I headed out of the room and found my mother standing beyond the dining hall, her eyes shining as she stared at me. Her throat bobbed then she pointed to the stairs. “Go and wash your face and change your shirt before Mr Gravebone gets here.”
“Who’s that?” I asked, glancing down at my blood splattered shirt. Sounds like the head of some wanted gang in Red Dead Redemption. Not exactly comforting.
“Just go,” she insisted, turning away from me and I headed upstairs with a knot in my gut. I hated that Clara had healed me and not my mom. As pathetic as it was, the only time I felt like my mother really cared for me was when she came to tend to my wounds after Father had laid into me.
I changed my shirt and washed my face and by the time I returned downstairs, I was ready to face whoever this guy was. But what I wasn’t ready for, was my father waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs. He placed a hand on my shoulder, steering me down the hall to the left and my heart ticked harder, a sense of unease washing through me. Something felt wrong. And my instincts said I should bolt, run for my star-damned life.
“You will do as Mr Gravebone says,” Father spoke my ear, his voice a deadly whisper. “Anything he says. I expect you to make progress with him within a month. If not, well, I hope you understand that life can get far more uncomfortable in this house, son.”
I swallowed the rising lump in my throat, keeping my lips sealed as he guided me into a lounge at the far end of the hall. A fire stood crackling to one side of the long room and two armchairs sat either side of it. A man rose from one, his pale grey eyes dragging down me. His white hair was swept back over his head and every angle of his face looked as sharp as a razor. A blood red robe hung around him, held in place at his throat with a golden clasp that pictured a perfect sunflower.
Father guided me to the other seat and pushed me down into it, his hand remaining on my shoulder as he stood beside me. “You understand my wishes, Gravebone?” he growled and the man inclined his head.
“I do, my lord. And you can rest assured that not a word of this will be breathed beyond these four walls,” he replied in a voice that was softly spoken and creepy as shit.
“Good. You’ll be paid at the end of each session. And if I don’t see results soon, I’ll ensure that the rest of your clientele are aware you’re a fraud.”
“I’m no fraud,” he said, lifting his chin. “I will not let you down.”
Father nodded curtly and vacated the room, leaving me with Sir Creeps-Me-Out and the feeling of ants stirring under my skin.
Gravebone reached into his robes and took out a large golden pendulum, moving toward me as he let it dangle from his long fingers. “You know why you’re here, I trust?”
“No,” I said, sitting back in my chair and fixing him in my sights. “Who are you?”
“I’m an Order Conversion Therapist.”
“And what’s that supposed to mean?” I gritted out through my teeth, though I could have taken a wild guess.
“Your father has entrusted your secret to me. And I understand the shame you must feel at Emerging as such a low level Order amongst the most powerful family of Dragons in Solaria. I’m here to help.”
My tongue was leaden, my pulse was too quick. The word help had sounded an awful lot like harm.
I said nothing, not wanting to share any of my thoughts about that subject with this guy. Since I’d emerged as a Pegasus, I’d expected to be ashamed of my Order. But it turned out, that wasn’t what I felt at all. Sure, I’d been horrified. Afraid. But only because I knew what my father would think of it. Not because I cared about being a Dragon. I’d always dreamed of flying with my brother. I’d gotten the gift of wings, they just weren’t scaly and golden like his. They were soft, feathery and lilac. And I was okay with that. I just wished everyone else in the world could be.
Gravebone licked his thin lips, lifting the pendulum before my eyes. “I want you to watch the pendulum’s movements while we talk.” He started swinging it and I kept my gaze on his face instead of obeying.
“What are you expecting to get out of this?” I asked, the temperature rising in my veins.
“We’re going to change which Order you identify with, young Xavier,” he said with a bright glint in his gaze.
It seemed like a noose was tightening around my neck and my father was the executioner about to drop the floor from under my feet. I couldn’t refuse to go along with this. He’d make my life unbearable. And if I was ever going to get a chance to escape with Mother, I had to buy myself this time to work out a plan.
