Zodiac Academy: Fated Throne

by Caroline Peckham

  "The library is underground, in the centre of a labyrinth carved by their half-shifting kind," Lionel spat. "And soon I will release this knowledge to the rest of the kingdom. Solaria will decide what we should do about these lesser creatures trying to conceal and hoard knowledge which they have no right to take from the rest of us."

  "And the people will cry out encouragement to help their king retrieve it," Vard said confidently, running a hand through his long hair and licking his lips as he surveyed Catalina over his wine glass. She supressed a shudder and I watched her with a faint frown as I realised I hadn’t removed Lionel’s most recent Dark Coercion from her since he’d bonded me to him, the thought making my gut stir guiltily.

  "So what?" Darius demanded. "Now you're going to start persecuting even more Orders? Just because this fucking...Seer claims to have seen a secret library in a vision. Even if it's true that some small selection of Sphinxes and Minotaurs were in on such a collusion, how can you possibly claim that all of them are to blame? And how come these Orders all happen to be those you despise the most - the weakest, most common Orders who you've always looked down on so fucking much? It seems more than a little convenient to me."

  Lionel lowered his fork to his plate slowly and turned his eyes from Darius to me.

  "I think it's time for my son to learn that lesson, don't you agree, Roxanya?" he asked in a low voice and Clara clapped excitedly as she moved to stand on her chair to get a better view.

  “Punish him, Daddy! Make him bleed!” she cried.

  Ice spilled through my veins as I realised he was going to make me dish out the punishment and I couldn't help but remember him making me hurt Darius before in the throne room. But it had been different then. I'd been watching through a veil of shadows, unable to feel anything, unable to care either. This was asking too much of me while I was playing this part and I didn’t think I was going to be able to do it.

  "Why not just do it yourself?" Darius demanded, pushing to his feet and opening his arms to make himself into an easier target. "Or don't you have the stomach for it anymore, old man?"

  Lionel tutted at the goading and I looked up at Darius with wild eyes as I silently begged him to stop. I knew why he was doing it - he was trying to save me from having to be the one to hurt him, but I also knew that the more he ran his mouth, the worse Lionel would make this for him and I couldn't fucking bear that.

  "It hurts you more when she does it," Lionel explained cruelly, getting to his feet and placing a hand on my shoulder. "Perhaps I should get her to use something more personal than the shadows to really drive the point home?" He lifted his steak knife between us, cocking his head thoughtfully as he looked at his son.

  "Stop," Xavier begged, moving to get to his feet, but Clara flicked her fingers as she took hold of the shadows in him and shoved him back down into it.

  Lionel looked like he was about to give me the knife and panic flared in me at the thought of that, but before I could figure out how to stop this from happening, Clara threw a ball of shadows at Darius with a cackle of glee.

  He cursed as he was knocked back a step and a gasp escaped me before I could halt it. Luckily no one seemed to notice as Lionel nodded his approval, his eyes fixed on his son as he suffered.

  "Give him more, Clara," Lionel snarled, his hand tightening on my shoulder.

  His excitement turned my stomach and my magic shifted beneath my skin, urging me to do something that I knew would make everything so much worse.

  Darius fell to the floor as she flooded his body with her dark power, his limbs spasming as he writhed in agony, a cry of pain escaping his lips that had ice spilling through my core.

  Lionel released me suddenly and I gasped as he strode forward and slammed his steak knife straight into Darius’s gut, causing him to bellow in pain.

  I lurched forward a step just as the door burst open so hard that it crashed into the wall and half fell off the hinges. I only caught a blur of motion moving across the room and suddenly Orion was there, throwing a huge blast of air magic out from his palm that knocked Lionel back several paces before he managed to get his own magic up to shield himself and the rest of us.

  Xavier caught my arm to stop me as I made a move to step forward, his fearful gaze meeting mine as he shook his head in a silent warning while everyone else was caught up watching this horror show play out.

  “Step aside, Lance,” Lionel growled with a frustrated huff.

