I hurried after him, taking the turn and pushing out of the doors into the open space beyond them where a crossroads in the path led in three different directions through the grass.
My heart fell as I looked around, finding the place empty, no sign of Ryder anywhere. It made no sense, I’d been right behind him. I’d been-
I spun on my heel and my throat dried up as I found him casually leaning against the wall behind me, a razor blade dancing between his fingers and his eyes fixed on me.
Shit on it.
Ryder’s dark green gaze met mine and a whinny of fear escaped me a moment before his hypnosis snared me into its grasp.
I found myself in a cold, grey dungeon with a drain in the centre of the room and blood marking the floor. I was in my huge, black Pegasus form but a chain around my neck held me still.
Ryder stood before me, shirtless, bloody and holding an item in each hand which made fear dance through my soul. In his right hand he held a hacksaw, in his left, my beautiful, glimmering horn.
I squealed and whinnied in fear and horror and with a blink of his eyes, I found myself in Fae form again, still chained in the dungeon at his mercy.
Ryder leapt at me, my own horn still in his hand as he swung it toward me, piercing my flesh with the sharp tip and making agony spear through my chest. I fell to the cold floor as he stabbed me with it over and over, his eyes wild with a savage and hungry fury which I knew would only end in death. My death.
I convulsed on the ground before him as he finally stopped, leaving my own horn skewering my heart as he stood over me and watched me die.
“Not yet, traitor,” he hissed. “I’m not letting you escape that easily.”
The vision melted away and I found myself back in the sunshine outside Altair Halls, my gaze fixed on Ryder as I sucked in a breath. I tried to stand tall but everything he’d just shown me had felt so fucking real that I was still paralysed by the pain of it.
My knees buckled and I fell to them, tipping my head back to look up at the man who owned my death as he stalked closer.
“I got an interesting tip off today,” he said slowly, moving towards me in his academy uniform, slowly loosening his tie off and sliding it from his neck. Was a tie too fancy to wear when you were murdering people? Was he worried about getting blood on the plum colour of it? Did he just prefer to do his killing with a more relaxed dress code? And why the fuck was his options over his tie taking up so much of my thoughts right now when I was pretty sure I was about to die?
“About what?” I breathed, keeping my chin up even while I kneeled at his mercy. Shit, he was one big motherfucker, I’d bet he could snap my neck with his bare hands. Or wrap that tie around my throat and pull until I stopped breathing.
“About some cowardly little asshole following me around and trying to make more tapes of me.” He pushed the tie into his pocket and I relaxed a fraction.
“More?” I asked, my throat thick and my muscles locked with tension. He knew. He fucking knew. But I wasn’t dumb enough to confirm it.
“Tell me, were you hiding in the closet to jerk off over her or me? Or were you just hoping to figure out how real men fuck so that your girl didn’t end up leaving you to go suck Inferno’s dick?”
“I...” My words trailed off because I couldn’t lie. He clearly knew. It was too late for excuses and he wouldn’t swallow any lies. “I was after her, not you. I didn’t know you were going to show up and-”
A deep rattle sounded in his chest and another vision assaulted me. This time I was laid out on a butcher’s table while he wielded a meat cleaver and cut me apart piece by piece. It only lasted a few seconds, but the agony and the mental image were enough to steal my breath away again.
“I guess I should be thanking you, really,” he mused. “I was sick of fucking that bitch anyway. And I’m not convinced she really could have gotten Inferno kicked out. Besides, it’s given the girls around here a clearer idea of what I expect from them if I’m going to fuck them, which has saved me from having to explain it so often.”
“No harm done then,” I murmured. “I mean, you looked totally...badass in that video. I bet you have girls lining up to get erm, whipped and shit by you and to get you to fuck them like that...”
For the love of the moon, am I trying to praise his performance? Is this the way I die? Kneeling at Ryder Draconis’s feet while I tell him how hot he looked fucking the life out of our old teacher? I bet they won’t carve that into my headstone.
