I slammed the door closed and pressed my back to it as my chest heaved and the shadows writhed beneath my skin, making me moan with pleasure in payment for the pain I'd fed them.
But as my rampant heartbeat finally calmed, I forced myself to push them back so that I could think a little more clearly. Just enough to remember the orders I'd been given before returning to this place.
I knew what I had to do. What I'd promised I'd do if I was ever foolish enough to let them get close to me. But as I pulled the glass jar from the bag beneath my bed, my hand began to tremble with fear.
I placed it down in front of me before unknotting my tie with shaking fingers and slipping out of my shirt and blazer next.
I sat cross legged on the floor in my bra and school skirt, eyeing the crackling electricity contained in that jar with a sense of dread that even the shadows couldn't keep away.
I blew out a shaky breath and picked up my Atlas, calling my king and placing it on loudspeaker as I set it down on the carpet beside me.
"What is it?' he snarled as he answered and I flinched at the knowledge that I'd upset him, especially knowing I had to deliver this bad news. “I’m in the middle of dealing with an issue with the Nymphs at Stella’s manor.”
“Can I help?” I asked, hoping he might need me for something and summon me back to him where I belonged.
Lionel sighed irritably before he replied. “Not unless you can come up with a way for them to gain the magic they require without the population noticing that they’ve been killing again.”
“Let’s feed them children,” Clara’s voice came in the background. “Nobody likes children.”
“Go and make yourself busy somewhere, Clara,” Lionel snapped. “I have no use for your nonsense.”
Clara started crying loudly and a cruel smile captured my lips as I heard her running away. Who’s the favourite now, bitch?
“Between her and her useless mother, I’m at my wits’ end,” Lionel growled. “I’ll figure out the solution to this problem myself. Now tell me why you are calling before I lose my temper.”
"I'm sorry, my king. I promised I'd call you if anyone tried to attack me," I said quietly.
"Who attacked you?" Lionel growled, his tone changing to one of interest.
"Darcy. The Heirs. And Gabriel," I said quickly. "I think they were trying to capture me but I managed to use the shadows to escape them."
There was a long pause and I waited for his answer with my heart pounding fear into my veins.
“Gabriel Nox?” he asked curiously. “Why would he involve himself with their foolish attempts?”
An answer came to my lips and I almost spoke the truth of who he was to me, but a moment before I could say the words, the knowledge slipped from my mind again and I couldn’t remember what I’d been going to say. I didn’t care about Gabriel anyway. Only my king. I only loved my king.
“I don’t know,” I breathed and he grunted irritably.
"Well, the main thing is that you got away. But you will have to be punished for allowing them to get you into that position in the first place," Lionel growled.
"I know. I'm sorry," I breathed, eyeing the jar of lightning again as fear washed into me.
"Where are you?" he asked.
"In my room," I replied.
"I'll send someone to come heal you in a few hours. Once you've learned your lesson." His voice was eager now and I took some comfort in that, knowing that at least my suffering would please him.
"Thank you," I murmured, reaching out to pick up the jar.
"Give me a moment to get somewhere private. I need to be sure you do everything exactly the way you promised," he commanded and I nodded even though he couldn't see me.
I waited as the sound of his footsteps filled the speaker and closed my eyes as I listened to him breathing, drinking in the sound like it was giving me life.
"Go ahead," Lionel grunted as a door snapped closed wherever he was and I bit my lip as a shiver of fear danced down my spine.
I reached for the jar, picking it up and feeling the power of the runes used to contain the bolt of lightning inside it as I unlocked them the way he'd taught me. This was what I deserved for letting Darcy and the others get close to me like that. For letting them try and take me from my king. I needed this punishment. It was the only way to set things right.
I gritted my teeth as I pushed my magic into the runes, unlocking them as I twisted the lid off of the jar in the same movement.
The bolt of lightning slammed into my chest with a force so powerful that I was helpless to stop the scream of agony that tore from my lips as I was knocked flat on my back while the electricity careered back and forth inside my body.
