“Come on,” Darius sighed and I followed him from the room with a heart that felt as heavy as lead.
We entered the party from hell in the ballroom as I fought to keep my composure. The vast hall was thronging with Lionel’s family and followers and Catalina was floating amongst them in a dress that showed off her fake tits like a trophy display as she made polite chit-chat with her guests.
“Oh fuck my life,” Darius said under his breath just before Mildred Canopus stepped out of the crowd in a vivid pink dress and hurried toward him with open arms.
“Snookums!” she exclaimed, drawing attention from everyone nearby and they turned, smiling serenely like they were witnessing a true display of love.
She wrapped her muscular arms around Darius’s neck and he placed a hand on her back, the low cut of it meaning he touched bare, mole-ridden flesh with little hairs sprouting between his fingers. Call me an asshole, but she was one serious dog of a girl because of all those Faeroids she took. Her frizzy brown hair had been twisted up into an elegant bun and her thick neck was adorned with a gold choker that looked like it was about to pop off and take someone’s eye out.
A few people actually clapped and one woman had the audacity to wipe a tear from under her eye as Mildred placed a kiss on Darius’s cheek. My insides churned and my muscles bunched as Darius schooled his expression, trying his best to look charmed by his horrid fiancé. If there was any justice in the world, that girl was not going to end up marrying my best friend. I’d marry him myself if that was what it took to keep him from ending up with the Ogre. I could at least have had some compassion for her if she’d had a half-decent personality. But she was vulgar and arrogant, her bulky form just an extension of her big head.
“Drinks,” I announced, dropping an arm over Darius’s shoulders and not entirely subtly elbowing Mildred in the tit as I stole him away with a spurt of Vampire speed. I didn’t care who I pissed off tonight. I was not in the mood to be fucked with.
I found us a waiter and snatched two glasses of champagne from it, holding one out to Darius.
“Thanks,” he said, shuddering before draining the drink in one while I mimicked him, my eyes latching onto Clara again as Lionel introduced her to his guests.
My gaze hooked on the bracelet around her wrist with a tide of sadness in my chest threatening to overwhelm me. What should I do now? One moment she’d almost seemed like herself and the next, she’d been a stranger. And a psychotic one at that. But if that single flash of her I’d seen in her eyes had been real, that meant she was in that body somewhere, drowning in the shadows, her morals crushed, her inhibitions stolen. And Lionel was taking full advantage of that.
“Evening, sweetie,” my mother’s voice dripped through me like melting ice and I turned to find her directing a sugary smile at me.
“Stella,” I said curtly.
She was wearing a grey silk dress, her ebony hair quaffed stylishly and her lips painted blood red like she’d just finished feasting on someone’s neck.
“You must be so glad to have your daughter back, Aunt Stella,” Darius said in a mocking tone. “Or do you miss being Father’s number one bit on the side?”
“Keep your voice down,” she hissed, casting a silencing bubble around us. “Are you going to let him talk to your mother like that, Lance?”
“I don’t tell Darius what to do,” I said hollowly. “And if I did, I certainly wouldn’t go to the bother of telling him not to speak to you like trash. Not when you’ve proved time and again that’s what you are.” I kept a mean as fuck smile on my face while I spoke to her. It was strange to think I’d ever held any love in my heart for this woman. That I could be related to her at all. I wasn’t a good man, but I wasn’t a deadened lump of coal either. No, that special kind of coldness was saved just for mother dearest.
“How can you say such things to me?” She pouted and I rolled my eyes.
“Don’t turn on the waterworks,” I growled. “I have zero tolerance for it.”
Stella clucked her tongue angrily then stalked away and I hoped she didn’t plan on coming back for the rest of the night. If she tried to manipulate me with crying one more time in my life, I was not going to be responsible for my actions. I would have thought she’d realised that bullshit didn’t work on me by now. But apparently I was going to be subjected to it forevermore.
“Heads up,” Darius murmured and I turned to find Catalina approaching us. Her eyes were glued to Darius and she moved quickly toward him, wrapping him in her arms.