The heat of the fire washed over me. I was too hot and this guy was too close to me. I could smell incense and tobacco on him and I didn’t like the way he was looking at me. Like I was his new pet project.
I shifted in my seat, letting my eyes drop to the stupid pendulum. “What now?”
“How did you feel when you first Emerged?” he asked.
I ran my tongue across my teeth, thinking over the best way to play this. “I was scared,” I admitted the truth. “I felt like I didn’t have a place in my family anymore.” Another truth.
Up until the day Father had found out what I was, he’d treated me with indifference. And it had never in all my years occurred to me that that had been a blessing. Now, I took the brunt of his hate. His fists hammered into my flesh as he poured every drop of resentment and disappointment he had into me because of my Order. And when he told me that life could get worse than this, I wasn’t stupid enough not to believe it. “I still don’t.”
“Orders are a family in themselves,” Gravebone said, nodding in understanding and yet his eyes were distant like he didn’t have any real sympathy for me. “Right now, you no doubt crave the company of other Pegasuses, do you not?”
I nodded, my eyes still swinging in time with the Pendulum. A heaviness was creeping into my limbs and the more I fought it, the more it took hold of me.
“But you’re not one of them, young Xavier,” he breathed and his voice seemed further away.
Sleep was taking root in my bones and I found my thoughts harder to grasp. “Not one of them,” my mouth moved with the words, though I didn’t remember agreeing with them.
“Pegasuses are lowborn creatures unworthy of laying claim to Acrux blood,” Gravebone said with more fervour, the disgust in his voice clear. “You are not one of them.”
“I’m not one of them,” I said again and my voice cracked on the words as I tried to hold them back.
My eyes were closed, but images were starting to swim in my vision. A proud family of Dragons stood on a hill above me and below was a herd of Pegasus, whinnying and nuzzling each other. My heart called to them in a way I couldn’t bear to ignore. I moved towards them instinctively and pain crashed through my skull so intensely that I screamed.
“Choose your true family,” Gravebone’s voice reached me in the dark. “You’re not a Pegasus.”
“I’m not a Pegasus,” I panted as the pain subsided and my thoughts muddled together, making me unsure of myself for a moment. “I’m not one of them.”
I’d always hated getting up early but recently, sleeping in just hadn’t felt all that relaxing. In fact, laying in my bed with the shadows coiling around me and my fractured heart bleeding all over the crisp white sheets had become pretty unbearable. Which had led me to start a new routine. One which I was actually okay with. After a night spent tossing and turning and fighting off the shadows (or dipping into them for a while, which happened more often than not these days) I got out of bed, threw on my running gear, and just ran.
There was a beautiful simplicity in that. And something about getting out into the cold, crisp morning air and seeing the academy as it was waking up helped me to centre myself.
So as I jogged down the stairs in Ignis house and pushed the door open, I drew in a deep breath of winter air and let it push the shadows back away from the corners of my mind with a smile. It was six in the morning – a time I had never been familiar with before now, but a tim
e I was starting to like. At least a little.
I started up a quick stretch routine and flinched as I suddenly spotted Darius leaning against the wall to the side of the door. He was wearing sweatpants and a thin hoody with the sleeves cut off, his muscular arms drawing my gaze for a long moment as his dark eyes swept over me too.
He didn’t say anything and neither did I. But as I took off up the path for my run, he started running too.
I took my usual route through Fire Territory, circling around towards Water on the main path and his footsteps stayed behind me as he followed. Not too close. Not enough to anger the stars. And there were enough other people up exercising or heading to the library or giving their Order Forms a stretch that we weren’t really alone. But something about him following me made my heart pound for a whole other reason than the run.
