Zodiac Academy: Fated Throne

by Caroline Peckham

"I hope Geraldine brought some bagels already," Seth groaned, sniffing the air hopefully, but seeing as it probably wasn't even six am yet, I doubted it.

  "I keep meaning to talk to you actually," I said to him, realising that this was coming pretty damn late after I'd promised Orion I'd have this chat with him, but I'd had a lot on my mind. Besides, I really didn't think there was anything to this anyway and I'd kinda forgotten about it. Which possibly made me a terrible friend, but at least I was getting around to it now.

  "Oh yeah?" Seth asked casually.

  "Yeah. What's going on with you and Gwen? Lance seems to think you're a thing, but from where I'm standing, I don't see it. So is he just being a jealous, heartbroken asshole, imagining things or what?"

  "Let me grab my Atlas and I'll show you," he said mysteriously and I held my tongue as I wondered what the hell he was up to.

  Seth sniggered as we jogged up the stairs into the front room of the treehouse and I moved to shove some bread in the toaster for us while he put himself on coffee duty. The room was dark, the fire in the hearth burning low, though I coaxed it back to life with a flick of my fingers as I waited on Seth's explanation.

  He pulled open a drawer and grabbed his Atlas out before opening it up onto his messages with Orion and passing it over to me to look at.

  Seth Capella:

  I still haven't made her bow to me, but I got her on her knees last night. *Open mouth emoji* *aubergine emoji*

  Seth Capella:

  What do you call a washed-up professor with no job and no girlfriend?

  Seth Capella:

  Nothing. Because she can't remember your name.

  Beneath that was a selfie of Seth lying next to Darcy in her bed while she was sleeping with #allfuckeredout beneath it.

  "Get it?" Seth asked with a grin. "Like all tuckered out but with fuck because I want him to think I stuck my dick in her."

  "But you didn't?" I clarified, not sure what the hell all of this was about.

  "Nah, man. It's not like that with me and her. I mean sure, there was a time when I thought about it a bit, but now my fantasies are a lot less Phoenixy and a bit more – Well anyway, if she wanted to give me a pity blowy, I wouldn't be totally against it because my balls are feeling about as blue as her hair recently and it doesn't look like there's much chance of me getting what I really want, so-"

  "Rewind to the bit where you said it's not like that and yet you’re still sending Lance this shit," I said, unsure if I should be growling or laughing and feeling altogether lost over the whole thing.

  "Right. Yeah, so, I'm fucking with him to send him into a jealous rage that will force him to tell her how he feels and therefore make her listen and forgive him and then they can be endgame, happily ever after and all that shit. I expect to be best man - sorry dude but Lancey is gonna love me the most when I'm through here and you'll be relegated to groomsman, or maybe page boy. You could get a cute little bowtie and shit though."

  I couldn't help but laugh as I scrolled over a few more of the messages he'd sent then tossed his Atlas back at him. "You're fucking insane and he’ll probably try to strangle your ass for this," I said.

  "But?" he prompted.

  "But, I'm onboard with it. The two of them need to sort it the fuck out and get back together. So if he asks me again, I'll play along."

  Seth grinned widely and we grabbed our plates of toast before heading to eat on the couch.

  I took my usual armchair beside the fire and Seth moved to the couch but as he went to sit down, he jerked back up again and I barked a laugh as I spotted Max emerging from a heap of blankets.

  "Ah shit, did I fall asleep?" he slurred, reaching for Seth's coffee and draining it before Seth could even realise what he'd done.

  "Hey! Did you just force me to be generous?" Seth accused and Max gave him a weak smile which pretty much admitted it before swiping a palm down his face.

  I upped the light in the room with a few Faelights to see him better by, noticing the generally feelings of concern and worry slipping from him as his gifts spread through the room.

  "Why the hell were you sleeping out here?" I asked him and he groaned.

  "I wasn't meant to be. I got some bad news and I was using my gifts to make myself calm down so that I could think through my best course of action. I must have upped the voltage a bit too much and made myself sleepy instead.”

