Zodiac Academy: The Awakening As Told By The Boys
The Awakening As Told By The Boys: Chapter 21

I lay in my bed with gold heaped around me as I replenished my magic and music blared out through my speaker while I tried to find some semblance of peace from the warring thoughts and feelings which were constantly taking place within my skull.

I was supposed to be down in the Fire Arena now, tutoring Roxy Vega in her fire magic but I would be doing that precisely never. Professor Pyro might have asked me to do it and I might have even agreed, but when it came down to it, Roxy was going to have to force my participation if she wanted it. And seeing as she was entirely incapable of doing that, it wouldn’t be happening.

I was avoiding her anyway. The other Heirs and I had come up with the start of the plans required to get rid of her and her sister for good and I was focusing on that goal. I didn’t need to be distracted by my desire for her and I wasn’t going to be putting myself in a position which might lead to her drawing me in again. 

Lance thought they could be Sirens, but I was wondering if they weren’t something more like Incubuses. The Order was pretty rare but their entire way of rejuvenating magic was based off of sexual desire and they were masters at controlling and claiming lust from others. And Roxy Vega definitely inspired plenty of lust everywhere she went. She inspired so much lust in me that I found myself entirely unable to jerk off over anyone other than her, memories of her body, her mouth or even just her calling me fucking names filling my mind the second I wrapped my fist around my throbbing cock. I’d even tried watching porn to distract myself from her but I just ended up closing my goddamn eyes and thinking of her anyway, imaging how good it would feel to be filling her with my dick instead of fucking my hand all the damn time.

But I was determined to stop thinking about her like that. To stop thinking about her at all in fact, other than with the desire to get rid of her.

I’d spoken to Xavier again a couple of hours ago and he had reassured me that everything was fine. He was doing a lot of extra work and training after school in an attempt to get ahead as well as avoiding my father by not ending up caught in his company at the manor too often.

He’d said that Mother had been sneaking into his room at night, sitting on the edge of his bed and pushing her fingers into his hair like she used to when we were children, and I knew that he was reading a lot into that. But I wasn’t sure what a few gentle touches from the woman who had abandoned us to our father’s tyranny a long time ago were supposed to prove. Not that I’d said that to him of course because Xavier wasn’t like me. Despite the two of us being raised in the same toxic environment, he was still so damn hopeful all the time. Still seeking out light in the dark. And maybe that had something to do with me being the Heir and taking the brunt of Father’s attention, lessons and punishments, but I had a feeling it was something innately him too.

Mostly I was wishing this year away so that Xavier could come and stay here at the academy with me. I’d feel a whole lot better when he was out of that house for good and somewhere that I could keep a proper eye on him at all times with his magic Awakened and his Dragon Order form released too.

My Atlas buzzed and I glanced at it, seeing the message from Lance and tsking irritably.

Lance:

Are you going to tell me your plans?

Darius: Sᴇaʀch Thᴇ FɪndNovᴇl.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

It’s better you don’t know.

I still wasn’t sure what the other Heirs and I were going to do to deal with the Vegas but there was a good chance that it would go beyond what a teacher should allow to happen. I wasn’t going to put his job here in jeopardy for the sake of this. Besides, this was on me and the Heirs to sort out, he didn’t have to be dragged into even more of my shit.

Lance:

I could help

Darius:

Your entire life is spent helping me. Go do something you enjoy for once

I looked at my Atlas for several long seconds but he didn’t reply. My gut twisted, knowing that statement would have upset him but it was also the truth. Father had stolen Lance’s life when he’d bound us together and I was sick of dragging him into my bullshit all the damn time. Yeah, it was nice for me to have an ally in my hatred of Lionel Acrux, but where had anything we’d been trying to do really gotten me? Lance may have been training me in dark magic, but it still wasn’t close to enough to put me on an even playing field with my father so that I could take him on. And now Xavier had been attacked because of my foolish attempts at defiance. I didn’t want to put Lance in the firing line too.

So he might have been hurt by me pushing him out of this, but I was just trying to protect him. Trying to keep him as far from my father’s wrath as I could. And if I was being honest, I was being selfish too. Lance always wanted to see the good in me, the things that set me apart from Lionel Acrux and proved I wasn’t the clone he’d tried to force me to be. But I was starting to think that had just been a pretty lie we’d been telling ourselves for the last few years because now I was going to have to be just as monstrous as him to protect my brother. And if I had to turn to the dark to achieve what my father wanted then I knew I’d do it – I just didn’t want to have to face the disappointment in Lance’s eyes when he saw what I let myself become.

A prickle ran down my spine and I lifted my head, looking to my bedroom door a beat before someone knocked on it.

