The two of them were laughing and my skin prickled as I watched them, hungering for the chance to make her smile like that more often. The only other person I'd ever seen her truly let her barriers down like that for was Darcy and though I knew Gabriel was her brother, it still rankled at me to know there were walls she wasn't letting down for me yet.
Not that I could claim to have let her see all of me either, but I was trying. And I guessed she was too. So if the stars would just stop getting in our fucking way then I was certain we'd have a real shot at something here.
"Hey," I said to Gabriel, jerking my chin in greeting while my eyes stuck to my girl.
She looked intoxicating in that gold dress and I’d been caught up in fantasies about dragging her off to the throne room ever since I'd first laid eyes on her.
There had been something seriously exciting about being with her in there of all places. Like we were mocking the stars for pitting us against each other over who got to sit their ass on it. Of course, they got the last laugh by cursing us though.
"We need to get going," Gabriel said, barely greeting me and I noticed he looked away from me pretty fast too, like he had little to no interest in my presence.
"This way," Roxy said, taking his arm and tugging him down a corridor to our left.
I eyed the casual contact with a hint of jealousy. I was jealous of anyone who could be close to my girl without repercussions. Which meant I was basically a hot mess of envy at all times which was threatening to burn into rage at the slightest provocation.
I followed them down the corridor and Roxy glanced back over her shoulder at me with a small smile that made my gut lurch and I found myself smiling back like some happy little elf at Christmas. If I wasn’t careful that girl was going to make me fucking soft. Problem was, I didn’t have any inclination to stop her.
We reached the door to the Royal Seer's Chamber and Roxy opened it carefully.
Cool air washed out of the dark room and her high heels clicked on the marble floor as she stepped inside.
With a wave of her hand, Roxy lit a series of sconces set into the walls with her fire magic and a long chamber was revealed to us.
I moved in behind them as Gabriel headed to the left wall, tilting his head back to look up at the portrait of an elderly man holding a crystal ball, his eyes glazed as he foresaw something.
The walls were all hung with huge portraits of past Royal Seers, men and women, sometimes royals in their own rights, others just powerful Fae gifted with visions of the future.
Roxy strode to the far end of the hall and stopped beneath a portrait of a stunning woman staring up at a midnight sky with a silver tiara placed on her head.
"She was almost as beautiful as you," I murmured as I came to stand behind her, gazing up at Queen Merissa, Roxy's mother and the last great Seer known to roam the world.
"Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like to know her," Roxy said softly, her voice laced with regrets. "To have grown up loved by parents who wanted us and cared for us."
"We would have been raised together," I murmured, because I knew it was true. "You and Darcy would have been with the four of us from the start, night and day, Awakened early, trained to lead."
She looked up at me then, arching a brow. "And in that scenario you would have been happy with that?" she asked me. "For us to be your queens and for destiny driving you to be our Councillor?"
I looked at her for a tension filled moment as I considered it then nodded. "If your mother and father had been alive then there never would have been an alternative. You would have been raised for the role. You would have been perfect for it."
"But because your father killed my parents and tried to kill us, abandoning us to the foster system in the mortal realm, we're just a pair of dumb girls who will never be fit to rule in your eyes?" she challenged, that argumentative glint in her eyes which I equally loved and hated.
"I didn't say that," I growled.
"So you're ready to bow to me then?" she taunted and my spine straightened in a clear refusal of that.
"I don't want to fight with you," I said in a low tone and she scoffed.
"And yet all the time this hangs between us, aren't we always going to be fighting deep down? When it comes down to it, your family betrayed mine. Your father took everything from us. A chance to grow up loved in the world where we belong, the chance to come into our powers early and learn all the things you were gifted so easily. And even after everything that's happened, you still want to keep stealing from us, don't you? You still believe that you and the other Heirs are more suited to sit on the throne than we are. Even though it's our birth right. Even though we are more powerful than you. Even though we had to lose everything to get to where we are." Her eyes flashed with emotion which she rarely allowed anyone to see and I was caught between wanting to hold her and shake her.
"Roxy," I said in a rough voice, stepping forward and making a move to catch her arm as anger prickled through my flesh at her accusations. But she shifted so that I couldn’t touch her, my hand grasping nothing as she drew back and the beast in me growled angrily. "If I could go back and change it, I would. But that doesn't alter the reality we now live in. The Heirs and I have the political knowledge, strength of character and magical training to assure that we are the only realistic candidates to rule this kingdom once my father is dethroned. If you'd just stop being so damn stubborn and look at it logically then you'd see-"
"Enough," Gabriel snapped, stepping between us and fixing me with a furious glare which begged for me to smack it off of his face. "If this descends any further we will be discovered here and your bickering won't resolve anything. You're too stubborn and pig headed for that." His words could have been aimed at us both but the way he was glaring at me made it clear who they were intended for.
"Do we have a problem?" I snarled at him, but instead of rising to the bait I was laying for him, he just sighed.
"I deal with much more irritating men than you on a frequent basis, Darius, you won't rile me into a fight just because your pride is wounded. We came here for a reason and we need to see it through." He cast a pained look up at the portrait of his mother then strode away from me towards the chair which occupied the centre of the room.
