We finally arrived in the sprawling throne room and I had to force myself not to react as I found Father sitting on the dark stone throne with its back shaped like fifty Hydra heads for the Savage King’s Order.
Roxy was perched on the step sitting by his fucking feet like a dog while wearing a trailing black gown and the Dragon in me shifted angrily at the sight of her. She flinched a little as she saw me and my teeth snapped together as I fought to contain my rage.
Clara was perched on the arm of the throne, stroking Father’s hair and kissing his neck as he barely even seemed to notice she was there, his cold eyes fixed on me and Xavier as we approached. Mom stood on his other side in an emerald dress, perfectly made up as always with that plastic doll look on her face that I loathed so much. Lance’s mother, Stella was beside her, all in black like a gothic Barbie doll and a cruel smile on her lips as she watched me and Xavier carefully.
"Seriously?" I snarled as Jenkins left the room and the door closed behind him. "Claiming the throne wasn't enough? You have to sit a Vega at your feet too?"
"Well, I could have her sucking my cock if you don't think it's enough," Father replied with a cruel twist to his lips and it took everything in me not to lunge at him as my entire body flooded with rage. "Would you like that, Roxanya?"
Roxy lifted her head to look at him, blinking slowly and shrugging one shoulder. My girl would have punched him in the fucking balls for even thinking about that and I hated to see her so fucking vacant over the suggestion. At the very least I could be glad that she hadn't been too enthusiastic, though my gut clenched at the thought of him making her do that.
Clara hissed like a snake and moved her hand down Father’s chest possessively. "Daddy doesn't fuck the whore," she growled and Stella clucked her tongue, narrowing her eyes on her daughter. "I'm the favourite. I'm the one who gets to please him like that."
It felt like my lungs fucking decompressed at those words as relief filled me in a wave. I’d been driving myself insane worrying about that, night after night wondering if he was forcing her to give her body to him and hating myself more than words could convey for not being able to rescue her. That had been my worst fear for her in all of the nights she'd spent locked up at his mercy and though I knew she had to have faced so many atrocities from him, the fact that he hadn't been raping her sent relief through me in droves. I swallowed thickly against the surge of emotions in me as I looked at Roxy helplessly, aching to just grab hold of her and take her far away from this place. I’d give up everything to do that. To just pick her up and run and run until Solaria was no more than a distant memory of a nightmare we’d escaped and I could know that she was safe at last.
"For now," Father added dryly. "It has occurred to me that poor Roxanya is in a predicament with the new regime though. With crossbreeding outlawed, and no male Phoenixes currently in existence, she cannot procreate. I have been considering making an exception for near extinct Orders like hers. And of course, a Dragon with our fire gifts and ability to fly, not to mention our immense power would be the closest thing to a match for her. A child inheriting either Order would at least be powerful, even if their blood was mixed."
"You can't seriously be thinking about making her have a baby?" Xavier demanded and I stiffened as Father's hateful gaze slid to him.
"Mind your tongue, runt," he snapped. "I am yet to decide on what to do about anomalies such as you. You have Dragon blood as pure as spring water running through your veins and yet you turn into a fucking horse when you shift."
Clara cackled loudly and Mother's eyes glimmered with barely restrained emotion, but Xavier just held his head high and took the insult like the Fae he was. Anyone could see how fucking powerful he was in every way that counted, and Father's Orderist bullshit couldn't change that.
"I have a few matches in mind for you, but of course I cannot risk wasting a female Dragon with good breeding on you if you may pass on this condition. So, for now, you will just remain as you are."
Neither of us replied to that, probably because we were just relieved he hadn't found a fucking Mildred to chain Xavier to. Yet.
Mother’s eyes had tightened as she listened in on our conversation, but she didn’t open her mouth and didn’t move an inch, making me wonder if Father had placed new Dark Coercion on her. In fact, I didn’t need to wonder, I knew the old bastard would have done it without a thought.
"But in answer to your question about Roxanya's fertility options, I am still undecided. Perhaps you would like to put the bastards in her belly, Darius? After all, your blood isn't tainted and I have no particular objection to you fathering bastards so long as you're producing fine Dragon Heirs with Mildred too. I'm sure Roxanya would be accommodating to you if I told her to be. Wouldn't you?"
Roxy turned her dark eyes on me and there was no mistaking the shiver of fear that ran through her at the prospect of that. My heart bunched as I saw it. What had he done to make her fear me like that? Why did she flinch and recoil from me like she was expecting me to attack her at any moment?
"You're forgetting the stars won't allow us near each other," I snapped. "So even if you wanted to force us to do that, the stars would never let it happen."
"You're right," Father sighed, leaning back in the throne and gripping the heads of the stone Hydras that created the arms of the chair. "I suppose if I decide to follow through with that idea, I'll have to put the bastards in her myself."
Clara snarled loudly and shadows rose up around the room as she lunged towards Roxy as if she’d been the one to suggest it, but Father managed to catch her arm to stop her.
"I haven't made any such decision, my love," he said to her firmly. "You are still my favourite. But you won't be if you attack my pet."
