put it. Maybe the stars will have been favouring us and we’ll find out she died to pay the price of creating that heinous thing.”

“The stars,” I scoffed, hatred burning hotly through to my core. “They don’t favour anything aside from their own twisted cruelty.”

Geraldine gasped at my side, a hand going to her heart at the blasphemy, but I ignored it. I was pretty sure the stars had gotten the memo about my intentions towards them when I’d cursed them with the blood of the man I loved.

“Yeah, fuck the stars,” Seth growled. “We can make our own destiny.”

“Which is?” Antonia questioned, though I could already tell that she and the other Councillors had their own ideas on that.

Everyone looked to me expectantly and though Geraldine’s eyes shone with belief and adoration, I knew the only reason the three people across the table from me were giving me the opportunity to speak first was because they knew full well, I had no answer to that question.

“So…” I began, but I really had nothing. We needed a plan, but as of yet, nothing viable had come to mind. We were all eager to strike back at Lionel, but until we could secure the rebels in a safe and sustainable location, we couldn’t even begin readying them for battle again. Then we’d need to get back to recruiting, building our decimated army back up and doing whatever the hell else we could to bolster our power. Not to mention the fact that I only had a few points of focus I intended to act on right now. “My sis-”

The doors banged open violently and we all looked around in surprise, magic flaring in fists and weapons pulled from sheaths in anticipation of an attack.

But the Dragon who stood there wasn’t a scaly green sack of shit, just a wild, dark-haired Faetalian with electricity crackling from his skin and fury in his eyes.

“Did you find him?” I demanded, shoving to my feet so fast that my not-a-throne was knocked to the ground behind me with a clatter.

“Yes and no,” Dante growled, tugging a man out from behind him.

I sucked in a breath at the sight of Washer standing there, near naked with one testicle hanging out the side of his tiny half shredded Speedos, a look of haunted horror in his eyes as he stumbled towards me.

His skin was charred across the left side of his exposed chest and the iridescent blue of his scales were shining over his body. His hazel-coloured hair was slicked back and wet, his face clean despite the rest of him being marked with the muck of battle, and I had to assume he’d used his magic to clean that much of himself at least.

For once, I couldn’t feel a single flicker of his gifts trying to push against my mental shields, no hint of him trying to claim some of my magic via my emotions. Pain as raw as mine probably wasn’t desirable anyway, even if I was one of the most powerful Fae alive.

“Tell her what you told us,” Dante commanded, Leon stepping up beside him and giving me a little wave of greeting.

“My Queen,” Washer gasped, dropping to one knee, and lowering his head before me while the anticipation set my bones shaking.

“Spit it out,” I demanded, having no patience for royalist bullshit.

“The false king captured Gabriel Nox,” he replied. “I was trapped beneath fallen stone, my magic squeezed from every orifice to the point of utter demise. I had to feed on the pain of the dying Fae in the dirt around me, and I managed to create just enough water magic that I could sup upon it day after day. But by the end I was wrung out, my juices spurted free, not even a teeny weeny-”

“Where did Lionel take him?” I growled, striding around the table and gripping Washer’s arm as I tugged him to his feet.

Blood marked his bare skin, and his eyes were haunted as he looked at me, letting me know that he’d more than suffered for his allegiance to our cause, but he stood here now before me, and I needed the answer he held.

“I don’t know for certain. But he said he needed a new Seer,” Washer breathed, pity filling his expression as understanding hit me, my mind whirling with those words and horror seeping into me.

I made a move to step away but paused at the look of trauma lurking on Washer’s face.

“Thank you,” I breathed, my grip on his arm turning into a reassuring squeeze. “You don’t know how much I appreciate you telling me this and…I’m glad you survived.”

Washer’s face crumpled and I sucked in an alarmed breath as he threw his arms around me, embracing me tightly.

“I felt them dying all around me,” he breathed into my ear. “They were afraid and in pain, but all of them, each and every one, was proud to be fighting this fight for you and your sister. For a better world.”