I upped my pace as my route took me through the rock pools which made up the Shimmering Springs, my cheeks flushing a little as I remembered how hot the passion between us had burned when we’d come together in this place. Maybe I should have realised then that the way I’d felt about him was something more than just lust and hatred tangling together. But even if I had, I guessed it wouldn’t have changed anything. Though a guilty part of me did wonder if things would have been different if I hadn’t pushed him away from me here. If I hadn’t lied and told him it meant nothing to me…
I continued my run all the way out and around campus, passing through every Territory while Darius’s footsteps hounded me the whole way. My skin prickled, my blood heated and I couldn’t help but wonder what he was thinking, even though I never turned to acknowledge him at all.
I finally ran down the path through The Wailing Wood back towards The Orb with Dua Lipa’s Physical pounding in my ears and my pulse thrumming to a heady tune. A flock of Harpies were circling above the enormous golden dome, replenishing their magic with the sunrise and I couldn’t help but ache to go flying myself.
I upped my speed as I ran straight for the doors to the huge building and dropped forward with my hands on my knees as I took a moment to catch my breath.
When I looked up, I found Darius there, his hoody off and tattoos shining faintly on his sweat slicked skin as the hint of a smile played around his mouth. I may or may not have pushed myself really damn hard so that he had to work to keep up with me. And he was panting at least as hard as I was so that was something.
The door was thrown open as a herd of Pegasuses burst through it, giggling together about going for a fly in the clouds. Darius caught it before it could swing shut and held it for me so that I could head inside first. I gave him a tentative smile before slipping in and grabbing myself some toast and a bowl of fruit to have for breakfast.
I headed over to a table in the corner to drop my food off before turning back to get my coffee, but Darius appeared again before I could take a step.
My heart leapt as he placed a steaming mug of coffee down on my table, standing close enough for me to catch the mixture of smoke, cedar and sweat on his skin. I was momentarily transported back to the throne room with his hands all over me and my lips pressed to his and by the time I’d blinked the lust away, he was gone.
I watched in confusion as he grabbed a coffee and a breakfast burrito to go then headed straight out of The Orb without looking back again.
I blew out a breath as the excited energy which danced along my flesh finally began to settle and used water magic to clean the sweat from my skin before sitting back in my chair to eat.
Well, that was…weird.
I was so lost in thoughts of peculiar Dragon shifters that I didn’t notice Caleb approaching until he’d dropped down into the chair opposite me.
“Good morning, sweetheart,” he said with an easy smile as he tossed an arm over the back of the chair and dominated my space. But not in a threatening way, more like his aura was just so big that he couldn’t help it. All of the Heirs were like that more often than not and I found that I didn’t really mind it so much these days.
“You’re talking to me now then?” I asked casually, but inside I was cringing.
I took a bite out of my toast to distract myself from the warring feelings taking hold of me.
“Mmm, well I was never not talking to you. I was just trying to be considerate of Darius’s feelings,” he said, leaning forward to steal a slice of my toast and I scowled at him. I mean, seriously, don’t come between a girl and her breakfast. “But then he said something to me last night which made me reconsider.”
“Oh yeah?” I asked.
“Yeah…he, uh, suggested in a roundabout way that he accepted the two of us hooking up. As in, he doesn’t blame us, or even the stars for it.”
“And how do you feel about that?” I asked as a prickle raced down the back of my neck.
Darius had said that I should continue hooking up with Caleb if it made me feel happy, but that was just it. It didn’t. I liked Caleb and he was one hell of a lay but after we’d been together that night, all I could think about was Darius. And even though the two of us weren’t together, had never been together, I’d felt guilty for falling back into Caleb’s arms.
“Well, if I’m being totally honest, I think it’s a sack of shit. Darius hated us being together from the very first time we hooked up. And I guess I just wasn’t paying enough attention to realise that it went beyond some stupid rivalry thing or jealousy over me bagging the hottest girl on campus before he could. He’s not exactly easy to read at the best of times… Anyway, I’m getting off point.”
“And what is your point?” I asked as I finished my slice of toast and picked up my bowl of fruit.
“That I fucked up. We fucked up. You were never meant for me, sweetheart.” He gave me one of his winning smiles, but the tightness around his eyes said he wasn’t as relaxed about that as he was claiming to be.
