Just one more day and maybe we can finally get an advantage in this war.
My Atlas buzzed and I tugged it out of my pocket, my mind going to Darcy. I’d hoped she might ask for my help with her magic, but since I’d last seen her, I hadn’t heard anything from her.
I was seriously pissed that Honey Highspell was fucking up my Cardinal Magic classes. I’d never thought I’d miss teaching, but apparently it had grown on me, because the thought of that witch standing behind my desk and treating my students like shit was infuriating. Only I had the right to do that.
My mood took a bigger dive as I found a message waiting for me from Seth fucking Capella. It was a photo of Darcy standing on the edge of Aqua Lake in a fitted white swimming costume that emphasised her breasts. Her hair was dripping wet and shining in the sunlight so I guessed it had been taken earlier today. There were other students around her in the water and from the looks of it, this was Physical Enhancement. Underneath the photo was a caption from Seth. Boner status: 10/10.
My fangs snapped out and it took every ounce of self control I had not to break the Atlas in my palms as my fingers crushed it. It was my only line of communication outside of this place, but fuck. Fucking fuck.
Another message arrived and I snarled like a tiger as I took in the next image. Seth was standing behind Darcy, her body wrapped in a towel as he hugged her and snapped the shot of them, his head resting on top of hers. She was pressing a finger to her lips, a wild mischief in her expression that made me want to rip my own eyes out.
The caption below it said: No law can keep me from my girl.
I lost it, pushing out of my seat and tossing my Atlas away from me before I did anything stupid with it. I started pacing, clawing at my hair and panting heavily. I was going to kill him. Tear his fucking head off slow enough that he felt every bone snap under my hands. I squeezed my eyes shut as I tried to rid myself of images of them together. Hugging, kissing, fucking.
“No,” I spat, snatching up a wooden chair and launching it at the wall.
It shattered into fifty pieces, but it wasn’t enough. I needed to see Seth torn into fifty pieces, not a fucking chair. I needed to make him hurt, make him fucking scream.
The sliding door opened and I wheeled around with a growl, my gaze falling on the girl stepping in.
The air rushed out of my body and my heart free fell in my chest. I’d longed for her to come and see me since I’d arrived here, but she’d never appeared. Even when Lionel had come to visit, he’d only ever brought Tory. Not her. But now my sister was stepping into this house, looking curious yet nothing like herself. Her hair was a dark sea of shadow and her body was wrapped in the same substance, the dress coiling around her flesh. I finally had her alone. And I didn’t know how the fuck to act.
“Clara,” I rasped, rushing toward her, but before I could get close, she locked down the shadows in me, making me slam to a halt a few feet from her.
“Hello, baby brother,” she purred, cocking her head to one side as she moved further into the summerhouse. “I’m not supposed to be here.” She giggled, looking around mischievously. “Daddy doesn’t want me visiting you.”
“And why not?” I demanded, my blood heating as she drifted through the room like a wraith.
My stomach twisted as I examined her. She wasn’t herself. The shadows had consumed her. But I’d seen pieces of my sister in her eyes, so surely she could come back to me? Tory had. So why not her?
“Because you’re a bad, bad boy,” she said with a psychotic smile. She climbed up onto the back of the couch, tiptoeing along it as she gazed down at me with intrigue.
“Listen to me,” I gritted out. “Lionel’s your enemy, you’re trapped in the shadows.”
She flicked her hand and I yelled out as the shadows wrapped around my insides, squeezing until it felt like my organs were going to burst. I only managed to stay on my feet because she was keeping me upright with her power. “Don’t you dare say a nasty word against Daddy. He looks after me, he loves me.”
“He doesn’t love anything but himself,” I snarled and Clara shrieked like I’d struck her.
She leapt off of the couch, landing in front of me and grabbing my face between her hands, taking in the familiar freckles dotting her nose. Her touch was ice cold and her eyes were clouded with shadow. Beneath them was a glimmer of my sister though, just waiting there to come out. I know you’re in there.
“Clara,” I croaked. “Don’t you remember me?”
