Zodiac Academy: The Awakening As Told By The Boys
The Awakening As Told By The Boys: Chapter 9

I sat in my favourite chair in the common room, feigning interest in the conversation from the group surrounding me as I enjoyed the heat of the fire beside me and thought over my plans for getting the Vegas out of this academy once and for all. My stomach was rumbling for breakfast, but I was putting it off, waiting on something I probably shouldn’t have been wasting my time on.

My gaze flicked to the stairs which led up to the dorms and my jaw ticked as I found some random girl hurrying down them instead of the one I’d been watching for since I’d arrived here half an hour ago. 

The FaeBook post Milton had circulated was the talk of the room and every time some asshole mentioned how much he’d enjoy fucking a princess, my patience grew thinner. Not that I’d said anything. This was what I’d wanted to happen when I’d burned her clothes from her body. The intention was to humiliate her, though it seemed to be having the added side effect of gaining way more male appreciation for how fucking hot she was than I would have liked. But I wasn’t saying a word about it. I didn’t need to. The gossip was in the rumour mill now and unlike me and the rest of the Heirs, the Vegas weren’t used to everything about them being scrutinised in the public eye. This was a regular occurrence in the lives of the most powerful people in our kingdom and they needed to learn that before they got carried away with fantasies of how much fun it might be to claim their crown. 

Ruling this kingdom wasn’t fun. It was gruelling, never ending work and political minefields which needed constant monitoring and navigating. It was an art me and the other Heirs had been learning since the day we were born, and it was one that two girls who’d grown up with mortals would never be able to learn adequately. They didn’t even know the names of the different parts of the kingdom, let alone how to manage them and help them thrive. The idea of them coming into power was as ludicrous as it was dangerous. Especially with the Nymph situation worsening every day.

Father might have ordered me to get rid of them, but I knew well enough for myself that they could never be allowed to rise up above us regardless. It wasn’t just about pride or entitlement. They may have been more powerful than the four of us, but they didn’t have the knowledge it would take to rule this kingdom and there was no way they’d ever be able to learn all of it either. You couldn’t make up for the years they’d missed out on living here and learning about what it took to rule. So they would never be fit to in my mind no matter how strong they were.

I needed to bring them to heel. And as I thought over the defiance I’d seen in Roxy’s eyes, I found I liked the idea of that a whole lot more than I should have. Just like I’d enjoyed looking through the pictures Milton had sent me of her standing naked before me in this very room. It wasn’t even the images of her naked flesh that had caught my attention. It was the fire I could see burning between us as she’d glared up at me and I’d loomed over her. She was challenging me to make her bow and I was aching to do it in more ways than one.

I unbuttoned the top of my shirt as the heat of my magic made my skin prickle and I got a little carried away with the idea of making Roxy Vega bow for me in my own mind. I wanted my hand fisted in her black hair, her mouth on mine and her naked flesh pressed up against me as she gasped my name like a prayer to a god and I ruined her like a demon born to sin. But I needed to stop those thoughts in their track. Not least because I wasn’t ever going to be able to indulge in them. By the time I was through with her, she’d hate me far too much for her to ever consider parting her thighs for me. More’s the pity.

Marguerite appeared out of nowhere, jerking me from my fantasies about Roxanya Vega and dropping into my lap where she gasped as she found the hardness of my cock driving into her ass.

She leaned in to kiss me and I dragged her closer, kissing her hard and grinding her down over my cock to try and gain some relief from the ache in it.

I closed my eyes as I kissed her hard, sinking my tongue into her mouth and thinking of a girl with dark hair and fire in her soul. But as she mewled like a kitten and melted for me, my fantasy was somewhat ruined. I may not have known Roxy well, but she didn’t seem like the kind of girl to melt into a puddle when I kissed her. No, she’d be all fire and spite and the kind of lust that burned the roof from houses while her fingernails gouged lines in my flesh.

I tried to push that thought out, gripping Marguerite’s ass and rocking her back and forth over my cock, but I was fighting a losing battle because she was mewling again and her limbs were going as floppy as my dick was becoming as she instantly let me take control. 