“How are you?” she breathed and I swear there was more emotion in her plastic face than I’d ever seen before.
“Fine,” he said, squeezing her formally then stepping back.
Catalina reached out to caress his face then gave me a warm smile. Like, one that wasn’t made of stone. And I frowned as she patted my arm then walked away. She didn’t even try to flirt with me like she usually did - thank the stars. I’d spent way too many hours in the company of Catalina while she talked on auto-pilot, whispering compliments in my ear. And always the same ones too, just to drive me to complete insanity. Handsome, enamouring, lovely, powerful. And sometimes she’d throw in unbelievable and sexy too, just to really make my blood curdle.
“She seems to be in a good mood,” I muttered, swapping our empty glasses for full ones as a waiter glided by.
“Maybe father gave her a shot of lightning from his collection to get her heart beating again.”
I chuckled. “Is he still receiving lightning jars from Dante Oscura?” I asked. The storm Dragon from Alestria was a friend of mine, especially so because he hated Lionel’s guts as much as I did.
“Every month,” Darius said with a tut. “Speak of the devil.”
I glanced over my shoulder, spotting Dante muscling through the crowd. He was a huge man with dark hair and equally dark eyes, his shirt untucked and a gold chalice in his hand which he’d gotten from the stars only knew where. I smirked at him, moving forward to embrace him and clapping him on the back. At least there was one good thing about this party.
“Good evening, fratelli,” he said in his Faetalian accent before embracing Darius. “You two look as miserable as a fucking Pegasus shitting rainbows.”
“You’re telling me you’re enjoying this shit show?” I asked and his smile withered away.
“About as much as I enjoy getting fucked up the ass with a spiky dildo.”
“Which you’ve no doubt tried, you kinky fucker,” Darius jested and Dante laughed.
“No one goes near my ass with anything. Rule number one of my marriage.” He glanced over his shoulder with a groan as Darius’s older cousin, Juniper, came swooping towards us, guiding her three kids along too. She wore a spangly orange dress which showed off her fake cleavage and clashed with her equally orange hair.
“There you are, my big Dragon boy,” she said brightly. “The kids have missed you.”
Dante scruffed their hair vaguely. “Have you been good girls?” he asked.
“They’re boys,” Juniper said sharply and Dante swigged from his chalice. If I hadn’t known that Lionel had forced him to father these three little brats in the hopes of adding a collection of Storm Dragons to his family - psycho that he was - I might have felt sorry for them. Except for the fact that they had trust funds the size of the Wingolian Canyon and I’d seen the oldest one eating worms last summer while the other two watched.
Suffice to say, they were the sort of kids who could turn you off having one of your own. But the fact that Dante took zero interest in them was a little strange. He wasn’t the type to ditch out on his family. In fact, as a Dragon born of Werewolves he had so many cousins, siblings, aunts and uncles that he always made time for, I couldn’t really understand why he didn’t include these three boys too.
As far as I understood it, he’d made some deal with Lionel to father these kids to get him off his back. Not that I was meant to know that. But Dante trusted me and Darius enough to share the truth. It wasn�
�t like we were in a position to do anything about it. Though hell if Lionel didn’t have a lot to answer for. And one day soon, I was going to ensure he bled for it all.
“Right yeah, Jason, Jiles and Jax, isn’t it?” Dante asked like he genuinely didn’t know and genuinely didn’t care.
“Bertie, Escobar and Hubert,” Juniper corrected.
“Mother says you’re a drunk and a philanderer,” the oldest one piped up and Juniper clapped him over the head.
“Did she now?” Dante looked to Juniper with electricity crackling around him. I’d seen him use his storm powers before and he was not a man to be messed with.
Before she could try to explain herself, someone dinged a glass with a spoon and all eyes turned to Lionel as he prepared to make a speech.
Silence fell and I turned to face the bane of my life, wondering what wonderful things he had to say to the room.