  “You know I can’t do that,” Orion snarled, baring his fangs as Darius cursed in pain behind him where Clara still held him in the clutches of the shadows. Orion’s hair was damp and he was wearing a fresh white shirt and jeans but his feet were bare, making me think he’d been in the middle of changing when he’d felt Darius’s pain and been drawn here by the Guardian bond to protect him.

  “See your brother back to his accommodation, Clara,” Lionel hissed, his venomous gaze still locked on his son while he bled out on the floor behind Orion.

  “No!” Orion threw himself at Darius, reaching for him with green healing magic flaring in his palm a moment before Clara hit him with a shockwave of shadows so powerful that they made the air in the room ripple all around us.

  The shadows in me tried to rise up to meet them automatically and I groaned involuntarily as pleasure rolled down my spine, fighting with all I had to keep them back so that I could think clearly. Catalina stared at her son in horror from her seat, seeming unable to even call out to him while she remained locked in her place.

  Xavier’s grip on my arm was the only thing stopping me from diving forward to help too and I choked back a sob that lodged in my throat as I fought with the desires of my heart and the desperate need we all had to keep my cover intact.

  Orion still tried to crawl towards Darius, crying out in pain as Clara smiled wickedly, allowing him to get just close enough to brush his fingers against the knife protruding from Darius’s gut before yanking him upright with the shadows again.

  “Walky, walky, little brother,” Clara purred, miming the action with two of her fingers as Orion’s legs carried him towards the door despite how hard he was clearly trying to stay and help Darius.

  His white shirt was stained with Darius’s blood and his desperate gaze met mine with what was undoubtably a plea for me to do what I had to to save his friend’s life.

  Clara leapt up onto the table and ran the length of it before diving over Vard's head and scurrying out of the room behind him as Lionel advanced on his son once more.

  “Don’t forget your place, boy,” Lionel snarled, grabbing a fistful of Darius’s shirt and yanking him half off of the ground so that they were nose to nose. “I may have use for you thanks to your brother’s disgusting condition, but the moment you put an Heir in Mildred’s belly, your value will greatly diminish. Perhaps you should consider making yourself more valuable to me before then.”

  Darius gritted his teeth against the pain of the knife lodged in his gut, grunting as Lionel threw him back down against the wooden floor and blood pooled out to further stain his blue shirt red.

  Lionel slammed his foot into Darius’s side as he straightened and only Xavier’s grip on my arm held me in place as tears burned the backs of my eyes and I fought with everything I had against the desire to start screaming. But I couldn’t do anything about it. Even now, I couldn’t bring myself to truly consider hurting Lionel and the knowledge of that was cutting into me as surely as the knife piercing Darius’s flesh.

  "Fix my son up and see him to his quarters, Roxanya, and make sure he stays in there for the night. I'm finding the current company less than stimulating." Lionel sneered, tossing his napkin down on the table and heading from the room. "You can meet me in my chambers when you've made sure he's locked away."

  Vard stood too, sighing like we were boring him before stalking out of the room after his king and allowing us to act freely.

  The moment they were gone, I darted forward, dropping to my knees and pressing shaky fingers to Darius’
s stomach as I looked down at the blade protruding from his gut. Xavier leaned in close too, but without the training required for him to help, there wasn’t anything he could do.

  “I can do it,” Darius grunted, reaching for the knife like he was going to rip the damn thing out himself and I smacked his hand away as I shook my head.

  “I’ve got you,” I growled, wrapping my own fingers around it and meeting his dark eyes as I psyched myself up to do this.

  Darius gave me a sharp nod and I held his gaze as I pulled it free. He cursed loudly and I pressed my fingers to the stab wound as I pushed healing magic beneath his skin, seeking out the connection to his magic so that I could fix it as fast as possible.

  Xavier whinnied in anguish, stomping his foot and I worked to block him out as healing magic spread from my fingertips.

  It took less than a second for my magic to latch onto Darius’s, that thunderous familiarity of his power calling to me like my name in the dark as I found it and I poured my power into him as fast as I could.

