Zodiac Academy 2: Ruthless Fae

I CIRCLED IN the darkening clouds, flexing my wings as a cold wind hit my left flank and sent a shudder racing across my scales.

Heat blossomed through my chest, building in pressure to an undeniable crescendo which I released in a burst of fire. It rode on the back of an ear splitting roar, but did little to dispel the simmering rage in my gut.

I circled the sky once more before banking hard and tucking my wings close as I dove towards the roof of the parking lot at the north of the school grounds.

I hit the roof at speed, my claws scraping into the concrete with a satisfying screech of protest.

I withdrew into my Fae form as a figure stepped out of the shadows, shaking off the residual feeling of fire in my limbs and rolling my shoulders back as my bones realigned.

“Took you long enough,” Lance muttered irritably as he tossed me a bag of clothes.

I snorted a humourless laugh as I started dressing myself. I was still pretty pissed at him over the whole detention thing but I’d decided to let it drop. We both knew no grudge between us would last and I didn’t want to get into it with him.

“Well if you’re the one telling me I’m late then I really must be. Besides you can blame Roxy Vega, she was out running later than usual and I was following her until she headed back into the House,” I said. 

“Aww did you have to fly in a few more circles, diddums?” he taunted. I zipped up my fly and he wrinkled his nose. “By the stars I’ve seen you naked way too many times.”

“Many women would pay good money to have that problem,” I teased, shrugging the shirt on. Not my shirt; his. I had no goddamn clothes left and though Lance was a pretty close fit for me, I didn’t enjoy having to rely on charity to dress myself. It was a goddamn travesty.

“I still can’t believe my room burnt down. This is the last place I want to be going tonight,” I spat.

The unexpected visit to my family’s manor wasn’t something I was looking forward to but I didn’t have much choice. I had already ordered myself a replacement wardrobe but it wasn’t so easy to order in the amount of gold I needed to keep my magic replenished. I was too damn powerful to be able to make do with a few trinkets and bits of jewellery. Not that I’d ever had much reason to complain about the depth of my power before now, but this was infuriating. The only place for me to get enough replacement gold quickly was the family vault which meant an impromptu trip home.

“Well I don’t exactly relish trips back there either but here we are,” Lance said dryly. “Perhaps you can see Xavier while you’re home anyway?”

At the mention of my brother, I perked up a little. He hadn’t spoken to me in nearly two weeks, my messages had gone unanswered and my parents had refused to hand the phone to him when I spoke with them.

I knew something was going on with him but I wasn’t sure what, and if only one good thing came from this trip then I would make sure that it was solving the mystery of why he’d been avoiding me.

“Yeah, it’ll be good to see him,” I agreed. 

I hated leaving him alone in that house while I was away at the Academy. I knew that without me there as a buffer, our father’s rages would fall on him more often and that knowledge sent a burning path of guilt through my veins. 

Xavier was lucky though; he never got it as bad as me because he wasn’t next in line. There wasn’t the same pressure on him that I had to endure and so Father’s gaze was more often turned my way. Which would certainly be true tonight. I had no doubt that he’d heard about the fire in my room already; things like that didn’t stay private in our world. I’d already seen several stories in the local papers and a few pictures too. My classmates were always willing to sell me out for a juicy story and a wad of cash so it was no real surprise but what was a surprise was the silence I’d received on the subject since from my father.

Silence with him was highly unlikely to be a good sign. It either meant one of two things; he had bigger issues to deal with right now or he was so mad that he couldn’t bear to talk to me at all. Both scenarios ended badly for me. I had no choice but to just press on with my trip to collect more treasure as planned though. It wasn’t like this was a social call. And if my father was pissed at me he wouldn’t just get over it. I’d have to face his wrath sooner or later regardless.

“You wanna take the highway and race there?” Lance asked, changing the subject and pulling me out of my tailspinning thoughts. We both knew what we were likely to be heading into but there wasn’t anything that would change the fact.

“You wanna lose again so soon?” I taunted.

“You cheated last time.”

“Overtaking you isn’t cheating,” I countered.

“It is when you cut me up and you aren’t wearing a helmet. You know I can’t put your life in danger,” he said, rolling his eyes at me as he pressed his thumb to the brand on his arm which linked us to each other.

“Well it’s not my fault that you’re so obsessed with me,” I joked.

