My lips parted and I exchanged a look with Tory, wondering if I was about to find an ally in this woman.
“After visiting him in Darkmore Penitentiary, I have come to understand the true story of what happened to him.” Her eyes landed on me and there was no sympathy there at all. “He was manipulated by a girl with royal blood, a girl who has walked into this world alongside her sister and lied and cheated her way to being actually considered for the throne.”
“Liar,” I snapped and she whipped her fingers toward me, a hardened line of ice sealing my lips together as she turned her gaze from me onto Tory who looked ready to tear this bitch’s face off. And I was seriously rooting for her.
I raised my fingers to my mouth, bringing heat to my fingertips to burn through the ice, but the magic was insanely powerful. I was desperate to unveil her as the liar she was. This woman hadn’t visited Orion and he hadn’t told her anything of the sort.
My heart crashed against my ribcage as fury bubbled under my flesh.
“Poor Lance thought Darcy Vega really did love him, but she manipulated him, gave her body to him and when he stood up in court, he sacrificed himself for her just like she’d always planned.”
“Shut your mouth,” Tory barked and Highspell’s gaze fell on her.
“And you are no different, are you Miss Vega?” she said darkly. “Manipulating an Heir into falling for you only to cast him aside when the stars called you both together. I don’t know how they do it, but these girls wield some sort of dark magic over powerful men and I will be watching you both very closely indeed to find out what it is.”
I managed to burn through the ice sticking my lips together at last just as Kylie’s voice rang around the room.
“I’m so glad someone finally sees it, Professor Highspell. I’ve been trying to expose them since they arrived,” she said airily.
“What’s your name?” Highspell asked.
“Kylie Major,” she answered brightly.
“Well you’d have to be a talented Fae to achieve such a thing, Miss Major, and according to Professor Orion’s notes you are sub-par.” Highspell shrugged innocently and I could practically feel the heat burning from Kylie’s reddened cheeks behind me. Apparently our new teacher wasn’t looking to make friends with anybody. Even ass kissers.
She moved forward to perch on Tyler’s desk, crossing her legs so her skirt rode up to reveal her long bronzed legs. She waved a hand at the board and a question appeared on it.
What is the difference between the Mutatio Orders and the Divisus Orders?
“Today, you’ll be quizzed on everything you have learned from the beginning of term and I will rank you all at the end of the class. Take out your notepads and prepare to answer each question.” She leaned down to speak to Tyler, her boobs thoroughly in his face. “Be a good boy and draw a map of the class with everyone’s names on it. You can skip the first few questions.” She winked before sliding off of his table like a cat and slinking her way to the front of the class again. “Begin,” she commanded.
I ground my jaw as I worked through the questions, trying to keep my hands from shaking with anger. This woman was vile. I’d only known her five seconds and I would have taken Washer over her any day.
Tory’s Atlas buzzed and she subtly slid it off of the desk, placing it in her lap as she checked the message she’d received.
“Oh my god,” she breathed, then passed her Atlas over to me.
I watched the video Darius had sent of her ex-boyfriend, Zane, apologising to Tory, his face bloodied and bruised. I momentarily forgot the witch in the room as my heart lifted at seeing that bastard clearly having gotten exactly what he deserved. I passed Tory’s Atlas back, finding her eyes glimmering with something that looked an awful lot like love. Trust her to get all gooey over Darius violently smashing her ex’s face in. But it made me like him even more too and a grin tugged at my lips that she returned before quickly schooling it.
“I don’t actually need him to fight my battles though,” she huffed and I rolled my eyes.
“Vegas!” Highspell snapped and she marched over to us with her eyes turning to snake-like slits. “What do you think you are doing?” Neither of us replied and she hissed between her teeth, holding her hand out to Tory. “Give it here. Now.”
Tory reluctantly handed over her Atlas with a scowl and Highspell stared down at the video on the screen for a moment before walking back to her desk and placing it there. She took her own Atlas out of her shiny, leopard print handbag and returned to stand before us, holding it up as if she was about to record us.
