“I don’t grade papers,” I told him. “I simply give a pass or fail then offer you a more difficult assignment on the same topic if you fail. Most of those who fail the first time, excel on the second paper. You do not.” Failing his papers this continuously simply meant he was likely to fail his end of year exams and end up out of the school anyway. But The Reckoning was designed to weed out the weak. Most freshman students who had made it this far didn’t fail their first year examinations. It was nearly unheard of. And I certainly wasn’t going to take the blame for it when Elaine came asking about why Polaris had flunked.
“I’ll try harder, sir,” he said, bowing his head as his cheeks coloured.
I slammed my hand down on the desk and he looked up at me again in alarm. “Not acceptable. You’ve had weeks to try harder. Months. Your spells are sub-par and your papers aren’t good enough to wipe my ass with.”
His blush deepened and he tugged on his hat again. “It’s just I…it’s…I have confidence issues.”
“No shit,” I said dryly.
When he turned the colour of a beetroot I sighed, leaning back in my chair, figuring this angle was not working. Which was extra fucking annoying because it was the only angle I was used to playing. Being hard on Fae spurred them into fighting back, going from strength to strength. I’d never had a student it didn’t work for, so I was stumped. “Talk to me about your issues. I can’t help you if I don’t know what you’re struggling with. You have the same opportunities everyone else in this class does, Polaris. And you can’t have any less brain cells than Jillian Minor. So what is holding you back?”
He shifted in his seat, his posturing stiffening. I gave him a few agonising minutes to come up with a response before I held back a growl in my throat, struggling to stick with this different tactic. It would feel about as comfortable as shoving a pineapple up my ass, but I was going to try and be…nice. Shudder.
“I know you dislike me,” I said calmly. “But contrary to your beliefs, I’m not actually out to get you. I don’t lay awake at night thinking up ways to disturb and ridicule you. I have a lot better things to be doing with my time. And the fact that I’m sitting here with you now, offering you this chance should be proof that I’m on your side. I don’t want you to fail this year unless you deserve to fail it. So are you worthy or not?”
Diego sighed, tugging his chair closer and resting his hands on the desk. He slid one across to me, not meeting my eyes as he offered me his palm. “I’ll show you why I’m struggling,” he rasped. “It’s easier that way.”
I hesitated before casting a wall of air in front of the door to stop anyone walking in then gripped his hand. I closed my eyes and felt him yank me down into the shadows, diving into the darkness where nothing but a heavy silence awaited us.
He took me deeper into the abyss until that strange, white cloud of memory appeared out of the black. Flashes of light rippled through it then a scene grew brighter until it consumed me entirely and I stepped into the body of whoever the memory belonged to.
The porch was dirty and paint was flaking off the walls. I recognised Diego’s mother, Drusilla, as she dragged a young boy out of the door with her hand fisted in his dark curls. Diego couldn’t have been more than five, his tiny hands clutching onto his mother’s arm as she hauled him across the porch, shrieking at him. “You worthless little shit, how dare you speak back to me?”
Her brother Alejandro stalked out after her with a snarl. “You can sleep under the porch tonight like the perro you are.” He shoved Diego down the steps and he stumbled before falling onto his backside and staring up at them in horror. He didn’t even cry. Like he’d been on the receiving end of their temper a thousand times.
“Now now, Drusilla, Alejandro, leave the boy be,” an old woman’s voice came from whoever’s body I was seeing this through and I assumed it must have been his grandmother. “He’s young.”
“Don’t question the way I mother him. That child was born with something missing in him.” Drusilla stormed inside and the old woman stood, hurrying down to comfort Diego as the tears finally flowed and he nuzzled into her arms.
“Don’t mollycoddle him, madre,” Alejandro growled from the porch. “He needs to toughen up or he’ll never be one of us.”
The memory changed and I saw Diego again, a little older this time, as he carefully pieced together a wooden plane, gluing each part in place with a smile on his face. There was dirt on his cheeks and his clothes looked worn, but at least he seemed happy. The room was pretty bare and spoke of the kind of poverty we never saw walk through the doors of Zodiac. So I had no idea how he’d come to afford his spot here.
