When you witnessed my death, I’m afraid it was an illusion meant for your mother to find. When I later discovered that you had seen it, I was heartbroken. But I could not reveal myself to you. For my real death has been planned for years, my boy, and it will have come to pass long before this letter reaches you. My true body will play an important part in your fate, so please forgive me for the pain I caused you.
My heart crushed as I thought of the fire I’d seen him consumed by, believing he was cast to ruin by dark magic. I’d just been a kid and it had seriously fucked me up. How could it not have been real? And what did he mean about his true body being important?
To leave you with your mother troubles me greatly. I’ve seen what she will become, and it is a sad and unfortunate fact that there is no love lost between us. It pains me to tell you, but our marriage was designed by Lionel Acrux many years ago. Stella was and will always be a close friend of his and I suspect her heart always truly lay with him. But don’t pity me, Lance. You and Clara were the true loves of my life, and I regret nothing.
There are many things Merissa was unable to show me of the future, but she offered me these words that she didn’t understand herself. ‘You are the only one who can save Clara, and you will know how when the time comes.’ Whatever fate has befallen her, I know that you will always protect one another and I have faith that you can make it right.
So I entrust my secrets to you and may the stars shine in your favour. The rest of this diary will be unreadable to the disloyal. It is bound by the magic of the Tenebris Lunae and so you may only read it under the light of the full moon. You must destroy this note to keep this secret safe.
I love you, son. And I know you can pass the tests that await you. Wherever I may be, know that I miss you and will be waiting for you beyond the Veil.
A.O.
P.S. Give Lionel Acrux hell for what he has taken from you and what he is yet to take.
I clutched the book harder, my breaths coming unevenly as I flipped through the rest of the pages and cursed as I found them empty. I tore out the note my father had written and read it ten more times before I carried it to the sink, shredded it into tiny pieces and washed it away. The last words of my father. A keen and eternal pain tugged at my chest over his loss. A loss that had never been a magical accident at all. He’d given his life to change fate. He’d offered the Vegas a chance to succeed against Lionel. And I had to make sure I didn’t let him down.
But how could I do that when I couldn’t even read the diary in my cell? I’d have to sneak it up to the Order Yard once a month, chart the moon cycles… It wasn’t going to be easy and I’d have to risk carrying it around with me. And the chances of me being offered time in the yard when the moon was full were low. Fuck, this is not good.
“One-Fifty!” Cain shouted beyond my cell and I stood up, folding the diary and stuffing it into my pocket just before he tugged down the sheet covering the bars. He eyed me suspiciously then stepped up to the door and made a radio call to get my cell unlocked.
“Follow me,” he growled and I frowned as I stepped out of the cell. It was early as shit; they weren’t even taking the count yet.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“Your Dragon friend is here,” he said coldly, leading me out of the cell block.
“How is he allowed here outside of visitation?” I balked.
“Special circumstances,” he scoffed, glowering at me. Fucking asshole had a serious attitude problem.
“Right, well thanks for making that clear,” I said dryly.
He led me up into the visitation corridor but instead of sending me into one of the rooms, he dragged me down to the security door at the end, swiping his keycard against it then scanning his magical signature and taking a retinal scan. My brows lowered as he tugged me through it into a small room where a buzzing, humming magic filled the air. When it stopped, Cain tapped in a code for a thick metal door opposite us and it buzzed loudly as it opened. He guided me outside, nodding to an officer on duty as we passed through the waiting room and over to the elevator where two cameras stared down at us.
“You’re taking me up?” I gasped. “What for?”
“Quit talking,” he snarled. “Or you can have words with my fucking taser.”
He had to make two radio calls and type in another code to get the elevator open. We stepped inside as the doors slid wide and we shot up toward the surface, my heart thumping wildly as I waited to find out what the fuck was going on.
The doors opened again and we stepped out into a large white room, a set of security doors standing just beyond a guard behind a booth.
“Here.” Cain shoved me toward the booth and I gazed in at Officer Lyle as he signed a form then pushed it out through a slot for me to sign too.
“It’s your lucky day, buddy,” he said brightly. “You’re getting out of here.”
“What?” I gasped, nearly choking on my own damn tongue. “How’s that possible?”
How the fuck had Darius pulled it off?
He chuckled, picking up a tray with a ziplock bag of my clothes in it and another with the personal items I’d had on me the day I’d arrived. He pushed them through the slot and jerked his thumb at a door beside his booth. “Head in there to change.”
I followed his orders in a daze, stepping through the door and pulling off my prison jumpsuit. There must have been some mistake. How could they just let me go? What had Darius done to buy my freedom?
I started to worry about the consequences of me leaving this place and everything I’d sacrificed to be here. If I left, what would that mean for Darcy? But this surely couldn’t be right anyway. People didn’t just get released from Darkmore. Not without an appeal at least. Something is seriously fucking wrong.
I pulled on the suit I’d worn the day I’d been dragged away from Zodiac and tied on the friendship bracelet Tory had given me. I tucked my wallet into my pocket with my Atlas then hid my dad’s diary in the other, my heart drumming out a frantic beat in my chest.