“It’s open,” I called. I’d been half expecting Caleb to drop by anyway and it was probably a good thing he had because I needed a distraction from the tempest of my thoughts. “Come in.”

There was a long pause then the door swung open and my heart lurched as I looked towards it, finding Roxanya Vega standing there in a skin tight sports bra and leggings combo, looking entirely too tempting while she scrutinised my room.

Her nose wrinkled faintly as her green eyes skimmed over everything, drinking in all the details of the place I called home from the yellow and orange windows which spanned across the wall above my bed to the couch and TV area I had by the far wall.

Her gaze touched on every golden item in the room, from the furniture to the clock and picture frames before falling to the chest of treasure which currently stood empty at the foot of my bed.

A protective growl built in my chest as her eyes lingered there, looking at all of my most prized possessions before she finally turned her attention to me where I sat shirtless on my bed surrounded by my gold.

“What the hell do you want?” I snarled, pushing myself up to a sitting position as I glared at her.

I’d been avoiding her for a damn good reason and as my cock jerked like it wanted to salute her in greeting, I was forcefully reminded why. I’d been making a point to keep away from her until we were ready to execute our plans to get rid of her because I didn’t want a single moment of doubt to colour my decision on this. 

“Do you have a pirate fetish or something?” she asked, arching a brow at my gold and throwing me off as she almost seemed amused. I’d expected her to start screaming at me about skipping our session or at least cussing me out, but instead she was cocking her head at me and looking kind of cute and confused in the face of the hatred I had decided to aim at her. I guessed she might have thought that the time we’d spent dancing together had softened some of the animosity between us, but that couldn’t be further from the truth considering the cost of that moment of weakness I’d experienced in her arms.

“What?” I asked, forcing my scowl to tighten as I thought of my brother screaming in agony and refused to let her distract me from my goal.

“Well you’re half naked in a bed full of coins so either you’re doing something with them or putting them somewhere…inaccessible while fully dressed or I missed the memo about your enrolment in Captain Silver’s new fleet.”

Was that a joke? For a moment I didn’t even know what to say to her but as she blinked at me with genuine confusion in her gaze, I realised that she didn’t know what I was. Was that why she wasn’t afraid to rile me up? Was that why she pushed and pushed me when any other Fae would cower in fear? 

“You really don’t know anything do you?” I scoffed. “This is how my kind regenerate our power; from gold.”

“Oh.” She frowned at the coins again and I could tell she still didn’t get it. “So are you Order of pirate then? Do you transform into a one legged man with an eyepatch, a hankering for rum and a pet parrot?”

Her question caught me so off guard that I almost cracked, a laugh building in my chest which had no fucking business being there. I was forced to crush it with a firm reminder of the way the scent of Xavier’s burning flesh had filled the air in my father’s office and I forced myself to take back control of the situation.

“What the hell are you doing in my room?” I demanded.

“Why do you think I’m here?” she shot back instantly. But I wasn’t going to be doing her the favour of making this interaction easy.

“The only possible reason I can imagine for you to be stupid enough to come bursting in here would be that you’ve finally come to realise who really deserves to rule Solaria. And that being the case, I imagine you’re about to bow down low and praise me and the other Heirs as your kings,” I said, shrugging like that seemed like a genuine guess and watching the way her eyes flared with anger at that suggestion.

“Keep dreaming,” she muttered. “I’m here because you missed yet another one of our tutoring sessions, as I’m sure you’re aware.”

“And what if I am?” I asked, pushing to my feet suddenly and knocking a handful of gold coins to the floor. “What will you do about it? Make me bow to your will?”

Roxy lifted her chin and glared at me defiantly. “Come and do the session like you promised,” she demanded. 

I stalked closer to her, forcing her to look up at me as I came to tower over her, wanting to see her back down, but she held her ground and tightened her jaw instead, waiting for my answer. 

“No,” I breathed, every inch of my body burning with my fire magic as it raced to the surface of my skin at the challenge in her eyes. “If you want me to train you, you’ll have to make me. If you really are one of our kind then you’re going to need to learn quickly that Fae take what they want and the only thing that matters to us is power. So if you want me to do something for you then you’re going to have to force me.”

Roxy looked ready to start screaming at last, but when she opened her mouth, what came out was a mocking taunt instead. “How many Elements do you wield again, Darius?” she asked, her voice rough and low. “Two, isn’t it?”

The Dragon in me roared in anger at her insinuation but I refused to let it show, keeping my face locked in the unyielding mask my father had beat into me.

“Two are more than enough,” I replied simply.

“Yeah… but having all four has got to be better.” She was practically smirking at me, baiting me, daring me to do my worst like she truly thought she could handle it if I did. And damn my heart to the stars, but I was tempted to do just that. Let her see the beast in me and see if she truly could handle it.