“It’s beautiful, mi nieto,” his grandmother spoke, clapping her wrinkled hands together. “Isn’t it beautiful, Miguel?” She turned and I saw a pale man sitting in a chair with a drink in his hand and a blank expression on his face. He didn’t respond and Diego’s grandmother tutted as she turned back to face her grandson. “We can put it in the window.”
“Why would we want that in the window?” Drusilla strode into the room with a sneer. “Is this what you let him do when I leave the house?” she demanded. “Make pointless things while I’m out trying to secure our future?”
“What else is he supposed to do? The boy is bored,” she answered, clucking her tongue.
“There are chores to be done!” Drusilla yelled, storming forward and snatching the plane from the table.
“Mamá!” Diego cried and she rolled her eyes.
“This is almost as useless as you are. What is the point in having a son if all he does is make pointless things? Isn’t that right, Miguel?” She rounded on Diego’s father and he nodded like a robot.
“Yes, my dear. Absolutely.”
“Teach your boy to be useful then or I’ll be done with the lot of you,” she snapped, dropping the plane to the floor and stamping her foot on it before striding from the room.
The memory changed again and Diego must have only been a little younger than he was now. He sat beside his grandmother’s bed as she coughed and gripped his hand.
“Promise you won’t leave,” he demanded of her through teary eyes. “You’re the only one that makes this place bearable.”
“I’ll never leave you truly,” she said in a dry voice. “You must be strong.”
“That’s not good enough,” he begged. “You have to stay.”
“Diego,” Drusilla’s sharp voice came from beyond the darkened room. “Stop bothering your abuela.”
“He’s no bother,” the grandmother rasped.
“Ha, that’s all he is,” Drusilla replied before pushing the door open and gesturing for Diego to leave.
“Do you need me to drag him out of there?” Alejandro’s voice sounded from the hall.
His grandmother squeezed Diego’s hand then the memories faded and I was tugged out of the darkness. I dragged in a breath as I found myself back in my classroom and I released Diego’s hand, finding him hurriedly wiping tears from his cheeks.
“She died a week after that. But all her memories are in the web. I can still visit them whenever I miss her.” Diego wouldn’t meet my eyes and my heart knotted at his expression. “It got a lot worse after she was gone. Mother and Uncle Alejandro got work for Lionel Acrux and I thought things would finally be okay. They always complained how we needed the money. But they got more cruel, more hateful. I was mi madre’s biggest regret and my uncle always thought I was lacking. And when they sent me here, they hoped I’d be of use at last to spy on the Vegas for Lord Acrux. But I never managed to give them anything of much use and now that I’m working against them, I…”
“What?” I pressed, surprised by the softness of my tone.
He met my gaze and there was just a broken boy in his eyes that made me wonder how I’d never seen it before now. “Mi madre will pull me out of Zodiac soon enough, Professor. I don’t try because…there’s no point. I was never here to be good at magic. I was here to work for them. And when they rea
lise I’m no use here, that’ll be it.”
A beat of silence passed between us and I leaned forward, resting my elbows on the table. “You know, my mother was hard on me too. Especially after my father died. Once I came to Zodiac, I broke free from her. This place opened up a whole new world for me. A free life. I didn’t have to answer to her anymore. I didn’t have to be who she wanted me so fucking desperately to be.”
Diego’s brow creased. “But my mother will never let me stay.”
“You’re already here, your tuition is paid. How can she make you leave? Especially if a certain Cardinal Magic teacher has a word with Principal Nova.”
His lips parted as he stared at me, some of that hate he directed at me falling away. “I can’t have anyone knowing why-”
“No one has to know any details. Besides, you’re eighteen, Diego. She doesn’t control you anymore, so long as you don’t let her.”
He nodded slowly, hope filling his gaze. “Did you ever…earn your mother’s respect? After taking your own path?”
