Zodiac Academy: Fated Throne

by Caroline Peckham

  “Have to go to visitation,” I growled, stumbling past him as blood pissed from my nose onto the carpet. I wiped it away with my sleeve then clutched my broken arm against my chest, biting down on my tongue at the blinding pain racing through the limb. At least I’d made a bunch of them bleed first.

  I made my way out of the library with the inmates all staring at me then headed upstairs towards visitation.

  “What the fuck happened, One-Fifty?” Officer Cain barked as I reached the top of the stairs. He was a big asshole with close cropped hair and a mouth that never smiled.

  “Fell,” I grunted, trying to step past him toward the hall that led to the visitation rooms. He shot into my way with his Vampire speed and I snarled a threat, wishing I had access to my own fangs so I could put this motherfucker in his place.

  “Well Medical is that way.” He smirked tauntingly, pointing back down the stairs.

  “I’m going to visitation,” I hissed and he folded his arms.

  “Are you now?” he asked. “Well you’re gonna shock that little Heir boyfriend of yours when he sees you like that.”

  I gave him a cool look then stepped forward again to move past him and he let me go this time. I made it to the line of inmates waiting to be called into a visitation room and propped my shoulder against the wall, grinding my teeth as I tried to ignore the pain in my shattered arm. Fuck Gustard. Fuck that unFae piece of shit.

  “One-Fifty!” Officer Lucius called from down the corridor. “You’re in room eight.” She directed me forward, her eyes widening as she took in my face, the blood splattering my jumpsuit and my arm clutched against my side.

  She grabbed her radio from her hip. “Oh shit, you need-”

  “I need to walk through that door right this second, so get out of my way.” I jerked my chin at the room behind her then didn’t wait for her to agree, ducking past her and pushing through the door. Darius stood up from his seat at the single table in there, his jaw dropping at the state of me.

  “Fuck, Lance, what the hell happened?”

  I rushed toward him, using my good arm to pull him against me and wincing through the pain, the Guardian bond purring happily inside me as I released a heavy sigh. Better.

  Darius slid his fingers onto my twisted arm and healing magic swept into my veins. The bone snapped back into place and I hissed between my teeth before the pain finally ebbed away. He fixed my nose next, cleaning the blood off of me with his water magic and I drew him into a fierce hug the moment it was done, needing him close, craving the feel of him against me.

  “Tell me what’s going on,” he commanded in a Dragon’s growl worthy of his father, finally pulling away from me.

  We sat down opposite each other at the table and I shrugged. I wasn’t going to snitch on Gustard and his lackies in front of the cameras, but there was another group of assholes responsible who I could openly blame. “The fucking stars have it out for me.”

  “You can’t continue like this, you’ll end up fucking dead,” Darius hissed, his face twisted in concern.

  “Don’t look at me like that,” I demanded. “It is what it is.”

  He shook his head, then subtly swiped a finger and a chill filled the room. He used his water magic to mess with the cameras, casting ice into them to give us a chance to speak properly. “Lance you have to get out of here. My father…he’s taken the throne. He-”

  “What?” I gasped, my lungs constricting, horror threading itself into my chest. I knew that we’d been running out of time, but I’d thought there was still some left. How could this have happened? How were we going to stop him now?

  Darius started recounting how Lionel had made the Councillors bow to him and moved into the Palace of Souls and I just listened in silent dismay, losing hope by the second. And I’d barely had much to start with.

  I cursed, the walls seeming to close in on me. I was so fucking useless in here. How the hell was I supposed to do anything to help?

  “I’m sorry,” I rasped. “I’m sorry I’m no use, I’m sorry for fucking everything up.”

  He sighed, his brows tugging together. “Just take the appeal.”

  “That would only make things worse now,” I said quietly. “You know that’s true.”

  “There must be some way,” he insisted. “I’ll speak to Nova, I’ll ensure Darcy’s place at Zodiac is secure.”

  “Elaine Nova’s in Lionel’s pocket. Any excuse to get rid of Darcy and she’ll take it,” I spat and silence stretched for a moment as Darius tried to come up with another idea.