  Seth snorted as he grabbed himself some fresh coffee and a second mug for Max who seemed like he needed it.

  "What was the bad news?" I asked, biting into my toast as Max grimaced.

  "My sweet sister and evil stepmother decided to out me to the world last night, most likely in payment for me making Ellis look like a fucking fool. A story was leaked about my bastard blood and my Minotaur grandfather on my real mother's side and I'm basically expecting a whole world of shit today. Especially as Lionel has half the kingdom hating Minotaurs right now."

  "Fuck," Seth said heavily. "But on the bright side, now it's out we can just deal with it and move on. I mean, you might be the cause of a bit of a political scandal for a while but at the end of the day you're still your father's son, there's no law against bastards claiming their place and you're still a million times stronger than Ellis. So she's no threat to you or your position as Water Heir."

  "What tactics are you planning on using to counter the gossip?" I asked and Max looked between us uncomfortably.

  "Well, when I spoke to Dad he said that it would help to have clear backing from you guys. A statement or whatever. But I know that with Lionel's stance on Minotaurs he probably won't want you doing that, Darius. And I understand that you and Cal have to check with your parents too, Seth," he said with a helpless kind of shrug.

  "Fuck my father," I growled. "What loyalty has he ever shown me? Give me your Atlas and I'll record a statement in support of you. We'll make it clear we've known about this for a long time and tell them the only reason it was kept secret was to protect your stepmom from the scandal of the world knowing your dad cheated on her. Simple."

  "Seriously?" Max asked, raising his brows at me. "But Lionel will punish you for that if it's not what he wants."

  "So what? Fuck him. Fuck his Orderist bullshit and fuck the idea of me ever letting anyone think I believe in his screwed up hate speech either. He won't kill me without another Heir to replace me and I've lived through enough of his punishments to know that trying to follow his rules won't save me from them. So I might as well earn them doing something I believe in." I reached for Max's Atlas and he slowly handed it over.

  "I don't want you getting hurt on my behalf," he said, clearly conflicted over what I was offering.

  "Look, I either make the recording for you to give to your people to use in the best way they wanna release it, or I'll go live on FaeBook now and tell the world myself," I said.

  "Alright. Shit, man, I owe you for this," Max said.

  "No you don't. We're brothers and this is what we do for family. No question. No debts. We're just here for each other when we need to be."

  I lifted his Atlas and made a recording, speaking clearly and honestly about my love and support for him and saying in no uncertain terms that the addition of Minotaur blood to his heritage made no difference to me at all. Max was the only real candidate for the role of Water Councillor when we all ascended to our positions, and I wouldn't be hearing any suggestion of anyone else taking on the job.

  I finished up my breakfast while Seth made his recording too and Max was looking a lot more confident about his situation by the time he finished up.

  "Where's Cal?" I asked. "We'll get his statement and you can send them to your team with one of your own."

  "Still in bed," Max said, pointing vaguely towards the corridor as he started playing back the videos to check them over and Seth leapt up as I headed away to wake Caleb.

  "Let's wake him up by dog piling him," Seth suggested with a grin and I smirked at that idea, casting a silencing bubble over us as we headed to Cale
b's room.

  But when Seth pushed the door open, we found it empty.

  "Where is he?" Seth asked and I frowned in confusion as I looked around at the corridor, noticing one of the doors ajar. Roxy's door.

  A prickle of apprehension ran down my spine and a low growl built in the base of my throat as an idea formed in my mind which I just couldn't get rid of. She hadn't been at Ignis House last night and I knew she'd been sleeping here a lot. And if Caleb was missing from his room then what if...

  I swear it felt like the stars were nudging me towards that door, stoking the flames of jealousy and anger in me even though I had no right to feel anything like that yet. Or at all, really. She wasn't mine. But she was. And if he'd fucking touched her again, I'd rip his cock off and set it alight.

  I clenched my jaw and strode over to her room, pushing the door open without bothering to knock or release the silencing bubble that concealed me and Seth who followed right on my heels.