“Yeah, maybe tonight’s the night I’ll finally pluck up the nerve to act on my undying love for you,” he mocked, leading the way towards the door which led down into the parking lot.

“I sure hope so,” I replied. “All the other girls will be so jealous if I’m the one who finally bags hot Professor Orion.”

Lance barked a laugh and punched me in the bicep. I smirked at him in the dark stairwell. It sucked that we couldn’t spend as much time together openly as we used to growing up. But since I’d arrived at Zodiac we’d had to downplay our friendship for more reasons than one. The amount of secret meetings we had together would likely make people believe we were having an affair if they ever caught wind of it.

“Actually, we should travel over there together tonight,” he said slowly, glancing around like he thought someone might be listening to us. “There are things we should discuss.”

“You’re probably right,” I agreed with a sigh of disappointment. I’d been looking forward to getting out on my bike and racing down the highway with the wind in my hair. I seriously needed some downtime to help me work through a bit of this rage that was eating me up, but we really did need to talk.

“I hear you broke up with the Sphinx,” Lance said, opening the door to the parking lot and leading the way towards his car. The top level of the lot was reserved for the Heirs’ vehicles and I’d pulled some strings so that he could park his Faerarri up here too.

“Marguerite? I was never officially dating her anyway. And she got… dull.” I shrugged dismissively. There wasn’t much point in me dating anyone so I never even attempted to have anything serious with any of the girls I was seeing. It was almost certain that I’d end up marrying my pig-ugly second cousin if my father got his way anyway. Not that I intended to let that happen without a fight. Either way, I’d need to find a pure blooded Dragon Shifter as an alternative if I wanted to marry someone else and there were very few of those available in this generation.

Lance unlocked his red sports car and motioned for me to climb in. I dropped into the passenger seat and settled back into the luxurious chair with a sigh.

Lance started the engine and I cast a silencing shield around us to make sure there was absolutely no way anyone could be listening in to our conversation.

“Did the FIB figure out how your room caught alight?” he asked, dropping the subject of my love life quickly in favour of what we really needed to discuss.

“They said it looks like an accident at the moment but they’re going to carry out a full investigation before they come to a final conclusion. I did manage to get back in there though and I confirmed what I’d suspected about the draining dagger,” I muttered.

“It’s gone?” Lance asked worriedly as we took the spiralling ramp down through the centre of the parking lot to the exit.

“Yeah. I melted all of the gold again and sifted through it; the dagger isn’t there. And if you’re sure the fire couldn’t have damaged it-”

“It would take a lot more than a house fire to destroy something that dark,” Lance replied. “I don’t even think Dragon Fire would do it.”

“Well then, it appears we have a thief in our midst.” Concern pooled in my gut.

“We can’t risk anyone finding out what we’ve been up to,” Lance said, his usual calm facade cracking just a little and letting me know exactly how much shit we were in.

“If someone has broken into my room and found that dagger then we could end up in serious trouble. But whoever it was clearly hasn’t handed it over to the FIB or any of the Professors. I’d already be in a jail cell if that was the case. So they either took it to blackmail me or to use it themselves. Either way, we need to get it back.”

“Francesca told me the FIB are going to be carrying out room to room searches of all the students’ rooms. They think someone’s got to be helping the Nymphs get on campus and are hoping to turn out some evidence.”

“That’s some pretty boring pillow talk, Lance. Maybe you need to work on your game,” I teased.

“I haven’t had any complaints,” he replied with a smirk. “And I don’t need advice on that from a kid.”

I smiled widely. “I’ll look forward to the wedding invite then.”

He scoffed dismissively. “She’s a Capricorn, we clash more often than we agree on anything. She’s too stuck in her ways to work with me long term. We both know that’s how it is and it’s not an issue.”

“Sounds just like all of my relationships whether we’re compatible or not,” I muttered. “Anyway, if the FIB conduct a search, that’s not a good thing, is it? If they find that dagger, they’ll trace it back to me.”

“They need a teacher to assist them because the students are minors – I could volunteer to help. I’d be able to sense the dagger if I got close enough to it.”

I grinned at the less than enthusiastic tone to his voice.

“What would I do without you?” I asked.

“Take more of your own beatings from your father for a start,” he replied.

The smile fell from my face at that comment and I turned away to look out of the window instead of responding.