Her gaze moved over my face, the anger in her features slipping away until a longing filled them instead. Tears started rolling down her cheeks and she drew in a small and hopeful breath.
“Lance,” she breathed, falling forward and holding onto me. The shadows stopped controlling my body and I gasped, wrapping my arms around her, her slight frame pressing to mine. Her shoulders shuddered and her nails dug into my back in desperation. “Help me,” she sobbed. “Don’t let me go. Let it end here. No more, no more, no more.”
Pain spilled through me at her words and I wished I knew what to do. I pressed her back, my heart thrashing as I caught her chin and tilted her head up to look at me. Her lower lip quivered and the fog cleared in her eyes, so her beautiful ebony irises shone back at me.
“Is it really you?” I asked in desperation and she nodded.
“I’m here. I’m always here,” she said with a choked noise. “But she’s here too.”
“What do you mean?” I demanded, holding onto her as I tried to figure out what to do. How the fuck could I help her??
She snarled suddenly, jerking away from me and whipping a hand out. The shadows forced me to the ground on my front and her bare foot dug into my spine. “Worthless little beast, don’t you touch me. Only my king can touch me!”
The shadows dug deeper, burrowing into my chest as agony splintered through my limbs. My jaw locked as I was held in their power and felt them winding around my heart, squeezing, squeezing, squeezing.
“It’s going to go pop, and then you’ll never upset me or Daddy again,” she hissed and I fought harder, trying to get away, but her power was all consuming.
“Stop!” Tory’s voice filled the air. “Our king wants him alive. He’ll hate you if you kill him.”
Clara paused, both of her heels driving into my back as she stood fully on top of me. “Hate me?” she gasped.
“Yes, he told me so himself,” Tory said firmly and the shadows suddenly loosened, letting me go so a breath of relief escaped me. “He’s looking for you.”
“Oh Daddy, what have I done?!” Clara ran out the door with a burst of Vampire speed, disappearing into the dark.
I pushed myself to my feet, healing myself. “Thank you,” I sighed and Tory smiled sadly, knocking the door closed behind her.
It haunted me every day knowing my sister was fucking Lionel Acrux. That she was imprisoned by the shadows. She wasn’t herself. I just didn’t know what to do. Tory had her Phoenix to help keep the shadows away now, but unless Darcy worked out how to drive the shadows from the rest of us, I didn’t know how I could save Clara.
“I have to help her,” I said heavily and Tory frowned, making me fear that she might voice what she had before. That Clara couldn’t come back. That she wasn’t in there. But I’d just seen it for myself. “Don’t say she can’t be saved,” I said gruffly, turning away from her dark expression.
“I wasn’t going to,” she said seriously. “Actually…now I’ve been a slave to the shadows myself, I think that maybe you’re right. But that still doesn’t explain how she could be alive after all this time.”
“I know,” I sighed, scraping a hand over my face before looking to the empty bottle of bourbon with a need in me that wouldn’t quit.
“Looking for more of this?” Tory taunted.
I turned and found an illusion shifting at her side, revealing a bottle of bourbon in her grip. I’d spent some time teaching her what I’d taught Darcy and fuck if the two of them weren’t quick learn
ers.
“You and your sister are going to surpass me one of these days.” I smirked and she mirrored my expression as she offered me the bottle.
I took it, grabbing another glass for her from the kitchenette and pouring us each one, all in under two seconds. “Why are you feeding my bad habit, Tory Vega?” I asked suspiciously.
“Well I figure you can heal yourself of liver rot whenever you like so it’s hardly that bad of a habit,” she said, sipping from her glass with a smirk.
“Cheers to that.” I knocked my glass against hers before draining half of mine, the burn on the way down to my stomach easing some of the suffocating pain of seeing my sister like that.
“So, I actually have another little gift for you,” she said, falling onto the couch and I moved to sit in the chair opposite.
“I can’t believe you remembered it’s my birthday,” I said in surprise and her lips popped open.
“Yeah…of course I did dude,” she said, trying to play it off. “Hence all the gifts, duh.”