His words eased a burden which had been pressing down on my soul ever since I’d been forced to accept the utter defeat that we’d faced on that battlefield, the shame I felt whenever I looked to the rebels who had placed so much hope on mine and Darcy’s shoulders, only to have been brought to a loss when it counted.

I would have returned the hug he was giving me for those words – had I not remembered that he was one scrap of Lycra short of naked and I did not want his teeny weeny getting so much as another moment of time this close to my body.

I pushed Washer back firmly, nodding at him in gratitude for his words and keeping my eyes well away from that exposed testicle as I called out for someone to get him some food, a bath, and a set of thick and lumpy clothing.

“Gabriel would never give Lionel Acrux a prophecy, no matter what he threatened him with,” Dante said firmly, taking a seat at my end of the table while Geraldine quickly righted my chair and beckoned me back to it.

“No,” I agreed, frowning as I thought that over, knowing that Lionel would understand that too. And with a sickening sense of realisation, I found myself knowing what he would do to overcome that problem. “But Gabriel can’t shut off his access to visions, can he? Not entirely.”

“He tries not to see some things,” Leon agreed as he came to sit beside me on the throne intended for Darcy, as if he hadn’t even realised it wasn’t meant for him. “Like he doesn’t like to see visions of my sex life, but they still force their way in. Unless of course that’s because he really does want to see them. But then I’d imagine he’d get performance anxiety so he probably doesn’t want to know how many times I can make-”

“Not relevant, Leone,” Dante growled, giving him a kick beneath the table which Leon cried out at.

I ignored his continued cursing and forced myself to think back on the time I’d spent as a captive of Lionel Acrux. The times he’d forced his way into my mind and destroyed my mental barriers, before letting Vard use his Cyclops invasion to examine the thoughts within my skull at his leisure and twist them to his own fucked up designs.

“Lionel will put him into the Royal Seer’s chair,” I said, knowing it in my soul. “He’ll force him to have powerful visions whether he wants to or not and he’ll use Vard to pluck the truth of them from his mind.”

Silence followed my words as the weight of the truth fell over everyone, the reality of the weapon that Lionel had gained when he took Gabriel sinking in on us with terrifying clarity.

“Is Gabriel truly that gifted?” Melinda asked, her fearful eyes moving to Caleb then back to me for confirmation.

“He’s the most powerful Seer of our time,” Xavier murmured hopelessly, and my jaw tightened at the defeat in the room.

“That’s a mighty high claim,” Tiberius scoffed and I straightened.

“It’s no claim. Gabriel is my brother. My mother’s son. She brought him to the palace with her when she arrived here to marry my father and they hid his identity, claiming he was their ward until after they could produce legitimate heirs. They never got the chance to tell the world the truth of his heritage, and when they were killed, my mother entrusted Ling Astrum to hide him from Lionel’s wrath. Gabriel is the greatest Seer of our generation and I can only assume that Lionel discovered that fact somehow and decided to steal him for his own benefit,” I said plainly, sick of all the lies and secrets. I was proud to call Gabriel my brother and I wanted the whole world to know exactly who he was.

“By the stars,” Melinda breathed, the three ex-Councillors exchanging concerned looks over that revelation.

“He’s also one powerful stronzo who will fight tooth and claw to keep his famiglia safe,” Dante said firmly. “Which means he won’t let that motherfucker into his head easily.”

“He’s been captive for days now,” Antonia replied. “If Lionel is determined to break through his defences, then it is only a matter of time. Even the most powerful of Fae cannot hold out forever.”

“I’m going to go break him out of there then,” I announced, making a move to rise once more, but Geraldine caught my wrist in an iron grip and held me in place.