The silence stretched between us and Lance sighed dramatically.

“Forget I said that. You know I don’t blame you for it.”

“Doesn’t make it any less true though, does it?” I asked. 

I felt guilty enough that I had to drag him away from his life every time I had to go home and knowing that I was putting him closer to my father’s rage only compounded my guilt. But if I showed up at home without Lance in tow, Father would punish us both mercilessly for it. 

His job was to protect me from any possible threats and Father seemed to think he’d have trouble doing that if we weren’t within at least a mile of each other at all times. Not that we stuck to that rule when he wasn’t around to check up on us but the damn bond certainly wanted us to. 

I’d once gone to Northern Terania for a long weekend with a girl I’d been seeing at the time and had spent the whole vacation pining for him because of the distance between us. I’d ended up flying back to him in my Dragon form in the middle of the third night, leaving the girl there and effectively ending that relationship. I’d found him blind drunk in his apartment after he’d tried to drink away his longing for me and I’d ended up staying there for two nights in his bed. The damn bond was twisted and humiliating sometimes. Thankfully we’d managed to resist the temptation to spoon each other. And we hadn’t spoken about it since. We hadn’t risked going too far from each other after that though either.

The only exception to that weird rule seemed to be when Lance had travelled to the mortal world to collect the Vega Twins. It was like the bond couldn’t sense that distance at all and for once I hadn’t even been aware of the link connecting us. But as neither of us had the slightest desire to spend any extended time with the mortals, it didn’t exactly help us. 

“Perhaps the next time we try to break the bond it’ll work,” Lance suggested halfheartedly. It hadn’t worked any of the other times we’d tried though.

The fact was that my father’s magic was too strong and we weren’t powerful enough to sever it. We kept hoping that that would change and I’d be able to free him from his bond to me but it never worked. As far as I could tell, Lance would be stuck protecting me for the rest of our lives and there was nothing we’d be able to do to free either of us from our connection.

I ran a thumb over the mark of his star sign on my forearm for a moment as I considered everything he’d lost for my father’s desires. It wasn’t like I would have wanted anyone else to be in his position; Lance was practically a brother to me, I more than trusted him with my life. But I never would have stolen his life from him like this to bind him to mine.

Eventually we made it to the outskirts of my family’s property and Lance guided the car off of the road and onto the long drive. I nodded to the guards at the gate and they opened it for us. It took another ten minutes for us to make it up the drive to the sprawling manor. Lance guided his car into the underground garage and parked it at the end of the line of my family’s vehicles. We exited into the echoing space and walked past the gleaming sports cars, immaculate four wheel drives and my own collection of motorbikes.

Silence fell between us as the weight of this place crashed over us. Most people enjoyed going home. I preferred being pretty much anywhere else.

We headed up the stairs into the main house and found my mother waiting for us in the atrium which was heavily decorated with golden ornaments. I could already feel my power replenishing itself just by standing in this house.

“How lovely of you both to visit,” Mother cooed, not mentioning the reason for us coming here. She obviously knew but she didn’t like to waste time discussing anything too interesting. She was a vapid creature, happy to amuse herself with pretty, petty things and leave the conniving to my father.

Her dark hair was perfectly styled as usual, swept into a neat bun at the base of her neck. She wore a deep purple dress which was so low cut that I squirmed uncomfortably as she pulled Lance into a hug, pressing her chest against him. He threw me a bemused expression over her shoulder and I grimaced in return. She descended on me next, enveloping me in a cloud of floral perfume as she air kissed me to avoid smudging her lipstick.

“I’ve missed you, Mother,” I said, which was true in a sense; I missed the idea of having a mother who could be more than just a walking talking mannequin but I’d long since stopped worrying myself over it.

“Darius, darling, the house is so quiet with you gone,” she said and I got the feeling that she meant that as a good thing. “Your father is just on a business call but he’ll find you before dinner.”

“Perfect,” I said, my heart sinking. For the tiniest of moments I’d hoped that his absence might have meant he was stuck in the city at a meeting or something and I could avoid seeing him tonight. I was never that lucky though. “Is Xavier around?”

For a moment I could have sworn Mother’s gaze darkened at the mention of my younger brother’s name but she painted on a smile quickly enough that I couldn’t be sure.

