by A. K. Koonce
“Where’s Saint?” he demands.
My heart crumbles all over again. Watching Saint get taken had been hard, but this? This is harder. Phoenix and Saint are a unit. Never one without the other. The two are so intricately interwoven into the fabric of each other’s lives, I don’t want to tell him. But I have to. He has to know.
“They took him, Phoenix. They took Saint.” Just saying the words weighs my tongue like there’s poison at the back of my throat.
He freezes and turns around slowly to face me. Some hysterical, maddening part of me can’t help but admire him in this instant. If I had my paints, I would depict him in his vengeful glory the way he is right now. With his legs apart, standing firm on the rubble of destroyed hopes, hands fisted and white knuckled at his sides, he’d be a picture perfect image of darkness. But it’s his eyes I’d have difficulty capturing. I’ve never seen a rage as powerful as his sudden despair.
The emotion seems so strange, so out of place in the soulless incubus. He claims to feel nothing, but I see it on every sharp line of his beautiful, violent features.
“What do you mean they took him?”he grinds out.
“He—he—” How to explain to him that Saint took the fall for me? That I fucked up on such an astronomical scale that he stepped in to save me? He would despise me for it, and every fragile piece of our relationship that we’ve spent building would surely crumble along with the remnants of our dorm and Saint’s future.
“They arrested him.” The Professor steps to my side, pressing a firm hand into my shoulder as if the simple gesture is meant to bring comfort. I’m beyond comfort. All I have is rage and despair, shame and quiet tears. I could easily turn a blank canvas into art, lunch room food into sculptures. I wish I could fucking do something with these emotions inside me.
“Why?” The word rips out of Phoenix’s throat like a punishment I deserve. Like a whip slicing into flesh. But nothing could ever be more painful than the empty space of the loss of our friend that now lies between us.
“It’s my fault.” I shake the Professors hold off and step forward as the deadly demon’s eyes slice through me. “He was protecting me. I—I’m sorry.” My apology is whispered like the weak thing that it is.
The truth is, nothing could ever make up for what I’ve done.
Phoenix takes a breath, shakes his head back and forth like he’s clearing his own muddled thoughts. “It’s just confinement, right? He’ll be back… Saint will be back...”
The hopeful sound of his voice breaks me a little further.
“The severity of the crime today means he will stand trial with the board of the Academy’s directors and the Supernatural government.”
“And then?” I ask the Professor, fearing I already know the answer to what comes next.
Bicolored eyes look at me without sadness, but with a firm sort of clarity and, in that moment, I despise him for siding with Saint and lying to cover up what I did. “He will be found guilty and executed for his crimes immediately,” Professor Shade says flatly.
“No.” Phoenix staggers back, like he can’t bear the onslaught of those harsh words. Like everything within him is breaking. Like it took him all this time to realize that something lives inside him, something he can’t explain, but it’s suddenly tumbling down and breaking him bit by painful bit.
It’s love.
The powerful demon falls to his knees, unable to bear the weight of the truth, and digs his fists into the frost-bitten earth. Maybe he’ll rip hell up right from the ground and reap it upon our world. Maybe he’ll call forth the demons from the pits, sell whatever’s left of his tattered soul just to get Saint back.
He’d trade places with Saint in a heartbeat if he could.
But he can’t. We can’t
That knowledge blankets heavily over us, over him.
Because when Phoenix next opens his mouth, it’s to let out the thunderous roar of dark magic and demonic rage, a force so powerful it shakes beneath our feet and splits the ground anew. I try to go to him, but fall to my hands and knees instead. When the tears come, I just let them fall as I’m filled with the heartbreaking sounds of Phoenix’s rage.
And I drown myself in the agony of his screams.
Again.
And again.
And again.
The End.
Thank you for reading Academy of Six. Book two, Control of Five will be available in just three weeks! Get your copy of Control of Five HERE!
Also By A.K. Koonce
Reverse Harem Books
The Hopeless Series
Hopeless Magic
Hopeless Kingdom
Hopeless Realm
Hopeless Sacrifice
The To Tame a Shifter Series
Taming
Claiming
Maiming
Sustaining
Reigning
The Royal Harem Series
The Hundred Year Curse
The Curse of the Sea
The Legend of the Cursed Princess
The Harem of Misery Series
Pandora’s Pain
The Severed Souls Series
Darkness Rising
Darkness Consuming
Darkness Colliding
The Huntress Series
An Assassin’s Death
An Assassin’s Deception
An Assassin’s Destiny
The Villainous Wonderland Series
Into the Madness
Within the Wonder
Under the Lies
The Mortals and Mystics Series
Fate of the Hybrid, Prequel
When Fate Aligns, Book one
When Fate Unravels, Book two
When Fate Prevails, Book three
Resurrection Island
Also By Aleera Anay Ceres
Reverse Harem Series
Royal Secrets
Secrets Among the Tides
Whispers Beneath the Deep
Caresses Between the Sand
Death Beyond the Waves
The Hybrid Trilogy
Braving the Beasts
Escaping the Beasts
Freeing the Beasts
Royal Lies
Book One COMING SOON!
Anthologies
Hers From the Start
Paranormal Romance Series
Deep Sea Chronicles
Fall in Deep
The Blood Novels
Blood Drug
My Master
Last Hope
Love Bites
Young Adult series
The Last Mermaid
The Witch Games Trilogy
The Witch Games
About A.K. Koonce
A.K. Koonce is a USA Today bestselling author. She’s mom by day and a fantasy and paranormal romance writer by night. She keeps her fantastical stories in her mind on an endless loop while she tries her best to focus on her actual life and not that of the spectacular, but demanding, fictional characters who always fill her thoughts.
If you want more A.K. Koonce updates, deleted scenes, and giveaways, join her Newsletter or Facebook Reader Group!
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About Aleera Anaya Ceres
Aleera Anaya Ceres is an Irish-Mexican mix who enjoys reading, writing, art, and heavy fangirling. When she’s not dreaming up stories about mermaids, she’s daydreaming about all sorts of fantasy creatures. A proud Slytherin from Kansas, she currently lives in Tlaxcala, Mexico with her husband and son.
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