Ryder scoffed. “Girls are always tempted by the unknown,” he agreed with a smirk that didn’t reach his eyes and a cruel darkness in his gaze that said he wasn’t buying my shit for a single second.
Maybe I should mention his mega cock? Is that the kind of thing a dude wants compliments on from another dude? Fuck, fuck, fuck-
“Do you think Ella would like a taste of the unknown?” he asked, that darkness in his gaze deepening as he struck me right in the heart. He’d remembered her fucking name. Or at least, her nickname. He’d read one card one time and had realised it was exactly the perfect way to strike at me. “Maybe instead of killing you, I should just make a video including your little sister? She might like me if she met me. You’d be surprised how many girls do, despite the fact that I’m not a nice person. How old is she anyway?”
My jaw locked tight as rage burned in my limbs and I glared at him in a clear refusal to tell him a damn word. I was instantly snared in his hypnosis again, my head plunged into icy water where I kicked and flailed for air until I was brought up gasping. Some piece of me knew it wasn’t real, but it felt like it was and I couldn’t convince my body not to feel all of the things he wanted me to as he tortured me. When I didn’t answer, he shoved my head into the water again and again, waiting for me to crack. But he’d found my hard line, I’d never give him anything about my little angel. I’d die before I let him so much as lay eyes on her.
Eventually, with my lungs burning and head spinning I managed to croak out. “She’s just a little kid!” Hoping my lie would satisfy him and falling back onto my ass in the sunshine as he released me from his power once more.
“Lucky for you, I’m not interested in little virgin pussy,” Ryder said with a sneer. “Though I guess that means there’s no point in dragging this out either. If I’m not going to be getting Ella Tempa in my bed, screaming my name and making a video for the whole world to-”
I leapt at him with a roar of rage, my shoulder slamming into his solid abs as I managed to unbalance him and I sent him crashing down onto his back. My fist slammed into his jaw and he fucking laughed as his cold blood spilled. I punched him again and again, forcing the vile image of his hands on my sister out of my fucking head and vowing that I’d never let her within his sight with everything that I had.
On the fifth punch, Ryder stopped letting me whale on him and he threw his sledgehammer fist into my face instead. Agony slammed through my skull as I was knocked off of him and a moment after I fell onto my back, I found his hand wrapped tightly around my throat and a manic gleam in his eyes as he cut off my air and pinned me in the dirt.
I kicked and scrambled, throwing punches into his sides with enough force to feel his bones crunching, but all he did was smile down at me as he absorbed the pain and used it to bolster his power. My pain, his, it was all the same to him. He didn’t care which way he earned it, only that it fed the beast living beneath his flesh. I tried to gather my thoughts together enough to use my air magic to fight him off, but my head was spinning with a lack of oxygen and I kept letting the power slip away from me instead.
A bolt of lightning slammed into the ground beside us and I was blinded by it as Ryder was thrown off of me, electricity sparking in the air as I sucked down breath after breath.
“This is over,” Dante snarled, moving to stand between me and Ryder as the King of the Lunar Brotherhood got to his feet on the far side of the clearing.
The blue sky overhead was fast filling with storm clouds as Dante prepare
d to go to bat for me and I couldn’t stop shaking with relief as I scrambled upright behind him.
Ryder grinned like he’d been expecting this, hoping for it even and a cold wash of dread ran through me.
“Took your little Wolf long enough to go get you,” Ryder hissed. “I almost killed your boy here while I waited.”
My mind spun with that. Ryder had known an Oscura had seen us? Had expected Dante to come and save my ass? Which meant he’d never actually been planning on killing me.
“You beat his ass, it’s done now,” Dante said calmly.
“Where we’re concerned, Inferno, it will never be done until one of us is lying dead in the ground. But this piece of shit isn’t worth the clean up, so I’ll leave him with you.” Ryder’s narrowed gaze fell on me and I instantly fell prey to his hypnosis again.
I was back in the torture room, my body bloody and filled with an agony so raw I could hardly draw breath. Ryder leaned close to speak to me alone.