“He’s been a little under the weather. Perhaps it would be best if you left him in peace tonight,” she said smoothly.

I frowned. Xavier was the only member of this household who I actually wanted to see. There was no way I’d miss the chance to visit him while I was home, especially as he’d been weirdly silent in response to my calls and messages the last few weeks.

“I’ll check in on him while I’m here,” I said firmly.

Mother opened her mouth like she might object then shrugged dismissively. “I’m sure you’ll do exactly as you please, no matter what I have to say on the subject. Lance, won’t you join me for a glass of wine before dinner? I’ve hardly seen you recently.”

“I’d be delighted, Aunt,” Lance replied, letting her lead him towards the lounge. She wasn’t really his aunt but our families always insisted on us addressing each other like we were related. It was an age-old tradition. The Orions and Acruxes were bound by more than the stars. We were bound by power and greed, our families’ gifts used for each other’s benefit.

I turned away from them and hurried up the stairs. If something was going on with Xavier then my best chance of getting to the bottom of it would be by talking to him alone before our father finished his call.

I strode down the second floor hallway into the east wing and passed my father’s office. His voice carried to me and I hesitated a moment to try and gauge how long he might be occupied with the call.

“-told you what my decision is on this. I believe they could be of use in something very delicate so I want you to divert your attention from them for now. I’ll make my move on that front when the timing is right.”

I wondered vaguely who he had in his sights now but I wasn’t foolish enough to hang around outside his office eavesdropping. If he caught me doing that he’d whip me bloody.

I passed further down the corridor, skirting the library before heading up the rear stairs to the east tower where Xavier’s rooms kept company with mine.

I reached his bedroom door and rapped my knuckles against it loudly. I waited three seconds for a response before opening the door anyway.

My hand slipped on the door handle and I frowned down at my fingers as something gritty clung to them. Glitter caught the light, shining in a rainbow of colours across my skin as I looked at it in confusion.

“I’m surprised they let you come and see me,” Xavier’s voice came from the depths of his room and I moved inside, kicking the door shut behind me. The room was dark and I could hardly even see him in the wing-backed chair by the window.

“I’m a Celestial Heir; no one lets me do anything,” I joked, because we both knew I was still firmly crushed beneath Father’s thumb. At least as far as he knew; I’d been doing whatever I could to undermine his authority in secret for years now but I still wasn’t even close to challenging him publicly.

Xavier scoffed dismissively. “How’s school?”

“Fine. What’s going on with you?” I asked, refusing to be diverted.

“Gotten rid of the Vega girls yet?” he asked, ignoring me.

“Not yet. Why is it so dark in here? You look like a damn Bond villain lurking in that chair in the shadows.” I threw a few orbs of light burning into existence overhead and moved to stand before him.

“It got dark and I didn’t see the point of turning on the lights.” He shrugged and I frowned at him. Xavier was normally perky to the point of being damn irritating. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen him without a smile on his face let alone the morose expression he was sporting now. He looked downright depressed and his dark, curly hair was dirty, his clothes dishevelled like he hadn’t even showered.

“Tell me what the hell is going on,” I demanded.

Xavier looked up at me, his lips parting, his eyes filling with tears. Acrux men didn’t cry. Father had beaten that impulse out of us years and years ago.

I dropped down to my knees in front of him, catching his hand between mine. “You can tell me anything, Xavier,” I said seriously.

He gripped me tightly, looking into my eyes like he was afraid to find a lie hiding there.

“My Order emerged,” he breathed and the terror in his voice told me all I needed to about what had happened.

“You’re not a Dragon?” I asked, my own voice cracking with fear for him. Father would have been more than furious to discover that his son was anything other than a full blooded Dragon Shifter. It was a matter of pride and respect; he ridiculed families with mixed blood, he believed wholeheartedly in the superiority of our kind. One of his sons being anything other was totally unthinkable.

Xavier shook his head slowly, trying to withdraw his hand from mine as footsteps sounded on the stairs behind me but I refused to release him.

“It doesn’t change anything for me,” I growled. “You’re still my brother, I don’t care if you’re a Werewolf or a Vampire or a-”

“So he told you, did he?” Father’s cold voice came from the doorway behind me and the hairs along the back of my neck stood to attention in warning.

Xavier snatched his hand out of mine, blinking away the evidence of the tears which hadn’t even fallen. I stood before him, placing myself between him and Father.