“Both of you stand on your desks,” she commanded and I swallowed the burning sensation in my throat as I obeyed, climbing up and standing above her beside Tory.
“Watch a video in my class and you will have a video made of you in my class,” Highspell said with a vicious smile. “You look like a strong man.” She pointed at Diego and beckoned him up. “Come here and record this for me.” Apparently Highspell didn’t mind making friends with the boys in this class.
Diego frowned as he got up, moving to take the Atlas from her and giving us an apologetic look as he aimed it at us.
Highspell looked between us with that snakelike expression again and in my bones, I could tell she was a Medusa. She had that same aura about her as Kylie had, the dangerous glint of a hungry python in her eyes.
“As you are so hellbent on disrupting my quiz, you will have an extra round. Answer my questions incorrectly and you will be punished. If you fight back against your punishments, you will be in detention with me for the rest of the semester. And trust me when I say, it will be far more unpleasant than facing your punishments here like Fae,” Highspell said, flicking a lock of that long, raven hair over her shoulder then raising her hands. My heart beat wildly out of tune as magic flickered in her palms. “How did the extinct Order of the Ophiotaurus recharge their magical power?”
I glanced at Tory, having no damn clue. We’d never been taught that and why would we have?
We shrugged in unison and she flicked her fingers at us and tiny shards of ice flew into my right cheek. I gasped as they nicked my skin and blood warmed my face. I glanced at Tory, finding her cheek cut open too and fury burst through my veins like an inferno. It was so difficult not to fight back. I wanted to destroy her for this. But a single look with my sister confirmed it wasn’t worth the extra hours in detention with this cow.
I turned to Highspell in disgust, waiting for her next question, refusing to give her the satisfaction of complaining about the punishment.
Her eyes glimmered as she carried on. “Which spell would you use to bottle a Kithendium Glow worm?”
I bit down on my tongue, staring at her with a patient look. She wanted us bloodied on camera for her own satisfaction. All of the questions would be impossible to answer. So I stared evenly at her and waited for her to flick her fingers.
The second strike slashed across the bare skin between my knee high socks and the hem of my skirt. I reached out and took my sister’s hand as we stared defiantly at her, refusing to acknowledge the camera which was shaking in Diego’s hands.
The game continued on until our uniforms were ripped and blood seeped through the slashes. Blood dripped between my fingers as she finally let us sit back down, snatching the Atlas from Diego and tapping something on the screen.
“Maybe the comments on my post from your FaeBook friends will remind you not to be disruptive in my class.” She released a light laugh then roamed back to the front of the room, tucking her Atlas back in her bag.
My pulse pounded in my ears, my jaw was grinding and heat invaded every part of me. It felt like the world was turning against us, taking every good thing and smashing it to dust. And I decided I hated the stars as keenly as I hated Professor Highspell.
The moment the lesson ended and me and my sister were announced at the bottom of the class rank despite the fact we’d gotten full marks, I was livid. She’d accused us of cheating and rip
ped up our papers saying we could work our way up the ranks fairly or not at all.
I peeled away from Tory and my friends, making my excuses before heading off across campus towards Aer Tower. The cuts on my skin still stung and blood stained my white shirt with patches of red. I had a free period before lunch and I didn’t want to be around anyone for the next two hours. I’d had enough. Highspell’s bullshit had brought my anger to the surface all over again and I couldn’t take it. Sickness swirled in my gut as I started to come apart.
Not here. Not in front of everyone.
I was soon running into the tower, racing upstairs as emotion swallowed me up and the shadows started whispering, promising to drown it all away if I just gave in to them.
I tried to force it all down, but I needed some outlet and I found myself tearing past the corridor that led to my room, instead continuing to climb and climb until I made it into the stairwell that led to the roof. I sprinted up to the door, shoving it wide and the wind whipped around me, the sound of the huge turbine on the side of the building groaning in my ears.