“I’m an apex predator. My kind aren’t built to take orders from anyone. It’s written in my DNA to rule over you. I could never bow no matter how powerful you might have the potential to be,” I said icily.

“How can you know that? You don’t even know what Order I am. Maybe I’m higher up the food chain than you think,” she said, eyes still glittering like she was getting off on the danger of taunting the villain in me. 

I scoffed, closing in on her until I was right in her personal space, the sweet scent of her skin calling to me as I leaned in close and placed my hands against the door either side of her head, penning her in and watching her with my heart racing as she still refused to flinch. 

“No one is higher up the food chain than me, Roxy,” I promised her, my gaze dropping down to drink her in even though I refused to let anything other than hatred for her and all she represented touch my soul. She was my enemy, plain and simple and I couldn’t allow a single moment of doubt cloud that for my brother’s sake.

She studied me while I studied her and the pull I kept feeling towards her crackled against my bare flesh like an oncoming thunderstorm. But I wouldn’t bow to its desires. There was nothing left between me and her aside from the need in me to get rid of her.

“What Order are you?” Roxy breathed, her chest rising and falling with the heavy pressure of the air that surrounded us and my gaze fell to the swell of her tits in the little sports bra she wore.

“I’ll show you mine if you’ll show me yours,” I teased, my eyes shifting to the golden hue of my Dragon, reptilian slits and all before I blinked the shift away again and watched the shock flash over her features.

“But I don’t know my Order yet,” she protested. “Professor Orion thinks growing up in the mortal world suppressed our abilities.”

I watched her for a moment, wondering if that was really true and she genuinely had no idea what she was. And strangely enough, I actually believed her.

But if she wanted to know what breed of creature was standing before her then I was happy enough to give her a show and make her realise exactly why she should fear me.

I stepped back suddenly, snapping the band of energy that had seemed to be drawing me closer to her as I unbuckled my belt and unbuttoned my fly.

“What are you doing?” she gasped, staring at me as I dropped my jeans, knocking my boxers off with them and letting her get a good eyeful of the full length of my cock.

Her gaze stayed glued on it and blood began to rush that way at the feeling of her attention, like that part of me still hadn’t agreed to my decision to have nothing more to do with her beyond making sure she left this place. I gritted my teeth as my dick continued to get all kinds of ideas about the things it could do with her if I just made her bow for me now and I tried not to let my gaze linger on her mouth while I considered how much I’d like to fuck it. 

“When you stop eye-fucking me I’ll show you what you’re so desperate to know,” I mocked, forcing her attention back up to my face and earning myself a scowl.

“People don’t tend to whip their junk out in the middle of a conversation,” she snapped like she was pissed at me for it. “So if you didn’t want me catching an eyeful of little Darius then you shouldn’t have brought him into our discussion.”

I released a breath of laughter before I could help myself, my mind and dick wandering down all kinds of out of bounds roads as I gave myself two seconds to consider whether or not I could convince her to bow for me after all.

I leaned closer to her as she scowled back, but her breaths were speeding up and her pupils were wide with what I could have sworn was desire of her own.

I wanted that. I wanted it more than I could say and it was so fucking tempting to just step forward, catch her by the back of the neck and kiss her roughly until she gave in and bowed to me the way I ached for her to. I could see it in her eyes. The temptation despite the hatred and I wanted to hate fuck her so much that I almost took that final step. 

But as my own pulse thundered like a war drum in my ears, I knew it wouldn’t be so simple. One taste of her and I’d be addicted. And I couldn’t afford that no matter how tempting a sin she might have been.

“If you come to my room uninvited again then it had better be because you’re ready to bow to us or to beg me to bend you over that headboard and make you scream my name,” I said with all the confidence I felt in knowing that she was getting as wet for me as I was getting hard for her. 

She pressed herself back against my door, her thighs clenching together like she was trying to fight her reaction, but I felt it humming in the air between us no matter how deeply she scowled. 

It was all animal and I knew it would be the best kinds of bad if we gave into it. But I couldn’t.

I turned away from her suddenly then took a running jump out of the open window beside us. 

Roxy gasped in alarm as I fell and I stretched my arms wide, letting the seconds tick by as I hurtled towards the ground while my Dragon rose up in me with a fiery desperation for freedom.

As the golden Dragon burst from my skin, a roar tore from my throat loud enough to rattle all of the windows in Ignis House.

Fire burst from my jaw in the next moment, the heat of it billowing back over my golden scales as I dove headfirst through the flames.

I tore away through the sky, not letting myself look back at the girl who I knew was still watching me while the feeling of her eyes on my skin scraped me raw and sent a shudder of premonition racing through me.

That girl was my downfall in the making. I just had to make sure she never reached that potential.

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