  The world stopped spinning as my gaze fell on the bed where the two of them lay, her head on his chest and his arm around her. There was a dull, echoing thump taking place somewhere in the depths of my mind and a ringing in my ears that wouldn't quit.

  I couldn't even move for the longest moment, my body tensing with a rage so potent and powerful that I was afraid I'd burn up in it the moment I unleashed it from my body.

  Seth was whimpering, pacing back and forth beside me as he clawed his hand into his long hair, his gaze fixed on the two of them like he was just as destroyed by this as I was, but I couldn't concentrate on that. Because I was about to murder my best friend.

  The shadows rose up within me and I dropped the silencing bubble as a roar of fury escaped me and I lunged towards the bed, intending to drag Caleb out of it and beat his pretty face in until he stopped moving.

  A shriek of fear escaped Roxy as she lurched awake and I crashed into an air shield before I could get my hands on the motherfucker who had touched what was mine.

  The Dragon in me was out for blood and my flesh burned and itched with the desire to shift. But I fought it back with a furious determination, knowing I wanted to feel his body break beneath my fists, not my claws.

  "What the fuck?" Caleb yelled as he scrambled upright beside my girl, the blankets shifting to pool at his waist and reveal his sweatpants. But my brain was more focused on the urge to rip his head from his neck than his clothes. "I didn't touch her!" he added, clearly catching on to the reason for me looking at him with murder in my eyes.

  "Is that what you think?" Roxy balked, shoving the covers aside and getting to her feet as she glared at me in a black tank that was clearly meant for a man and hung down around her thighs. "Fuck you, asshole," she snapped, pointing at me and I yelled something incoherent again as I tried to force my way past her magic by coating my fists in flames and punching the living shit out of the shield dividing us.

  "Stop hiding in there, you fucking coward!" I roared, my gaze fixed on Caleb as Seth snarled beside me, seeming to have my back.

  "Nothing happened, man!" Caleb yelled. "Max was in here with us. He was helping with her nightmares and I was helping him because he was struggling with taking on so much negative energy all the damn time!”

  "I didn't even know he was here," Roxy added angrily, her glare fixed on me. "But thanks for trusting me, you piece of shit."

  "You're in her fucking bed!" I roared, aiming all of my rage at Caleb because I couldn't bear to point it at her. "The two of you are half naked!"

  "It looks pretty fucking suspicious, dude," Seth added bitterly, folding his arms over his chest while his jaw worked furiously like he was holding back on saying more.

  "Well it's not," Caleb snapped, giving Seth a pained look which pissed me off because his focus should have been on me.

  I struggled against the bloodlust and rage pounding through my veins as I looked between the two of them, my gaze snagging on her as a hopeless, desperate kind of longing filled me.

  The Dragon beneath my skin was ready to rip this place apart, Caleb most of all and a fierce, relentless agony started up in my chest because I realised that even if it wasn't him, it was going to be someone some day. She wasn't just going to remain celibate because we couldn't be together. How could I expect her to do that? I might know that she couldn't find love elsewhere, but we already knew that it was perfectly possible for her to fuck someone else despite this bond. Someone in particular in fact.

  My gaze snapped back to Caleb and I bared my teeth as potent rage flooded my body and my eyes shifted to Dragon slits. I was going to fucking kill him if he’d touched her again. If he seriously thought that he could lay his fucking hands on my girl and keep them attached to his body then-

  Roxy moved across the bed until she was standing right in front of me, her position meaning she was eye to eye with me, her own anger lining her beautiful face as she dropped her air shield and shoved me in the chest as hard as she could. It wasn't enough to move me, but I could feel the force of that shove and knew that had been her intention.

  "Get it through your dumb head, asshole - nothing happened. It's not like that with me and him. Not anymore,” she shouted.

  "Then why the fuck are you all snuggled up in bed together?" I demanded, smoke spilling between my lips as the urge to shift overwhelmed me and I turned my furious gaze on Caleb once more.

  "It's you, dumbass," Roxy snapped, shoving me again and making me growl even louder. Why the fuck did she think it was a good idea to bait the beast in me when I was ready to- "It's only you. Even though it can't be, it fucking is."