I kicked the door shut and screamed at the sky, raising my arms in the same moment and releasing my magic in a flood. A hurricane of air poured from my body in a wild and chaotic storm. I grabbed hold of it and wielded the air to spin around the tower, forming it into a huge pillar of storm clouds which grew larger and larger as it rose up towards the sky and shrouded everything in darkness.
The turbine spun faster in the raging tornado that twisted around the edges of the tower and the wind sent my hair flying in the maelstrom.
Tears streamed down my cheeks as I let everything out. All the pain, the hurt, the betrayal.
How could you do this? How could you break every promise we’d ever made to each other? How could you throw it all away and not even say goodbye?
I ached for answers, burned for them. I needed to go to him, but how was I ever supposed to do that?
“Darcy!” a voice made my heart leap and I turned, dropping my arms as the storm continued to swirl and grow ever darker.
Seth stood by the door as it swung closed behind him, his face pinched with concern.
“Don’t look at me like that,” I snapped. “You have no right to.”
“Come inside,” he encouraged. “We can talk.”
“I don’t want to talk to you,” I snarled. “Leave me alone.”
His arms fell limp at his sides and he shook his head as his hair billowed around him in the storm. “I can’t do that.”
“Why?” I demanded, my heart tearing to pieces. The last person I wanted to see me like this was him. “What do you want from me? Isn’t my pain enough? Don’t you have your pound of flesh yet?”
My body shuddered as he took a step closer, his eyes glinting with hurt.
“I never wanted this,” he said earnestly, shaking his head.
“Screw you!” I shouted, making my lungs raw. “You tortured me and Lance. So get out of my sight or I’ll bring this whole storm down on your head.”
Seth stepped closer and I raised my hands threateningly. He swallowed thickly, his gaze moving to the blood on my cheek and the reddened cuts across my body. “I know what I did. I’m not denying it.”
“So just leave me alone, Seth,” I snarled. “Do you really have to bathe in my misery any more than you already have?”
“No…I…” His jaw pulsed as he pushed a hand through his wayward hair. “I’ve suffered through this too, alright?”
“What is that supposed to mean?” I hissed as he took yet another step closer and magic tingled in my palms, ready to rip him apart if he got too near.
He seemed to be struggling with something as he opened and closed his mouth, then his eyes found mine again and a heavy breath left him. “Here’s the truth.” His shoulders dropped and he suddenly looked broken, his head dipping and shame colouring his angular features. “From the moment you walked into this school, I was primed to fight against you. You were my opponent, but I didn’t expect…I didn’t expect to like you too. To respect you every time you got up again. I hated that I couldn’t hate you. And it was more than that…” He glanced away from me as if he couldn’t bear to speak his next words.
“What?” I pressed, suddenly unable to look away, somehow sure I needed to hear whatever he was hiding.
“I envied you, Darcy. You and your sister,” he forced out. “You grew up away from all this…this fucking pressure,” he spat the last word. “You’d both avoided the weight that had pressed down on me my whole life then walked right into our world and had everything I’d suffered for handed to you. You have no idea what it’s like to have every move you make watched, recorded, judged. And not just by the press, by my family. My brothers and sisters may love me, but they’re constantly hunting for weaknesses, waiting for me to slip up so they can steal my place as Alpha and take the crown. It’s our nature. But you…you most of all were so fucking innocent. So good. So unaffected by the world because you never had to bleed for glory like I did.”
“I didn’t have it easy in the mortal world,” I said in disbelief. “And I never asked for this.”