It was a throne in its own right really, cut from glass which caught the light and seemed to sparkle with endless magic. It was inlaid with silver gemstones which I was certain were fragments of meteorites which mapped out all of the constellations over its surface.
Roxy moved after him, not wasting any more time on me and I muttered curses at her and myself in my mind as I followed on behind them. The sooner she accepted she was going to have to bow to us the better.
Gabriel fell still before the glass throne, reaching out to brush a finger over the armrest and stiffening as his gaze glazed with a vision for several seconds before he pulled his hand back and shook his head to dismiss it.
"We don't have long," Gabriel murmured and Roxy took hold of his hand, squeezing his fingers tightly before he looked over his shoulder at me. "You should record this," he said. "Because I don't know what I'm about to see, but I do know that it's quite possibly the most important vision I am going to have in my entire life."
I arched a brow and silently took my Atlas from my pocket before setting it to record.
Gabriel pressed a kiss to Roxy's head then guided her a few steps back from the glass chair before turning his back on it and slowly lowering himself to sit upon it.
He sucked in a sharp breath and the fire in every sconce in the room guttered out under a supernatural wind which kissed my skin and made me shiver. As we were plunged into shadows, Roxy's hand found mine in the dark and I held her tightly, blinking as I tried to see through the pitch-black. I flinched as deep blue flames burst to life in the sconces, lighting the place in an eery colour.
All of the gemstones set into the chair began to glow with some inner light and the constellations they made up were projected all ar
ound us, covering the walls, ceiling and floor as if we were floating amongst them ourselves.
Gabriel's hands clasped the arms of the throne, his knuckles turning white as his pupils seemed to glow with golden light until all that I could see in his eyes was that rich, golden colour like I was looking upon the face of a star.
"Hear me now, for his prophesy could change the course of fate itself," he said in an ethereal voice that wasn't his at all and Roxy's fingers tightened around mine as she sucked in an alarmed breath.
"Look east to the heart of the rising star when the wind calls to you and find the origins of your legacy," he said firmly before his voice seemed to multiply and resound off of the walls of the room and I was certain this next part was the prophesy he'd been waiting on.
“Two phoenixes, born of fire, rising from the ashes of the past.
The wheel of fate is turning and the Dragon is poised to strike.
But blood of the deceiver may change the course of destiny.
Beware the man with the painted smile who lingers close to your side.
Turn the scorned. Free the enslaved.
Fear the bonded men. Many will fall for one to ascend.
Suffer the curse. The hunter will pay the price.
Do not repeat the mistakes of the past. Keep the broken promise.
Mend the rift. All that hides in the shadows is not dark.
Blood will out. Seal your fate. Choose your destiny.”
The blue fire went out in a wave and the light from the crystals in the throne extinguished too as Gabriel's panting breaths came from the throne.
"Gabriel?" Roxy gasped, releasing me and darting forward as she lit a fire in her palm, the light from it blazing bright enough to illuminate her brother half collapsed on the throne.
I shut off my Atlas and moved forward to help her heave him to his feet.
"We have to go now. Vard is on his way here," Gabriel grunted, barely seeming able to stand as he stumbled towards the door.
“What’s wrong, do you need me to heal you?” Roxy asked worriedly but Gabriel shook his head.
“It’s not that. There are just so many visions pouring in on me right now that I can hardly bear the weight of them. I need to contain them for now and get somewhere I’ll be able to pull them apart and see them all one by one,” he explained.
“Let’s get out of here then,” I said.
I wrapped my arm around his waist and threw his arm over my shoulder before heaving him upright and propelling him towards the door, almost entirely supporting his weight on my own.
Roxy hurried ahead of us and pulled the door open before extinguishing her fire magic and stepping back out into the corridor.
"Not that way," Gabriel muttered as I went to turn right and I wheeled us around, half carrying him as we started jogging in the other direction.
Vard's voice caught my ear from behind us just as we turned a corner. Gabriel pointed at a tapestry depicting a Hydra standing on a mountainside before Roxy tugged it aside to reveal a staircase behind it.
I hauled Gabriel inside the servants’ passages, hoping none of them were currently using them and Roxy threw a silencing bubble over us as we started down the steps at a fast pace.
We took a turn and Gabriel reached out to open one of the King’s passages with the ring Roxy had given him so that we could slip into the safer tunnels where no one else would find us.
"You need to head back through there, Tory," Gabriel said, pointing at a bare patch of wall to our right. "Then you can circle around to the party though the gardens. Darius will head back another way."
"Are you sure?" she asked, her eyes flaring with concern as she looked from her brother to me.
"Yes," he insisted. "Now, Tory. This way should work. I'm almost certain."
She didn't look like she thought that was good enough, but she agreed before looking at me and meeting my gaze.
"Get back safe," she commanded me. "I'm trusting you with my brother, too."
"I'm on it, Roxy. You can count on me," I promised her and she nodded firmly. She clearly believed that much of me, even if I could tell that she was still a bit pissed about the divide we still felt over the throne. But she'd forgive me. She couldn't help herself.