“Good evening family and friends,” Lionel said warmly. “Tonight we are here to celebrate the return of a long lost family member, Clara Orion. After she went missing years ago, we have never stopped worrying about her and I am nearly brought to tears to announce that she has finally come home.” He looked about as close to crying as I was to shitting my pants.
Applause rang out and Clara bowed dramatically before wrapping her arms around Stella. Lionel gave no more explanation about her whereabouts, but I had no doubt a well thought out story would be filling the newspapers tomorrow morning. “Secondly, I would like to address the news this week that the Vega twins have announced their intention to claim the throne of Solaria.”
Tension rippled through the room and my hand tightened around my glass.
“I want to assure you that the two girls who have been living in the mortal realm their entire lives are spouting nothing but pretty, hopeful words. As much as I wish them my best, there is little to no reason to think they could pose any real threat to the throne at all. Tomorrow, I will be meeting with the other Celestial Councillors to discuss our sons’ coming ascension and we will start to prepare them for their eventual takeover of our four seats. The ones we have held peacefully since the rule of the Vegas’ cruel and merciless father, the Savage King.”
A smattering of applause filled the air and I shared a look with Darius. Lionel was planning no such thing. He was going to steal the throne right out from under them and force the whole world to bow. Including every single person in this room.
“As a show of good faith, my very own daughter-in-law to be, Mildred Canopus, has offered to run a club for those in support of the Heirs at Zodiac Academy to ensure the true next in line are given the encouragement they deserve from their peers.”
Mildred moved up beside him and Lionel wrapped his arm around her meaty shoulders. “She will ensure the society is run smoothly and help quiet the rumours amongst those doubters who have sadly been conned by the Vegas into believing they really could pose a challenge to our wonderful Heirs.”
Another round of applause and I was about ready to puke.
“Where is my boy?” Lionel called, a fake as fuck cheery look on his face.
Darius painted on a smile as he moved to join his father and Dante inched closer to me.
“Does this look as fake to you as it does to me?” he murmured so only I could hear.
“Faker,” I growled in agreement.
“Lionel’s up to something, right?” Dante breathed and I glanced at him before nodding. “I do hope you have a plan.”
“Sort of,” I muttered.
“If you ever need a hand, you know where to find me,” he said with a serious look, his eyes flashing with lightning for a moment.
A chant started up in the room as everyone sang kiss kiss kiss kiss. And I looked to Darius as Lionel pushed him firmly towards Mildred, my heart shrivelling for him.
He leaned in and pecked her quickly, but Mildred snared his head in her hands, pressing her pink-lipsticked lips - complete with carefully combed moustache - right against his mouth. If anyone noticed him bristling, they didn’t mention it as they parted and photographers snapped pictures of him with lipstick smeared across his mouth. And no doubt a few stray hairs too.
I clenched my jaw and nodded to Dante. “I might just take you up on that one day.”
“Just say the word,” he breathed. “You know the rest of my family will help too.”
“Will you be attending the Aurora versus Zodiac game?” I asked, hoping I could get a chance to talk with him when we weren’t in a house full of our murderous enemies.
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world. My cousin Rosa’s gonna kick ass.” He winked, polishing off his beer and looking like he was ready to make his escape from funsville. “See you soon, mio amico.”
Darius made it back to me and we glanced around the hall at the party goers. “I think we can make our escape now,” he said and I gave Clara one last lingering look before nodding my agreement.
“Let’s check in on Xavier before we get the fuck out of here,” I said, not wanting to hang around, but I worried about that kid. He was basically Lionel’s prisoner these days. And I knew Darius lost sleep over it. Besides, he could use the company for a while.
“Definitely,” he said eagerly. “At least Father’s still hiding him and not forcing him to endure this slice of hell.”
I patted him on the back with a heavy sigh as we made a passage towards the door and I swear I could only breathe easily once I got out of that room of pretentious, primped pricks. I just wished I could pluck my sister out from amongst them and take her somewhere safe. Somewhere I could try and fight the darkness that had her in a cage. I just hoped it was the type of cage I was able to break her out of. Because I couldn’t let myself accept the alternative.
