Zodiac Academy 5: Cursed Fates: An Academy Bully Romance (Supernatural Bullies and Beasts)

by Caroline Peckham

  I knew I should turn and head back but as I swept over the green hills beyond the academy, I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I just needed a bit of head space to think.

  I might not have wanted to listen to Gabriel’s accusations, but they were worming their way into my head all the same. And despite a petulant little voice in the back of my skull screaming that I’d had every reason not to trust in Darius’s words when he’d expressed his feelings to me. That I’d learned time and again never to trust anyone aside from me and my sister - especially pretty assholes filled with beautiful promises and cruel intentions - I was starting to have doubts.

  I’d learned a long time ago to take actions more seriously than words and Darius’s actions had always proved me right to hate him. Hadn’t they?

  Memories of waking up in his arms trickled past my anger and the way that had felt made me bite my lip. If there had been any time when I’d sensed the bond between us most keenly it was then. In the quiet moments where we didn’t try to be anything, didn’t say anything, didn’t even really do anything, where we were just us. Like when we power shared or danced, when we climbed the diving board after the Halloween party or played in the snow at Christmas...

  There was pain in those memories, but there was a sad kind of beauty too.

  The tears had fallen still once more, but my wet cheeks stung in the cool wind as I flew.

  A grassy hilltop opened up beneath me and I tucked my wings as I dove towards it.

  I landed lightly, retracting my wings as I looked around at the green space with the setting sun in the distance. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been alone like this. It was so peaceful.

  I took a deep breath and dropped down to sit on the grass. It was cold and the ground was damp, but it only took a little flare of fire magic to cure both issues and I turned my gaze to the orange and pinks that stained the sky as I thought back all the way to the beginning. To the first time I’d laid eyes on Darius Acrux, and tried to figure out all the places it had gone wrong and how much of it was really on me.

  “Roxanya?” a woman’s voice came from behind me and I shrieked in fright as I leapt to my feet, throwing an air shield up around me a moment before fire burst to life in my palms.

  My eyes widened as I recognised Catalina Acrux, Darius’s mother, with her perfectly styled brunette hair and perfectly pushed up tits in a designer dress and killer heels which sank into the wet ground. Although as my gaze fell on them, she flicked her fingers and the mud hardened beneath her to give her better purchase.

  “What the fuck do you want?” I snarled, holding my ground despite the fact that I wanted to bolt. Was her psycho husband hiding in the trees somewhere? Were they planning on grabbing me again? I looked around surreptitiously, not seeing any signs of that, before snapping my gaze back to her. “And where the fuck did you come from?”

  “I managed to pay off a few staff members to alert me if you were to leave campus,” she admitted sheepishly. “And I’m fairly adept in tracking spells. I was on the path to joining the FIB before my marriage to Lionel was arranged and…” She stopped talking suddenly, almost seeming to be choking for a moment then just shook her head like nothing had happened.

  “Why?” I demanded.

  I didn’t know a whole hell of a lot about Catalina’s magical abilities, but I had no doubt she was strong. Lionel only would have married the best candidate for producing his Heirs after all. And though I was sure being beautiful helped her case, I had no doubts she was a lot more than that beneath all the layers of bullshit.

  “I need to know if-” she pulled up short again, her nostrils flaring as she seemed to struggle with something.

  “What?” I narrowed my eyes at her as her gaze locked on mine and she swallowed thickly.

  “Why?” she asked eventually and I didn’t need her to ask any more than that to know what she meant.

  I released a slow breath as I looked into her eyes and saw pain there, true pain for her son and what he was going through. I guessed her porcelain perfection did have a heart hiding within it somewhere and that made my gut twist in a way which I hadn’t felt in a long time. But it was hard not to feel a pang of jealousy and longing at the idea of having a parent who gave a shit. I would have traded anything for one when I was growing up.

  “You’re married to a monster. Can’t you imagine any reason why I might not want that fate for myself?” I growled, the pain of my decision pressing in on me keenly after Gabriel had jabbed at my wounds.

