He’d spent his life chasing after power with an insatiable thirst and had trained me in the art of doing the same. But in his arrogance, he’d forgotten one vital thing. The Fae standing between me and my power, was him.
His boots scrambled against the floorboards and even the heat beneath his palms began to fade as death closed in on him and I was filled with lightness at the thought of it. Life without his shadow casting darkness over everything good I’d ever had. Xavier could be free. Mother too. Roxy and her sister would be safe. I’d have the power to get Lance out of prison. I’d have the power to do any fucking thing I pleased.
And I was more than willing to buy that power with his blood.
I growled as I squeezed the life from him. For Xavier. Lance. Mother. Roxy. And me.
“Daddy!” Clara’s horrified shriek came a moment before she collided with me, using the full strength of her Order to knock me off of my father before I could finish the job.
“No!” I roared as Roxy screamed for me to watch out.
I leapt to my feet, casting a blade of ice into my palm as I ran towards him to finish what I’d started. Before I could move more than one step, Clara sped into my path, raising a hand as she smirked at me and I jolted to a halt as the shadows inside me spread beneath my flesh and took control of my limbs.
“Uh, uh, uh, naughty boy,” Clara said, waggling a finger at me like I was a child as I fought against her hold on the shadows inside me with everything I owned. The blade of ice fell from my hand where it began to melt into a puddle of nothing on the floor along with all of my hopes and dreams.
Father rolled over with a snarl of rage, pushing himself to his knees as he raised a hand to his throat to heal the damage I’d done to him.
“What happened to fighting like Fae, you fucking coward!” I bellowed as I struggled against Clara’s magic.
I’d been so close, so fucking close to ending him, destroying his legacy of terror and claiming my life back from him.
“You should know by now, Darius,” Father hissed as he continued to heal himself. “That winning is about using whatever advantages you have. And my Guardian is an advantage you just can’t match.”
“Poor Daddy,” Clara cooed as she dropped down before him where he knelt, tears watering in her eyes as she cupped his cheeks in her hands. “I wasn’t here when you needed me. I’m a bad, bad, girl...”
Father ignored her as she shifted closer to him and started licking the blood from his cheek.
“I offered you the world, boy,” he snarled at me. “And what did you choose? A girl who threatens everything you’ve ever known. Whose father was a savage who nearly destroyed our kingdom. Who broke your heart as easily as breathing.”
“The world means nothing to me without her,” I spat at him, my gaze slipping to Roxy where she watched me from the table, her wide eyes flashing with fear for me.
“Is that so?” Father stood so suddenly that he knocked Clara onto her ass and she huffed as she scrambled up behind him.
“What are we going to do, my king?” she whispered excitedly as they crossed the room towards Roxy and my heart thundered with panic.
“Don’t,” I breathed, unable to hide the terror in my voice as my father reached out to touch her cheek where he’d burned an X into her skin.
I could hardly bear to look at what he’d done to her. The guilt I felt over a member of my family being responsible for so much of her pain and suffering ate me alive from the inside out.
Roxy only gritted her jaw and waited, refusing to let so much as a single word pass her lips in protest for whatever he was planning.
“What would it take for you to kill this girl, Darius?” Father asked me in a dangerous voice.
“Nothing,” I replied instantly. “I’d die first.”
Triumph flashed in Father’s eyes at my words and my pulse thundered in panic as I tried to figure out why. What possible reason could he have for being pleased over my feelings for a girl who could ruin everything for him?
He shifted his hand over Roxy’s cheek and she fought a flinch as he traced the bloody cuts on her face with his forefinger. My eyes widened in confusion as green light lit beneath his palm and slowly, every cut and burn on her body healed over until she was left whole again, panting on the table while tugging at the flaming ropes which bound her.
“I hope you’re not expecting me to thank you,” she hissed, jerking her face away from him as he looked down at her like she was something he wanted to devour.