I pushed through the door and lifted my hands up to Cain, showing him the magical cuffs shining on my wrists. “Am I getting these off?”
Cain released a dark laugh, shaking his head at me and dread twisted in my stomach as he tugged me through the security door. He led me outside and fresh air gusted around me, the sun shining down on my face. I tilted my head toward it with a groan of happiness before Cain yanked me around to face a large armoured truck. My heart dropped off a ledge, smashed through three glass roofs and hit the ground with a splat that made it explode.
Lionel Acrux stood there with his arms folded and a dark grin on his face that said I was in a world of fucking trouble. And holy shit did I know it.
My friend Francesca stepped out of the armoured truck in her black FIB jumpsuit, a sharp V forming between her eyes as she looked at me. She moved forward, drawing me away from Cain who headed back inside without another word.
“Lance, you’re now under house arrest. It’s the King’s orders,” she breathed, glancing over at Lionel who smirked victoriously.
“I’ll ride in the back with him,” Lionel announced, opening the door for me and gesturing mockingly for me to get in.
In the pit of my gut, I knew this was worse than staying in Darkmore. My pulse thrashed against my eardrums and I tried to come up with some way to refuse this. But Lionel was the King now, how the fuck was I supposed to get out of this?
Fran gripped my wrist, giving me an intent look that told me to comply before drawing me toward the back of the truck.
I glared at Lionel as I passed him by then climbed inside, dropping into a seat. Lionel followed me in and Fran shut the door for him before moving to drive the vehicle.
“Good morning, Lance,” Lionel purred, looking at me like a smug fucking bastard as he cast a silencing bubble around us. “We have a lot to discuss.”
“What the fuck do you want?” I spat and he stole the air from my lungs with a wave of his hand.
<
br /> “I am your King, dare to speak to me that way again and your sister will pay the price for it.”
I glowered at him as my lungs began to burn and he continued to hold my life in his grasp, watching me closely as I started to convulse, my eyes rolling back into my head.
He let me breathe again with a casual flick of his wrist and I coughed heavily, choking down a lungful of air as I bit back the curses I wanted to fling at him. I wasn’t going to risk him hurting Clara and he knew it. The fucking asshole.
“Now listen to me,” Lionel growled, leaning in closer, the scent of expensive cologne and power rolling from him. “You are going to do exactly as I say because I officially own you, Lance Orion. You are mine. And if you step a toe out of line you will regret it. You are still a convicted criminal and the entire FIB will come for you if you try to run from me.”
I said nothing as my hands balled with rage. All I wanted to do was tear into his throat with my teeth and bleed him dry, but I wouldn’t get access to my Order until the suppressant in my veins wore off.
I hated this man, I hated him with the heat of a thousand fucking suns.
“What do you want?” I snarled and he smiled in a way that set me on edge.
“My Seer brought me some interesting information this morning. It seems you are the key to finding the Imperial Star. You have some sort of diary in your possession, yes?”
I gaped at him and I swear I heard the sound of my soul screaming.
“I’ll take that as confirmation,” he said smugly. “I cannot take it from you as it seems only you can decipher it, but you will work to unveil its secrets and hand them to me. Do you understand?”
Francesca threw a worried look at me over her shoulder even though she couldn’t hear what we were saying. But I guessed when the King of Solaria kidnaps you from a maximum security prison, it was unlikely you were heading off on a fun-filled day to the zoo.
“You will agree to this, Lance,” he growled, his jade green Dragon peering out of his eyes. “You will swear it on the stars that you will make every effort to find the Imperial Star.”
My mouth was too dry, my mind working on overdrive as I tried to figure out a way out of this. He knew about the fucking diary. He was going to lock me up and force me to reveal its secrets to him.
Only…he hadn’t explicitly said that. He was asking me to promise to find it. And that was exactly what I intended to do anyway. I might have been a washed up bastard of a professor, but I was still a wily one.
Lionel took a key from his pocket, cocky as anything as he twisted it tauntingly between his fingers. “In return, you will have a house on my property and some semblance of freedom within a shadow ward created by Clara. You will be allowed to see my son regularly and of course, you will have access to your magic and Order twenty-four-seven.” He unlocked my cuffs, and magic rushed to my fingertips, the will to fight him nearly overwhelming me. But I couldn’t defeat Lionel Acrux, even if it would have been worth it to tear his face off before I went down in a blaze of fire.
Once I got my Order back, I could try and run, but that would only mean the entire FIB would come hunting for me and what were the chances that I could really get out of this truck in one piece anyway? Even if I made it, then what use would I be to anyone? I couldn’t be away from Darius for long with the Guardian bond tethering me to him, and Lionel would get his talons into me sooner or later. Besides, it could take a while for the suppressant to wear off and my Order to awaken.
No, the asshole had me cornered.
He offered me his hand, his eyes glittering with victory as I slid my palm into his, my upper lip curling back.
“So we have a deal?” he asked.
“I’ll make every effort to find the Imperial Star,” I swore and a clap of magic ran between us, binding me to him in this promise. And I will make every effort to ensure it never falls into your greasy palms, Uncle Lionel.