“Your sweet flappy featherman sent you a message, did he not, my Queen?” she asked, and it took me a moment to understand what she was saying before I nodded my head in agreement. “A message which may hold the key to this conundrum. A gift from the heavens themselves.” My jaw tightened at the mention of those fucking stars, and she hurried on. “Perhaps there is an answer in those words? He must have sent them to you with his final moments before capture. They must be important indeed-”

“A part of it has come to pass already,” I admitted, having realised the truth of it after we rescued the Heirs from Lionel’s manor.

“Tell us,” Max demanded, and I did so, repeating the words of the prophecy for all of them to hear.

“A hound bays for vengeance where the rift drinks deep,” Geraldine repeated in understanding, her eyes watering with tears. “He saw me. Little old nothing me.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Geraldine, of course he saw you. You’re one of the most important people in this whole damn kingdom,” I replied, and she beamed with pride, wafting at her eyes to try and banish the tears which began to fall regardless.

“What promises have you made?” Tiberius asked me and I raised my chin as I answered.

“Vengeance, death, to find my family and to refuse the fate dealt to me and my husband.”

“Husband?” Antonia gasped, and Geraldine’s cries of pride turned into a wail of anguish at the news.

I, however, turned to stone beneath the weight of that question, ice spilling through me, but I refused to release the flood of emotions threatening to break free.

“Darius became a Vega the morning of the battle,” Xavier murmured in explanation, grief making his voice catch as he spoke. “I’ve never seen him as happy as he was when he took those vows.”

Words were spoken then, about me, to me, I wasn’t even sure because there was nothing but a ringing in my head growing louder and louder, a tidal wave of suppressed emotions rising up to try and breach the dam I’d so hastily built around them. I closed my eyes, drawing in a slow breath through my nose as I blocked them all out, started plugging the holes in that dam and forcing the tide to stay back, refusing to face it even though I knew I was only delaying the inevitable with this denial.

The ruby pendant hanging around my neck seemed to heat against my skin as I battled to keep control of myself, my fingers moving to touch it, and I could have sworn I felt an imposing shadow moving over me. A shiver ran down my spine, the scent of smoke and cedar filling my lungs as I inhaled, and I swear I could almost feel-

The door banged open again, and I expelled the breath I’d been holding as my eyes snapped to Rosalie Oscura who was swaggering into the room like she owned the damn place. She inclined her head to me the smallest amount but ignored the Councillors entirely before setting a heavy wooden box hewn from earth magic onto the table in front of me.

“We found all of that while searching the ruins of The Burrows,” she explained, her eyes flicking to her cousin then back to me again. “One of my pack has a touch of The Sight – nothing to write to the moon about, but enough to tell her that this stuff is important. I figured that meant I could interrupt this ‘too important for everyone to attend’ meeting.”

I snorted in amusement as electricity crackled off of Dante, letting me know who had tried to keep her out of here clearly enough.

“We should discuss that issue further,” Antonia Capella muttered, her eyes moving over the latest additions to the room, and I gave her a level stare as I replied.

“I have no problem with them joining these meetings,” I said firmly. “My trust for them is implicit.”

Antonia looked inclined to argue about me offering gang members and criminals a place at the royal war council, but Geraldine slammed a gavel she’d cast from nothing down on the table with a loud crack that made everyone flinch.

“My queen has spoken. I shall make a note to the minutes confirming the newest members of her court and their places at this grand table.”

The Councillors looked like they wanted to argue that, but Caleb hissed at them to leave it and surprisingly, they backed down.

Rosalie arched an amused brow at me before carrying on as if there had been no interruption.

“There’s a bunch of Dragon treasure that belonged to Darius too – we left that in your room for you.”

My heart twisted at the gesture, no words coming to my lips to convey how much I appreciated that act. Darius had loved that damn gold almost as much as he’d loved me, and the thought of it laying buried beneath a battlefield forevermore had been eating at me constantly, despite knowing I couldn’t spare the time to recover it myself.

“I told you, Rosa,” Dante growled in the low tone of an Alpha. “That I don’t want you getting too mixed up in all of this.”