  “Darius isn’t his father,” she breathed.

  Part of me wanted to agree with her and part of me didn’t. Hell, I was so torn up over Darius that I didn’t know what I should be feeling about him anymore. Was this the stars punishing me and making me pine for him, or was I already this hooked on him before I’d said no but I’d just been too stubborn to admit it to myself?

  “Did Lionel…” she pursed her lips then began again. “Did he warn you off or tell you something about Darius which made you feel like you had to say no?”

  My jaw ticked against the answer to that one. Yes, Lionel did tell me to keep away from his son. In fact, he used his Dark Coercion to compel me to break Darius’s heart and the memory of that ate me up inside. Because I didn’t want to face the fact that despite the way my Phoenix powers had protected me from that bind he tried to put on me, I’d still ended up doing exactly as he’d commanded. And the idea of playing into his plans just made me want to spit with rage. But was I going to discuss that with his wife who’d just rocked up here to accost me in the middle of nowhere? Not so much.

  “Don’t come and corner me like this again or you’ll find out just how well your defences hold against Phoenix fire,” I warned. My wings burst from my back in a blaze of red and blue flames which lit the hilltop so brightly that I was almost blinded by it for a moment.

  I spread my wings in preparation of take off, but Catalina moved even faster than I’d anticipated. A spear of wood punched a hole in my shield with a carefully targeted attack and she thrust her arm through it, grabbing my wrist as she cried out for me to wait.

  My heart leapt and my Phoenix flames sprang forth to protect me, racing from my skin at the point where she held me and slamming into her body.

  Catalina gasped, her dark eyes flying wide as my flames collided with her but instead of burning her flesh, they dipped beneath it and my heart pounded as I was suddenly gifted a connection into the very magic which ran through her veins.

  Our eyes met in shock as my Order gifts pulsed beneath her flesh, burning, chasing, dancing under her skin like the flames were hunting something and I was merely left to watch them.

  All of a sudden, the flames met with a wall of darkness which stood before them like an endless sea of nothing, barring their way on. There was something so alien about it, so wrong that my instincts pushed at me to destroy it immediately.

  My Phoenix flames roared as they tore through the wall in Catalina’s mind and she cried out as the darkness within her was devoured. The moment my fire had destroyed the wall, it raced on, soon finding another and another as Catalina’s grip on my arm tightened.

  A tear slid down her cheek then a second as my Phoenix flames swept beneath her skin and burned away every dark and corrupt thing they found lurking there.

  Once it was all gone, the flames returned to me and I was left panting, shaking with fatigue as my wings sagged low on my back.

  “What was that?” I groaned, the remainder of my air shield shattering as I slumped down onto my knees with fatigue pressing in on me.

  “You…I’m free,” Catalina gasped, releasing her grip on me as she backed up, her hands clasping her chest as a radiant smile captured her full lips.

  “Free of what?”

  “The Dark Coercion Lionel placed on me…each and every command he ever bound me with is just…gone.” Her eyes were shimmering with emotion and she suddenly dropped to her knees sobbing as she fought to adjust to what had just happened.
>
  “He had you Coerced to do things?” I asked in confusion.

  The suspicious part of me wanted to be wary of her still, but it was hard to deny the raw emotion coming from her now or the walls of darkness I’d destroyed within her mind.

  “He’s had me under his spell for a long time,” she sobbed. “He stole my children’s love from me. He made me cold and brittle with them…he took them…he…” Catalina looked up at me suddenly, her dark eyes which were so like Darius’s pinning me down and holding me hostage. “He can’t find out about this. Promise me you’ll tell no one.”

  “I’m not doing that,” I said, shaking my head as her eyes blazed with determination.

  “Let me go back to my son, Roxanya. I need to get back to Xavier, to figure out a way to cut him free of that place. If Lionel doesn’t know that he’s lost his command over me then I might be able to get him out of there.”

  “What’s he doing to Xavier?” I asked, my heart thrashing at the desperate look in her eyes.

  “Xavier has a shameful secret,” she whispered fearfully.

