Darius didn’t bite and I sighed. Was it completely insane for me to miss our little to and fros? Did it mean there was something wrong with me to be disappointed that he hadn’t made some crack about me in response? Maybe I really was broken if I was grieving the way he used to rile me up, but I couldn’t help it. I missed how he could get me all hot and bothered with a single arrogant remark.
“You know, you don’t have to hold your tongue around me all the time now,” I said with an ever so slightly petulant pout. “It’s no fun goading you if you don’t bite back. Besides, you must want to rip into me, at least a little considering the fact that I did this to us.”
“I was under the impression that I was to blame for our situation,” Darius said in a low voice, ignoring everything else I’d just said.
“Yeah, you are,” I agreed, though my voice lacked conviction and I hated to admit that ever since Gabriel had called me out on my shit, I’d been thinking about my part in all of this too. “Anyway… I didn’t actually seek you out for this. I was wondering if I could borrow some stardust?”
“No,” Darius replied instantly and I bristled.
“Okay then, I’ll just drive. Thanks a lot.” I got to my feet, but he was suddenly in my face.
“It’s not safe for you to leave campus, Roxy,” he growled. “You know that.”
“There’s something I need to do tonight,” I replied just as firmly. “And I’ll be doing it with or without your help.”
“Then I’ll come with you,” he demanded.
“And have the heavens come crashing down on us and the earth crumble at our feet until we’re dragged down into the fiery chasm beneath? No thanks.” My blood was pumping and I was struck with the desire to call him a pig headed, controlling, lizard asshole but I bit down on my tongue, wondering if there was a better way to handle this than just biting his head off and storming away.
“You can’t just decide to pick up and leave the safety of-”
I reached out and caught Darius’s hand, looking up into his black-ringed eyes as he paused mid rant to gaze down at me in confusion.
“This is important, Darius,” I breathed. “Please.”
His frown deepened and his fingers curled around mine. The nervous tension in my stomach felt like my organs were having an orgy and I didn’t even care when the foundations of Ignis House trembled and other students cried out in fright.
“I just don’t want you to get hurt,” he growled in a low voice that sent a shiver dancing down my spine.
“I won’t,” I promised, hoping I could keep to that vow. “There and back again within an hour. I wouldn’t ask if I had any other choice.”
Darius looked at me for another long moment before finally releasing my hand and pulling a silk pouch from his back pocket. “Do you know how to use this?” he asked, concern lining his features.
“Click my ruby heels together and think of the place I want to go with all my heart,” I joked.
“Something like that. Call me if anything goes wrong.”
“Okay,” I agreed, ignoring the fact that the idea of calling on him for help should have been insanity in the light of the fact that I liked him offering.
A spark leapt from the fire and landed on the coffee table beside us, exploding into flame and making me yelp as I leapt back and put some room between me and Darius. Stupid star twats!
Darius took control of the flames with a growl of frustration and guttered them with a flick of his fingers. He pressed the stardust into my hand and I gave him a tight smile before turning and running down the stairs to the exit.
As I made it outside, I shot a quick text to Catalina telling her to expect me soon then called on my Order form, unleashing my wings. I took a moment to concentrate on banishing the flames from them so that I wouldn’t be spotted flying across the campus so easily.
Without the fire coating them, the feathers of my wings were a deep bronze colour which shone like an oil spill with the deep red and blue tones of my inner flames glimmering in them when they caught the light. I flexed them out behind me and took off, heading for the gap which Orion had left in the shield surrounding Zodiac.
I landed quietly, looking around to make sure that there was no one close by as I slipped through the gap in the fence and out into the world beyond the academy.
I didn’t waste any time as I pulled the pouch of stardust from my pocket and tossed some of it over my head while thinking of Acrux Manor.
The stars swept me up in their embrace, transporting me through them in a blur of silver light before depositing me onto the gravel drive outside Acrux Manor right before a huge, iron gate.
“Who goes there?” a man shouted and I looked up to find two guards leaping from their hut with magic stunning guns aimed at me.