She moved forward and pressed a kiss to Gabriel's cheek before turning and placing the briefest of ones on my lips.
My heart leapt in surprise and I barely even leaned into it before she'd broken away and was heading towards the hidden door again, leaving my lips tingling and my heart thrashing.
"We can finish that argument later, asshole," she said, her eyes lighting like the idea of that excited her. "In the meantime, just get Gabriel out of here."
I smirked in agreement to that challenge and she was gone a breath later.
"That way," Gabriel commanded, pointing down the sloping tunnel and I started moving, helping him along though he seemed to be leaning on me less already.
We took several turns and he finally stopped beside another blank patch of wall, taking his arm from my shoulders and breathing in deeply as he straightened.
"You good?" I asked him and he nodded before levelling me with a dark look.
"Yeah. But I wanted a word with you alone about Tory," Gabriel said, rolling his shoulders back as he straightened up.
"Oh?"
"Just don't fuck this up," he warned, fixing me with a death glare. "Because I see a series of scenarios playing out for the two of you and in at least half of them you act like a fucking ass. If you break her heart a second time, she'll never give you the chance to claim it again. Do you hear me?"
"You seriously think I don't already know that?" I growled. "I don't wanna hurt her. Not now or ever. But you can hardly expect me to just roll over and offer her the throne after all the-"
"I'm not talking about that shit," he said, waving a hand dismissively. "I'm talking about you and her. Just do it right. And the next time you wanna defy the stars to be with her maybe give me some warning so I can take a sleeping potion or something," he added with a look of disgust.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.
"That I caught way too many flashes of the two of you rolling about in the mud and I don't wanna see that shit. I can block those kinds of things out most of the time, but that was damn hard with the heavens so fucking angry at the two of you and all of their attention fixed on ripping you apart."
I smirked at the reminder, shrugging a shoulder at him. "Well it wasn't exactly planned."
"I know. But if the two of you are determined to go up against the will of the heavens over this then I think you should know that you'll be making plenty of enemies amongst them along the way."
"She's more than worth it," I assured him and his pissy mask broke into a smile.
"Good. That's all I needed to hear. Now fuck off back to the party before your father misses you." Gabriel used his ring to open the hidden door and I clapped a hand on his shoulder, feeling like we actually saw eye to eye on something for once.
"Are you gonna be alright getting out of here?" I asked him and he nodded, frowning slightly.
"My head is so full of visions at the moment that I can hardly make sense of them, but my family helped me build a room at our winter cabin which helps me to focus. I'm fighting the visions off for now but once I get there, I'll sort through them and hopefully we will have more to go on."
"I can stay with you and make sure you get out of the palace safely," I offered as his gaze seemed to slide in and out of focus with the visions that were pressing in on him, but he shook his head.
"I'll be alright. I have another Dragon waiting for me at the far end of the tunnel out in the trees. You need to get back to the party."
I nodded my agreement, watching him as he started to walk away until I was confident that he could manage alone before slipping through the hidden door and heading back out into the corridor within the palace.
At the first opportunity we could get, we were all going to have to try
and figure out the meaning of that prophesy. I just hoped that it was good news. Because it sure as fuck hadn't sounded all that promising.
W e’d hunted nearly every inch of the forest when my Faelight lit up something ahead of us.
“There!” I called, pointing it out and Orion shot over to it, letting me down off of his back.
He plucked the hat from a jutting out branch which was low on the tree trunk and my heart lifted as he passed it to me, a sigh of relief falling from my chest.
My foot caught on something on the ground and I bent down, pushing the leaves aside and finding Diego’s clothes there. My heart split apart as I pulled them from the mud and grief held me in a cold, unyielding grip. He’d tried to help us. And he’d died keeping Clara away from us. I would never be able to repay him for that and I missed him every day.
“Extinguish your Faelight,” Orion growled and his tone sent a tremor of fear through me as I quickly complied.
I got to my feet, meeting his anxious gaze as he listened to something out in the forest which I couldn’t hear.
“Get on my back,” he hissed and I hurried to jump up, holding on tight to his shoulders as I pushed Diego’s hat into my pocket.
“What is it?” I breathed, though our silencing bubble was hiding our voices anyway.
“I’m not sure,” he answered. “But we need to go.” He sprinted away through the trees, racing for the boundary so fast that the world became nothing but a blur of darkest greens and blues around me.
The glint of the icicles appeared up ahead and I pulled the stardust from my pocket, readying to throw it over us the second we cleared the wards. We were twenty feet from it, ten, five-
The world was ripped out from under me as Orion fell and I was thrown from his back with a scream, tumbling over the hard ground and casting a wall of moss to stop myself from rolling any further. I had no time to dwell on my panic though, I had to move. Fast.
Orion groaned in agony and I leapt to my feet, running back toward him in fear. He was on his back, writhing under the onslaught of some power I couldn’t see, but a sliver of moonlight gave me a glimpse of his eyes and they were swirling with shadow.
Zodiac Academy: Fated Throne Page 63
