I folded my arms and abandoned my speech because dammit he'd been right about that, I'd been rehearsing it all day. So I decided on being entirely blunt instead and laying out all of the facts.
I raised a hand to count them off. “You and Darius have been against Tory and I since we stepped in the door. You meet up in secret and you talk about going on killing sprees like it's completely normal. You chat with some stupidly hot model in a bar who is apparently in the know about your killing sprees and then you corner me in a women's bathroom like a psycho. Then later that evening both you and Darius go conveniently missing just before Geraldine turns up almost dead in a strange attack. Oh and who happens to be the first on the scene? You. Covered in blood and smelling like cinnamon.”
Orion's brows had raised during my list and now he was grinning, his dimple out in full force. “Cinnamon?”
“Yes,” I said firmly. “Geraldine smelled it and that's what you smell like so...” I waited for his outburst. A fierce denial, or him falling to his knees and begging me not to go to the FIB. But he just sat there watching me like I was his favourite TV show.
“And how many people have you told this, Miss Vega?” he asked calmly. Too damn calmly.
“Enough that if you lay a hand on me, the whole school will know what you're up to before midnight.” Triumph scored a path through my body but something about his expression told me I hadn't quite won yet.
“Well it seems you've been spending a lot of your time spying on me - and smelling me apparently. But I'm still waiting for you to plant the evidence on my desk?” He gazed at my hands, mock-expecting me to produce something as my gut shrivelled into a prune. “No?” he questioned tauntingly. “No video, photo, audio recording? No evidence at all?”
I remained totally still, refusing to back down. I might not have had evidence but it was only a matter of time until the FIB caught on to him.
Orion calmly took his Atlas out of his bag, placed it under my nose and brought up a news report which had been published less than half an hour ago.
Wounds on Zodiac Academy Student Now Confirmed as a Nymph Attack.
Underneath it in bold were the words:
Professor Orion (the head of his field in Cardinal Magic at Zodiac Academy) is expected to be awarded the Noble Crest after his act of bravery saved her moments before her death.
“Oh,” I breathed as the world crashed in around me.
“Yes – oh. Now can we return to your session or do you have any more wild accusations you want to throw around? Is Principal Nova dealing drugs under the bleachers at the Pitball Stadium? Or is Professor Pyro starting fires in The Wailing Wood?” He chuckled at his own words and I rose to my feet, knocking my chair over in my haste.
“You know what? I'm done with these sessions. I know what I heard, sir. And maybe you didn't attack Geraldine but I know you're up to something.” I strode toward the door but Orion flew in front of me, his Vampire speed propelling him into my way.
My heart got jammed in my throat as he gazed at me.
“Don't bite me,” I snarled, stepping back in a rage. “You took almost everything from me the other day and I've only just got my full power back.”
His eyebrows knitted together. “You got it back? How?”
I shook my head. “I'm not sure.”
“Well pay attention next time.” He stepped forward and I slammed a hand to his chest, my heart screaming.
“Don't,” I commanded.
“I wasn't going to bite you,” he said and my shoulders sagged with relief. He stepped back and pointed to my chair, flicking a finger to force it upright. “Stay. Finish the session.”
I glanced at the door uncertainly, unsure what to believe anymore. “Will you answer something for me first?”
“Depends what it is,” he said in a gravelly tone.
“Do you want me and my sister dead?” I pinned him with my hardest, most unwavering stare. For Tory. For me. I had to hear his answer, even if it was a lie.
His eyes softened, running over my face with the faintest of frowns. “No, Blue. I don't.”
THE WHOLE ACADEMY was buzzing with excitement for the dance this weekend and I couldn’t help but get a little caught up in the idea of it too. Apparently the Professors always went all out to try and beat the previous year with impressive magic to decorate the place and fulfil the theme which was going to be ‘fall’ this time to match the season.
I was a little apprehensive about attending a party with our classmates who ranged from the weirdly obsessed A.S.S. to the outright hostile mean girls and quite possibly murderous Heirs. But I was trying to convince myself that the presence of the teachers and the general desire to have fun would mean that Darcy and I could enjoy it too.
