The cliffs soon appeared ahead of me and I raced towards them, circling a few times to slow myself down before landing close to Aer Tower and shifting back into my Fae form. I dissolved the concealment spell I’d placed on my stuff which I’d left in a patch of grass on the clifftop and dragged on my black sweatpants and sneakers before picking up my Atlas and sending Seth a message to come and meet me out here. I threw a silencing bubble up over the area so that I could keep our conversation private when he arrived.
I looked down at the tattoos which snaked over the right side of my chest, the initials of the people I cared for most in this world woven into the pattern of flames which washed over my shoulder from the mouth of the Dragon on my back. My thumb skimmed over the X, L, M and C before finally coming to rest on the S where I pressed down hard enough to feel a flicker of pain.
My blood was running hot with my fire magic and I was dancing a thin line with rage most days anyway, so I didn’t exactly mind having an excuse to vent some of it.
“Hey, man, what’s up?” Seth called as he appeared, jogging around the tower as he moved towards me. “We’ve been worried about you…do you wanna come hang out at the Hollow?”
I’d been avoiding the other Heirs outside of classes all week and I hadn’t exactly had much to say when I did see them. I knew they wanted to help me, but between Max cringing every time he got near me like the merest hint of my emotions caused him physical pain, Seth whimpering and trying to nuzzle me all the damn time and Caleb…fucking Caleb with his fucking face and his fucking blonde hair and his fucking fangs which he got way too close to my girl way too often, not to mention what he did with the rest of his fucking body and-
Not my girl.
Never my girl.
My jaw ticked and I strode towards Seth as he gave me a pitying look like he could read my fucking mind.
“We have a problem,” I growled, my hands curling into fists.
“How can I help?” Seth asked, pushing his long hair away from his face. His gaze flicked down to my fists and he straightened his spine as he seemed to realise this was a problem between me and him.
“Have you been fucking with Lance and Gwendalina Vega?” I asked darkly.
Seth licked his bottom lip, his gaze shifting over me like he was wondering how much I knew and how much shit he could feed me.
“It’s just a bit of fun, dude. We all agreed to fuck with the Vegas and-”
I snarled as I lunged at him and Seth tried to duck aside as I swung a fist straight for his face.
My knuckles slammed into an air shield at the last second and he growled at me as thick vines sprung out of the ground at my feet, snaring my legs and anchoring me in place.
Seth pointed right in my face as he stayed just out of reach and I glared at him. “I’ll give you a free pass for that because you got your heart ripped out, but if you try to come at me again we’re going to have a serious-”
Fire flared from my flesh and destroyed the vines in less than a heartbeat and I was on him a second later.
I coated my knuckles in ice and slammed them against the air shield he’d thrown around himself with every ounce of strength I possessed.
The ground shook and quaked beneath me as Seth growled like the Wolf he was. “Why do you care if I torture Darcy Vega?” he snarled. “That was what we all agreed to do when we found out they were coming back here!”
I roared at him as I threw all of my magic into the ice surrounding my fist and his shield shattered as my fist collided with it again.
I slammed into him instantly, catching him around the throat and throwing him back against the stone wall of Aer Tower with a Dragon’s growl that rocked right through my body.
Seth’s fists pounded into my ribs and for a moment I just bathed in the pain he delivered me as I kept my grip on his throat and pinned him in place. It was a twisted kind of relief to feel something other than fucking heartache. I was almost tempted to release him and let him beat the shit out of me just to escape into agony of a different kind for a while.
“Lance is off limits,” I snarled. “Which means the girl he loves is off limits too.”
“Fuck you. You don’t just get to make the rules!” Seth shouted, punching me so hard that a crack sounded in my ribs.
His palm opened but before he could use his magic to throw me off, I directed my own ice over his hands, binding them to the wall behind him and immobilising his magic in the act.
I bared my teeth at him, squeezing his throat even tighter for a second just so that he knew I held his life in my fist. Just so he could see exactly which one of us had come out on top here.