  “I know about him being a Pegasus,” I growled. “And I don’t see any shame in that at all.”

  Catalina’s lips parted like she hadn’t expected that, but she brushed past it quickly enough. “Lionel is up to something. I don’t know what, but it’s to do with Xavier and his Order, I’m afraid of the lengths he’ll go to to keep this secret hidden.”

  “You think he’s going to hurt him?” I asked, my gut twisting anxiously. Lionel already made his sons’ lives hell, so if she was this afraid then maybe she feared he’d do more than just hurt him and the idea of that made my heart pound. Xavier had carved a place in my heart, I hated the idea of him being locked up in that house with that monster and if he was in real danger for his life then I wanted to do anything I could to help him.

  “Lionel can’t bear the shame of Xavier’s Order. He’s satisfied with hiding him for now, but that can’t go on forever. One day soon, people are going to start asking questions about why he left high school. Or why he won’t be attending Zodiac next year and… I’m afraid that he’s planning to kill him.” A choked sob escaped her. “I managed to put some protection in place for him before, but Lionel is working tirelessly to undo it. Once he figures out how to negate what I’ve done, I don’t know how much time Xavier will have left. Lionel won’t ever allow knowledge of his true Order to be discovered. I have to find a way to get him out of that house and hide him. Please, swear to me you won’t tell anyone that you freed me from his Dark Coercion.”

  Catalina extended her hand to me and I knew she wanted me to swear it to the stars. But I wasn’t just about to agree to that without getting something more from her.

  “On one condition,” I growled. “I won’t tell a soul about this, so long as you promise to keep me updated about anything and everything Lionel is doing with Clara. Anything and everything that might put my sister and me in danger. If he’s planning to strike at us, I need to know. If he’s doing something with the shadows then tell me that too.”

  “Yes. I’ll tell you everything, I swear it,” she growled fiercely and the only thing I could see shining in her dark eyes was a pure, raw determination to protect her child. And the ache that kind of devotion awoke in me couldn’t possibly be refused.

  I slapped my palm into hers and a clap of magic resounded between us. “And I swear not to speak of this to anyone in return.”

  “Give me your Atlas number and I’ll message you whenever I can,” she urged, holding her own Atlas out for me so that I could key it in. “I have to get back to the manor before I’m missed.”

  “Me and Darcy are getting stronger every day,” I said as the two of us prepared to part ways. “One day we’ll come for Lionel and show him exactly who the most powerful Fae in Solaria are.” Shadows licked keenly beneath my skin at those words and Catalina’s eyes shone with hope for a moment.

  “Your choice with Darius was your own, wasn’t it?” she breathed in a sad voice. “Lionel’s Dark Coercion couldn’t take root in you, could it?”

  “It was my own,” I agreed, a rough edge to my voice.

  She sighed in disappointment, stepping back as she pulled a pouch of stardust from her pocket. “I wish he could have done enough to win your love, Roxanya.”

  She tossed the stardust over her head and disappeared before I could reply.

  I swallowed against the thick lump in my throat and spread my wings wide before taking off too, beating a path through the sky towards the academy, wondering if things had really just changed as profoundly as it felt like they had.

  Marguerite Helebor: It’s not hard to imagine why @Darius Acrux said no to the gutter whore but I’ll be more than happy to help him move on.

  Tyler Corbin: Darius dumped your muffscruff a long time ago, but why not keep riding the desperation train and see where you get off? I’m just wondering how long it will be until he takes a restraining order out against your desperate ass. #ToryVegaishotterthanyou #desperatefordragondick #theheirdontcare #beingbittergivesyouwrinkles #iheardyouvegotmanticrabs

  Marguerite Helebor: Everyone knows that Darius and I shared the only true love he’s ever felt #isteppedasideforhisbride #oncehehasheirswewillbetogetheragain

  Tyler Corbin: Who are you kidding @Margurite Helebor? You were pumped and dumped and I heard you were shit in the sack too #hititandquitit #nextdayregrets #ihopedariusgotansticheck #toryvegaiswaaaaaayhotterthanyou #yousuckinthesack #iheardhefellasleepduring