After the arrival of my new clothes, I finally had some running gear and I was burning off a bit of nervous energy with a workout before I had to meet my least favourite Heir.
I jogged down to the Fire Arena wondering if Darius would actually show up for our tutoring session today. He’d skipped the one that had been arranged for last Thursday and Professor Pyro had bought into his blatant lies about getting caught up helping out some other students saving a cat from a well with a glowing look in her eyes that told me she was firmly Team Darius. I on the other hand had been told off for not rearranging the lesson myself even though I’d actually shown up and hadn’t heard a word from Darius to excuse himself.
I was a little nervous about spending time with him one on one especially as I definitely had a few fuzzy memories of his hands trailing all over me on the dance floor the last time I’d gotten close enough to speak with him.
Each time I’d caught a glimpse of him in the Ignis House common room or The Orb since, I’d received glares from Marguerite which were toxic enough to cause physical harm. But she needn't have bothered; I had zero interest in approaching the possible-murderer/constant tormentor/crazy-hot asshole who had appointed himself king of the Academy. In fact if I had it my way I wouldn’t even be heading to this session with him but Professor Pyro had made it clear that I would be held responsible if we missed another one and it would have a negative affect on my Reckoning. And despite all the glaring reasons for me to be running as far from this damn Academy as humanly possible, I wanted to stay. I wanted this magic that ran in my veins and I wanted the knowledge to wield it. And I wanted my damn inheritance too.
How many people could say that they’d had two sets of parents up and die on them? And what had our reward been for surviving those two tragedies? We’d lost our birth-right, grown up amongst people who had no idea what we were and had never had anyone to call mom or dad. We deserved that money for our suffering alone. We were owed a better life. And I’d survive a few years of torture if that was what it took to claim it. Hell, I’d already taken eighteen years of emotional neglect and uncertainty, what were a few more years to add to my sentence?
I reached the Fire Arena and forced myself to keep my head held high as I strolled straight in. As I’d run before having to face this meeting I chose to stay in the pair of tight fitting red yoga pants and grey sports bra for our session rather than changing into the Elemental lesson outfit.
I could never mention it to Professor Pyro but I’d been growing to hate that fire-proof outfit. I felt almost certain that it was making me struggle more with my fire magic rather than helping to protect me from the flames. I wasn’t afraid of my own power hurting me no matter what form it took; it was such an intrinsic part of me that I just didn’t believe it could. And something about the material designed to protect me from the flames felt more suffocating than I could explain. I’d taken the chance at summoning fire without it on a few times and had had much more success at controlling the flames in my hands.
Whether it was in my head or not, I wasn’t sure but while she wasn’t here to tell me otherwise, I was going to attempt this class without the outfit. I doubted Darius could give a shit what I wore and I guessed the only thing I had to worry about was the
chance of someone else’s flames burning me. But as Darius was only supposed to be helping me contain my own magic and not using any of his, I had to hope that wouldn’t be a problem.
I looked around at the wide arena as I arrived and unsurprisingly didn’t see Darius anywhere.
I resigned myself to waiting for him and eyed some of the other practicing students with interest.
The more I watched them creating different shapes and aiming their flames at various targets, the more my own magic seemed to build within me, aching to join them.
I glanced around a little guiltily, hoping I wasn’t about to lose control again before easing my palm up in front of me. I bit my lip as I focused on the size of the flame I wanted to summon and suddenly it appeared.
I stared in surprise at the handful of fire as I held the magic steady. It didn’t grow or shrink or reshape itself without me wanting it to. I felt... in control. A satisfied laugh escaped me as I banished the flame and I wondered if my theory about the Elemental lesson’s outfit had some merit to it. Or maybe it was just not having an audience that worked in my favour. Whatever the reason, I was feeling a lot more hopeful about this session. If Darius ever turned up...
“Excuse me, your majesty?”