I released my grip on her waist, sighing as I pulled back and let her start sucking on my neck while I just looked up at the ceiling and waited for it to get more interesting again. Or maybe for it to just stop. 

But before I could make a decision on that, Milton’s voice drew my attention to the other side of our group and I instantly perked up at his words.

“Oh hey, it’s Tory, right?” he asked and I nudged Marguerite aside to look over at the girl in question where she stood before him as she raised her hand and a tsunami of water slammed into him.

The attack sent him flying back off of his chair and slamming to the floor, but my gaze was fixed on her furious features and the curl of those full lips as she glared at him. My pulse picked up as she blasted him with more water which rolled him across the wooden floor before pinning him to the wall.

The group surrounding me all leapt up in shock and I almost dropped Marguerite on her ass as I stood too. 

Roxy glanced at us for a moment like she expected someone to attack her, but that wasn’t how this worked. It was Fae on Fae. She’d started this fight and it was down to her or Milton to end it. No one would be stepping in. But I’d sure as fuck be watching the show.

The power spewing from her was so ferocious that it made the hairs along the back of my neck stand on end and a shiver track down my spine. I wanted to step closer, feel more of it, dive into the depths of its potency and see what it made of me when I emerged on the other side.

Milton was shouting something unintelligible through the water that was damn near drowning him and she lowered the deluge so that it slammed into his chest instead, keeping his arms pinned so that he still couldn’t fight back while allowing him to speak.

Clever girl.

She may not have been using any kind of finesse, but brute force was clearly enough to get the job done here and as the floor began to flood and a chair floated away from us towards the stairs, I had to wonder how long she could keep this up before she tapped out.

“Delete the picture,” Roxy snarled, grabbing Milton’s Atlas and holding it out towards him with the hand that wasn’t controlling the flow of her water magic.

“Piss off,” Milton bit out and I almost laughed at him, trying to sound intimidating while an untrained freshman handed him his ass in front of the entire House. 

Roxy flicked her fingers, switched to air magic so seamlessly that I had to work to keep the surprise from my face. Milton was lifted upright and pinned against the wall by a force of wind which seemed just as powerful as the water she’d been wielding a moment before.

I pushed a couple of the other members of our group aside as I moved a little closer to watch her, fascinated by the fury in her gaze and how certain she seemed of herself despite his refusal to do as she said.

She stalked forward, grabbed Milton’s hand and jammed his thumb down on the Atlas to unlock it before opening his photo album finding the pictures he’d taken of her. There were a bunch more than just the one he’d shared to FaeBook and she casually deleted all of them before removing them from his trash folder too, like restraining a trained Fae with air magic was a totally normal occurrence to her and it meant nothing at all.

But it wasn’t nothing. It was something. This was her, this show of undeniable power which went on and on. She was a hurricane trapped in a jar and this was only the beginning of the storm. The longer I watched her, the clearer it became. I’d known that these girls were dangerous, but the punishing force of her power was immense and she had barely even begun to learn how to wield it. It was my duty to make sure they never did.

Roxy released Milton and he stumbled forward, raising a hand to fight back and my lips twitched as I waited to see him put her in her place. Because he would. She was powerful but he had two years of training on her and now that she’d made the mistake of freeing his hands-

Before Milton could do so much as summon a spark to throw at her, Roxy’s hand snapped closed into a fist and her eyes flared with power once more. Vines sprang to life all around Milton, snaring him in their hold as they grew so fast that it was impossible for him to even attempt to burn them away. They pinned his arms to his sides and even gagged him before he overbalanced and fell to the wet carpet with a resounding slap. 

Roxy’s magic fell still and it was like static settled in the room as the press of it dropped away, making my skin prickle with the desire to feel it again. Silence surrounded us as all eyes stayed glued on her and I realised that this was most definitely a bad thing. Everyone here had seen that, seen her rise up and overpower a student who she never should have been able to match let alone beat with as little training as she had. There were whispers which would spread from this, rumours of her power and the potential she held. And that couldn’t cause anything good.

“You need to learn to respect women,” Roxy snarled, looking like she intended to kick him or spit on him before she just whirled away and stormed towards the exit without so much as a glance at me.