His eyes flashed dangerously, but not in fear. More like betrayal.
“You’d pick a fucking Vega over your own brother?” he hissed, not even bothering to struggle against me anymore as he shot me a poisonous look. “Who the fuck are you right now, Darius?”
I sucked in a breath and loosened my hold.
“I’m not picking anyone over anyone,” I said in a low voice as the shadows flickered beneath my skin, whispering bloodlust in my ears and stoking the pit of rage in me. “But did you ever stop to consider the curse my father put on Lance when he bound his life to mine?”
Seth’s gaze dipped to my forearm where the Libra brand stood out red amongst the tattoos I’d gotten of all the other star signs.
“Seems like there are worse things than being bound to one of the most powerful men in Solaria,” Seth hissed dismissively.
I growled again, heat flaring beneath my skin and making him wince as I burned him before getting it back under control.
“He had a life before this. He had things he wanted, things he’d earned. He should be living his fucking dreams out playing in the Solarian Pitball League right now. Not stuck here teaching. His mother is a fucking psychopath, his sister disappeared years ago and he hasn’t been able to make a single decision for his own happiness since the moment my father linked him to me. But somehow, in amongst all of that shit, he found a girl to love. But you, selfish motherfucker that you are, want to rip that away from him too?” I was shouting in his face and I didn’t even give a shit. I was sick of my father treating my life like it was nothing more than something he could toy with and I wasn’t going to let Seth do that to Lance.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely. It was one of those phrases people tossed around, but didn’t give much thought to. But there was real truth in that. Power was the root of all my problems. Every fucking one of them. And I wasn’t going to watch the people around me abusing theirs anymore.
“Fine,” Seth growled, sagging back against the wall as the fight went out of him. “I was never going to tell anyone about them anyway. I just liked fucking with them, that’s all.”
I looked into his brown eyes for a long moment, seeing nothing but honesty in his gaze and I huffed in frustration before withdrawing my grip from his throat and taking a step back. I let the ice melt away from his hands too but he remained where he was, watching me like he didn’t know what the fuck I’d do next. And I didn’t even know the answer to that so I couldn’t help him.
“Why?” I asked. “Why do you care so much about him being with her?” Because Seth might have been a ruthless asshole, but fucking with other people’s relationships wasn’t his usual style and something about it wasn’t adding up to me.
“I don’t,” he snapped, but I fixed him in my gaze and waited. Seth never had been good at keeping his feelings locked down from me and the other Heirs, and after a few moments pinned in my gaze he cracked. “Fine. Maybe I do care. Maybe I don’t like seeing her with him, laughing and smiling and batting her eyelashes at him like he’s the best fucking person she’s ever met and his cock is so fucking big that she just can’t get enough of it. And-”
“You sound jealous,” I growled, as I glared at him. “Is that what this is? Have you fallen for her or something?”
“No,” Seth snapped, but it wasn’t the least bit convincing. “Not…not r
eally.” He let out a low breath and knocked his head back against the wall to Aer Tower, touching his fingers to his neck as he healed away the bruises and burns I’d placed on his flesh. “It’s just…you know what it’s like for Werewolves and our mates. The Alpha in me demands I meet an equal. Someone who can match my power and unless I can find that, I’m never gonna be able to find that true bond with anyone. And I’ve met a lot of fucking Wolf girls and guys, even Alphas in their own rights, but none of them are strong enough to contend with me. And sometimes…I just get sick of all the pack orgies and want someone who I can just call mine.”
“Darcy Vega isn’t a Werewolf,” I huffed, folding my arms over my bare chest and feeling the sharp sting of pain from my broken ribs with a surge of twisted satisfaction.