It lit me up from the inside out, burning and frying and shocking everything it touched before bouncing back around to hit all the same places again twice as hard.
My back arched as I screamed so loud my throat tore and pain unlike anything else I'd ever experienced held me in its grasp and wouldn't let go. It was never ending, this blinding, all consuming agony which sliced through every piece of me until it was destroyed and bleeding for my king.
When it finally stopped, I collapsed in a heap of agony, shaking and crying, the scent of burning filling the air and a ringing in my ears that wouldn't let up.
I could hear Lionel breathing heavily as he listened in to my torture and I latched onto the sound as a groan of pleasure escaped him, the single good thing that I could find in this eternal fire that I was burning in.
"Good girl," he grunted through his panting breaths as I just lay there sobbing and whimpering, unable to move or do anything to relieve the pain in my flesh which went on and on eternally.
The shadows crept closer to me, promising oblivion if I let myself dive into them, but I knew I couldn't do that. Not yet. Not until he said I could.
"Five more minutes to make sure you've really learned your lesson," Lionel said in a rough voice. "And when I next see you, you'll be rewarded for your dedication."
I tried to force a reply past my burned lips, but only a pained moan escaped them as I lay there, almost certain I was dying.
"Remember not to kill the one who comes to heal your wounds," he added gruffly. "I need them alive. Don't let the shadows take them."
Another pained moan escaped my lips as I agreed and he clearly knew I understood as he cut the line, leaving me to lay there and suffer for my failings.
The tears which slid from my eyes only made the burning worse but in five minutes I could escape into the shadows. Five minutes and I wouldn't feel it anymore.
And soon I would see my king again, knowing he was proud of me. That was all that really mattered anyway. So I’d hold onto it with everything I had and be sure to make him proud.
I raced up the pitch with the roar of the crowd in my ears and the Waterball tucked firmly beneath my arm as I headed for the Pit with my jaw locked in determination.
It was the first game of the season and the sixth week of term. Lionel Acrux had taken the throne, we were having fuck all luck finding the star despite the fact Darcy had broken her star vow with Orion, Tory was still well and truly lost in the shadows, Darius and Darcy were so fucking miserable that it actually caused me pain to see them like that and to top it all off I'd been out hunting this morning and had caught an eyeful of Washer's teeny weeny while he was shifting down by the lake. Fucking gross.
But no matter how much everything else sucked, there was one single thing in this world which would always make me smile and bring me and my brothers together. And that was Pitball. I mean yeah, we might have lost our coach and yeah, we had the world's most unenthusiastic cheerleader in Tory and yeah, a win on the pitch wouldn't solve any of the real issues we were facing, but it sure as fuck would feel good. And that was what I wanted. One night to forget about all of it and just pretend the world hadn't gone to shit.
The ground began to buck and quake beneath me as the Aurora Academy Team Captain wielded her magic agai
nst me and I hooked a grin her way as I countered her attack with my own hold over the Element. Rosalie smiled like a savage beast as she ran to intercept me, her pretty face splattered with mud and black hair pulled back in a braid.
I was almost at the Pit when she collided with me and I let her take me down as I threw the ball straight for the hole in the centre of the pitch. Darcy took out the Aurora team Keepers with a savage blast of fire magic to make sure I scored the point and the crowd went wild as the ball sailed home.
I hit the ground hard beneath the Wolf girl and she growled as she straddled me in the mud, her thighs gripping tight around my waist and giving my dick some happy ideas.
"Save it for the afterparty, yeah sweetheart?" I teased, giving her a smirk as she lingered with her thighs parted over my hips for a moment.
"Are you going to beg me for a sympathy fuck when we beat you?" she teased, that Faetalian accent of hers only making the idea of that more appealing. She wasn’t going to win and we both knew it. The game was a round away from over and Zodiac had the lead even if Aurora was putting up a damn good fight.
"We don't lose," I promised her. "But if you'd like to take a ride on the Zodiac star player..."