I frowned, my gut twisting at remembering going through this exact struggle when I was younger. I sighed, shaking my head. “No. I disowned my mother for many reasons.” I thought of Clara and a familiar sting of pain invaded me. “Look, sometimes we want to see the good in people we care about so much that we pretend it’s there, living under all the layers of cruelty. But the fact is, Diego, some people are toxic. And if you keep them in your life, they’ll poison everything good in your world until you end up being just like them. And that’s a far worse fate than going against the grain and making your own path. Even if that means you’re alone.”
He absorbed that for a second. “It’s so hard to shake everything she’s said to me my whole life. I don’t care what my uncle thinks of me. But it’s harder with mi madre. Sometimes…I think I really am useless,” he said, his voice breaking on the word.
“Well, Diego, I think there’s one thing that proves that isn’t true, don’t you?”
He frowned, unsure what I was getting at.
“You passed The Reckoning,” I said, pride inching into me at knowing what he’d been through to get here at all. And that was the shocking twist of the day. “The stars have deemed you very fucking worthy of a place at Zodiac Academy. So what are you going to do with the chance they’ve given you?”
He stood, knocking his chair over in his haste. “I’m gonna work harder.” He snatched his failed paper and strode towards the door, pausing before he left. “Thank you, sir.”
I shrugged, disbanding the air shield to let him out the door. He strode away with a fucking skip in his step and I had to check myself for a second because did I just make friends with Diego fucking Polaris?
I scraped a hand through my hair, sitting back in my seat with a bemused smile as I hooked my Atlas off of the desk. Blue had been friends with him since she’d first arrived. Maybe I should have just trusted her judgement because she clearly saw people’s hearts when she looked at them. Fuck, I love that girl.
I shot her a message with a smirk, fantasising about exactly what I was going to do to her later just as my senior class started filing in, bursting my bubble.
Lance:
Meet me at the library archives tonight. 10pm.
“Why are you smiling like that, sir?” Shabnam Hosseini asked me, giggling with her friends.
“Get out of my fucking classroom!” I barked, pointing at the door and her jaw dropped before she hurried to obey. “Has anyone else got any pointless questions they’d like to air? No? Good. Now sit the fuck down!”
Ah, today is a good day.
***
I left the library door unlocked for Blue while I headed into the darkened back aisles and lifted the secret hatch that led down into the archives just before ten o’clock. I’d wanted to show her this place for a long time, but the librarian was often here into the small hours of the morning as if she had no life. Which, to be fair, she didn’t. Tonight, however, I knew for a fact that she’d gone away for the evening to visit her sick brother in Lapeli. Score.
Students were allowed down here, but most of them either didn’t know about it or didn’t ask the librarian for the pass they needed to access it. It was a simple spell that ensured anyone who came down here was accounted for. Because if a single one of these scrolls or tomes were damaged or went missing, it could cost the school thousands of auras and regardless of that, each precious scripture in here was irreplaceable. I disbanded said spell as I pulled open the hatch with a smirk on my lips.
Adrenaline streamed through my veins as I headed down the steps that led beneath the library, using a fire crystal to light the ancient sconces lining the walls as I moved through the stone arches, the path of them leading me to the centre of the room. There, between four arches, was a circular space with a mosaic floor and above it, the ceiling domed. An intricate mural had been painted there hundreds of years ago, the beautiful image featuring The Orb at the heart of it shining like the sun and an incredible scene around it picturing every Order there was and ever had been. I moved the desks out from under it where I often spent time studying and left the floor clear. Then I set to work laying out a pile of blankets before placing the jars of everflames Darius had gifted me a few years back around the edge of the blanket.