  “Fuck.” Darius slammed his hand down on the table. “Well at least break that star vow with Darcy. You’re never going to find out what your father’s diary says if you can’t catch a damn break.”

  I drew in a long breath, unable to deny it. But that would mean him bringing Darcy here again. Seeing her, getting her to break the last thing that tied us together. For all the bad luck in the world, a twisted part of me wanted the punishment. I’d broken her. I’d given her no choice. Betrayed her in a way I’d sworn never to. She wouldn’t ever trust me again. But I’d known all of that when I’d taken the stand in court, because regardless of the consequences, it was still better than the alternative. She would have lost her claim on the throne if she couldn’t be trained. As soon as our secret had been exposed, I had been the one thing standing in her way, the one thing that could cost her everything. And now with Lionel sitting on the throne, it was more important than ever that she would be able to fight him.

  “We need this. If your father knew something, then we have to find out what it is. Astrum’s last Tarot card said to seek the fallen hunter. And that just has to be your dad,” Darius insisted.

  “Yeah, maybe,” I grunted, scratching at my beard. “Or maybe not.”

  “The diary has got to be important,” Darius insisted.

  “But what if it’s just a diary?” I croaked, knowing that all the efforts I’d made to crack the password could be pointless, that all the hopes we were pinning on it could be in vain.

  “Well we have to find out either way. We don’t have anything else to go on,” Darius said, sounding tired and I realised he looked it too. He was going through his own kind of hell out in the real world and it pained me to see him that way.

  “Alright,” I gave in, my chest growing tight at the thought of what I had to do, but there was no choice. Darius was right; so long as the stars were cursing me with bad luck, I’d never figure out how to unlock the diary. “Bring her here.” Oh fuck why do I feel like I’m about to bust a lung at the thought of that?

  I wanted to see Darcy again more than anything in the world. And yet I knew it would crush me all over again.

  Darius smiled sadly as he nodded.

  “She misses you, you know?” he said darkly. “She won’t say it, but-”

  “Don’t,” I growled, my heart crumbling to dust in my chest. “I don’t wanna hear it. She should be moving on.”

  “I think she has,” he said earnestly and I wasn’t prepared for how much that hurt me. I wanted it, I’d pushed for this, I knew it was what needed to happen. But the thought of her forgetting me, finding someone else, fuck, it was intolerable.

  “But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t miss you,” Darius said sadly.

  I miss her too. I miss her in every moment of every minute of every day. I will always miss her.

  “Is she…okay?” I asked in a tight voice. I generally avoided talking about her with him in any depth, but this question was one I asked often. It gave me some peace knowing Darius was looking out for her, that she was still safe. And I guessed that was the most peace I would ever have over her.

  “No one’s okay right now, but she’s coping,” he said with a deep frown. “There’s some hope for Roxy. I’ll let you know if it pays off.”

  I knew he couldn’t tell me more even with the cameras disrupted, just in case, but my heart lifted all the same. “That’s good. Just be careful.”

  “Always,”
he promised then he fell into telling me everything about Xavier’s Awakening and hinting at how him, Darcy and the other Heirs were all working together to figure out a way to take on Lionel. My heart swelled at the thought. I might have been broken, hurt, and ruined by destroying us. But the sacrifice had been worth it. She was becoming the queen she was always meant to be. It was just hard to accept that I was never going to be her king.

  A ll hail the goddamn, asshole of a king. I’d been up half the night again at the Hollow, discussing everything that Lionel’s ascension to the throne meant with the Heirs while trying not to lose my mind with fear.

  Now, I was lying on the couch after a few broken hours of sleep. My head was pressed to a warm arm and I drew in a breath as the scent of smoke, cedar and coffee reached me. Beyond the window, the dawn was red, the light seeping through the sky like blood. And I couldn’t help but feel that the world was wounded.

  Everyone knew about the shadows now; it had been broadcasted to the whole world and Lionel had made it clear Tory had the gift of them too. No one would dare challenge him while he held that kind of power, they couldn’t. And now everyone in school would fear my sister almost as much as him too.