  My eyes fell closed as I concentrated and after a few seconds, I flinched at the touch of his hand on my cheek as he sat up.

  “I’m sorry,” I breathed, blinking back tears as the sight of him lying there, bleeding out on the floor consumed me for an eternal moment.

  “I’m fine,” he promised, grasping my chin and tilting it up so that when I opened my eyes again I was forced to look at him and see the truth of those words. “I’ve been living with that monster for a long time. This doesn’t come close to the worst he’s done to me.”

  A distressed whinny drew my attention from Darius and I glanced around to find Xavier still hovering right behind me with Catalina standing on the far side of the table. She hadn’t uttered a word though and the restrained way she held herself had me certain that she was suffering under Lionel’s thumb once more too.

  I pushed myself to my feet and moved around the table, taking her hand and driving Phoenix fire beneath her skin, seeking out the Dark Coercion the way I had all those months ago and finding new commands binding her mind to Lionel’s will. I destroyed each and every one of them and she gasped as she was released, winding her arms around me and pulling me close as a choked sob escaped her.

  “I’m so sorry, sweet girl,” she breathed. “For everything he’s done to you while I was forced to stand by.”

  I fell still in her arms, unsure what to do with a mother’s embrace and feeling the weight of it right down to the base of my soul. I’d never had this. Never even come close to it. And something about it awakened a part of me I always liked to pretend wasn’t even there. The part who longed for a mother who had loved her, a family me and Darcy could have called our own but would never know.

  “We don’t have time for this,” Darius said gravely and I turned to find him on his feet, his torn and bloody shirt sticking to his freshly healed skin as he looked at me and his mother with regret in his eyes. “He told you to put me back in my suite and he’ll notice if you take too long.”

  “Okay,” I agreed, having no other choice though my mind was still reeling at what had just happened.

  Darius cast a concerned look between his mother and Xavier then strode out ahead of me, leaving the others in the dining room with the half eaten meal.

  We stayed silent as we moved through the busy palace towards the suites that had been allocated for Darius and Xavier on the second floor of the King's tower. There were servants everywhere, scurrying from one place to the next and ensuring we weren't really alone until the moment we reached his room.

  When we stepped into the lavish suite that Darius had been given to call his own, he threw a silencing bubble up around us and slammed the door shut before pressing me back against the door and growling darkly. But I wasn't afraid. Even after all the reasons I'd been given to fear him, right then there wasn't a single piece of me that believed his fury was aimed my way.

  "Say the word and I'll take my chances against him now," he growled, his voice rough and pained as his grip on my waist tightened and he pressed his forehead to mine, overwhelming me with his presence and making my breath catch in my throat.

  "You can't," I breathed as the lights in the room began to flicker ominously, no doubt a warning from the stars about us being alone. "Please, Darius, don't do anything that will get you hurt."

  "I'm not letting you go to him," he snarled and I shook my head as every piece of me ached with the desire to be able to stay here instead, even though the prospect of that still terrified me too.

  "I have to," I replied simply, reaching for the door handle behind me as thunder boomed beyond the windows. If I lingered here, the stars would make sure everyone in the palace knew about it. Not to mention the fact that he was too close, his flesh too warm against mine, his presence too overwhelming and my scars too tender to figure out if I wanted that or not. Especially right now after I'd had to watch his father stab him. It was too much. He was too much. And I couldn't cope with it right now while Lionel was waiting for me.

  "Stay," Darius demanded, his voice a growl that ripped a hole right through me even though we both knew his request was impossible.

  "I can't," I whispered, twisting the handle at my back and swallowing the lump in my throat as I stepped out into the corridor, leaving him inside alone while my heart thundered in my chest.

  He didn't do anything to stop me from leaving but the look in his eyes cut into me as I closed the door between us again and sealed it up with shadows like Lionel had told me to.