When I was done, I scored my thumb down the stubble of my cheek, eyeing the set up and wondering if this was a stupid idea. A tug in my chest told me Blue had just stepped through the detection spell I’d left at the library door and my heart pounded to a manic beat. If I’d told myself last year, I’d be standing here laying out blankets and everflames for a student, I’d have laughed my fucking ass off. But Blue was no ordinary student. And I’d accepted the insanity of this a long time ago. I’d stopped asking myself what was going to happen long term. I lived for each moment. And I knew I was getting more reckless. But seeing her in classes, unable to touch her, kiss those lips that were as soft as sin, drove me to the brink of insanity. I was a man unhinged. And the one thing I knew for certain, was that I didn’t ever want to get my right mind back.
The sound of footsteps approached and I turned, finding Blue walking towards me in a pale green wrap around dress that was tied at her waist and clung to her figure, making my eyes drag down her hungrily. Her lips were painted darkest red and her hair was blown out of place by the wind.
“Come here,” I growled, my patience having spent its last dime several hours ago. I needed her in my arms, needed to touch her, smell her, taste her. I wanted to forget all the nos that lived beyond these walls and soak in the single yes that was us. The one we’d decided. Defying the law.
She gave me a shy smile as she approached and another growl rumbled through my chest. I loved making her shy. Adored the pop of colour in her cheeks and the fluttering of her breath. The way her pupils dilated and how she tugged her lower lip between her teeth like she needed to bite something just to keep away from me. But she wasn’t going to be anywhere more than an inch from me tonight.
We’d stay here for a couple of hours then I’d run her back to her room between patrols. Since the Nymph threat had grown, there were always teachers walking the perimeter. But I knew exactly who was on duty and where they’d be.
“Stay here,” I said, swallowing against the hard ball in my throat before heading past her and hurrying back to the hatch. I pulled it down, locking us in and using my air magic to manoeuvre the rug back over the top of it through the cracks either side of the hatch. Then I headed back to Blue with my heart pounding, feeling like a teenager with his first crush. I’d never had that all-consuming first love everyone talked about during my school years. I’d thought it wasn’t for me. But I guessed the stars had decided to keep me waiting a little longer. And now I had it, I was determined for this love to be my one and only. My last and everlasting.
As I approached, I noticed she had a large bag hanging from her shoulder.
“Did you bring your school books to study like a good girl?” I ta
unted and a playful grin pulled at her mouth.
“No, sir. I brought a gift for the best teacher I know,” she purred in a seductive voice that had my dick hardening.
“A gift?” I questioned, lifting my hand to trace the curve of her jaw with my thumb.
Everything about her beauty was delicate, seemingly breakable. Maybe that was why me and the Heirs had underestimated her and her sister so foolishly when they’d first come here. And maybe that was one of the reasons she got my heart racing. She appeared small and fragile, the perfect hunter’s delight. But knowing she held a maelstrom of power in her veins was even more of a turn on. Plus her wit, her tenacity, her intelligence, her unending optimism. All of those things were enough to get me hot for her individually, but together? Well, maybe she’d always been a forgone conclusion for me.
Her optimism had been tested greatly of late, but it had never failed her. We often discussed her sister and Darius being Star Crossed. I’d been spending a lot of time down here hunting for answers about undoing their curse, but I hadn’t found a single hint of the possibility that it could be. Yet Blue had never once doubted it. She was unfalteringly determined to find an answer. And I coveted that about her. It gave me hope for them too.
Blue slid the bag off of her shoulder, smiling nervously as she unzipped it and took out a long wooden box which was carved with the Orion constellation in the grain.
She handed it to me and I was surprised by the weight of it as I took it, hurrying under one of the arches to rest it on a desk and open it.
“Gabriel helped me make it. I got the idea from one of the Phoenix books you gave me,” she explained and curiosity bled through me as I undid the silver catch and flipped it open.
A bed of black silk lay within it and I shifted it gently aside, my breath hitching as I laid eyes on the most beautiful sword I’d ever seen. The metal glinted like diamonds and the hilt was engraved with two stunning wings wrapped together around a single heart. I took it out and energy buzzed through my limbs.
Zodiac Academy 5: Cursed Fates: An Academy Bully Romance (Supernatural Bullies and Beasts) Page 47