“Just let her go,” I begged. I’d never begged that man for anything in my life, but for her I’d do it. I didn’t care. No price was too high, no sacrifice too great. “I’ll do whatever you want, be whoever you want. I’ll marry Mildred, follow your commands, work every day to be the Heir you wanted. Just leave her alone.”
“That you will,” Father growled.
He stepped around the table, reaching out to grasp Roxy’s hand in his own, smiling in a way that made panic tumble through me.
Roxy’s gaze met mine and she bit into her bottom lip as fear flickered in her gaze.
“Roxanya Vega,” Father growled, looking down at her as a dark smile pulled at his lips. “You will guard my life at the detriment of your own life. Nothing will ever be more important to you than that-”
“No,” I gasped as the words from my past echoed over me. The words he’d spoken when he forced Lance to abandon the life he’d worked so hard for and stolen everything from him. “Please. Don’t do this to her!” I fought against Clara’s hold on me with everything I had, panic blinding me as Roxy looked between me and my father fearfully.
“Adiuro te usque in sempiternum,” he continued, his eyes blazing with power as he cast the ancient magic and Clara clapped excitedly as a chain of power bound Roxy’s hand to his. “Adiuro custodiet te milhi in filium.”
Roxy gasped as the power of his magic drove into her body, invading her, changing her, binding her to the man who was forcing it upon her.
A roar burst from my lips as I fought the shadows with all I had, but their hold on me was complete and Clara’s wild smile only grew as I tried to break their control.
“Adiuro te usque ad mortem!” Father cried and the strength of his magic made the walls tremble as it echoed around the room.
Roxy screamed as the magic burned into her and Father fell forward, bracing himself over her as he struggled against the burn of the bond as it was instated too.
My heart shattered for her as I watched the spell run its course, my limbs trembling as I was forced to bear witness to this travesty.
Roxy’s grip on my father’s hand tightened as her back arched against the table. I swear I could feel my soul breaking apart and withering inside me as I watched him steal her life from her.
The wave of magic faded between them and Father released her hand, smiling darkly as he looked down at the new Gemini brand on the crook of his arm beside the Cancer symbol he already held for Clara.
I could hardly bear to look at the Aries mark on Roxy’s skin, but she was staring at it with a look of such horrified disgust on her face that it was clear she’d already realised what he’d done.
My Father stepped away from her, his eyes flashing with triumph as he looked directly at me.
“You will never beat me, Darius,” he said in a low voice. “But every time you try, I’ll make her pay the price.”
Clara suddenly released me from the shadows and I roared as I launched myself at my father, a storm of fire building between my hands before I fired it at him with every drop of magic I had left to me.
My magic crashed against an air shield like a wave breaking against a cliff.
I dove through the smoke, but before I could get my hands on him, a soft body slammed into me instead.
I gasped as Roxy used her air magic to knock my legs out from under me, catching her waist and bringing her down with me as I fell back.
Her eyes filled with tears as she straddled me, pressing a dagger mad
e of ice to my throat, the blade pressing down firmly enough to draw a bead of blood from my skin.
“I can’t let you hurt him, Darius,” she breathed and the horror she felt at the idea of that was clear as her gaze flared with rage and despair, and every plan I’d ever had for my father’s demise came crashing down around us. “I’m his Guardian now. You’d have to kill me first.”
Darius was looking at me like the whole world had just imploded and I was about to be ripped right out of his arms.
He stood suddenly, lifting me off of his lap and planting me on my feet as he shoved me behind him and bared his teeth at his father and Clara.
“Name your price. Anything you want to undo this,” he snarled, one hand staying clamped around my wrist like he thought if he could just keep hold of me then none of this was really happening.
Clara burst into laughter, clapping her hands like this was all some game.
“Don’t you see, Darius?” she asked. “This is perfect. Now we’re all just one big, happy family. We can get back to loving each other and making sure we keep Daddy happy. Maybe he’ll even let you share her sometimes?”