"Oh, is Seth offering?" she asked, looking around for him and making me growl as her attention wandered.
"I can make you come better than him," I promised her and she laughed, tossing her braid back over her shoulder as she stood and offered me a hand up.
"Well, there's really only one way to test that theory," she teased, giving me a flirtatious look before flicking her fingers and making the earth buck beneath me hard enough to put me on my ass again.
Seth barked a laugh from his position by the Air Hole and I shook my head with amusement as I got to my feet.
Rosalie was jogging back over to the Earth Hole and I followed her with my gaze straying to her ass more than once. Okay, my eyes were on her ass the whole way, but the girl had a damn nice ass and in my defence, I hadn't gotten laid in like...fuck, I wasn't even sure. Not since Tory anyway. And that was a long fucking time ago.
My gaze flicked over to the cheerleaders where Tory was diligently taking part in her routine even though she hardly seemed to be present mentally at all. She legitimately shot herself twenty meters into the air and sailed back to the ground in a cloud of pink blossom and didn’t even crack a smile. It was fucked up.
I sighed as I watched her, my attention moving to Darius who was looking her way too as I'd been sure he would be. It had taken me a little while to get over her, but when I saw the way he looked at her and felt his grief over what was happening to her, it was easy to see that me and Tory had never been in the stars. It had been good while it lasted and I didn't regret any of it, but it had just run its course and I was okay with that now. I'd moved on. Just not physically. But as Rosalie Oscura looked up at me and licked her lips, I found myself thinking that was about to change.
The whistle blew and while I was distracted by Rosalie's mouth, I failed to spot the lump of clay she sent flying at my stomach and I was knocked on my ass by her for a second time. She leapt over me with a howl of triumph, snatching the heavy Earthball that had just shot from our hole and took off with it across the pitch.
"Get your head out of your cockles, Caleb Altair!" Geraldine scolded as she threw her arms out, casting a ripple of earth magic through the ground and managing to knock Rosalie off course so she was forced to turn away from the Pit.
I cursed as I got to my feet, ignoring Max as he yelled at me to buck the fuck up and flipping off Seth as I caught him laughing too. Yeah, yeah, I let the sexy Wolf distract me, big fucking deal.
I raced up the pitch, chasing after the Wolf girl as she ran with wild laughter tumbling from her lips before throwing the ball to her team's Fireside.
Darius leapt into his path, an explosion of fire cutting him off and sending the poor guy racing towards Max who flattened him like a steam train. Max tossed the ball to Seth who howled as he ran for the Pit with Rosalie charging behind him with her teeth set in a snarl.
The girl was damn tenacious and she wasn't afraid of throwing a brutal blow either. Stones burst from the ground all around Seth and she shot them at him as he shielded himself with air, making them all ping off in every direction and keeping the rest of us back as the deadly missiles came our way.
The rest of the Aurora team seemed to be in on her play and they charged at us, keeping us back as Rosalie focused on Seth.
He raced on but she threw even more earth up ahead of him, splattering his shield with mud so that he couldn't see out of it and I cursed as he was forced to drop it. The moment he did, Rosalie slammed into him, tackling him and wrenching the ball from his grip.
He grabbed her leg as she tried to run with it, tripping her, but the moment she hit the ground, she sank beneath it, disappearing altogether.
Seth cursed as he stood and we all looked around to see where she'd emerge as the time ticked down on the golden board hanging overhead.
An eruption of earth from the ground sent us all running to the left of the pitch but a moment later I realised that it hadn't been caused by Rosalie and their Earthbacker had created the distraction.
She leapt out of the dirt to the right of the Pit and tossed the ball home with five seconds to spare on the round, ending the game with a scream of cheers from the Aurora Academy students that rivalled the screams the Zodiac crowd made at our win. It had been one of the closest run matches we'd had in a while though and that was a lot to do with the beautiful Team Captain who was currently being swarmed by a crowd of Werewolves who were racing out of the Aurora crowd to congratulate her.