“I catch you trying to spy on me again, I’ll find your little sister and cut her into ten. You make the mistake of stepping into the path of me or one of mine when you’re all on your lonesome with no witnesses around, you’d better believe you’ll bleed for it. I’m giving you a warning, which is more than I offer most Fae who turn on me. Don’t ever cross my path in the dark, don’t let your gaze stray my way and don’t ever forget, the Brotherhood has you marked, Tempa. One more wrong move and we’ll carve you up and leave you to rot without so much as a thought about it.”
I gasped as he released me from the vision, almost falling over again as the pain in my flesh intensified under the influence of his power.
Ryder spat on the ground at Dante’s feet then turned his back on him in a clear insult and stalked away.
“Seems like you’ve made an enemy there, cavallo,” Dante said with a laugh as he slapped a hand on my shoulder as if finding out that a psychopath had you marked for death by every member of his gang was no big deal and I could only nod mutely.
I fell into step with him with my heart hammering to a terrified tune, glancing over my shoulder again and again. Old Sal’s payment was due in a few days, but I couldn’t risk leaving the academy with the Brotherhood on the hunt for me. I needed to stick close to people at all times, ideally Dante. And if that made me weak then I didn’t care. Because I refused to end up as some tragic statistic in a gang war.
This month I’d have to risk paying her by direct transfer instead of withdrawing the cash from my account. Just to be safe. I couldn’t help Ella clear this debt from the grave. But with a bit of luck, by next month, Ryder would have forgotten about me again and I’d be able to risk sneaking out once more. But for now, I was staying the fuck away from the Lunar Brotherhood and everything to do with them. The FIB had just lost their leverage over me and I was out.
I headed down the tunnel under the lake into Arcane Arts, making sure I was bordering on late so I didn't have to mix with everyone before the lesson began. The amplifying chamber was icily cool and the circular room was coloured in dancing blue light as the sun filtered down through the glass dome that gave a view up into the water.
The plush cushions on the floor were filled with students and I looked for an empty one, wanting to partner with someone who I didn't know particularly well. So I should have had the option of ninety nine percent of the class, but the only empty cushion was beside Leon who was sitting upright and attentive for once rather than half asleep. His eyes locked with mine and he bobbed like an excitable puppy as he beckoned me over.
"Hey, Gabe!" he called. "I saved you a spot."
I scowled, hunting the room for literally anywhere else and found Elise turning to look back at me where she sat beside Dante a few rows ahead. What the fuck is going on?
"Come on, Mr Nox," Mystice encouraged. "You're holding up the class." He probably would have docked leaderboard points from me if I hadn’t been his favourite student.
Leon waved me over again and I clenched my jaw as I realised I didn't have a fucking choice. I weaved through the class and dropped down beside him, shifting my cushion an extra inch away from him as I dropped my book bag in front of me.
Mystice ran a hand over his dark afro, the rings on his fingers glinting in the light. He didn't have his shirt off for once, but his feet were bare and the shirt he was wearing looked like it was made from linen and was open several buttons to reveal a collection of amulets hanging around his neck. "Today I'll be introducing you to Cleromancy. Does anyone know what that means?"
I knew, but I didn't raise my hand. I never really participated in classes if I could help it. But as Mystice knew me so well, he usually didn't let me get away with it like the other professors did.
Eugene raised his hand. "Predicting the future using clear objects?" he offered in a high-pitched voice.
"Incorrect," Mystice said and Bryce sniggered behind Eugene, throwing a pencil at the back of his head. The Lunar asshole was paired with Ryder who'd created himself a wooden backing to his pillow to prop himself up and had stretched his legs out, his feet resting on the back of Eugene's cushion.
"Mr Nox?" Mystice asked when no one came up with the answer.
I swallowed a sigh. "Cleromancy is a form of divination where you cast lots to interpret answers. Like rolling a dice or tossing a coin."