“I know that now, really…I do. But back then, every time I looked at you, I wanted to know what growing up without being corrupted felt like and every time I hurt you, I wanted to see the darkness in you to prove to myself that no one was that virtuous. But after everything I did, there was no black heart to find in you. You never became like me, even when the world tried to crush you.” His throat bobbed as he bared his truth to me and I didn’t know what to say before he barrelled on. “I’ve never figured out what I wanted from you, all I know is you possessed me, you drove me crazy. I thought for a while you were my equal, and that was why I obsessed over you. That maybe my instincts were driving me towards taking you as my mate. But then…”
“Then what?” I breathed, suddenly needing to hear it all. The very depths of his honesty.
“Then I found out about you and Orion and I just…snapped.” He fixed me with a dark look that ate into my soul. “I thought he’d corrupted you. Him of all people. The asshole professor who’d decided he hated me with a passion since you arrived. He’d been the one to make you bad. Not me. And I despised that. I couldn’t swallow it. So I punished you. I wanted to get vengeance for all the suffering I’d put myself through over you. All the nights I’d wondered what it was that drove me quietly mad about you. Envy, hate, love? I didn’t know which one it was or if all of them played some part in it.” He stepped forward again so there was only a meter between us. “But after a while, I saw how Orion coveted you. How he hadn’t made you bad at all, you’d made him good. And I realised it wasn’t just some fling. The way you two looked at each other it was like…like an unbreakable thread was binding you together. Nothing anyone said or did would ever change it. Least of all me. And that was when I realised what I’d done. How I’d tried to tear you to pieces, tried to make out as if, somewhere deep down, you were as bad as me when all I was really doing was ignoring the fact that I’d become the monster I’d tried so hard to find in you.”
His words hung in the air, kissing my skin, begging to be let in. But accepting them meant I understood why he’d done it. And I didn’t want to do that. I didn’t want to be the good girl he painted me out to be. I wanted to prove I was the bad one. The girl that could throw him off this tower for hurting me. But instead I just stood there, lost and rattled to my core.
Seth’s eyes bored into me. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forgive myself for what I did to you, and I’d never ask you for your forgiveness because I don’t deserve a drop of it. But for what it’s worth, I am so fucking sorry, Darcy.”
The wind roared in my ears and fresh tears spilled down my cheeks, turning icily cold the moment they met the air. I’d never wanted an apology from Seth. I didn’t expect one, let alone one that made me believe he really meant it. But now those words fell from his tongue, I realised how desperately I had needed that apology. How much rage a
nd hurt I’d kept in my heart over him. I knew it couldn’t undo the awful things he’d done to me. But I could finally see remorse in his eyes. I could see a resentful boy becoming a remorseful man right in front of me.
Seth moved forward, closing the distance between us and capturing my chin between his finger and thumb as he tilted my head to look up at him. “There’s one more thing I should have realised. You could never be my mate, Darcy Vega. Because we’re not equals. You’re far better than me in every way imaginable.”
I didn’t know if I fell into his arms or if he surrounded me in that moment, but suddenly he was holding me against his chest and I felt like he was the only solid thing in this storm that was keeping my feet on the ground. He was one of the few people who had witnessed the truth about me and Orion. He’d seen it first hand, and hearing him admit that what we’d had was undeniable soothed a piece of my fractured, suffering soul.
“Why did he do this?” I asked him, stealing the heat from his body as the wind froze me to my core.
“Isn’t it obvious?” he sighed, resting his chin on my head. “He was protecting you, babe. By taking absolute responsibility for that crime, he ensured your name wouldn’t get muddied in the press. You won’t lose support for the crown. If anything, you’ll win more sympathy for it.”
A ragged sob escaped me as I realised he might be right and I fisted my hands in the back of his shirt as I buried my face in his chest. He brushed his fingers over my neck and healing magic washed through my skin, finding each of the stinging cuts Highspell had marked on me and knitting them over.
“That new professor is going to be a dead woman if she thinks she can get away with this,” Seth growled, a fierce protectiveness filling his voice as his arms tightened around me.
Zodiac Academy 5: Cursed Fates: An Academy Bully Romance (Supernatural Bullies and Beasts) Page 62