“I’ve warned you about that,” he growled, concern shifting to anger easily enough. “You need your energy when we do this. If anything, you should eat more when you know we’re going to-”
“Alright, I fucking get it. I just got caught up talking to Xavier and the time got away from me.” I tipped my head back to the sky, looking at the black, star speckled blanket above us as I got my mind straight again.
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on with him?” Lance asked.
I sighed. It wasn’t my secret to tell but I needed to talk to someone about it. And Lance had been keeping my secrets for as long as I could remember. If I couldn’t trust him with this then why the hell was I trusting him with my life every other night?
“His Order emerged,” I said, my eyes on the stars as I searched for the constellation which must have been responsible for my brother’s fate. “He’s… a Pegasus.”
To Lance’s credit he only swore once.
“Lionel knows?” he confirmed.
“He does. I think he would have killed him to cover it up but Mother stepped up. She’s put a plan in place to release the story if anything were to happen to her or Xavier so he’s... well I wouldn’t say safe but he’s not likely to die just yet.” I blew out a breath and forced myself to look at my friend.
“I know you want to protect him from this but it isn’t your job,” he began.
“It wasn’t your job to protect Clara either but you did all you could, didn’t you?” I asked.
Lance’s jaw ticked. “Not enough.”
“No. Not enough to save her from my father. And he didn’t even want her to die... what chance does Xavier have?”
I blinked a few times and found that the dizziness had passed. Lance assessed me through narrowed eyes and reached out to clasp my neck without bothering to ask. The heat of his healing magic slid through me and I waited patiently for him to finish.
“Better?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I admitted.
We started walking again, giving Aer House a wide berth in case anyone was looking out of the windows.
“You want to help Xavier hide what he is, but maybe that’s the wrong way to look at it,” Lance said as we walked. “Once the story is out there, it’s out there. If everyone already knew then what could Lionel do? He’d have to just front it out.”
“I thought the same thing but Xavier is terrified of what would happen if anyone found out. He thinks Father would punish Mother. He said he’s already accused her of having an affair.”
“Well neither of your parents have ever been faithful in their marriage but that’s hardly a secret,” Lance muttered. “And Catalina might be many things but she’s not an idiot. She would have cast the spells to prevent pregnancy.”
“I know. He knows that too or he would have ordered a paternity test. But you know how he is. The Acruxes are pure blooded Dragons as far back as anyone can count. That’s why he wants to marry me to fucking Mildred even though she’s his cousin’s daughter and looks like a warthog made love to a dishwasher to conceive her. He can’t bear the idea of us even risking bringing impure blood into the mix for this very reason. And poor Xavier... he’s like the cutest fucking Pegasus I ever saw.” I ran a hand over my face and groaned. “If it wasn’t so goddamn serious it’d be hilarious.”
We walked in silence for a few minutes as Lance stewed over that little nugget of shit.
“I take it Lionel won’t let him join a herd either?” he asked eventually.
I snorted a humourless laugh. “He’s pretty much shackled to the bed. I don’t even think he sees daylight half the time. They trotted him out for half an hour at that goddamn party with the Vegas just in case the press made note of his absence but aside from that he’s being hidden away.”
“Fae of the Pegasus Order need a herd just like Werewolves need a pack. He needs to come to terms with who he is and embrace that part of him. He needs to meet others like himself,” Lance said.
“It doesn’t even look like he’ll be allowed to attend the Academy next year. I honestly think Father is just planning to lock him away forever more and hopes the world will forget he exists. I don’t know what I can do to help him and I just feel so... useless.”
“I’ll try and think of something,” Lance said. “Perhaps a herd could be paid off and we could come up with some cover story for them spending time at you family’s manor-”
“Can you really see Father allowing that? Think of the glitter on the lawn. He’d shit a brick.”
“I’d like to see that,” Lance laughed. “I’ll think on it some more. Did Xavier happen to mention anything about Lionel’s movements this week?”
“He said he’s been away from the manor a lot but he had no idea where. He didn’t know anything which might help us figure out who he’s planning to use on the Lunar Eclipse for his shadow magic. I considered asking him to dig around but if Father caught him…”
“I understand. It’s better not to put Xavier in the firing line if we can avoid it. Is there any chance you can come up with an excuse to visit the manor this week instead then? We need to find out who he’s planning to use before it’s too late.”
“I already have actually,” I said with a smirk. “I’ll head there tomorrow night and try to find out more. He’s got a big council meeting that night about the Nymph situation so I should be able to search his office. With a bit of luck it’ll give us the answers we need. At the very least I should be able to get something of his that’s personal enough to let us use it for a reading.”
“Good,” Lance replied and I could see the relief weighing on him. “We need to figure this out before the Eclipse.”
We walked on in silence for a while, both of us considering the repercussions if we failed to figure out Father’s plans. But I couldn’t let myself get caught up in what ifs. I had to presume we’d stop him before he got that far.
We reached a fork in the path and paused to say goodnight.
“Get something to eat before you head back to your House. And if you get caught then I’m not covering for you. I already had that FIB asshole sniffing around, asking questions about us,” Lance said.