“No, I know. But she’s strong. Besides, it’s not like that for me. Yeah, most Capellas are Werewolves, but we aren’t exactly an endangered species. My mom doesn’t give a shit about me sticking to my Order type when I find my mate. She just wants it to be someone powerful enough to match me so that our children are strong. But that’s just it – no one can match me. The four of us are unrivalled in our power so there’s no fucking chance of me finding anyone that I might be able to form a true mate bond with like that, and the thought of taking a mate who’s less than me is just so fucking depressing. But then the Vegas came along and, well…Darcy liked me, you know? Before I cut her hair off anyway. She kissed me. She wanted me too, at least in that moment.”
“So you just got it in your head that you’d take a Vega for your mate and there wouldn’t be any issues with that?” I asked incredulously. He’d clearly lost his fucking mind. He knew as well as I did that he couldn’t marry a Vega without jeopardising the whole Council. His children would end up stronger than the rest of ours and it would unbalance everything. There was no way his mother or anyone else would allow that shit, and he knew it just as well as I knew it. I’d certainly given the idea enough thought when I’d been obsessing over Roxy. Besides, it didn’t look like he loved Darcy Vega from where I was standing. More like he was throwing a fit because he couldn’t just snap his fingers and claim her like he could with most things in life.
“I don’t fucking know,” he sighed. “All I know, is that if I hadn’t been such a dick to her in the beginning then maybe things would be different now. Maybe the two of us…” he trailed off as he looked into my eyes and my jaw ticked with barely suppressed rage yet again.
“Yeah, I get that. I’ve had one or two thoughts like that myself,” I snarled bitterly. “About the Vega who really was destined to be mine. Until she stepped beneath the stars with me and told me she’d rather suffer alone and in misery for the rest of her life than be bound to me in any way.”
I shoved away from Seth as he whimpered behind me and pushed my hands into my dark hair as I fought against the pull of the shadows as they licked keenly beneath my flesh, aching for a taste of the darkness which had taken root in my hollow soul.
“Sorry, man,” Seth breathed behind me, reaching out to grip my shoulder and pressing healing magic into my body to fix my busted ribs. I wished he hadn’t done it. The pain had been a welcome distraction. “I didn’t mean to compare it to you and Tory. That’s not what I meant…”
“It’s fine,” I growled, looking out over the dark sea. It wasn’t, but nothing was so there was no point in bitching about it.
“Please come and hang out with us at the Hollow tonight. We miss you, we need you. The three of us don’t know how to help you, but-”
“I’ll think about it,” I said dismissively and we both knew I wouldn’t be showing up. “I’ve got somewhere else to be first. Just stay the fuck away from Lance and Gwen.”
“Okay. But come later. Please.”
I strode away from him, causing his hand to fall from my shoulder and I didn’t look back as I kept walking. Was I going to see them in the Hollow tonight? Doubtful. They wanted to fix my problems, but there was no fix for them. Roxy had made her choice and that wasn’t me. Father had forced me to betray them and bound my tongue with dark magic so that I couldn’t even warn them. When I sat amongst my friends I just felt like a traitor and a liar, burning up with all the things I couldn’t say and shouldn’t feel. It wasn’t their fault, but I couldn’t change it either. It just sucked. Like pretty much everything else in my life.
A low howl followed me as I left Seth behind and my heart twisted guiltily. I didn’t want to shut the other Heirs out. But I didn’t know how to let them in either.
I checked the time on my Atlas as I headed down the stairway carved into the side of the cliff which led to the beach below and sighed as I realised I was early. But it wasn’t like I had anything else to do anyway.
My skin prickled as I started walking along the beach towards the cave where we held our shadow lessons. I tried not to think too much about the fact that I was going to be spending a few hours in Roxy’s company for the first time since she’d thoroughly destroyed me. I’d hardly even seen her since that night and we certainly hadn’t spoken. She was clearly avoiding me and I hadn’t made any attempt to get close to her either despite the fact that I lay awake at night wishing I could. The closest I came was heading down to stand outside her door when everyone else was sleeping and checking that she wasn’t falling into the temptation of the shadows. Unfortunately, she clearly had been using them and I’d already had to press my magic out towards her more than once to pull her back. But she never seemed to realise it was me. Never thought to check beyond her door for whatever she’d latched onto to pull herself out of the shadows. And I was glad. Because if she figured out it was me, she might demand I stop doing it. And there was no way I could just abandon her to the lure of the shadows alone.