“I’m already on the run with the rebellion, stronzo. I don’t think forcing me out of meetings with the queens is going to keep me any safer than I would be if I attended.” Her attention moved back to me, and she cocked her head in question. “Where’s the other one anyway? The entire camp is curious as fuck to know where she’s run off to.”

“Rosa, that’s enough,” Dante barked, and she rolled her eyes at him but backed away a step, leaving the box in front of me.

“Darcy will return soon,” I said in a commanding tone, like that might be enough to make it the truth, and to the credit of everyone in the room, none of them questioned me on that.

“There. You have your answer, now go check on my son for me and tell his mama that I’ll be back to see them shortly.” Dante waved Rosalie from the room, and she retreated with a mocking bow, leaving me to look into the box of items she’d delivered.

Geraldine leapt to her feet as I reached for it, swiping it away from me. “You should not sully your hands on such menial work as sorting through these scraps and trinkets, my lady,” she gasped, taking on the job of looking through it herself, and I let her as I turned my attention back to the others.

“If the prophecy refers to my promises, then all I can say is I have no intention of forgetting a single one of them. Aside from that, I don’t know what the dove might be referring to, do any of you?” I asked.

Frowns and muttering gave way to shaking heads and I sighed in frustration. Fucking prophecies. I swear they were created with the sole intention of sowing insanity into the minds of those who worked to solve their riddles. What good was it to me to figure out the meaning to the words after they’d come to pass?

A loud thump made everyone at the table flinch as the Phoenix-crafted weapons which belonged to the Heirs all slammed down into the middle of the table, Geraldine clearly having found them in the box.

“A bunch of merry whop snaffers for the unbelievers,” Geraldine muttered, her attention still on the box as she rummaged.

‘Oh, sweet,” Seth cooed as he snatched his clawed gauntlets from the table, putting them on and grinning as the flames of red and blue ignited across his knuckles at his command.

“What are those?” Melinda asked curiously, watching her son as Caleb picked up his twin daggers, a smirk on his lips.

“Gifts from the true Queens to those who fight at their backs,” Geraldine said dismissively.

“At their backs?” Tiberius growled, taking Max’s metal bow from him, and inspecting it.

“Beside them,” Caleb corrected, but it did little to wipe the looks of suspicion from their parents’ faces.

“It seems like we’ve missed a lot during these months,” Melinda murmured slowly.

“Since when were your own claws not enough without help, pup?” Antonia asked Seth pointedly, and he pouted.

“By the stars, Mom, don’t rain on my parade. You never minded using that Medusa mirror to help you do your makeup, so why are you judging my flame claws?” Seth demanded.

“I’m simply questioning the way it would look to the press if they find out you are using weapons forged from the flames of your competitors to the throne in battle. Surely you can see how it could be portrayed as a weakness if-”

“It indeed is a weakness by comparison,” Geraldine agreed loudly. “One which these bothersome barracudas would do well to admit to now. They neither hold the power nor beauty of the true-”

“Can we just focus on the prophecy?” I asked loudly, seeing the descent of this conversation coming from a mile off and needing it to stop.

Luckily, they all seemed to realise that this was more important right now, but I could tell the issue of the weapons would be addressed between the Heirs and their parents later as I moved on to the final unsolved piece of the puzzle.

“The king may fall on the day the Hydra bellows in a spiteful palace…”

There were a few moments of silence before Tiberius sucked in a sharp breath and slapped a hand down on the table, a jolt of excitement slamming into all of us as his gifts escaped their leash once more.

“There is a tradition in The Palace of Souls, started years ago by one of the old kings…I forget which, but that’s beside the point. Every year during the Hydrids meteor shower, at the height of the celestial event, a celebration was held at the palace where we would all gather. But the year Hail brought your mother back from Voldrakia, Merissa used her magic to alter the throne because the meteor shower was linked to his Order form. It was a gift for her husband. When the meteor shower is at its fullest, magic awakes and sets the throne roaring with the voice of the creature itself – it was quite the extravagant surprise the first time we all heard it, let me tell you.”