Darius’s grip on me tightened and he growled, rolling his shoulders back like he was aching to end this fight while not knowing how to go about it now.
There was no way for him to do it without having to get through me. When he’d attacked Lionel, I hadn’t even been aware of myself moving before I’d leapt in front of him and even the thought of Darius attacking him now was filling my head with thoughts of how I’d immobilise him. But that was so fucked up because the thing I wanted most in this world was Lionel dead…didn’t I?
“Tell me your price,” Darius demanded furiously and Lionel’s lips lifted into a smile that made a shiver of fear race down my spine.
“This isn’t a negotiation, boy,” he said. “She belongs with me now.”
“You’ll keep your fucking hands off of her,” Darius growled and I reached out to wrap my fingers around his arm, touching the mark of the Phoenix Kiss I’d given him as he continued to hold my other wrist.
“I don’t believe in fate,” I hissed. “Or destiny, or gods, deities, demons or even fucking lizard assholes choosing my life for me. So you can bind me to you or curse me or capture me but I will never be yours or anyone else’s unless I choose it.”
“Oh I think you’ll choose it,” Lionel purred and the deep rumble of his voice was kind of…soothing. What the fuck? “The Guardian bond does more than make you protect me. It will make you crave me too.”
“It will make you love him like you should,” Clara put in, bouncing on the balls of her feet.
“Never,” I swore.
“What’s your price?!” Darius shouted and I could feel him trembling where we held each other, the tremors in his skin making me shiver too. It was rage and fear and something much worse because the terrified look in his eyes said that he didn’t really believe this could be undone. He’d lived it. He knew.
“Come with me, Roxanya,” Lionel commanded, jerking his chin like the pompous ass he was.
My fucking foot shifted as some unrecognisable part of me ached to do just that. To go to him, make sure he was alright, reach out and touch him and-
What the fuck has he done to me??
The door burst open and we whirled around as Darcy, Caleb, Seth and Max practically fell inside.
My heart leapt to see them all here, their ferocious expressions and determined postures telling me in no uncertain terms that they’d come for me.
In all my life I’d only ever had one person who I could trust with that kind of loyalty. And to see her surrounded by boys who I had thought of as my enemies until recently set something blazing in my soul which I hadn’t even known I’d been aching for.
“You’re outnumbered,” Darcy snarled, her eyes locking on Lionel as flames coated her fists. “So just let my sister leave.”
“I think you’re forgetting how Fae fight, Gwendalina,” Lionel laughed. “But if you think you can take me on alone then feel free to try. Otherwise I’ll be taking the two of you with me.”
Darcy raised her hands and threw the flames she was holding at him with a shout of anger.
Fear sped through me and I leapt forward with a cry of panic, flinging my arms up as I tore out of Darius’s grip and I tossed a shield up to protect Lionel. The fireball hit me in the chest as I failed to protect myself and Darcy cried out as I was knocked to the ground by the blast.
Lionel hadn’t even flinched, his lips twitching with amusement like he was having the time of his fucking life. Clara had thrown a river of shadows between us and the others to protect him too and we were effectively cut off from them as it continued to writhe in the centre of the room.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” Clara hissed behind me as Darcy gaped at me in confusion.
“What’s going on, Tor?” she asked, her gaze flicking between all of us as pain tightened my chest like it was being squeezed in a vice.
Before I could reply, the shadows in me flared to life and my limbs were flooded with dark energy as I got to my feet and moved to stand before Lionel and Clara. Adrenaline flooded my veins as I tried to figure out what the fuck was happening to me and Darius moved to my side, controlled by the shadows too.
“Shall we kill them?” Clara asked in a sugary voice.
“I need the twins,” Lionel said firmly.
“Not that one,” Clara said with a disappointed sigh, pointing at Darcy. “The shadows have left her.”
My lips parted as I tried to figure out if that could be true and the look Darcy was giving me said it was.
