“Announce yourselves!” one of them barked, raising his hand with flames curling in his palm.
“Darius Acrux and Max Rigel,” Darius called, his shoulders pushed back as I moved to his side. “We’re here for visitation with Lance Orion.”
The flames extinguished in the guard’s hand and he signalled down to someone on the other side of the gate.
A moment later, a deep humming noise rumbled through the earth and the gate parted in the middle, opening inward to reveal a straight road with a couple of armoured trucks parked up either side of it. The road ran directly across the grassy land, cutting a path to an inner wire fence that looked at least half a mile away. Beyond that was a huge dome which seemed to glitter in the morning sun. The structure was immense and a glimpse of green could be seen within it even from this distance, but I couldn’t tell what it was.
Darius led the way through the gates and magic tingled over my flesh as we passed through some barrier.
“Here, I’ll take you down to the elevator,” a young, blonde woman called to us in a black uniform, a badge on her breast pocket naming her as Officer Lucius.
She waved us into the back of the nearest armoured truck and I climbed in beside Darius with my heart thumping furiously against my chest. As she took off down the road, I tried to ignore the conflicting emotions warring inside me, knowing they were only going to drive me insane. I was desperate to see Orion, but nervous as hell and still so angry at him for sentencing himself to so many years in this place, I didn’t know what to feel.
We soon passed through a second gate for the inner perimeter and another wave of magic crackled over the vehicle, making blue light spark across its surface. I gazed through the windshield to the dome looming ahead. It towered above us, a criss-cross pattern of magical energy spreading over the incredible space inside. From what I could see, there was a magical environment contained within it, a forest rose up toward us on the nearest side, the hint of rocky hills climbing up to the right of it and even a glimpse of snow further on. Clouds hung thickly in a makeshift sky beneath the dome, flashing with lightning and the grumble of thunder.
“Holy shit, what is that?” I breathed as the car veered around the side of it towards a large metal building standing about a hundred feet away from the edge of the dome.
“The Order Yard,” Officer Lucius answered, as the truck slowed beside it, giving no more explanation than that as she directed us into the building.
I followed Darius out of the car, my pulse ratcheting up a level as we walked inside. Another officer sat behind a glass screen and a security door barred our way onwards.
“Ah Mr Acrux, Mr Rigel.” He stood up, bowing his head to us both, but giving me a lingering look that suggested he knew what I was hiding. “Please step into the pod one at a time.” He ushered Darius forward and the metal door slid open as he entered confidently before it closed again after him.
The door reopened a moment later and I moved into the empty space, another door barring my way on as I turned to look at the guard through the glass.
“Both feet in the boxes on the floor, Mr Rigel,” he instructed and I arranged my feet, waiting for something to happen, but nothing did. “That’s it. Okay, all done.”
The door opened to my left and I headed through it, finding Darius waiting for me beside a large set of elevator doors. They opened as I approached and we walked into the shining silver space, turning back to face the doors just as they slid closed. The elevator descended at a rapid pace and my heart lurched in my chest as we drew closer and closer to Orion.
I noticed a strange tingling sensation in my chest and a chalky taste filled my mouth. I instinctively reached for my Phoenix, but it seemed to be sleeping, unable to be roused.
“My Order,” I gasped and Darius nodded.
“It’s Order Suppressant gas. They pump it into this place twenty four seven, so unless you take a daily antidote like the guards do, it’s impossible to shift.”
I didn’t like that feeling at all. It was as if a part of my body had being severed clean off. “So Lance…he can’t bite anyone?” The thought of him starving in this place was unbearable. It wasn’t something I’d even considered and it made me want to tear him out of these walls and never let them have him back.
“Not unless he’s in that big dome up top. That’s where they’re allowed access to their Orders,” Darius explained and a knot in my chest eased a little. At least he wasn’t entirely cut off, but it still must have been hard to go without access to it in between his time out there.
I tried to get my thoughts in line for when I saw him. I had so many versions of what I wanted to say to him in my head, I had no idea what was going to come out of my mouth when I actually saw him. I chewed on my lower lip, getting more and more worked up.
The doors slid open and a short corridor stretched out ahead of us with a waiting room at the far end of it. Fae were gathered in the monochrome space, sitting on the metal chairs provided. People’s mouths dropped open as they spotted us, exchanging looks with one another, a few of them bowing their heads while others stared, seemingly awe-struck. It was the strangest feeling in the world to be looked at like that. Tory and I didn’t leave the academy enough to receive this sort of attention regularly. And I guessed for a moment, I knew what it was like to be an Heir.
A guard stood beside a door, checking his watch. “You’ll be called in alphabetical order and will proceed to the room number I assign you,” he announced then took out his Atlas, tapping on the screen. “Acrux, Darius and guest.” He looked to us, dipping his head respectfully as we approached before pressing his hand to a scanner beside the door and it slid smoothly open. “Room thirteen.” He pointed us down the corridor full of doors and we headed that way, my heart lodged firmly in my throat.
This is happening. I’m really going to see him.