“It made my heart damn near leap out of my chest,” Antonia agreed with a faint smile at the memory.

My heart began to gallop at those words, at the possibility they presented. “The king may fall,” I repeated hopefully. “The Palace of Souls has been locking Lionel out of countless rooms ever since he claimed it for his own. That sounds pretty fucking spiteful to me.”

“When is the peak of the meteor shower?” Seth asked excitedly, the desire to see Lionel fall hyping him up so he was practically bouncing in his seat.

“Twelve days, eighteen hours and seven minutes from this very moment,” Geraldine cried. Fuck knew how she knew that so accurately, but I damn well trusted her when it came to nonsense royal traditions.

“That isn’t long enough to ready the army for another battle and raise more rebels to our cause to bolster their numbers,” Antonia pointed out.

“It doesn’t take an army to kill a king,” I said coldly, the need for revenge rising in me so powerfully that I was more than tempted to ignore the fucking prophecy and simply head for the palace to kill him now.

“Gabriel sent you that message for a reason,” Dante said, seeming to see that desire in me even as I realised he was right. “He knows that is when you will have a real chance at success, bella.”

Twelve more days. How was I supposed to wait twelve days to end this? How was I supposed to wait when I knew what Gabriel would be facing at the hands of that monster for every moment I delayed? But I did trust my brother. I trusted his gifts and I knew that he wouldn’t have wasted his last bit of magic on sending me that prophecy if it wasn’t vital that I followed it. The bit about the rift had come to pass and we’d rescued half the people in this room thanks to that, so I had to trust in what he was telling me.

“What are we supposed to do for twelve more days?” Max asked. “Gabriel could break within that time and Lionel will be upon us in a matter of moments if he does. He could literally arrive in the next breath and we’re just sitting here, scratching our asses while we wait for him to pounce.”

“We need to move in the ways of the wilds,” Leon said mysteriously before anyone else could voice an idea. “Be as unpredictable as the sea, as tricksome as the wind, as ever changing as the seasons, and as cunning as a Lion.”

Xavier frowned. “Aren’t foxes usually the-”

“Shhh.” Leon pressed a finger to his mouth as he silenced him. “Gabriel will see you questioning that and tell Lionel. You’re being so damn obvious, little Pego-dude.”

“How am I-” Xavier began, but Leon echoed his words a fraction of a second behind him as though trying to convince everyone that he’d seen him speak them before he did.

“See?” Leon said, looking between us all. “So obvious. I’ve spent years mastering the art of thwarting Gabe’s gifts. I can keep us safe from them while we wait for the time to strike.”

“How?” I asked, needing an answer to that because Max was right, we were sitting ducks here and we needed to do something to change that from being the case.

“We should head out to sea,” Leon said with a firm nod.

“To sea?” Melinda frowned. “We are miles from the coast and-”

“And you wouldn’t have expected that? I know. But now that I know and you know, Gabe knows too. See, it’s already fucked. But it won’t be because when we get to the sea, we will carve an island from the land. Some say it will be carved into the shape of a regal and cunning Lion Shifter. Some say that would make this plan work even better. But don’t decide now or he will see.”

“This doesn’t sound like much of a plan,” Caleb muttered but Seth shushed him aggressively.

“Yes, it does. It makes perfect sense. We all head out to sea and then we float aimlessly, sometimes shooting magic one way or another at random to move us, other times following the whims of the waves-”

“Nothing is as wild and unpredictable as water,” Tiberius agreed proudly, like being one of the most powerful water wielders in our kingdom made him responsible for every drop of it in the ocean.

“Your Majesty, if I might say something!” Geraldine cried, leaping from her seat onto the table and looking to me to allow her to speak, though she already held the attention of the entire room.

“You don’t need my permission,” I said, my mouth lifting a little at her theatrics.