  Darius Acrux: @Margurite Helebor, I wouldn’t fuck you again if you were the last Fae in Solaria and my dick would fall off if I didn’t. Don’t talk shit about my Mate. One more word and I’ll destroy you #trymebitch

  I looked up in surprise as Darius slammed his Atlas down on his desk and aimed a sneer across the Cardinal Magic classroom at Marguerite who looked like she was about to burst into- yep, she totally burst into tears. Darius literally never commented on FaeBook posts. Ever. She’d probably be best to run as well as giving us a show of the waterworks because I was willing to bet he was one second away from barbecuing her ass Dragon style.

  Marguerite seemed to realise that too as Darius continued to glare at her, ice spreading out across the table from beneath his palms. She leapt up and bolted for the door but when she made it half way across the classroom, she slammed into an invisible barrier and fell back to the ground with a crack and screamed as her nose broke.

  “Twenty points from Ignis,” Orion said lazily from his seat without looking up from his Atlas. “For trying to leave my class without permission. And another ten for failing to spot my shield before you ran into it face first. It’ll be ten more if you bleed on my floor, Miss Helebor.”

  Marguerite scrambled upright, healing her face through a sob before running back to her chair where she continued to cry into her arms. Orion threw a silencing bubble over her so none of us had to listen and a smirk tugged at the corner of my lips. That asshole could be savage when he wanted to be and I kinda liked it. Presuming he wasn’t aiming that savagery at me.

  “So, Darius, did Tory like her gift?” Caleb asked casually and I froze.

  We had a silencing bubble up around us to keep our conversations private as usual, but it was still a bold choice to ask him that in a class full of students. I guessed he thought he was safe with all these witnesses if Darius turned murderous.

  I mean, yeah we’d all been desperate to know how the limited edition super bike with the one of a kind paint job had been received ever since we’d seen it parked up in our lot, but none of us had dared to ask the question. Apparently Cal had a death wish today. Or maybe he just thought he could outrun Darius with his Vampire speed if he tried to toast him with Dragon Fire.

  “It wasn’t a gift,” Darius grunted. “We had a bet and she won. I was just paying up.”

  Paying up didn’t require a custom paint job with the Gemini constellation inlaid in diamonds over the engine, but fuck if I was going to point that out.
His trust fund took a serious hit for that beauty for sure.

  “So, how did she like her winnings?” Cal pressed and I kicked him beneath his desk, shooting him a frown as I tried to get a read on his emotions, but for once he was blocking me out. A twisted little smile was playing around his lips though so I had to think he was up to something.

  Darius sighed and the weight of the world was in that sound. It hurt me. Genuinely. Like I could feel his pain slicing into my soul. He was so unhappy it was like he was drowning and I just couldn’t think of anything that I could do to pull him back above the surface.

  “She hasn’t been to look at it yet. I set a detection spell around it to sense her magic when she does, but…I guess I should just be glad she hasn’t shoved the key back in my face.”

  Seth whimpered sadly, pushing his hand through his long hair. Orion had set us work practicing facial illusions and I was giving a bit of attention to it while mainly focusing on my friend.

  “Well, you know she’ll love it,” Caleb said with a shrug. “Why don’t you just ask her to go see it with you?”

  Heavy silence fell and for a moment I was half sure Darius would flip out and incinerate his desk, but instead he just turned a scowl on Caleb and answered his question.

  “Because if we’re alone together, the stars cause thunderstorms and earthquakes and Griffins to fall from the goddamn sky between us and fuck knows what else to force us apart, asshole.”

  “Yeah…how does that work exactly though?” Seth asked, deciding to chip in for some unknown reason. “Because you’ve been running with her every day and getting away with it.”

  “I don’t run with her. I run behind her and for some reason she hasn’t told me to fuck off yet. It seems like I can be within a few meters of her like that with just a few people around so long as we aren’t really interacting. I guess the stars see it as me pining for her and are content to let me torture myself.”