“Then I suppose we don’t need any of them,” Lionel agreed slowly. “And wiping out the Heirs to the other Council seats will only make my ascension smoother…”
Clara giggled excitedly and I could feel the shadows growing within me as they moved to coat my body and flared to life in my palms.
I raised my hands without wanting to and Darius did the same at my side. Shadows burst from us so suddenly that they stole my breath, the raw power of them tearing through me like a hurricane and slamming across the room with more energy than I’d ever felt.
Darcy, Seth and Max all threw up their most powerful air shields to protect the four of them and when the shadows collided with them, there was a resounding boom which knocked all four of them off of their feet.
A shriek drew my attention to the hole in the wall and I gasped as I spotted movement outside, almost thinking the trees themselves were shifting before I realise what it was. Across the grounds, highlighted by starlight, a whole host of Nymphs were coming this way.
“Holy fuck,” Caleb breathed as he looked out too and the others all gazed on in terror.
Neither Lionel nor Clara seemed concerned in the least and that might have been the most terrifying part of it all.
My hands lifted again as Clara laughed with glee and fear consumed me as I looked at Darcy, scrambling upright as she tried to prepare for the next attack.
“You can fight it Tory - you can break free too!” she yelled and I fought with everything I had to do just that, but with my Phoenix still sleeping deep within me thanks to the Order Suppressant gas, I didn’t even know where to begin.
Power was building in my hands again, even more potent than the last time and Darius was cursing beside me as he tried to fight the shadows back too. But it was no good, they were only intensifying and any moment now I’d be forced to unleash them on Darcy and my friends-
“Wait,” I gasped desperately, wondering if there was even the slightest chance that I could bargain with a mad man. “You want me, don’t you? You want me to give in to the shadows and give you my blood? I’ll do it. All of it. Whatever you want. Just let my sister go. Let them all go.”
“Tory no!” Darcy shouted and Seth grabbed her as she tried to lunge towards me despite the river of shadows dividing us.
“Over my dead body,” Darius snarled furiously beside me, but he couldn
’t move any more than I could.
My hands were shaking as the shadows coiled around them, but I was far more terrified of what they were about to do to Darcy and the Heirs than anything that might happen to me.
Footsteps sounded behind me and I shuddered as Lionel’s hand slid over my shoulder, though I couldn’t tell if it was in repulsion or pleasure and that was almost the most terrifying thing about this bond I now had with him.
“Say goodbye to your sister,” he breathed, his lips brushing against my ear and making me shiver again.
“And Darius,” I choked out. “All of them. Leave all of them here. Then I’ll do whatever you want.”
“If you’re going with him, I’m coming too,” Darius snarled.
“He’ll come running back to the manor to find you either way,” Lionel scoffed, but I ignored him.
“Do we have a deal?” I demanded.
There was a pause where only the sound of the host of Nymphs drawing ever closer to the house reached us and the fear of their arrival made my entire body feel numb.
“The moment you give yourself to the shadows, the three of us will leave,” Lionel agreed, eyeing me hungrily. “Tick tock.”
Clara released her hold on my shadows and I staggered forward as Darius was still frozen in her grasp.
Darcy started screaming at me, begging me to reconsider, swearing to fight and win but with the Nymphs coming, I knew that there wasn’t any choice to be made. Lionel and Clara weren’t going to let me leave and there was no more time for fighting. She had to get out of here before that army arrived or I’d lose her and even the thought of that had me falling apart.
Only the wall of shadow Clara had constructed between us was keeping her away from me and I knew I’d be doing the same in her position. But it was the only way.
I turned to Darius with my chest heaving and tears swimming in my eyes as he glared at me like I was ripping his heart out by doing this. But I didn’t have a choice. I’d do anything for the love of my sister. And I’d do anything to protect him too.
Zodiac Academy 5: Cursed Fates: An Academy Bully Romance (Supernatural Bullies and Beasts) Page 79