I woke early, Orion’s soft breaths making me hope he was having peaceful dreams. He’d come to me in my room last night, wrapped me in his arms and held me like the world was ending. He told me everything and I tried to kiss away his pain, hating that there wasn’t more I could do to help. What he said about Clara made me worry she really was lost. But I wanted to hope she wasn’t for his sake. He needed me to.
I slipped out of bed, heading for the shower and was soon dressed for the day in my uniform. Then I moved to my desk to finish up my Tarot assignment. Gabriel said we were going to be moving on from Tarot this week. We were going to be learning the Arcane Arts instead and studying different ways to predict the future while we continued to practise with the cards. Apparently Tarot was a lifelong skill I needed to cultivate. Any insight you could get into your own fate was an advantage in society, but so far it was difficult to get a reading that gave me anything concrete. I guessed that was the way of fate though. It was up to interpretation, as changeable as the wind. I supposed I just had to get better at learning which way the wind was blowing.
When I’d finished the paper, I took up my Atlas, reading over my horoscope for the day.
Good morning Gemini.
The stars have spoken about your day!
Mars’s movements predict an oncoming war. Not just for you, but for all Fae. Prepare for a divide to come and to find yourself being asked to lead. Trust your judgment today.
You will know what to do in all situations.
My brows arched at that and I couldn’t help but grin. Well if that wasn’t just the most straightforward the stars have ever been.
A confidence filled me that I couldn’t ignore. I felt self-assured by having fate on my side today. And apparently I couldn’t make a wrong move.
“Blue,” Orion murmured in his sleep and I turned around as he reached for me in the small bed.
My heart tugged and I hurried over to him, slipping back under the covers and he pulled me against his chest.
The tension in his features eased and I kissed him gently to wake him. His eyes cracked open and a lopsided smile pulled at his mouth. “I hate the days I don’t get to wake up with you,” he said, his voice rough from sleep. “For a second I thought it was one of those days.�
�
My heart melted like wax and I pushed the hair away from his forehead with a smile. “I don’t like those days either,” I whispered. “How are you feeling?”
He grunted. “Like the world is about to be fucked up the ass with a giant Dragon dick.”
I laughed hollowly, my stomach knotting up but he continued before I could say anything in response, wrapping me tight in his arms.
“One day soon, I’m going to shrink you down into a pixie-sized Fae and put you in a jar that I can keep in my pocket.”
I smacked his shoulder and he growled in amusement. “Maybe I’ll shrink you into a tiny little Vampire who can suck on my thumb while I go about my life kicking ass.”
Laughter rumbled through him. “Alright, no shrinking. But I’d really prefer it so I can protect you always.”
“That’s not protecting, that’s caging.”
He sighed. “Dammit, I can see your point. I’m not so good at this boyfriend stuff. Most of the time I wanna latch you to my side and break the bones of any boy who looks at you.”
I grinned. “I could break their bones myself if I needed to, so you don’t need to worry,” I teased.
“I keep forgetting how powerful you are,” he murmured, his hands sliding up under the back of my skirt and yanking me closer by the ass. “It gets me all kinds of hard.”
“How many kinds?” I laughed, but just as his mouth landed on my neck, a knock came at the door.
“Shit,” I breathed. “You’d better go.”
He kissed me quickly with a groan of irritation then shot out of bed, dragging on his clothes. He tugged up the hood of his sweater and moved to the window, pushing it open and checking the coast was clear. “See you later, beautiful.” He dove outside, lowering himself on a gust of air and my heart beat wildly as I got out of bed, straightening my skirt and unlocking the door.
My lips popped open at the sight of Gabriel there in his smart work attire and a knowing smirk on his face. Orion had told me he knew about us and though I should have freaked out that a member of the faculty had that information, it wasn’t like that with him. I knew he’d keep our secret.
Zodiac Academy 5: Cursed Fates: An Academy Bully Romance (Supernatural Bullies and Beasts) Page 31