“Anyone would think you were embarrassed about luring students out to sneak around after dark with you in your secret cave,” I teased.
“I’m mostly embarrassed it’s you,” he replied scathingly. “You’re not even hot.”
“Bite me,” I joked.
“Don’t tempt me.”
I looked at him a little more closely and noted the bags beneath his eyes. “Maybe you should go get your Vega out of bed,” I suggested.
“What do you mean my Vega?” he asked, shooting me a sharp look as we paused where we were due to part ways.
“Gwendalina,” I reminded him with a frown. “You know, your Source. Unless you really are planning on biting me tonight?”
“Oh, right. No, I’ll just catch her in the morning,” he replied, looking out into the trees. “If I bite you before I sleep I’ll end up fucking dreaming of you again.”
“Oh come on, Professor, we both know you dream of me anyway.” I flexed my muscles at him as I began to back away and he rolled his eyes.
“You wanna lose two hundred and fifty House Points for disrespecting a teacher while breaking curfew?” he asked.
“You wanna tell me if that’s a dagger in your pocket or if you’re just excited to see me?” I taunted.
He flipped me off before turning away and shooting off towards Asteroid Place.
I grinned to myself as I took the path to The Orb. If I headed there now I could grab some food before going back to the House and make up for the meal I’d missed while talking to Xavier. Although I didn’t feel like I needed it so much now that Lance had healed me. He was right though, it was stupid of me to take extra risks like that unnecessarily. I’d be more careful to eat before the next time we met.
I shouldn’t really have risked being seen by any more teachers after curfew l
ike this, but being an Heir bought me a lot of leeway and it was doubtful that I’d incur any punishment even if I was caught.
The Orb appeared ahead of me through the trees but as I stepped out onto the path, a shadow peeled away from Lunar Leisure and moved into my way.
“Tut tut, Mr Acrux, breaking curfew? You naughty boy.” Washer waggled a finger at me as he moved closer and I stopped before him.
“Just had a little business to attend to,” I said, layering my voice with enough friendliness to get him on side.
“Of the female persuasion?” Washer asked knowingly, throwing me a wink.
I gave him a smile which let him believe that.
“Well, perhaps I can let this little transgression slide if you offer up a taste of that lust for me. I’m sure a peek at your exploits would see me through the night,” he purred, slinking closer.
As if I’d give you a look at my sex life to jerk off over.
“Not tonight,” I said firmly. “I’m a little low on reserves myself.” Not true but he could fuck off if he thought he was getting into my head.
“Ohh come now, a taste to buy my silence. You’ve been having fun while I’ve been out here patrolling. We can keep it between us boys.” I felt a wave of his power flowing towards me, trust and friendship mixing with some lust as he tried to twist my emotions to his desires.
I slammed a wall of heated energy up around me and squared my shoulders at him.
“That was a no, Professor,” I snarled and he backed up a step, fear flickering through his eyes before he could hide it.
A tense beat of silence passed between us and then he tittered a laugh. I dropped the wall of heat and he visibly relaxed.
“Ah well, you can’t blame me for wanting a piece of your power,” he said, dipping his head to me just a little in deference. I didn’t often have to pull the power rank on a teacher but a little reminder of who I was didn’t go amiss every now and then. And I certainly wasn’t going to be prey to any of the parasitic Orders outside of the other Heirs and even then it was only with my agreement.
“Scamper on back to your House then you scallywag and I’ll wave the punishment for breaking curfew this once.”
“Thank you, Professor,” I said brightly, like we hadn’t just had a face off which ended in my favour.
I walked around him and Washer headed off into the trees to continue his patrol with a slight pout on his face.
As I strolled into The Orb to grab my late meal and a few beers to take back to my room, my mind focused on the conversation I’d had with Xavier again.
He’d overheard Father saying he might have a way to fix him and I was just as concerned about that idea as Xavier had been.
I glanced around as my skin prickled, sensing someone close by without actually seeing anyone. I frowned, drawing on my magic as I pushed back at the strange sensation and suddenly a glamour fell away, revealing three figures at the back of the huge room.
Raucous laughter drew my attention and I looked into the far corner, spotting Roxy Vega clambering up onto the table while two of her powerless little friends watched excitedly. She still had her uniform on and I wondered how long they’d been here, hiding themselves with that spell. It was a pretty clever way to avoid the Hell Week chaos going on back at the House even if they were being stupid by staying out after curfew. But then I could hardly talk on that front
“Far be it for you to not go through with the... for me to not to go through to do the daring...” Roxy was slurring and she stumbled, almost falling from the table even though she was only wearing flat pumps.
The guy leapt up and caught her waist to steady her and my gut lurched irritably as his hand skimmed her ass. I bit my tongue, turning away from them as I crossed the room in search of my drinks. I didn’t think I’d seen her that wasted before and a Tuesday evening in The Orb seemed like an odd venue to choose for a bender. But that was her business.
“I only came up with that dare because I didn’t think you’d actually lose!” the girl protested.
“I am not usually one for losing, Sofia,” Roxy agreed. “But I will never back out of a dare and you ordered a strip show.”