"Exactly," Mystice said. "And as simple as that may seem, there's a reason we don't teach it until your junior year. Anyone can toss a coin or roll a dice, but only those Fae who have a true grasp on their magic can have confidence in their predictions. It needs a certain amount of focus which can only be achieved once your magic is at one with you." He moved to a table in the far corner and picked up a pouch. "Coin tossing is most accurate when using a coin which is made of a precious metal. Gold or sun steel are best, but silver or bronze are adequate. Ideally you would have a coin which is special to you in some way. Each coin I hand out today will have no personal meaning to you, so I suggest by next week's class you buy a coin which represents you or something that is meaningful to you to improve your readings. Does anyone have such a coin in their possession already?"
Leon and Elise raised their hands at the same moment and my heart clenched like a fist.
"Ah, our Elysian Mates." Mystice smiled brightly and some of the girls in class gazed wistfully at Elise. "What do you have, Miss Callisto?"
The back of Elise's neck turned a little rosy as she took a coin from her pocket and held it out for Mystice to examine.
"A lion," he announced, showing it to the class and my lungs bunched up along with my heart.
“Awwww,” a couple of girls cooed, gazing longingly at the Lion beside me who I refused to acknowledge.
"Leon gave it to me," Elise explained. "He has one that represents me, too."
In the corner of my eye, I saw Leon taking it out of his pocket but I still didn’t look at him. I knew I didn't have a valid reason to hate the guy, but part of me wanted to. I just knew it was totally unreasonable for me to blame him for something so out of his control. He'd been pursuing Elise as long as I, Dante or Ryder had. I was just bitter because I wasn't standing in his place.
"Perfect, and is it solid gold?" Mystice asked.
"As gold as my balls, sir," Leon said brightly and the class laughed.
Mystice swallowed a laugh of his own. "Thank you for that colourful image, Mr Night." He handed the coin back to Elise then started handing out the ones he had in the pouch to everyone else.
I busied myself on my Atlas as I wrote out pointless notes instead of making any kind of effort to talk to Leon. I could feel his eyes on me and sensed him shifting closer.
"Wanna see my coin?" he offered.
"No," I growled, not looking up.
"Oh," he breathed. "Do you have a coin?"
"No," I gritted out again, running out of things to type on the document I was making for the lesson.
"I could get you one," he whispered conspiratorially. "It could say Gabe the Great on it b
eneath a picture of a great crested grebe."
"No, and don't call me Gabe," I hissed as Mystice appeared, handing me a gold coin.
I smiled tightly at him and he glanced between me and Leon before chuckling and hurrying on. What was so damn funny?
I twisted the cold metal coin between my fingers, placing my Atlas down as I gave up pretending to give it my attention.
"So are we predicting each other's futures, or-" Leon started but I cut him off.
"No."
“Maybe the coin should say Gabe the Grump on it,” Leon teased and a growl rumbled through me in warning.
"You will have your partner ask you a yes or no question," Mystice announced and my spine prickled with annoyance. "Then you must write down your answer before flipping the coin - heads represents yes and tails represents no. You will do this until the coin gives you consistent correct answers. When that happens, it means you are in sync with the divine nature of the gold. Once you have achieved that, we will move on to the next stage of the class."
I sighed wearily, turning on my cushion to face Leon, finding he'd already flipped around, rearranging all of his things so he was ready to start.
"I have a question," Leon said brightly.
"Great," I muttered and he grinned, leaning closer so his gleaming blonde hair fell forward over his shoulders. He flipped his fingers to cast a silencing bubble around us like I was really going to spill my secrets to him. It was ridiculous.
"Did you miss me over the summer?"
I pressed my lips together, scowling at him. "I think we know the answer to that. Do I really need to flip the fucking coin?"
"You've got to be honest or it will ruin the point of this." Leon smirked and I rolled my eyes.
I picked up my Atlas, writing the word NO in capital letters next to the number one. Even as I wrote it though, I remembered a few instances the stars had gifted me visions of him and Elise together. Not fucking for once, but actually hanging out, laughing, having fun. Sometimes I heard them speaking about me, or Ryder, or Dante. But it was never too clear what was being said, only that those names were sharper in my head than anything else. And something in me ached to join them while I'd hung in the grip of the stars. But that didn't mean I'd missed him. Elise? Always. But him? Never. I didn’t even know him.
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