“It’s tomorrow.” I grinned tauntingly and she scowled.
“Alright, whatever, I didn’t remember. But I clearly get brownie points because my subconscious was like ‘bring Lance a bunch of cool shit.’ And I’ll even let you off the dick kick today as I’m feeling extra generous. So do you want my gift or not?”
“Go on then. But unless it’s a key to my freedom, the reinstating of my position of power in society, and your sister wrapped in a bow in a mood to forgive me, it’s probably not gonna be what I want.”
She sniggered. “Keep dreaming about the second two. But the first one…” She wiggled her eyebrows and reached into her pocket, taking out a gold ring with a red stone embedded in the top. “I found this in the King’s quarters today,” she whispered. “I think it was my father’s.”
“Oh Tory…I couldn’t wear that.”
The twins had told me all about the vision they’d had of their father being Dark Coerced by Lionel, and it had fucked with my head ever since. I’d hated the Savage King on principle for years. I’d wanted more than anything for Darius and the other Heirs to claim the throne together so the Vegas couldn’t take it back from them, fearing the blood of their father running in their veins. But I’d been so fucking wrong. Not just about them, but about him. The whole kingdom had blamed Hail Vega for the atrocities he’d caused, and all along it had been his devious friend whispering in his ear instead. It changed everything. And nothing. Because it was done, history. But it gave me a thousand more reasons to despise the Dragon King. As if I need any more of those.
I’d been a total hypocrite anyway, worrying about what the Vega twins might become back then based off of their father. I’d always stood by Darius despite how awful Lionel was. Maybe bad people were born not bred.
“You can and you will.” Tory jumped up. “So, the other day me and Gabriel made one of these rings for him and I decided to make you one too. I used a little binding spell to put my blood in this stone here and spelled it with some of my magic too. Which basically means this is a key to the King’s passages.” Her eyes sparkled excitedly and the bottom dropped out of my gut.
“I can’t go beyond the shadow boundary either way,” I said, my eyes fixed on that ring.
“Except, I think I can maybe let you,” she said, moving toward me and reaching for my wrists. Her fingers wound around the dark rings of shadow twisting beneath my flesh and I looked up at her in concern.
“What if Clara can feel it?” I asked.
“She won’t,” Tory said confidently. “Because I’m not going to break the bonds. I’m going to shield them.” Shadows coiled out from her palms and I felt the call of them in my bones, begging me to sink into their hungry embrace. A sigh left me as she pressed them beneath my skin and their cool touch wrapped around my wrists. The bonds were slightly larger now, but it wasn’t noticeable as she shut her eyes and whispered something under her breath I didn’t understand. It barely sounded like her voice at all and my blood chilled at the thought of the shadows speaking through her.
“There,” she said, stepping back with darkness swirling around her irises. “That should work.”
“I can’t run,” I told her, shaking my head. “Even if this does work, I can’t leave this place. Lionel will have the FIB hunt me to the ends of the earth. I wouldn’t be able to help you or Darcy or-”
“I know,” she said, her brows pulling together. “But this means you can come and go without Lionel ever knowing. And when it’s time to run, you can. It’ll be better than him throwing you back into Darkmore, right?”
The weight of what she was offering pressed down on my heart and though I didn’t like the idea of living the rest of my life on the run if Lionel remained in power, at least it was an option. And possibly a better one than twenty five years in prison. When I’d found a way to save Clara, when the twins had the Imperial Star…if it all came together, maybe then I could go.
I opened my mouth to thank her, but she spoke over me before I could.
“Let’s see if it actually works first,” she said with a nervous laugh, drawing me up from my seat and gesturing toward the secret hatch in the kitchenette.
I reached for the ring and she handed it over, the brush of her magic humming from the metal as I slid it onto my thumb and making me feel weirdly close to her as I looked up and gave her a smile.
“Ah, shit, you’re gonna cry, aren’t you?” she teased. “Suck it up, dude, I can’t deal with you getting all emotional on me.”