I glanced up as a tall guy with dark hair pushed back in a carefully styled kind of way walked towards me. He stopped about a meter away and bowed - fucking bowed - to me.
“Don’t do that,” I snapped, looking about to see if anyone had noticed him.
“Apologies, your majesty, I didn’t mean-”
“And don’t call me that either!” I said with exasperation as I eyed the shiny silver A.S.S. badge on his chest with distaste.
“Oh, err, apologies again, Roxanya I didn’t mean-”
“Don’t call me that either,” I practically snarled. What was with these guys? What part of just treat me like anyone else and don’t bring up that royal bullshit was so hard for them to compute? If they really did think Darcy and I were their sovereigns then shouldn’t that mean they’d do what we asked them to?
“Right... Darcy?”
“Tory.” I frowned at him thinking go-the-hell-away-from-me thoughts but he didn’t pick up on them despite the shouty barrage going on in my head. I probably wasn’t any breed of psychic Order then...
“Tory,” he agreed finally. We were two minutes into this conversation and he’d only just landed on a damn name for me, how long was it going to take him to get to the point?
“My name is Justin Masters,” he announced and I kinda got the impression that that was supposed to mean something to me but my blank look encouraged him to go on. “I’m a senior. But my family served yours loyally right up until the devastating fall of your bloodline. I just wanted to tell you how deeply sorry I am for the tragedy your family befell.”
“Oh. Well, thanks. I mean, we were babies so it’s not the freshest wound but I appreciate the sentiment. Was that it?” I knew I was treading the line of bitch but the last thing I needed was for this guy to still be standing here when Darius finally arrived.
“No, actually. I was hoping that you might consider allowing me the honour to escort you to the dance this Friday?” he asked, his gaze holding mine as he awaited a reply.
I was so surprised that for a moment I could only stare at him. He was good looking, tall, well put together and clean shaven. In a nutshell he looked like the kinda guy your momma would love for you to bring home and your daddy would affectionately call son. Nice, clean cut - so not my type at all. He also clearly didn’t know the first thing about me and was sporting that super shiny ass badge.
I leaned forward conspiratorially and lowered my voice a fraction. “Are you hoping to get into my pants, Justin?” I teased.
The heat that filled his cheeks at my suggestion was more than enough of a confirmation of my assessment of him and the spluttering response filled with words like ‘escort’ and ‘propriety’ and ‘duty to protect’ urged me to interrupt him.
“I’m just teasing you, Justin,” I said soothingly. “But in all honesty I don’t think we would be very well suited for a date. Perhaps you should see if Geraldine is free? If she’s recovered by Friday I know she’d love to come to the dance and I get the feeling the two of you have a lot in common.”
To his credit, Justin didn’t seem upset about my refusal or even surprised. He merely thanked me for my time and excused himself with another bow.
I shook my head and gave my attention back to my solo practice session, keeping one eye on the entrance as I awaited my reluctant tutor.
I checked the clock. Multiple times. It was gone half past. At this point he wasn’t just late; he’d left me waiting thirty-seven minutes. And as much as I wanted to think that maybe he’d just forgotten or wasn’t good at time keeping, I knew better. He wasn’t coming. And that left me with a conundrum. Of course I could just count my blessings, thank whatever forces that were working in my favour to save me from the torture of an hour in his company and leave it at that. But if I did, I knew I’d hear about it from Professor Pyro. She wanted me to work on my fire skills and she’d told him to tutor me and even though I was the one who had actually shown up, I knew I’d be the one to take the blame for this non-lesson if it didn’t go ahead.
I released a breath of irritation and got to my feet, crossing the Fire Arena quickly as the other practicing students followed my movement with their ever-watchful stares. Nosey fuckers. No doubt everyone would be talking about Darius standing me up tomorrow if I left it at this but that wasn’t what I was going to feed the rumour mill. No. It was time that lazy, entitled asshole got a taste of my fire.