The silence in the hallway made my skin prickle with unease. This place was cold and the air felt thin. Being so far underground was disquieting. Like this prison was a realm of its own, one I didn’t want to wander too deeply into. And if I felt like that after a few minutes here, Orion must have been losing his mind.
We reached door thirteen and Darius opened it, blocking my view as I followed him inside. A heavy breath fell from my lungs as I found the room empty.
“Where is he?” I hissed.
“Just wait,” Darius growled, looking about as anxious to see Orion as I was. His fingers were flexing and his muscles were bunched. He cast a silencing bubble and I felt it push out around me. “Don’t speak to him until I give you a signal. I’m going to buy you some time in here alone, I have to cast ice on the cameras to make sure the video and sound is blocked. I’ve paid off the guard who’ll be watching the feed, but it’ll cost Lance a full cavity search.”
“Oh my god,” I gasped.
He shrugged. “He could have saved himself the inconvenience by not sending himself to prison.”
“Holy shit,” I breathed, my throat tight as he dropped the silencing bubble.
My heart was a desperate animal, clawing at the confines of my ribcage as I stared at that door. Waiting, waiting, waiting.
What if he’s angry I came here? Or upset?
What if he’s been hurt in this place? He’s stuck with killers and degenerates, he could have been attacked or beaten or-
The door opened and I stopped breathing as Orion stepped into the room in an orange jumpsuit with four symbols on the breast. A pair of fangs, his two Elements and his number. One hundred and fifty.
His beard was overgrown and his ebony hair was falling into his eyes which looked sunken with lack of sleep. My heart practically beat its way out of my chest at seeing him like that. Looking so utterly broken. Like he was half the man he’d been the last time I saw him.
Darius rushed at him and the two of them embraced hard. I could almost see the bond between them blazing in the air as they gripped each other tightly.
“Fuck, I’ve missed you,”
Darius growled.
Orion groaned as he dug his fingers into his friend’s back, the tension in his body making me hurt.
Darius suddenly shoved him back with a snarl. “You fucking asshole,” he snapped. “What the hell were you thinking?”
Orion’s eyes slid to me and my pulse thundered everywhere as he frowned, clearly surprised to see Max here, then looked back to Darius. “I had to,” he said with a flash of resilience in his eyes, but he didn’t expand on that.
“Yeah, well you can explain it to him first.” Darius jerked his chin at me and Orion’s brow pinched in confusion as his friend strode toward the exit. He threw me a nod as ice frosted over the cameras then he stepped out of the room and slammed the door shut behind him. The second it closed, I felt the illusion lift from my skin, fluttering away like butterflies.
“No,” Orion gasped, taking a step back. “He brought you here?!” he roared and a tremor rocked through my body.
“Yes,” I said, lifting my chin, trying to ignore the writhing ache in my chest as I forced myself not to run into his arms. I was so angry at him. And betrayed and hurt. But then seeing him look like this… like he’d been going through hell in this place, it made my anger fade enough that I could feel my heart shattering all over again.
“You’ve lost weight,” he growled as his eyes slid down me.
I said nothing, my throat too tight.
“Don’t let yourself suffer because of me,” he said in a harsh tone.
The dam broke in my chest and anger won out over every other emotion. “Is that a command or are you trying to Dark Coerce me?” I asked icily.
His jaw ticked and he stalked toward me like a hunter starving for his next meal. His eyes scoured every inch of me, his throat bobbing and a tangible energy in the air swallowed me up.
He crowded me in against the wall, making my breath hitch at how little space parted us. He didn’t smell like cinnamon anymore, he smelled like soap and misery. “It’s a command. And one you’re going to follow. Get out of here and forget this place. Forget me. It’s over. Done. So move on.”
His words were sharper than a knife, the hollowness to his voice making me long for the warmth he usually directed at me.
“You don’t get to decide that for me.” I blinked back tears, choking on my tongue. “You had no right to do this. You threw away everything, including your own life. Why?” I asked the question that had been haunting me for weeks on end. The one that had kept me up at night, the single word making me want to dive into the shadows just so I could forget it. But I hadn’t. I’d stayed strong. And now he owed me this answer.
“You know why,” he growled. “You’re a princess of Solaria-“
“Fuck you.” I shoved my palms into his chest with a blast of air magic that made him stumble back. The worst thing was how he didn’t fight, he just stared at me with that look of acceptance stamped across his features.
I started to pace, my pulse thrumming everywhere and finally my anger came back in full force. “You had no right to do what you did!” I rounded on him, pointing at him in accusation. “We had a plan. You could have avoided prison if you’d just done what Darius’s lawyer said.”
“It’s my life, Darcy, I’ll do what I please,” he said flatly.
I cringed at that name, shaking my head. I was always Blue to him, but he’d taken that from me along with everything else.
“So that’s it?” I asked breathlessly, the wind crushed from my lungs. “We’re done? Finished. Because you say so? And I never even got the chance to fight for us?”
His eyes darkened and he had the look of a wounded beast as he turned his gaze from me to the wall. “Yes.”
“Is that all you have to say?” I lunged at him, throwing my hands into him with another blast of air. He staggered away, his back bumping against the wall as he didn’t even bother to raise a hand to try and fight me off. The glowing cuffs on his wrists ensured he couldn’t use magic, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t try to stop me physically. He just didn’t seem to care enough to.