"I can give you bastards if you want them, Daddy?" she offered and he laughed coldly before pushing her back to stand to the side of the throne, looking away from her.
"What use would I have for Vampire bastards? Your Order is as common as soot and worth a whole lot less. Besides, you're a void of darkness inside, Clara. I can only imagine you're barren anyway."
Clara's face scrunched up in pain and she burst into tears before jumping up and tearing away from us with shadows billowing around her in a sea of darkness. She ran up the stairs at the side of the huge throne room and her sobs echoed back to us as she raced away.
No one said anything for a long moment and I actually almost felt sorry for Clara. Not that she deserved anything less than an excruciating death for her part in all the evil my father had brought upon Solaria, but sometimes I wondered if there was anything of Orion's sister left in her. Especially as I was so adamant that Roxy was still trapped inside the vacant vessel which currently sat before me. But then my girl hadn’t spent years alone in the Shadow Realm, so it was a lot more likely that she was still essentially herself beneath the corruption.
“I’ll calm her down for you later, Your Highness,” Stella simpered, rounding the throne and moving up the steps to take Clara’s place on my father’s left. She reached out to run a hand up his arm and the look he gave her had me wondering if he was still screwing her too despite the way he’d shot her down the other day. Fucking hell.
"I didn't actually summon you home for the chance to have this thrilling discussion," Father said once Clara's sobs had faded into the distance. "Today I intend to begin cleansing Solaria of all of its issues and the stars have guided me towards the first and most worthy cause which requires my attention."
"You don't need to bother with that star bullshit in front of us," I said in a low voice as I glared at him. "We all know that you're just a psychotic megalomaniac who has such a hard on for power that you'd do anything and everything to claim it."
“You will not disrespect the King like that!” Stella exclaimed but Father silenced her with a shake of his head.
Father's fingers curled into a fist as he glared back at me but rather than strike me himself like I'd expected, he nodded once at Roxy who immediately got t
o her feet.
Shadows darkened her eyes until all I could see in them was black as the thick fog of the dark power rose up all around her.
"Please don’t," Xavier begged at my side, trying to move in front of me but I just flicked my fingers, creating a lasso of water magic to tug him away from me before she could strike.
He may have had three Elements, but he had very little control of them and there was no way for him to fight off my magic.
The shadows struck me right in the chest as Roxy drove them into me and I grunted as I took the hit, refusing to even shield against them as I accepted the pain she was driving into my body. I didn't care what happened to me now anyway. I only cared about doing anything and everything I could to save her from him.
Darkness flooded my vision as the pain of a thousand cuts slicing into me from the inside filled my body and I dropped down to one knee as I fought to stay conscious.
Just as I was certain I was going to black out from the agony, a fist crashed into my jaw and I was knocked onto my back before a heavy boot slammed into my side over and over again, catching me in the face too.
I cursed as I clenched my teeth against my father's assault and rolled onto my side just as Roxy pulled the shadows back out of me.
"Heal him and make sure he's presentable before you join us on the balcony," Father's voice came from far away and I grunted in pain as I moved onto my hands and knees, spitting out a mouthful of blood as a procession of footsteps moved out of the room and Stella muttered something about me learning respect.
A soft hand caught hold of my chin and I looked up at Roxy in surprise as I found her there instead of Mom, tilting her head to one side curiously as healing magic slid from her fingers into my skin.
"Do you truly remember nothing?" I asked her as the taste of my own blood lingered on my lips.
I rocked back onto my knees before her as her touch awoke every aching piece of my heart, but as I looked closer, nothing in her expression said she knew me at all.
"About what?" she asked, her gaze cold, expression void. Other than the flickers of fear she sometimes directed my way I never got anything else from her and that was somehow more gutting than if she'd been sobbing and broken in a more obvious way. This felt like she wasn't even her anymore. Like every stubborn, infuriating, obnoxious, addictive, delicious, beautiful piece of her was gone. Like she might as well have been dead. And I was the one who had killed her. Father clearly had her in the grip of Dark Coercion as well as the shadows and whatever the fuck he’d done to her to make her fear me, and I was lost without a way to combat any of it for her.
"Us," I breathed, catching her hand as she moved to withdraw it and pressing her fingers to my cheek like if I just held her there, I could force her to feel it.
She stiffened as I held onto her but didn't do anything to stop me as she remained crouched in front of me with her gaze hunting mine. I didn't try to hide anything from her, showing her every broken, bloody, hurting piece of my soul because it belonged to her anyway.
"I remember..." For a moment it was like a cloud shifted across the sun and the light shone free within her. But I barely even saw it before shadows swept over her eyes and she drew back with a sharp inhale, wincing a little as she stood again, looking down at me. "I remember all the reasons I have to hate you. And you're just lucky my king doesn't want you dead, or I’d make sure you were."
"You don't hate me, Roxy," I growled as I got to my feet and towered over her, but as I tried to take a step towards her, I found she'd frozen my feet to the ground.
The chandelier above our heads began to make a loud jingling sound as vibrations rocked the foundations of the palace due to us being left alone, but I didn't fucking care. I needed to speak with her and the stars weren't getting a say in it this time.