  As the darkness writhed and twisted beneath my skin, I let the shadows delve deeper than I had all week, needing to coat myself in an armour made of them if I was going to have any hope of making it through the next part of this evening without giving myself away.

  I took a moment to try and compose myself, willing my pulse to settle, my tears not to fall. I couldn’t feel this right now. None of it. So I sank deeper into the shadows with a sigh of relief and let them consume every emotion burning through my blood until I couldn’t feel any of it anymore.

  I strode up the winding staircase of the King's tower, climbing higher and higher until I finally reached the top where the predictable sounds of Clara screaming out in ecstasy reached me from beyond the door.

  I released a shaky breath and pulled the shadows even closer, letting them lick their way along my limbs and sending shivers of pleasure through my flesh. I was treading a thin line, needing to stay lucid enough to be sure I’d stick to our plan for tonight while using the shadows to deaden me to everything else. But if I was going to be certain Lionel wouldn’t discover me, I had to be as emotionless as possible around him.

  I just needed to make it back to Darcy. That was what I had to focus on.

  “Give it to me, Daddy!” Clara screamed and I shuddered, trying not to think of the times over the summer when I’d been sitting in the room while he fucked her.

  Luckily for me, Clara wouldn’t hear any suggestion of me joining them during those activities which I hadn’t had much feeling on one way or any other at the time, but I was endlessly grateful for now. Lionel seemed to want to keep her happy and she had made it clear that as his favourite she was the only one who would be screwing him, which he seemed to go along with to appease her temper tantrums over other issues. Considering she was the one with the real control over the Nymph army, I could only imagine he was treading a fine line keeping her in check.

  I waited until I heard Lionel grunting his release, giving them a few more moments to pull their clothes on and pushed the door open before stepping inside.

  Lionel was laying in the centre of the bed with a pair of black boxer briefs in place and Clara's weird shadow dress had transformed into some semblance of a nightdress too. I hadn’t really given any consideration to that while I'd been under Lionel's control, but now that I thought about it, she never seemed to wear any real clothes. Even her hair seemed to be made of shadows. What was with that? Come to think of it, she never showered either. And only see
med to eat if she was joining in with our king, like tonight. What the fuck is she?

  I headed into the bathroom, collecting a nightdress from the closet on my way and changing quickly before drawing strength from the shadows and heading back to the bedroom where Lionel had already flicked out the lights.

  "Come, Roxanya," he growled irritably. "The bond won't let me settle without you close tonight."

  I knew all too well how that felt and I climbed into the bed with a mixture of relief and internal disgust at my situation before shuffling up against his body and relaxing a little as the bond was finally satisfied by the contact.

  Lionel leaned over me and took a syringe from the nightstand before taking hold of my arm and moving the needle towards it. I forced myself to stay calm, banishing the shadows completely as I prepared for what I’d known was coming as he drove the needle beneath my skin and dosed me with Order Suppressant once more. My Phoenix was pushed down deep inside of me and I felt so hollow without it that it stole my breath away and I had to fight not to react at all.

  Mildred had already been the one to dose me midweek and now that I had full access to my memories, I’d figured out that this was the routine. Twice a week. Tuesdays and Fridays. After Mildred had first done it, I’d almost panicked, but Gabriel had shown up out of nowhere and quickly given me the antidote. He’d sworn to me that he’d be watching to see every time they planned on dosing me again and no matter what, someone would be ready to dose me with antidote as soon as possible afterwards. In the meantime, all I had to do was be careful to stay clear of the shadows and I should be fine.

  Though as Lionel tugged me down to lay beside him and Clara shuffled close on his other side, I had to admit that my missing Phoenix was causing me more than a little concern. But I just had to wait until I saw Darcy once the two of them fell asleep and I knew I’d get it back again. So, for now, I just needed to play along.

  I lay with my head on the left side of his chest while Clara positioned hers on his right and he wrapped his arms around both of us, pulling us in tightly against him. My palm was flat on his chest right above his heart and as I lay there, I couldn't help but think how I could fix all of our problems with a single blast of magic.