“That’s all I have to say,” he said in an empty tone with no emotion in it. Nothing. Didn’t he care? Wasn’t he even going to apologise for tearing my heart to pieces?
Of all the times I’d imagined seeing him again, I never could have predicted this arctic front from him. This apathy. It was worse than anything else I’d pictured.
My tears started flowing and I wanted to hide them away, but there was no force in the world which could stop them now.
“Why?!” I screamed again, my voice raw. “Give me the honest reason. I deserve that much.”
Shadows swirled in his eyes and for a moment I feared he’d gone into them. He seemed so distant, so beastly. Like the man who’d loved me didn’t even live in him anymore. He looked heartless and cold and exactly like the cruel creature he’d let the world think he was.
I approached him slowly when he remained quiet, the air alive with electric energy as I closed the space between us. And that was something of a comfort to know this compelling bond between us still existed, he was just refusing to acknowledge it. I reached out, pressing my hand to his chest as I got closer and closer, feeling the powerful pounding of his heart beneath my palm as I tried to hunt out the truth through it.
His jaw locked and his eyes focused on me so intensely that I couldn’t draw in a single breath.
“Answer me,” I whispered, a plea in my voice. I needed this. It was torture living without an explanation from him. Still, he remained quiet and another tear rolled down my cheek. “Seth said you were trying to save me. Is that true?”
“Seth,” he hissed like his name was poison. “Why would you listen to Seth Capella?” There was a dangerous edge to his tone and I huffed a breath.
“So you want me to answer your questions but you won’t answer mine?” I slid my hand up to cup the back of his neck, stepping closer so my chest brushed his ever so gently. I could have sworn the lights in the room flickered with how much energy bound us together.
I tip-toed up, aching to kiss him, wondering if he’d melt if I could just get past his defences. If we kissed, he’d remember why we were worth fighting for.
His eyes remained locked on mine, a desperation in his gaze I didn’t understand the meaning of. Then he stepped out of my hold, brushing past me and turning his back on me, the biggest insult you could offer another Fae. And my jaw fell slack.
“Leave,” he growled. “And don’t come back. It’s over, Darcy. Move on with your life.”
“It doesn’t have to be over,” I gasped, terror wrapping its way around every organ in my body. “I don’t care that you’re here. You could be on the moon and I’d still find a way to love you.”
“I don’t want you to love me. I want you to leave and never come back.”
Those words nearly brought me to my knees. Panic ripped at my soul as I stared at the man who possessed me, telling me to walk away. To never see him again.
“You don’t mean that,” I demanded, desperate to stop him from forcing me away.
“I do,” he growled coldly, dismissively. “I mean every word. Get out.”
I backed up, starting to shake as I reached the door. I gripped the handle behind me, unable to blink as I gazed at him in despair.
“Lance,” I tried one final time, blinded by my pain. “Please don’t do this.”
“Get out!” He swivelled toward me, his gaze as dark as pitch as he pointed at the door.
My heart jammed into my throat and I turned the handle, wrenching it wide and shoving past Darius as I fled down the corridor. I needed to escape this place. I needed fresh air. I was going to suffocate if I didn’t get it.
“Darcy!” Darius called, his footsteps pounding after me.
My blue hair flew around me as the guard admitted me back into the waiting room, his eyes narrowing as he took in my appearance. “Hold on-” he started, but I raced into the open elevator with Darius hot on my heels.
“You sa
w nothing!” Darius barked at him and the man’s cheeks reddened before he bowed his head in submission.
The elevator started to rise and I pressed my hands to my face as Darius cast the illusion spell on me once more. The second the doors opened, I was out of them and when the guard finally let us outside, I dragged down a lungful of air, dropping to my knees on the dusty ground beside the building.
Darius fell down beside me, clutching my arm. “What happened?”
I couldn’t get the words out, holding a hand to my chest as my heart felt like it was going to combust.
“What did he say?” Darius demanded.
“He said it’s over,” I forced out, wiping my tears away as I managed to catch my breath at last. I moved to sit against the wall of the building, the ground beneath me seeming unsteady. Everything was broken. All of it ruined. The world wasn’t the same one I’d been in just moments ago.
Darius rose above me so I fell into his shadow, his features twisting into determination. “Wait here,” he growled. “I’ll speak to him. And I’ll make sure he signs off on the appeal.”
I nodded, cupping my head in my hands as I tried to slow my racing heart. The whole conversation replayed in my mind until I was breaking apart all over again, tears running down my cheeks. He wanted me gone. He didn’t want me anywhere near him. Did he blame me for this? How could he? He’d made this choice. But maybe now he’d come here he’d realised what a terrible mistake he’d made. Maybe he would sign off on the appeal, but that wouldn’t fix things between us.
Darius finally returned and before I could stop him, he threw his fist into the wall beside me.
“Darius,” I gasped, getting to my feet as he dropped his arm to his side and blood dripped down into the grass. “What happened?”
Zodiac Academy 5: Cursed Fates: An Academy Bully Romance (Supernatural Bullies and Beasts) Page 66