“Well, my lady, I think this Lion is cunning indeed, smarter perhaps than any faithful feline I have met afore!” she hollered, and Leon sat up straighter in his seat, looking smug as fuck while Dante snorted under his breath. “We can go this way and that – yonder and to far-flung places not even the grabooling of the gracious sea could predict.”

“That might actually work,” I admitted, despite how insane it sounded, and as the discussion around the table focused on that idea, I found myself relaxing a little. We had a plan for the rebels. Some semblance of one at least. And without that burden left on my shoulders, I could focus on what I needed to do with the days before we headed to The Palace of Souls to kill the false king.

Geraldine jumped back down into her seat beside me, continuing the process of emptying the box Rosalie had given me and my heart stalled as I took in the priceless trove of treasures that her pack member had recovered for us.

There were the stones that Orion had found for the Zodiac Guild, and the books he’d been using to research them, alongside the diary his father had left him. The Map of Espial laid beside them, the night iron spyglass with its gruesome shadow eye still locked in place, waiting for someone to use it at leisure. Diego’s gross soul hat was there too, grandma and co presumably intact within, though I wasn’t going to be putting the thing on my head to check. A few more of Orion’s books were there and some other trinkets I didn’t care to sift through right now.

“We should act randomly at all times,” Seth said, getting caught up in the plan. “Never let anyone predict our next moves so Gabriel can’t see us at all. We’ll be invisible to the false king.” He stood up, smashing his chair against the wall and Leon whooped, jumping up and starting to do burpees. Antonia and Tiberius tried to calm them down, but chaos was clearly breaking out and I had no intention of trying to stop it.

I reached for the map as Geraldine continued to examine the contents of the box, my fingers tracing over the ever-changing details as the whole of Solaria was spread out before me.

“Is there a way to use this to find someone?” I asked Geraldine in a low voice, ignoring the others as they continued to discuss the details involved in moving our army to the coast so that we could enact the plan. Antonia was still trying to get Leon and Seth to sit down but they were busy getting everyone else riled up.

“Alas, the magic doesn’t work as such,” Geraldine replied sadly, brushing her fingers over the magical ink like she wished it wasn’t so. “I assumed you have tried a simple locating spell already?”

I nodded, worry for my sister consuming me as I looked down at the map with my hope fading.

“Anyone with powerful shields would be impossible to find that way,” she said softly.

“Or anyone being held captive or…dead.” I didn’t believe that last guess could be true, but it had been so long without a word and every second that passed left me tied up in knots which were getting harder and harder to deny. I felt her in my soul, was certain she lived, but if that was true, then where was she? Why not send me a message or something to prove that she was alive and well? There had to be some way.

“Perhaps…” Geraldine glanced around nervously, then leaned in close, a silencing bubble surrounding the two of us at a flick of her fingers before she cupped a hand around her mouth too, ensuring there was no chance of anyone other than me discerning her words – though no one was paying attention to us considering Seth was now ripping up the notes Melinda had made during this meeting while Leon threatened to burn them with his fire Element too. “I have heard legend of powerful magic which could circumvent such things as shields, no matter their power.”

“What magic?” I demanded instantly and she cringed, as though fighting an inner battle with herself over telling me or not, but I knew Geraldine and she would never deny a request from her queen, no matter her thoughts on it.

“Dark magic,” she breathed.

“We can’t risk using the shadows,” I said dismissively, disappointment warring through me but she shook her head, beckoning me closer as she went on in a conspiratorial tone.

“Dark magic is much more than just communing with shadows. There are old ways. Ways that were used by Fae long ago before they learned how to fully Awaken their powers with the blessing of the stars. I don’t know much about it aside from the fact that it comes at a cost. And you know I would never suggest such a thing, but…but…my sweet summer child with the bluest hair…”

Geraldine choked back a sob and I gripped her hand, squeezing it tightly.