I crossed the Fire Territory quickly, not giving anyone the chance to come at me on my journey. I drew on my power as I went, reinforcing my mental shields to the best of my ability in case I happened across any of Marguerite's posse.
My gut churned a little at the idea of confronting Darius. Who knew what way he’d take this but I wasn’t about to just accept being stood up. If I challenged him over it and he flat out refused then Professor Pyro would have no choice but to assign me another tutor. Which I was hoping would be the case.
Only one way to find out.
I started up the stone steps which spiralled through the middle of Ignis House, ignoring the corridors which led to the various accommodation floors and heading straight for the common room.
A few people looked up curiously as I stormed in, wearing my irritation like a badge of pissed off right across my face. Luckily none of my regular tormentors appeared to be present and I used my momentum to carry me towards a group of three girls I didn’t know. Their eyes widened as I stopped before them and I wondered if they knew who I was. The return of the Vega Heirs had certainly caused enough impact to have our names thrown around the masses but I wasn’t quite conceited enough to believe my fame preceded me. Darius however was known by everyone.
“Hi,” I said, not quite throwing enough saccharine into my tone to come off sweet and friendly but oh well. “I’m looking for Darius, has he been in here recently?”
“Not tonight,” one of them replied slowly, her eyes narrowing as she tried to figure out why I wanted to know.
I turned away from them with a huff of irritation. He could be anywhere. Where was I supposed to look next?
“He’s in his room,” a guy offered from the couch beside me. He was big enough and sultry enough to be a Shifter but I wasn’t sure what kind.
“Care to elaborate there pal?” I asked with a sigh. “It’s a big building.”
He raised an eyebrow at my tone then rolled his eyes as he decided to let it slide. “Top floor, all the way at the end of the corridor. Best room in the house.”
“Of course it is,” I muttered. “Thanks.”
I turned away from him and headed straight to the stairs while my anger was still running hot in my blood and my nerve stayed strong. This could well be a terrible idea but I wasn’t going to back down now.
I marched to
the top of the stairs and all the way along the corridor. Beside his bedroom door a floor length window stood wide open and I resisted the urge to pull it closed as I looked at the dizzying drop below. It looked like the perfect place to toss someone who had disturbed you uninvited and I just had to hope that Darius didn’t end up with the same idea.
The thump of a heavy bass reached me through the door to Darius’s room and I ground my teeth as I recognised one of my favourite songs. Thanks for ruining it for me, asshole.
With a steadying breath, I lifted my hand and knocked on the door.
“It’s open,” Darius called, his tone casual, clearly expecting one of his friends. “Come in.”
I hesitated, taken aback by the friendly tone and wondering what the hell I was letting myself in for by coming to invade his personal space. But I was here now. I’d knocked on the goddamn door so I couldn’t back out. Besides, what was the worst he could do?
I steeled myself and pushed the door open. A huge space greeted me, at least four times the size of my own room which was in no way small. In fact I’d probably have gone so far as to call it more of a penthouse than a dorm.
He had goddamn king sized bed which sat beneath sprawling yellow and orange windows with a view out over the Fire Territory beyond. There was even a couch to the right big enough to seat four people, sitting beneath a huge TV hanging on the wall.
Aside from the extravagant size of it, the most eye catching thing about the room was the choice of gaudy decorations. Everything that possibly could be was made of gold and it didn’t look fake either; the bed posts, coffee table, bedside cabinets and wardrobe doors were all heavily gilt. There was an alarm clock, picture frames, coasters, even a small trash can, all of which seemed to be solid gold. At the foot of his bed a chest stood with the top open to reveal the fact that it was half full of gold coins and gemstones as big as goddamn eggs. More of the same treasure was spread across his bed where he was currently laying, surrounded by the stuff and glaring at me like I’d just grown a second head. He was only wearing a pair of jeans and for a second I couldn’t help but stare at the thick muscles which lined his chest but my attention was quickly snagged by the treasure again.
Zodiac Academy: The Awakening: An Academy Bullymance (Supernatural Bullies and Beasts Book 1) Page 29