But that wasn’t gonna work for me.

“He sent me copies of those photos, you know,” I said calmly, my voice carrying over the calm room and shifting the focus onto me.

Roxy stopped abruptly and turned to look at me, a shock of connection burning through my chest as her defiant green eyes met mine.

“Teach her a lesson, baby,” Marguerite cooed, making me bristle at her interruption, but I held my tongue as Roxy’s attention shifted to her.

“You’re Marguerite, right?” she asked, looking decidedly unimpressed and tossing me a look that seemed to cast judgement over my choice of hook up. “Or do you go by muff scruff now?”

I almost laughed aloud as her comment took me by surprise, biting down on my tongue to hold the noise in and barely suppressing a smile. 

Roxy looked to me again and I had to force my expression to tighten, offering her the mask I wore for my father and letting her see nothing of what I thought about her behind it. Because the things I was thinking weren’t likely to be what she expected and as my gaze dragged over the bronze expanse of thigh beneath the hem of her skirt and the way her shirt clung to her chest, I was finding it hard not to get caught up in the fantasy I kept having of her either.

Marguerite started forward like she thought she might step in, but this was between me and Roxy. The Fire Heir and the lost Princess. I didn’t want her involvement and she should know better than to assume it was her place to offer it. I flicked my fingers at the irritation and she jerked to a halt, instantly falling to heel and backing away to leave me and Roxanya to it.

“So are you going to try and make me delete my copies?” I pressed, taking my Atlas from my pocket and holding it out in a dare for her to try and claim it. And I really hoped she’d try. Just to give me the excuse to put her in her place right here where everyone could see. 

Roxy looked from my face to my Atlas, the desire to just snatch it from me written plainly across her features, but she held herself back before shrugging like she didn’t even give a shit.

“Keep them,” she said dismissively, her eyes flicking over me like I was nothing more than an annoyance to her. “If you’re that desperate for material to jerk off to then be my guest.”

“As if he’d be turned on by pictures of you!” Marguerite spat furiously as her words took me by surprise again.

I’d been so sure I had her. So certain she wouldn’t be able to resist trying to claim them from me when they’d clearly pissed her off so much. But she’d turned the tables on me again in an instant and somehow I was back on uneven footing, not knowing how best to strike at her.

“Don’t worry, Marguerite,” Roxy said with a taunting lilt to her seductive voice. “It’s not your fault that he needs them to get his motor going. I’m sure your hairy bush does it for him once you start bouncing about on his lap.”

“You jumped-up, two cent alley-whore!” Marguerite screeched but I cut across her before she could continue with her dramatics, shutting her up the moment I spoke.

“I can have any girl I like,’ I said, not liking the implication in her voice or the way some of the people in the room were sniggering at our exchange. ‘Why would I be interested in looking at images of you?” 

Roxy raised her hands innocently, giving me wide, mocking eyes that set a fire burning in my veins with the desire to put her in her fucking place. “Hey dude, you’re the one with naked photos of me, not the other way around. And you can’t have any girl you like. Because that’s a hard no from me. But you may as well enjoy the fantasy you’re creating with those images because I can assure you that you’ve got zero chance of getting your hands on the real thing.”

A smattering of laughter broke out as I ground my teeth, thrown off by her line of attack and not managing to find the words to toss at her before she backed out of the room with a taunting grin at my expense and disappeared out of sight. 

My fist tightened at my side, not least because that mocking rejection actually hit the mark and a growl tumbled through my chest as I turned back to look at the rest of the idiots in the room. 

‘Clean this shit up,’ I barked at them, pointing at Milton who was still wrapped in vines on the floor among the puddles of water that were covering the carpet. Sᴇaʀch Thᴇ (F)indNƟvᴇl.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

The laughter in the room died a quick death and everyone scattered to do as I said while I strode away to get my bag from my room.

I opened my Atlas as I went, pulling up the naked photos of Roxy at her initiation and deleting all of them with a hiss of irritation. I wouldn’t be jerking off over some shitty photographs of a girl who drove me insane, and I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of believing I was either. 

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