Seth slapped my ass before he jumped on my back and yelled at me to take him for a victory lap. I laughed as I shot into motion, showing off my Vampire speed now that the game was over and doing four circuits of the pitch so fast that everything around us was a blur.
Seth had to hold onto me with a death grip to stop himself from falling off and I smirked as I sped us towards the rest of the team who were all celebrating in a dog pile beside the Pit.
I caught Darcy's gaze as she grinned widely and I smiled back at her, ruffling her muddy blue hair and just feeling glad that she was able to experience this little moment of happiness even if I knew it wouldn't last.
We all clambered to our feet and I slung my arms around Darius's neck, slapping a kiss on his cheek as he gave me that tight smile which I knew was bullshit.
"Afterparty?" Seth asked hopefully, looking between everyone but Max just shrugged.
"We aren't allowed to socialise with anyone outside of our Order, remember? So if we do it'll be a party for six at the Hollow as usual," he said. “I’m surprised we’re even allowed to continue Pitball, but if Lionel took that away there’d be a fucking riot.”
"Damn that scoundrel and his preposterous laws," Geraldine growled, the Cerberus in her showing as she bared her teeth. "I have a mind to spend the night dallying with a different Order just to defy him!"
"Is that so?" Max asked with a hopeful smile that made me laugh.
He was so fucking into her that it was untrue. No doubt he was going to spend the rest of the night trying his hardest to get into her panties again and she'd make him run circles around her while she tossed fish based insults his way. I'd be able to tell if he'd lucked out in the morning either by the irritating as fuck grin on his face or the petulant strop he'd throw. My guess was it was about a fifty/fifty chance either way.
"Well if it's a Wolves only party then I could bring my pack," Rosalie's voice drew my attention as she wove between the members of our team and came to stand before Seth with a flirtatious smile.
"Are you looking for a pack orgy, babe?" he asked, smirking at her as he pushed a hand through his long hair, but his gaze shifted to me and there seemed to be some reluctance in him that I didn't understand.
"No. Pack orgies don't really get me going," she replied. "I'm an Alpha kind of girl, so unless you have another one of th
ose in your pack?"
"Not likely," Seth barked a laugh before slinging an arm around my shoulders. "But Cal here is all Alpha. So if you don't mind breaking the law..." He left that suggestion hanging in the air between us and though I was fairly certain it was supposed to be a joke, the idea of it was actually pretty appealing.
Rosalie smiled as she looked between the two of us, leaning closer conspiratorially. "I don't know if you know it, but my family are kinda notorious criminals," she whispered, her eyes dancing with amusement as I grinned.
"You're asking if we know that the Oscura Clan are a bunch of thugs and murderers?" I teased, not sure why I found that so funny. But I kinda liked the fact that the squeaky clean Heir the papers loved to think I was really hung around with outlaws sometimes.
They might have held their territory in Alestria which was down in the south of the country, but they were notorious enough for me to know plenty about them even if I hadn't been vaguely related to them too. My mom had told me once that leaving cities like that under gang rule actually made sense for the kingdom. The most powerful Fae held the positions of power and kept the others in check without the Councillors - or I guessed King now - having to travel around the entire kingdom to enforce their power. And a little criminal activity was preferable to having to actually face challenges from those kinds of Fae. At the end of the day, Fae like Rosalie's cousin Dante were content to own their corner of the kingdom and not overstep their territory. So long as they knew when to bend the knee to those who held the ultimate power, there was no point in trying to remove them.
"Well, if you've heard of my Clan, then you already know I'm bad news," she said with a shrug. "So I guess the real question is whether or not you two wanna put your money where your mouths are and break the law with me?"
Principal Nova started talking then, her voice projected over the crowd as she called us all up to stand before her so she could announce the player of the match and present the medals to us for winning. Rosalie headed away from us again to re-join her own team and I walked across the pitch to take my position in the line up.
Zodiac Academy: Fated Throne Page 14