“As if,” I scoffed, twisting the ring back and forth as I got used to the feeling of it sitting there. “But Darius might when he realises I’m clearly your favourite.”
“Uh huh. You can tell him I got down on one knee when I gave it to you too, give him something to really get worked up over.”
“I think I prefer my head attached to my shoulders thanks all the same,” I joked and she nodded towards the kitchenette again to remind me of what I was supposed to be doing.
I walked over to it, crouching down and pressing my hand to the faint Hydra mark hidden in the pattern of the floor tiles. It lit up under my touch and I looked up at Tory with my heart pounding. “Well fuck me.”
“No thanks, dude.” She grinned as I opened the hatch.
“It wasn’t an offer.” I smirked.
“It’s still a no.” She nodded to the hatch. “Go on, see if you can get out of here. What’s the worst that can happen?”
“Lionel will eat me whole in Dragon form then shit me back out just so I can continue to work on finding the Imperial Star?” I suggested and she laughed.
“If it sets off the alarm, you can shoot back here and I’ll tell Lionel I got carried away torturing you and threw you across the boundary. He won’t bother to question me because he thinks I’m his little lap dog.”
“Alright. Fuck it.” I dropped down into the tunnel and shot away with a burst of speed. I took a left as the path split, mentally mapping out the grounds above me in my mind and tearing along in the dark with a whoop of exhilaration. I hadn’t run this fast in too long, it felt fucking incredible. I reached the far end of the tunnel and cast a Faelight above me, hunting around the dead end with a frown.
Another Hydra symbol caught my gaze and I shot toward it, pressing my hand to the mark so it lit up like a star. My pulse drummed in my ears as the roots above me in the earth twisted and grew down, forming a stairway that led above ground. I hurried up it, finding myself out in a dark wood that must have been beyond the palace walls.
A laugh escaped me then I raced back down the stairs, zooming along the tunnels as fast as I could before making it back to the hatch. I pulled myself out and looked to Tory who was smiling.
“Well?” I asked. “No alarm?”
“Nothing,” she said then reached into her pocket and waved a pouch of stardust at me. “So if you ever need to run, you run like the fucking wind, got it?” She tossed me the pouch and I caught it.
“Got it,
” I said, grinning and tucking it into my pocket as I shut the hatch. “Where did you get that stardust from anyway?”
“Totally stole it from Darius. He’s way too easy to pickpocket for someone who believes he’s all powerful.”
I barked a laugh, making a mental note to taunt him over that when I saw him later and Tory glanced at the clock with a frown.
“I’ve gotta go back to the palace,” she sighed and my heart sank for her. “You’d better save some of that bourbon for your birthday tomorrow.”
“Nah, no drinking tomorrow, Tory. It’s the full moon.”
“So you’ll get to read that diary all night long like a total geek? Seems like your ideal day,” she said with a hopeful expression and I gave her a tight smile.
My idea of an ideal day was something I could never have again. But I wasn’t going to bother voicing that and dragging her into my ongoing pity party.
She headed to the door, waving goodbye before fixing on her resting bitch face and stepping outside. My chest tightened as I watched her go, knowing she was returning to the arms of Lionel and there was nothing I could do to help her or my sister. Not yet anyway. Darcy would figure out how to burn the shadows out of Darius then she would do it for everyone. I knew she could do it. And every time I suffered under the onslaught of fire she poured into Darius’s veins, I knew it was worth it. Because she was going to work it out and free us all.
I headed back to my faithful friend bourbon and watched the clock tick around to midnight as I drowned my sorrows.
Happy birthday to me.
I thought over my last birthday with a longing in my soul, missing those times. I still had one of Darcy’s IOUs tucked into my wallet, and I guessed it would stay there until it rotted now. She didn’t owe me shit. Never had, never would.
My head grew fuzzy and I was definitely deep into the land of wasted when my phone buzzed.
I picked it up and found another photo sent from Seth that immediately raised my hackles. It was a picture of the rose quartz I’d given Darcy, sitting in his palm, a symbol of my love for her, my fucking commitment.
Zodiac Academy: Fated Throne Page 42