“Don’t you recognise a Vega when you see one?” I asked lazily, feeling like a total douchebag for playing the princess card, but needs must. “I’ve come to see Lionel.”
The guards exchanged a look and slowly lowered their weapons. “Lord Acrux isn’t here. Perhaps you should make an appointment with him to-”
“I can leave a message with his wife easily enough,” I said impatiently. “But I’m not going to be leaving it with the hired help. So just let me in.”
They exchanged a look at my entitled tone, but I’d spent plenty of time around the Heirs to be sure I had it down.
“We will find out if Lady Acrux wishes to receive you,” the guard said with a slight bow of his head as his friend scuttled back into the hut.
I pulled my Atlas from my pocket and put on a good show of looking pissily impatient as I scrolled through posts without really looking at them.
Mildred Canopus: Has anyone seen my beloved @Darius Acrux tonight? We had plans for a sweet serenade by Aqua Lake but he seems to have forgotten and his Atlas has died. #helpmereunitewithmylove
Tyler Corbin: I saw him hiding himself in a grave-shaped hole he’d dug in The Wailing Wood and threatening to off himself for real if you found him.
Stephanie Wiltshire: I heard he’s been hooking up with Tory Vega behind the Pitball Stadium #thestarscantstopthembanging #loveerrerrerrerrwillfindaway
Denisha Pillay: I saw him covering himself in Griffin shit and hiding in a bog #takingthepooburnoveryourcompany #wouldratherrollinshit #ihopeheneverhastomarryyou
Ashleigh Clare: I heard he has to get @Max Rigel to suck all of the repulsion out of his body to even be around you and he couldn’t find him tonight #cansomebodypleasethinkofthechildren #lifesnotfairyoudontdeserveanheir
Erica Collins: I reckon he’s hiding under @Diego Polaris’s hat #evendandruffisbettercompanythanyou #doyouthinkhesleepswearingit
Brianna Hayes: Have you checked your butt crack since the last time you sat on his knee? #isawawholeherdofpegasusdropoutofthereonce #ibetthattakesapowershowertoclearitout
Deema-Yara Mohiar: I saw him kissing a steaming turd by the Shimmering Springs – I guess he just thought it was you #hedchoosepoooveryou #iheardyoureaturd
I stifled my laughter at the comments so that the guards wouldn’t see my resting bitch face crack, but I had to admit that I didn’t totally hate the way everyone was against the idea of Darius being shackled to that bitch. Even if half of them were just as disgusted at the idea of him being bound to me, at least I didn’t have to survive people gushing all over the happy couple all the damn time.
After another minute, the gates swung open and the guards bowed as they directed me through them.
I stalked up the drive with my head held high and my heart pounding. I was going to have to conduct a cover story for coming here so that Lionel didn’t get suspicious, and I was just hoping that I could do that without having to actually see him. Maybe I could pretend I came to call him out on commanding me to break Darius’s heart. Play the heartbroken card and say I’d come to beg for a second chance or some shit. Yeah, that would probably work. It would be mortifying and all, but if Catalina passed that message on to him, I knew he’d do nothi
ng more than take pleasure in my pain and refuse my request.
The doors opened before I reached them and the snooty butler peered out at me. Hopkins or Smithkins or Buttkins or something.
“Good evening, Miss Vega,” he simpered, bowing in a way that felt mocking somehow.
“Hi,” I replied, sweeping past him and ignoring him as I looked up at the huge staircase with the golden handrail.
“Lady Acrux is currently awaiting you in her parlour,” he said before gliding onwards up the stairs.
I guessed that meant I was supposed to follow so I did, trying not to let the cold feeling of this place slip under my skin. There was something about the Acrux Manor which chilled me to my core. No love lived here. Only pain and shadows.
We kept going, taking long corridors lined with paintings of Dragons and douchebags until we reached another staircase which I recognised from the time I’d spent sliding down it on trays with Xavier. We headed up until we reached the level below Xavier’s room in the top of the tower where Buttkins opened a door for me.