I materialised outside the gates of The Palace of Souls and strode straight forward at a fast pace. The journalists who were camped out there all perked up at the sight of me, scrambling to jump to their feet and intercept me. But I was in no mood to entertain the press tonight and I upped my pace, my chin raised as the guards on the golden gates opened them to admit me.
“Would you like me to call you a carriage, Prince Acrux?” one of them asked and I stumbled a step at that title, wondering what insane parallel universe I’d just fallen into as I shook my head and growled a no at him.
I was already unbuckling my belt and I kicked my shoes off as I prepared to shift. I didn’t need to wait around for some damn transport to take me up the ridiculously long drive to the palace itself. I hooked my shirt off single-handedly, and the flash of one of the journalists’ cameras went off behind me as they crowded in close to the gates for the strip show.
“If any one of you takes a photograph of my naked ass without my permission then you’ll find yourselves out of a job and knee deep in a legal case before you even get home tonight,” I snarled, glancing over my shoulder and a flurry of apologies came from them as they all diligently turned away again.
I dropped my jeans into the pile of clothes last and shifted in the blink of an eye.
The moment my enormous feet hit the ground, the cameras all went wild again as they all desperately tried to get a good shot of me in my golden Dragon form. But I wasn’t in the mood to pose for them so I let them photograph my scaley ass, grabbed the heap of clothes from the floor into my mouth and took off fast.
I beat my wings hard as I sped towards the palace, the gigantic building dominating the view ahead of me as the countless towers reached up towards the dark clouds above and the moonlight seemed to make the walls gleam.
I didn’t know why Father had summoned me back here at such short notice, but I wanted to get it over and done with. We were supposed to be working on our plans to lure Roxy away from the K.U.N.T.s again so that we could dose her with the antidote, and I hated being called away from that. No doubt the others would come up with something without me, but everything that had happened to her was because of my father and I felt responsible for her in a way that pained me.
I dove from the sky outside the huge door which led into the palace, dropping my clothes and shifting back as the guards on the door watched me uneasily. I yanked my jeans back on and kicked my feet back into my boots, but I didn’t bother with the shirt, keeping it in my hand as I strode up the steps, my jaw ticking with tension.
Jenkins pulled the door wide before I reached it, bowing as little as he could get away with and murmuring a greeting to me which I ignored. The old fucker didn’t even deserve basic pleasantries from me and he wouldn’t be getting them.
“Where is he?” I asked, not caring that my boots were tracking mud over the perfectly polished white tiles or that he was eyeing my bare chest with distaste as I strode through the entrance hall.
The palace was familiar to me from the many visits I’d made here over the summer to see Darcy. We’d worked tirelessly to try and burn the shadows from my veins so that I’d be in a position to challenge my father and rescue her sister, but nothing we’d done had worked. Not that that stopped us trying regularly.
“The King is currently occupied in his study,” Jenkins replied haughtily. “He asks that you wait for him to-”
I walked away, moving up a flight of stairs and casting slick ice over them to stop the nosey butler from following me as I headed for the study which had once belonged to the Savage King. A bang and a yelp made me grin as I realised Jenkins had tried to follow and fallen.
A door opened before I made it to the study and I smiled as my mom slipped out, her dark hair coiled into some perfect creation as usual and a stunning black evening gown hugging her figure.
“Darius,” she cooed, glancing around before moving to embrace me and I smiled as I held her close for a moment. “What are you doing here tonight?”
“I was hoping you might be able to tell me,” I replied. “The
old motherfucker summoned me. I was just heading to ask him why.”
She drew back, her eyes flashing nervously as she glanced down the corridor in the direction of the study.
“He has those things in the house,” she breathed, her fingers bunching in the skirt of her dress nervously.
“Nymphs?” I asked, my skin prickling at the thought of that.
“Yes. I try to stay out of the way when they’re here.”
I was filled with the urge to go and find out what he was doing with them, but I hesitated a moment longer, enjoying the small bit of time alone in my mom’s company. “How has he been?” I asked her. “Is he leaving you alone?”
“No worse than usual,” she replied, painting on a smile which I knew she wore to try and stop me from worrying.
“So, pretty fucking awful then?” I surmised and she just gave me a little shrug.
“He has Clara to occupy him. I’m usually just trotted out for photoshoots and parties. It’s a big palace and I can avoid him for the most part.”
I sighed heavily, hating that she was living like this, sneaking around and hoping to go unnoticed. It was a lonely, miserable kind of existence and I wished I could just take her away from here so that she could have a life of her own. I guessed making her into a widow would be a good way to achieve that.
“I’d better go and find out why he summoned me,” I said, drawing her close again for a moment and she sighed contentedly.
“Is Xavier settling in well?” she murmured as we lingered there for a moment, making up for all the hugs we’d missed out on over the years.
“Yeah,” I said, breathing a laugh. “He’s got the entire Pegasus herd in a flurry and I don’t think he’s even noticed. All the mares are trotting about trying to catch his attention while the Dom looks about ready to bust a blood vessel every time he lays his eyes on him. He’ll be leading the herd in no time.”
Zodiac Academy: Fated Throne Page 18