There were a thousand things I ached to say to her, but what was the point? It was too late.
I was so caught up in my own personal pity party that I didn’t even realise I wasn’t the only one to turn up early until I rounded the corner before the cave and almost walked straight into Roxy where she was sitting crossed legged on the ground.
My heart leapt and my mouth dried out as I stared at her, but she had her eyes closed and didn’t even seem to have noticed me at all.
“Sorry,” I muttered, meaning for disturbing her but kind of meaning for all the rest of the shit between us too.
Her eyes snapped open and for a fleeting moment, her entire pupils were painted black with shadows before she managed to force them away.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I demanded, the bite in my tone coming out more forcefully than I’d intended as my heart leapt with fear for her. But fuck it, she shouldn’t be playing around with the fucking shadows on her own and she knew it.
“Practicing,” she said icily, pushing to her feet and glaring at me just like she had before the first time I’d kissed her. That memory cut me open and left me bleeding, but she either didn’t notice or didn’t care. Probably both.
“You shouldn’t be practicing this shit without someone else to watch your back,” I said, taking a step towards her as my gaze scraped over her face but before I could get anywhere near her, I hit a solid air shield and fell still. I hadn’t even seen her cast it which meant she’d gotten a lot faster than she used to be.
“I can watch my own back,” she replied, her eyes guarded as she watched me press my hand against her shield. I didn’t try to break it. I just laid my palm against it, feeling the gentle caress of her magic against my skin and trying not to take offence to the fact that she thought she needed to protect herself from me with it. “I’ll have to get used to that now anyway.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“I’m always going to be alone now, aren’t I? Forever.” Her green eyes circled in black flashed and for the briefest moment I saw the pain that word cost her as it passed her lips before she locked it back down again.
“I’m sorry,” I breathed, my gaze falling from hers as the guilt over what I’d cost us pressed down
on me. She was wearing her running gear, a black pair of leggings and a bright blue sports bra which left enough of her flesh on show to make me ache.
The air shield beneath my palm fell away and I found myself standing hardly more than a foot away from her as she looked up at me, the air crackling between us.
Thunder rumbled overhead and I frowned as I glanced up at the sky which had been clear just moments ago and yet was somehow filled with clouds now.
“Darius…” Roxy said, her tone suddenly softer and I dropped my gaze back to her instantly, forgetting the clouds and anything else in favour of hearing her speak. “I need to know if you meant it. What you said to me when the stars called us together. If you really did regret the things-”
Lightning slammed into the sand a few meters away from us and Roxy screamed as she jumped back. I stumbled aside and nearly fell on my ass as my heart leapt in fright but before I could recover, ice cold sleet fell from the heavens in a torrent.
I threw heat up over my body, moving closer to Roxy to shield her too as I burned the sleet away, protecting us from the downpour. I pulled my draining dagger from my pocket, quickly scoring the marks into the rocks which would open the cave for us.
Lightning slammed into the sand again as we stumbled inside and I caught Roxy’s hand as I dragged her away from the storm.
Heat spread along my flesh from the small point of contact and my heart pounded with the force of a hurricane as I looked down at her.
She didn’t snatch her hand away, but the pain in her eyes was sharp enough to cut me open as she looked up at me.
The cave floor suddenly started to tremble beneath our feet and I cursed as I looked around at the space and rocks began to fall from the roof to pelt us.
Roxy threw an air shield over our heads to protect us from them but the tremors only grew more intense, the storm outside howling with fury.
“What the hell is going on?” Roxy gasped, her grip on my fingers tightening as the ground bucked hard enough to make us stumble and she fought to exert her earth magic over it too.
Zodiac Academy 5: Cursed Fates: An Academy Bully Romance (Supernatural Bullies and Beasts) Page 12