I paused a few meters from the ice chiller, fighting against the urge to look back over to them again. Roxy Vega might have been the most irritatingly rude and stubborn girl I’d ever met but she was fucking hot. And with the stupid games we played together while I was tutoring her in her fire magic I had to admit that I’d imagined her stripping for me more than once.
The guy muttered something in Spanish and the tone of it made me think she’d started to pull her clothes off.
I fought the urge to turn with clenched teeth then continued my mission for beer, deciding to skip the food in favour of sleep. I snagged a six pack from the chiller and turned back, meaning to head for the exit.
Of course my goddamn dick wasn’t going to let me leave without looking over at Roxy again, it didn’t care that I had to get rid of her or that she irritated me more than any woman ever born.
Her blazer already lay in a heap on the floor and she was fumbling with the buttons on her shirt, her inebriation obviously slowing her down. But the way she was swaying her hips and tossing her long, black hair still made her look sexy as hell. Her pleated skirt fell to her mid thigh, giving me a look at several inches of bare flesh between it and the top of her knee length socks, but the elevated angle of looking up at her on the table made it seem like her bronzed legs went on forever.
“Why don’t you do another dare?” the boy protested. “Go for a run in The Wailing Wood?”
“Don’t be crazy,” Sofia objected. “There could be a Nymph out there!”
“Stop doubting my amazing stripping skills, dude,” Roxy teased as she continued to struggle with her buttons.
I was about to force my eyes away from her when she cursed and yanked on her shirt hard enough to rip every button off of it.
Beneath it she was wearing a gold push up bra which accentuated her perfect tits and made her look like something out of a Dragon’s wet dream.
She tossed her head back with laughter, taking a playful bow for her friends but her foot slipped and she tumbled off of the table instead.
I took a few running steps towards her before I could stop myself but the guy had leapt up to catch her before she could hit the ground.
“Tory?” he asked as she slumped against him, seeming to have fallen unconscious. “Oh, shit! Help me.”
The girl Roxy had called Sofia scrambled to help him with her and they struggled to move her towards one of the cushioned chairs close to where they’d been sitting.
I shook my head to clear it of the image of her in that gold bra and spun on my heel, striding towards the exit and quite possibly a cold shower.
Just as I made it to the door, a loud scream halted me. I turned back to see Roxy’s friends backing away from her in a panic as a thick sheet of ice spread across the ground away from her, tinting everything in its path a frosty blue.
“Wake up, Tory!” Sofia yelled desperately.
“Maybe you should run for a teacher,” the boy said. “I’ll try to get through to her.”
Sofia turned to run for the exit and her eyes widened in panic as she found me striding towards her instead.
“What’s wrong with her?” I asked, my tone clipped.
“She err...” Sofia hesitated, clearly not wanting to trust me with her friend’s condition while battling against the inclination to do whatever I told her. “She passed out and now she’s using magic in her sleep and we can’t get close to help her.”
Roxy whimpered behind her and I stepped around Sofia to inspect the damage for myself. I’d dealt with this kind of thing with the other Heirs once or twice when our powers had first been Awakened. We were just so powerful that if we got too drunk, sometimes we’d lose control over our magic in our sleep and Roxy had seemed wasted to me.
“It’s fine, we’ll look after her,” the boy said firmly but I ignore
d him as I walked closer to Roxy where she was slumped in the chair.
Ice crunched loudly beneath my boots while the temperature around me plummeted and I hadn’t even gotten close to her yet.
I drew on my fire magic, pushing it against the ice and melting some of it but Roxy’s power fought back as she whimpered again.
“Roxy,” I growled as I made it to stand before her. The ice was still spreading and thickening. She was trembling in the chair and I noticed a few tears sailing down her cheeks.
“Not again,” she breathed, her fists balling as she curled in on herself.
“Roxy, wake up!” I snapped, moving forward to grab her arm and shake her.
She didn’t wake but the ice around me thickened even more and her friends cried out as they were forced to back up again. My breath rose before me and I dropped the six pack beside her chair, crouching down before her so that I could shake her more firmly.
She started coughing and water burst from her mouth like she’d been drowning. I pulled her forward, slapping her back to help her get it all up and the tremors rocking her body reverberated through mine as she pressed against my chest. More cold water flooded from her, drenching her as she cried out in panic and I pulled her against me more firmly.
“You need to wake up,” I commanded.
“I don’t want to die like this,” she breathed and my heart lurched as the ice thickened around us again.
This wasn’t a dream she was having. It was a nightmare. And I got the sinking feeling that I knew exactly what it was about.
The ice kept thickening and I was shivering now too. If she didn’t snap out of this soon she could really hurt herself and it would be my fucking fault.
“Shit,” I breathed, taking her hand in mine and squeezing her cold fingers as I pushed my magic into hers.
For once the well of her power didn’t burn with overwhelming magic and I thanked the stars that she’d obviously gotten through a good amount of her reserves today. The display she was currently putting on was clearly burning through her power and I’d only topped mine up after class so I was confident that I could wrangle hers under control.
Zodiac Academy 3: The Reckoning: An Academy Bully Romance (Supernatural Bullies and Beasts) Page 12