“It doesn’t matter,” I said firmly, though the simmering rage in my father’s eyes told a very different story. “I’m the oldest. I’m the first in line anyway, Xavier never wanted to challenge me for that role so-”

“Yes, I still have my Heir but I’ve lost the spare. Did he tell you exactly what Order he is?” Father snarled, his eyes changing to their Dragon form and a trail of smoke leaving his nostrils. He was so angry about this that he was battling against the urge to shift. I didn’t think I’d ever seen him look so close to the edge before.

“Not yet. But surely it’s not the end of the world if-”

“Shift,” Father commanded, his gaze passing me to land on my brother.

Xavier got out of his chair and backed up, shaking his head in panic. His skin looked odd though, like there was light shining from within it, trying to break free.

“I told you, I’ll get control of it; I won’t shift ever,” he said anxiously. “No one will ever find out that I’m-”

“SHIFT!” Father bellowed, using fear to force the change on him.

Xavier cried out in panic as the light beneath his skin grew to a powerful glow and he bucked forward as his Order form took over.

I backed up as his form changed, giving him room to become-

“Fucking hell,” I breathed, my eyes widening in panic.

“My thoughts precisely,” Father hissed venomously.

Xavier had transformed into a lilac Pegasus complete with golden horn and rainbow patterned wings. His coat shone with glitter in the light of my magical orbs and his wide, horsey eyes looked back at us fearfully.

I stared at him with my mouth hanging open, scrambling for something, anything to say.

“I… didn’t know we had any recessive Pegasus genes in the bloodline…maybe he’s linked to the constellation,” I muttered, unsure what else I could say.

Father hated the weaker, more common Orders. He was a Dragon through and through; he loved power, invoking fear and breathing fire. A Pegasus was about as far as you could get to the opposite end of the Order spectrum. They were flying horses who pooped glitter, granted wishes and were… cute. Xavier hadn’t even been lucky enough to have a dark coloured coat, it was lilac. Lilac!

“I still think we should kill him to cover this up,” Father growled and I flinched at the casual way he said it, like murdering his son was a genuine option. “But your mother has finally grown a backbone and won’t allow it. She even came up with a backup plan in case I killed her too so that the information about this disaster would be leaked to the press the moment she died. So for now we’ve contained him here. This is a goddamn disaster. Can you imagine what the other Celestial families would say if they found out about this?”

I wanted to protest on Xavier’s behalf but I couldn’t think of a damn word to say.

“It’s… he’s… we can hide it,” I said finally, feeling a rush of love toward my mother for finally standing against my father in something. She might have been a poor excuse for a woman but deep down inside she loved her children and this was better proof of that than I ever could have imagined.

“Hide it? If he ever expects to be able to wield his magic, he will need to fly in the clouds to replenish it. Even if we gave him stacks of gold and claimed he didn’t like to transform for some reason, someone would see him prancing about at some point. There’s no way we can send him to the Academy next year. I doubt he will ever be safe to leave the house again!”

I shook my head in denial but I was so shocked that I couldn’t even think of anything to say to try and help my brother.

Father’s hand closed on my shoulder. “I need to talk to you about your actions, Darius,” he said, turning me away from Xavier. “This problem will have to wait and I can’t bear to be in a room with this abomination a moment longer. Think of the shame he could bring to our family!”

Father steered me out of the room and I cast a look back at my brother before the door could close between us again. He shuddered back into his Fae form and crumpled down to the floor, burying his face in his hands.

The door clicked shut and Father dragged me away, leaving that heartbreaking image seared into the backs of my eyelids.

I didn’t pay much attention to where we were going until we ended up in his office.

He closed the door and the sound of the lock turning drew me back to the moment as my heart leapt in response.

I made sure my features betrayed nothing of the inner turmoil of my feelings over the discovery of Xavier’s Order though. My face was a flat mask, expressionless, patiently awaiting whatever Father had in store for me.

“So.” He reached across the desk and swung the monitor there around to face me. Pictures filled the screen, my room on fire, the devastation following the blaze, my face filled with rage, me half-way through losing control of my Order form and leaping out the window as my clothes were shredded off of me. I silently thanked the assholes in Ignis House for leaking these shots to the press and made a vow to track each of them down and punish them for it. I glanced back at my father and spotted the simmering rage in his eyes.