Catalina Acrux sat waiting in a beautiful parlour with a huge bay window which must have offered a view out over the lake at the end of their property during the day. She was wearing a silk gown and her dark hair was perfectly styled as she sipped a cup of steaming tea and surveyed me over the rim.
“What have I done to earn a visit from a Vega?” she asked curiously as she waved me towards the chair opposite her.
I moved towards the table which was laid out with a pot of tea and a cup for me too. There was a little three tiered cake stand filled with sumptuous looking cakes, macaroons and biscuits there too. I had to hand it to their kitchen staff, they knew how to work under pressure. You’d never know I’d rocked up unannounced and taken them all by surprise.
“I’d rather talk alone,” I said as I moved to take the chair.
“Of course. You’re dismissed, Jenkins,” she said and the butler backed out of the room, narrowing his beady little eyes suspiciously. I was pretty sure I was going to keep thinking of him as Buttkins.
Catalina threw a silencing spell over us and glanced towards the door in warning. So, Buttkins couldn’t be trusted? I guessed that was to be expected in this viper’s pit.
“Thank you for coming,” Catalina breathed, reaching across the table to squeeze my fingers for a moment. “I don’t know what else I can do.”
“I’m still not sure I can help,” I admitted. “But I’ll definitely try.”
“That’s all I can ask.” She picked her Atlas up and sent a message to Xavier, summoning him to join us.
I reached out and took a biscuit from the little stand and devoured it in two bites as Catalina watched me. It was fucking delicious. Going hungry in the mortal world had definitely left me with a taste for good food and there was no way I’d be letting those little treats go to waste.
“Have you seen much of Darius?” she asked and I stilled. We talked a lot via text, but there was an unspoken rule that we didn’t discuss him, and I would have preferred to stick to it.
“Every day,” I admitted. “Meals, classes, the common room. It’s kinda like getting punched in the heart every other hour.”
I wasn’t really sure why I’d admitted to that and I looked away from her before she could get a read on the pain it caused me. Because I didn’t have a right to be hurting over it, did I? It had been my choice that put us in this position after all.
The door opened before she could push me on the subject and I looked around with a smile as Xavier stepped into the room.
He fell still as he spotted me. His dark hair was a mess, he was barefoot and the grey sweatpants he wore had a stain on the leg. He was also shirtless which gave me a look at the lean muscle lining his frame and the defined V which dipped beneath his waistband.
“Well shit, Xavier, have you spent the last two months working out or something?” I teased and a faint blush lined his cheeks as he stared between me and his mother.
“What…why are you here?” he asked, not seeming to know if he should be pleased to see me or not.
“I wanted a word,” I said, exchanging a glance with Catalina.
She seemed to be waiting for me to make the move though so I beckoned Xavier closer and pointed to the chair beside me.
He approached, his eyes narrowed suspiciously as he lowered himself into the seat and pushed a hand through his hair self consciously.
“Did I interrupt your nap?” I teased.
“No. I just…didn’t really expect to see anyone today so I didn’t exactly bother getting dressed.” There was a hollow tone to his voice which made me frown and my heart twisted painfully as I wondered how many days he spent alone like that.
“Your mom asked me to come and see if I could help you with-”
“Why did you say no to Darius?” he blurted, his brow lowering as he gazed at the black rings in my eyes. “I know he was an asshole to you and he did a lot of things that he shouldn’t have but that was all about power, the throne, the fucking crown. And I didn’t think you cared that much about any of that.”
“I don’t. Or I guess, I didn’t. Being Fae kind of goes hand in hand with claiming power though, doesn’t it?” I asked, tightening my jaw as I refused to balk at the subject.
“Fine. Whatever. I get that side of it. But what I don’t understand is how you could have said no to loving him. Because when I saw the two of you together I could see how much you liked each other. Even when you were denying it or fighting or whatever, it was still there. And I just don’t get how you could stand there beneath the stars, look him in the eyes and say no. Why would you curse him like that? Why would you curse yourself?”
I wanted to shrug off his question, but the accusation in his dark eyes demanded an answer and I blew out a breath as I gave it to him.