I sighed, swallowing a strawberry before I replied. “No. I was meant for a man who tormented and worked to destroy me instead. Fate just seems to like shitting on me.”
“I’m not saying I regret it,” Caleb said slowly. “At least not most of it. You and me, we just click, we have fun and laugh a lot together, you’re hot as fuck, I’m even hotter-”
I snorted a laugh at that, rolling my eyes at him.
“Is there a point to this?” I asked.
“I just wanted to clear the air.” He shrugged innocently. “Would you believe it if I said I miss you?”
“I haven’t gone anywhere,” I pointed out.
Caleb’s eyes skimmed between mine for a long moment as he surveyed the dark rings in them. “I guess not.”
“I really am sorry,” I blurted, sensing he was about to leave again. “I know I said it that night, but…I was in such a dark place after me and Darius were Star Crossed. And I like you too, Caleb, we do have fun and if I’m honest I’ve always kind of used sex to escape from the shittiest things in my life. It doesn’t excuse it and I swear I didn’t do it on purpose. I guess I’ve just separated you from the other Heirs in my head for a while now because you’re not a complete and utter asswipe-”
“Thanks?” Caleb raised an eyebrow at me, but I carried on before he could stop me.
“I only mean…it wasn’t intentional. To put you in that position with your friend. I was drowning when you messaged me. I just needed something to help bury the pain of it and-”
“Don’t worry about it, sweetheart,” Caleb said with a sigh. “You were in a shitty place and you needed someone to pull you back from the brink. Besides, you and Darius never really got off of the starting block, did you? The fucking stars have a lot to answer for there. I know there’s a lot of shit that’s mysterious about Elysian Mates, but some people can go years knowing each other before they get called beneath the stars. Forcing the two of you to answer to fate after a few months filled with pretty spectacular reasons for you to say no was cruel.”
“Maybe the stars always wanted this to happen.” I shrugged like that didn’t burn me up inside and Caleb
pushed himself to his feet, reaching out to cup my jaw and make me look up at him.
“Yeah? Well maybe the stars can get fucked then,” he said fiercely, his navy eyes burning. “They might be able to put rings in your eyes, but they don’t get to force you to be miserable.”
“Don’t they?”
“No. So take a deep breath and suck it up, sweetheart. Because the girl who came back swinging at us after she nearly drowned in that pool doesn’t let anyone tell her what to do. Not even destiny.”
“So, what do you expect me to do? Look up at the stars and yell fuck you while flipping them off and burning their bullshit to the ground?” I joked, although my blood tingled with the idea of that, because it was exactly what I wanted to do. I’d never been the kind of girl to let anyone tell me my own mind. I’d never been the kind to bow down to destiny or any shit like that. I made my own fate. And I had no desire to spend the rest of my life pining for Darius Acrux.
“Yeah. That’s exactly what I expect.” Caleb offered me a real smile and I couldn’t help but return it. I had to admit, that sounded pretty fucking good to me.
***
I soared through the clouds above the sea beyond the academy with the wind causing burning embers to trail from my wings as I beat a path across the sky trying to catch Gabriel. Darcy had cut her flight short to steal a few hours with a certain Cardinal Magic Professor and I was just glad that she was finding it easier to do now that Seth had backed off.
All in all, the Heirs were actually being…not nice exactly but certainly less repugnant. And I wasn’t sure if I liked it. I mean, sure I didn’t want them to be heinous assholes all the damn time, but I also didn’t want them to stop just because I was supposed to be Darius’s destiny or anything like that. I wanted them to stop because they didn’t want to be assholes anymore. Or better yet because they weren’t assholes anymore.
“I saw a vision of you asking me about that tarot card Darcy found,” Gabriel called as he circled back around towards me and offered me the smug grin he saved up for whenever he used one of his visions to preempt the future.
Zodiac Academy 5: Cursed Fates: An Academy Bully Romance (Supernatural Bullies and Beasts) Page 20