  I sat upright, looking at Darius beside me who had smoke pluming from his nose as he slept, his brow creased with lines as nightmares plagued him.

  Geraldine was curled up in an armchair across the room and Max was at her feet on the rug, his arm slung over his eyes. On my other side Seth was curled up like a dog, though he was in his Fae form. My eyes fell on Caleb last in the kitchenette across the room pouring coffee. Ah coffee. The shit that couldn’t solve anything but made everything seem better for five minutes.

  Caleb shot around the room in a blur of motion, planting a cup in my hand with a smirk at the fact that he hadn’t spilled a drop. He placed the others down beside everyone else before lowering into an armchair, his ankle balanced on his knee and his hair freshly styled. He was in his uniform and I guessed he’d been up for a while, but you could never tell with a Vampire considering they could do things at ten times the speed of a normal Fae. If they were ever a second late to anything it was absolutely intentional. And a Vampire-who-would-not-be-named was the kind of asshole who used to like intentionally doing shit like that. Damn, why do I miss that?

  “What time is it?” I asked as I sipped my coffee, the zing of caffeine helping to rouse me further.

  “Half seven,” Caleb said. “Nova’s called an assembly at eight.” He waved his Atlas at me and I searched for mine, finding it wedged under Darius’s leg. He jerked awake as I grabbed it, breathing in sharply and looking at me through squinting eyes. “Pinching my ass, Gwen?”

  I snorted. “Gross. And don’t call me Gwen.”

  “Why’s that gross?” Seth asked as he woke, yawning broadly as he sat up and nuzzled into my neck in his Wolfish way. He did that shit so often these days, I didn’t even notice it half the time. “Darius has a lovely peachy ass.”

  “Because he’s in love with my sister which makes him about as appealing to me as a three day old tuna sandwich – no offence,” I tossed at Darius and he smirked.

  “You’re an old tuna sandwich to me too, Gwen,” he agreed and I punched him over the name, but couldn’t fight a smirk.

  “Mmm, tantalising tuna,” Geraldine mumbled in her sleep. “Such a large trout you are.”

  “That’s my trout she’s talking about,” Max said cockily, getting to his feet and Geraldine’s foot shot out, slamming right into his dick. He crumpled forward with a wheeze and she pushed him aside as he got up, tutting under her breath.

  “You are always in my breathing space, Max Rigel, if you don’t want your Long Sherman in my way then take your leave.”

  “How is that my fault?” Max asked indignantly.

  “How is it not your fault?” She started doing her morning stretches, bending down to touch her toes and rocking her hips side to side while Max drooled over her and forgot all about their argument.

  The first thing I came across as I raised my Atlas was my horoscope and I read it over as I tried to concentrate on waking up and getting my brain into gear for the day.

  Good morning, Gemini.

  The stars have spoken about your day!

  Beware of changes and upheaval throwing you off balance today. It may seem like times are at their toughest, but don’t forget that everything can always get worse. So try to remain calm in the face of adversity and play the long game if you wish to succeed.

  Great. Even my horoscope knew how fucked everything was right now.

  I tapped on FaeBook next to see the world imploding and the first post that came up was one from Tyler.

  Tyler Corbin: Back. The. Fuck. Up.

  Does anyone else need a recap right now?

  Big L shows up at the palace with some crazy smoke blowing outta his ass, a Vega on his arm and Clara Orion who looks fresh back from the dead (uh, hello? Have you heard of sunlight, dear? ‘Cause you got veins coming outta your veins).

  Anyways, Big L starts spewing this speech about gifts from the stars and holy Dragons and fuck knows what else, but hold up, was anyone actually paying attention to Clara at this point? The girl LEGIT started floating, no lie (screenshot below).

  Now I’m not saying this girl is a zombie dragged outta the depths of hell, shoved in a long (albeit hot) dress with a demon possessing that fine body of hers. But okay, I’m calling it. Because WTF???