“Where would I find out more about this magic?” I asked, wondering what else I might be able to learn of the old ways. It certainly seemed to me that wielding power which predated the blessing of the stars might be of use when fulfilling my promise to destroy them.

Geraldine’s eyes fell to the map, her finger pressing down on the Library of the Lost for the briefest of moments before she rolled it up tightly and tossed it back in the box, dispelling the silencing bubble and acting as if she had never said a single word to me about any of it.

My thoughts twisted with that information as I processed it, wondering if she could be right, if I might find a way to locate Darcy using the knowledge in that library.

Geraldine continued to pack the contents of the box away and I looked around at the others. I blinked in surprise at Leon as he held the night iron spy glass up to the light and examined it with interest.

“How did you get that?” I asked him as he began to tap the end of it in his palm, making the shadow eye bounce grossly inside it.

“Best thief in the whole of Solaria,” he said simply, pointing at himself before tapping the spy glass in his palm again. “What’s this thing for anyway?”

“We used it to see the rifts on the map of espial and close them all,” I explained.

Geraldine gave a pterodactyl screech so loud that I almost fell out of my damn chair, silence falling in the room as everyone stared at her in alarm and she hastily got to her feet before explaining herself.

“I have just had an idea. What if we could make use of the shadow eye which we took from the face of that cretin, Vard?”

“Make use of it how?” Xavier asked.

“Perhaps – and I can’t be certain – but perhaps, if one of us were to take out our own eye and place the shadow eye into our face instead, we may be able to use it to see the shadows, much as the previous owner of that foul creation once did to serve the false king. If so, we may be able to see what Lavinia is doing with the shadows and thus report back about everything we learn, giving ourselves a major advantage over our enemy at every turn!”

“Who the fuck would volunteer to have that thing put in their face?” Caleb asked in disgust as he recoiled from the table.

“I volunteer myself!” Geraldine cried, pulling her grandma’s eye scoop from her pocket, and tipping her head back to the roof as she prepared to pluck her own eye from her face to make room for the shadow thing.

“What the fuck are you doing?!” Max roared as he lunged for her, and I jumped to my feet as I fought to get the eye scoop away from her too.

“No Geraldine!” I cried. “No fucking way!”

She fought against us as we tried to take the scoop, calling out about willingly sacrificing everything for our cause while I insisted I didn’t want her to, and Max lost his shit entirely.

“Ah, it’s slimy,” Leon gasped from behind me, and I glanced around to look at him, finding the shadow eye free of the spy glass and crawling over his hand, heading towards his arm as it began an ascent towards his face. “What’s it doing?”

“It’s searching for your eye so that it may devour it and take up residence within your skull,” Geraldine replied simply like that wasn’t horrifying as hell.

“Ah!” Leon shook his hand wildly and the eye shot off of it, flying across the table and slapping straight into Seth’s face where it grabbed hold of his cheek and instantly started wriggling towards his eye instead.

Seth howled in horror, leaping forward and slamming into Tiberius as he tried to get up to help him.

I yelled for Seth to grab it even as the thing made it over his cheek bone and the wild flailing of his arms did nothing to knock it off.

“Hold still!” Caleb roared and Seth did so, half a second before Caleb punched him with a fist coated in stone.

Seth howled in agony as something definitely broke in his face and he fell to the ground before Caleb shot closer and yanked him upright again.

I shoved my way past the others to inspect the damage, taking in the burst shadow eye across Seth’s cheek and the broken eye socket that Caleb had given him for good measure.

“Is it gone?” Seth pleaded and I nodded in confirmation, taking his hand and healing him while he looked from me to Caleb whose face was a mixture of shock and relief.

“Looks like no one will be using the shadow eye then,” I said, not a single part of me upset over that fact.

“Then I think we should get back to planning our next move,” Melinda said calmly, not even seeming to have been ruffled by the chaos of the shadow eye being splattered across Seth’s face and I had to admit, I quite liked her.

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