"No, I don't hate you," she agreed and I swallowed thickly as she moved closer to me, brushing my father’s boot marks from my shirt before tucking it in for me. I inhaled deeply as she smoothed the creases over my shoulders then traced her fingers across my chin as she washed away the blood there using her water magic. She ran her dark gaze over me critically, tiptoeing up to push her fingers into my hair and I growled with the ache in my heart as my hands slipped around her waist and I tried to draw her closer to me. "I don't care about you at all."
I froze at the coldness of those words as she spoke them, and she was gone before I could fully comprehend how clearly she'd meant them too. That had been the truth. The honest to stars reality of the person she was now. She didn't care. Not about me or Darcy or any of her friends or anything at all aside from that fucking animal who had stolen her throne.
My blood pumped hot and furiously through my veins as my heart broke for her all over again. But I wasn't given the luxury of having a moment to process the cruel words as she wrapped a rope of air magic around my wrist and tugged me out the door after her.
The chandelier fell still as I followed her, and I had to fight to get my mask back in place as she led me through the palace and down a long corridor towards the west wing.
"Where are we going?" I asked when she offered up no explanation. There were plenty of members of staff scurrying to and fro in the hallways so at least the stars left us alone as we walked.
"The Reception Hall," Roxy replied flatly, not even glancing back at me. "My king has an announcement to make to his subjects."
"What's wrong with any of the halls and ballrooms down this end of the palace?" I muttered, mostly because I was feeling like I'd been sucker punched and I just wanted her to fucking talk to me.
"Since my king took possession of the palace, some of the rooms and wings have locked themselves and as of yet he hasn't had the chance to figure out the spells that unlock them again," she replied without a single inflection in her voice.
"Wait - are you telling me the palace has locked itself to him?" I asked, my mood lifting at the thought of that.
"In part," she replied. "For now."
A smirk lifted my lips at that little nugget of truth and I filed it away as I wondered whether there might be some way for us to make use of that against him. The palace had clearly been spelled to keep it protected from usurpers and as I was certain that Darcy hadn't had any issues like that while living here, I had to hope that there was something at work here specifically targeted against my father.
We reached a heavy wooden door and Roxy glanced my way as she pulled it open before stepping through it and leading me after her.
I followed her, schooling my features as I stepped out onto a balcony where Father stood above a crowd of onlookers as they cheered for him in a huge hall with white pillars running along the length of it.
Roxy's magic tugged me along as we walked to join Mom, Stella and Xavier where they stood watching at the back of the white stone balcony and I found myself standing so close to her that our arms were brushing against each other.
I looked down at the girl the stars had picked for me while her adoring gaze stayed fixed on Father and I breathed out slowly as the ache in me became unbearable. Gabriel was supposed to be getting the Nymph cage to us within a matter of days and I was so hopeful that we would be able to bring her back to us once we could reawaken her Phoenix, but every second that this went on, I felt like my soul was being shredded and the stars were fucking laughing at us.
"I stand before you today to speak of a grave matter that has come to my attention recently," Father called as the crowd quieted to listen to him. "A matter which I know has been concerning Fae all over the country for quite some time. Of course, I am speaking about the lack of midnight amethyst stones in our great kingdom."
I fought the urge to arch a brow as I tore my gaze away from Roxy to look at my father. What the fuck was he talking about? Who gave a shit about midnight amethyst being hard to come by recently? I mean, yeah, there had been a bunch of stories about how the stones which were the luckiest objects in Solaria had been dwindling in numbers over the last ten years or so, but I'd never
really paid those stories much attention.
Less powerful Fae relied on things like lucky stones to get them through life, but I preferred to chart my own path. Besides, it seemed fairly obvious to me that if enough people really believed that those rare stones might change their lives then they'd be in high demand. Fae who owned them would be secretive about them and guard them carefully. Plus they were damn rare in the first place.
"It has come to my attention that a conspiracy has been taking place beneath our very noses," Father growled, allowing smoke to slip from his lips to showcase his Dragon for the crowd and cameras watching him. "A group of Fae have been stealing these precious stones and hoarding them away to make sure that their kind are the only ones to benefit from owning them. This group of Fae are all of one specific Order. A prey Order. The kind to seem inconspicuous, innocent, harmless even. And yet many members of their kind - if not all members of their kind have been quietly stealing these stones and using them to gain power and influence in their communities while robbing hard working, more powerful Fae of their rightful places above them."
The crowd began to boo and shout for answers and I glanced beyond Roxy to Xavier, wondering if he had any idea what the fuck was happening here because I was getting the horrible feeling that I might just know, and I really didn't want to be right. My brother's eyes widened a fraction and he gave me the hint of a shrug as I turned my gaze back to watching my father as he riled up the crowd.
"These Fae - no, these Rats, have been working to gather midnight amethysts for years. Slowly increasing their power and influence despite the fact that their very nature demands they stay at the bottom of the pecking order. And to prove to you that I am correct in this discovery, I have brought their leader here for you to see."
Zodiac Academy: Fated Throne Page 23