  "What?" I asked, my brow pinching but her mouth was on mine before I could further form that thought.

  All the heat of the sun flared between us as she wrapped her arms around my neck and leapt up onto me, her legs tightening around my waist as a groan of pure fucking need escaped me and she pushed her tongue between my lips.

  I growled hungrily, kissing her harder and gripping her ass as I held her up against me. I tasted every slice of jealousy that I'd ever felt over her in that kiss, every inch of pain I'd suffered in wanting her and knowing I could never have her.

  She wound her fingers into my hair as she tugged hard enough to hurt. I bit down on her full bottom lip with a growl that told her I was still a wild beast and I wasn't about to be caged any time soon. Though if anyone had a chance of caging me then it was her.

  I turned her around and drove her up against the wall, my hard cock driving against the wet material of her panties as I groaned for her and I was vaguely aware of Seth and Caleb leaving the room. But I didn’t give a shit about them. I’d forgotten all about them and whatever fucking insane jealousy the stars had so clearly wanted me to feel when they drove me into this room because it was her. And there was only her, just like she’d told me there was only me. So fuck the stars for always wanting to part us. Fuck them for thinking they could stop this, stop us. There was no stopping us. She was it for me and even if I could never truly have her, I wasn’t ever going to stop wanting her. I wasn’t ever going to stop belonging to her.

  Roxy kissed me harder, demanding more as my skin burned with the fire of my Dragon and my rage turned into something so much more primal.

  She was mine. Destined to be mine by the stars. The girl who should have been my Elysian Mate and was so much more besides. I needed this. I needed her. I'd been like the moon without the light of the sun without her all this time. Cold and pale and void of life. But she lit me up and made me burn. And I never wanted to stop burning with her.

  I dropped her onto a chest of drawers, knocking shit flying from it as she clawed at my chest and a boom of thunder crashed overhead.

  But I couldn't let go. I wouldn't. Fuck, I didn't even care if they struck me down where I stood so long as I was in her arms when I went.

  She shoved my sweatpants down, her fingers dragging across the tattoo I'd gotten for her and making me growl even louder before she wrapped them around my cock and I pushed her wet panties asi
de.

  "I can’t be without you anymore, Roxy. It’s killing me. It’s going to kill me," I groaned against her mouth and she whimpered with need, pulling me closer so that the head of my dick was pressed to her slick centre.

  But before we could make good on that intention, a bolt of lightning slammed into the roof above us and she screamed as the entire treehouse lurched to one side, flames bursting to life across the wood and yells coming from our friends in the other room.

  "Fuck!" I roared, tearing myself away from her and yanking my sweatpants up again before my need for her got her killed.

  "Darius," Roxy growled in a clear demand for me not to lose my shit, but I was so fucking angry, I could hardly hear her.

  I slammed my fist into the wooden wall hard enough to bust a hole in it and a roar spilled from my lips that was all Dragon as thunder crashed overhead again.

  I threw one last, lingering look at the beautiful girl who owned my heart, wishing more than anything in the world that I didn't have to walk out on her then tearing my own soul in two as I did exactly that.

  The other Heirs all tried to reassure me as I made it back to the front room, but I couldn't listen to it, dropping my sweatpants as I threw the window open and diving out into the storm instead.

  My Dragon form burst from my flesh and I flew hard and fast towards the gap in the fence with flames tearing from my lips, consumed by the loss of everything I should have had with my girl.

  When I made it to the hole in the fence, I shifted, crossed through it and shifted again before taking off in the direction of the mountains, using the storm clouds to hide me. I needed to be as far away from anything and everyone as I possibly could or I was going to lash out at someone who didn’t deserve it.

  I beat my wings and flew as fast as I could, leaving the academy behind and my heart right along with it. My mind was filled with images of a beautiful girl with eyes full of fire and lips that tasted like sin and the twist of fate which was always going to keep her from me.

  The storm didn't let up as I flew, never looking back, just racing on and on through the sky and welcoming the misery of the freezing rain as it crashed down on my burning hot scales.