“Because all I’ve ever wanted is to be loved like that but I was afraid that if I let myself love him, he’d use it to hurt me. Too much has happened between us and…I just don’t trust him.” I raised my chin as the two of them looked at me like my words caused them physical pain. “Anyway, I don’t want to talk about Darius. I came here for you.”
I reached out and took Xavier’s hand in mine before he could stop me, tapping in to my Phoenix fire just like I had when I’d burned the Dark Coercion from Catalina.
He gasped and tried to pull back but I held on tight, my magic keeping him in its grip as it burned through him, hunting down whatever Mr Gravebone had been putting in his head. But the only thing I found was a single wall of Dark Coercion which I recognised as Lionel’s magic. I tore it down then pulled back, releasing his hand as he stared at me with wide eyes.
“What the hell was that?” Xavier asked.
“Phoenix fire. I used it to take the Dark Coercion from your mind, but I can’t find whatever Gravebone has been doing to you. It’s not any magic that Phoenix fire can locate anyway.” I offered Catalina an apologetic expression and her face dropped with concern.
“I…you mean I can talk about my Order now?” Xavier asked. “I can actually tell people about it if I wanted to?”
“He Dark Coerced you not to tell anyone you were a Pegasus?” I asked, my gut lurching at that idea.
“Yeah, well, if he could Coerce me never to shift again I’m sure he’d have done it, but as that’s something I can’t always control I guess he couldn’t.” His gaze slid to Catalina like he wasn’t sure how much he should say in front of her and her composure suddenly broke.
A sob escaped her as she threw her arms around her son apologising again and again, explaining in murmured whispers for all the years she hadn’t been allowed to show him any love or softness as his face scrunched with confusion which was slowly replaced with a dawning comprehension.
It broke my heart to watch them. Xavier seemed so uncomfortable in his mother’s arms and yet so relieved to be there all at once. Like he didn’t know what to do with that kind of affection. But he craved it all the same.
I k
new exactly what it felt like to hunger for the love of a parent, but I’d never had one who I could try and claim it from. Xavier and Darius had been denied this love for years and years while both wishing they could express it. All because some monster had decided he owned them. That somehow he had a right to decide this for them and used his power to enforce it.
And he was still doing it. Hiding Xavier away, cutting him off from the outside world and forcing him to deny who and what he was just because it didn’t fit with Lionel’s idea of perfect. Well fuck perfect. There was no such thing. And all of life’s beauty was in the imperfections anyway.
“He’s never going to let you out of here is he?” I asked. “He’s never going to let the world know what you are or who you are. Is he?”
Xavier looked up at me hopelessly as Catalina sobbed in his arms.
“He owns us,” she said. “He owns everyone really. We just feel the full sway of his power more than most because we’re trapped here with him.”
“Bullshit. He doesn’t own everyone. He doesn’t own me. And he doesn’t own you either.”
I pushed out of my chair and crossed the room to the huge bay window, unlatching it and throwing it wide. The cool evening air whistled in around me, blowing loose strands of hair across my face as I inhaled deeply.
“What are you doing?” Catalina gasped.
“Do you trust me, Xavier?” I asked.
“Why?” he countered suspiciously
“Because I’m going to set you free. Come here.” I beckoned and he got up, walking towards me cautiously as I pulled my Atlas from my pocket and set it recording.
“This is Xavier Acrux and he’s got something fucking amazing to show you,” I said, smirking at him as I raised my other hand.
“Do I?” he asked in confusion.
“Fuck yes. His Order just Emerged and he’s something way cooler than a big old lizard – no offence to Dragons, I’m sure your scaly balls are great and all but it’s just not as badass as being a fucking Pegasus.”
Xavier’s eyes widened in horror as I flicked my fingers at him and threw him straight out of the tower window with a gust of wind. We were on the ninth floor so he had plenty of time for fear to shock his Order form from his flesh and spread his wings way before he could hit the ground, but I was ready to catch him with my magic if he didn’t manage it for any reason.
Zodiac Academy 5: Cursed Fates: An Academy Bully Romance (Supernatural Bullies and Beasts) Page 33