  King Lionel just took over and the press haven’t printed a SINGLE WORD about floaty McGee over here who ‘disappeared’ years ago and miraculously reappeared like she just popped out of Lionel’s buttcrack – and frankly, that would explain the translucence a bit but not enough for me to back the theory a hundred percent. I’m not entirely ruling it out though, because Big L has buns of steel and I wouldn’t put it past him to have shrunk her down to the size of Thumbelina and wedged her between them as punishment for drinking his favourite tropical punch Kool-Aid or some shit – but what was she living on up his ass all these years – butt dust???

  I digress. Point is, can we all focus on the bigger issue than Lionel taking the throne, that being one scary ass see-through bitch who, rumour has it, calls Big L ‘DADDY’.

  #nope #Imout #onetickettoanywhereplease #whatdoesbuttdusttastelikethough #crackwhore #oneguywatchedthewholeshowthroughthebackofherhead #ghostestwiththemostest

  Eliza Smoot: Oh my stars! She’s a #flyinorion

  Cat Vann: I wouldn’t mind getting up in Lionel’s #crustycrack

  Lacey Ledlow: I wish I could #tropicalpunch our new king in the face

  Gizelle Alea Oyelade: Do not speak ill of our king or his wonderful Guardian!! #thetruekinghasrisen

  Shabnam Hosseini: Do you think Big L has a big D? #daddydick

  Cynthia Rodriguez: I’d call him Daddy and let him put me between his buns of steel any day of the week #signmeup #putmeinyourclenchtrench

  “God, I’m not ready for this day,” I said heavily, not even finding it in me to smile at Tyler’s post. And that was a damn shame because it was funny as hell. I also figured he could probably know the truth about Clara now as Lionel had outed his shady shit to the whole world anyway so I made a mental note to fill him in.

  “Your mortal talk is so weird, is it because they think they’re all ruled by Zeus or something?” Seth asked and I realised he was nibbling on a piece of my hair. I batted him away and stood up, draining my coffee.

  “Or something,” I snorted then headed into the bathroom. Before the door had swung closed, Geraldine strode in behind me, whipping off her top and revealing her large breasts before dropping her pants and walking into the gaudy golden shower which screamed of Darius Acrux.

  I brushed my teeth then swapped places with Geraldine in the shower once she was done. By the time we were dressed in our uniforms we found all the guys waiting for us in the lounge, looking casually gorgeous and prepared to take on anything. I just hoped they really were prepared because I had a feeling we wer
en’t going to like the world that was waiting for us outside of this place. I sure as hell wasn’t looking forward to facing it, but with all of them around me, everything seemed easier.

  We headed down the stairway together and started walking to The Orb where the assembly was being held. Darius tugged on my sleeve beside me, drawing me to the back of the group and casting a silencing bubble around us.

  I frowned curiously. “What’s up?”

  “So, there’s something I need to ask you.” His Adam’s apple rose and fell as he stared at me and I got the feeling I wasn’t going to like what he had to say. I swear any news any of us got these days was bad news. I probably should have been used to it by now.

  “What is it? You’re giving me that doomed Dragon look and I don’t like it.”

  “It’s not too bad, it’s just…I need you to visit Lance.”

  “What?” I hissed, my heart rate going from nought to a thousand miles per hour in one second flat. “No,” I blurted, my instinct to refuse driving through me. The last time I’d seen him, he’d turned me away, told me to move on, acted like we were nothing. He’d ripped my heart out and watched it bleed for him. I wasn’t going back there. Besides, he didn’t want me to go back there. And I sure as shit wasn’t going to be making a visit so he could tell me to fuck off again.

  “He’s agreed,” Darius said quickly as if that made it any better.

  “Oh well, if he’s agreed,” I said sarcastically. “Then I’ll fly there right now and skip into his arms like an obedient little homing pigeon. Oh no wait, I’d rather eat Griffin shit.”

  “Darcy,” Darius sighed. “The star vow he broke is putting him in danger. The bad luck he gets means he’s coming up against the most vicious assholes in that place over and over again. I had to heal him of a broken arm and a shattered nose yesterday.”

  I stopped walking, the horror of that news making everything bunch up inside me and hurt like hell.