I swallowed a lump in my throat.

“I’m told the FIB think the blaze was likely an accident-”

“I don’t give a damn how it started,” he hissed. Sometimes I’d have preferred it if he’d just yell at me. “What I care about is my Heir looking like a little fire just ruined his goddamn life. Like he can’t even control his Order form when things go wrong.”

“I…” I dropped my gaze from his and inspected the carpet by my feet. “You’re right, I should have kept my emotions in check. I’d just found out that our efforts on the night of the dance still hadn’t been enough to drive the Vegas out of the Academy and then all of my stuff-”

“Those girls are clearly tougher than we expected them to be after being raised in the mortal world. That approach isn’t working as effectively as we’d hoped… We may need other ideas about the best way to deal with them.”

My mouth fell open in surprise. He’d been hounding me into tormenting the twins. I’d been taking call after call from him to check on our progress with forcing them out. He’d pushed me to go to greater and greater lengths to chase them off. He’d made it clear that the Council saw this as a test of our strength and now they just wanted us to back off?

“Are you telling me to stop tormenting them?” I asked with a frown.

“Of course not. But it seems like you haven’t gotten a clear read on them. I want to meet them to figure out exactly what we’re dealing with.”

I gritted my teeth at the implication that I couldn’t manage this on my own.

“I don’t understand what you want me to-” I began.

“You don’t need to understand,” he replied darkly. “You’re my Heir not my equal, if I want you to do something then you will. I’m not interested in your questions on my methods.”

I bit my tongue against answering back, knowing it wouldn’t earn me anything good.

Father released an irritated breath, looking at the photographs on his monitor again. His jaw clenched as he scrutinised them.

“How many times have I taught you the importance of containing your emotions?” he asked quietly and my muscles tensed in anticipation of his next move. I knew what was coming.

The back of his hand collided with my face and I was knocked back a step as my lip split and blood coated my tongue.

I flinched a moment before the next blow landed and he snarled with rage at that minor failure. He closed his fist for the third strike and the force of his punch knocked me back into the bookshelf which stood against the wall and stumbling down to one knee.

The door crashed open and Lance ran in shouting out in anger as my pain called him to my aid through our bond.

Father snarled at him, throwing out a hand as he cast magic to hold him back.

Lance hurled his own magic into action, a powerful wind blasting into the room aimed directly at my Father. Before it could do what he’d intended, Father summoned his own air magic, catching Lance’s power in a net of his own and turning it back against him.

The maelstrom grew flaming talons as it whipped around my friend, slamming his arms down to his sides to immobilise him and halt his magic in its tracks. The flames grew into cords which tightened around Lance, burning through his clothes and searing his flesh as they held him in place.

Lance cried out in pain as he fell to the ground and my Father’s magic continued to burn him.

“Stop it!” I yelled from my position crouched on the floor, flames bursting to life in my right hand while a dagger formed out of ice in my left. I got to my feet and took a step towards the man who was responsible for everything bad in my life.

Father turned his steely gaze to me. “Are you sure you’re ready to challenge me, boy?” he spat dismissively. “Because I’d think long and hard about your next move if I were you.”

I glared at him, my gaze flicking to Lance and back again as I struggled with the fire which ached to be set free in my veins and the knowledge that I couldn’t win this fight. I wasn’t strong enough to face him. Not yet.

I shook my head slightly, lowering my eyes as I extinguished the flames in my palm and the icy dagger spilled through my fingers as nothing more than a puddle of warm water.

It took less than half a second for my father’s power to slam into me. I was thrown backwards, tumbling across the floor.

“You goddamn motherfucker!” Lance bellowed at my father’s back.

“Sometimes this bond I put on the two of you is such a nuisance,” Father snarled in response to his continued insults.

His boot collided with my ribs and the air was forced from my lungs.

I clenched my fists and bit down on the cries of pain which wanted to tear their way out of my throat. I knew each noise I allowed free would only earn me another kick. Another punch.

Lance continued to swear at him as his punishment progressed.

When he was finally done with me, he stepped back and straightened his tie as he healed the wounds on his knuckles. I lay panting on the floor before him, agony searing through my body and the Dragon in me warring beneath my flesh, desperate to escape. I held it in check though; if I transformed he would too and I’d be no better off.

“Clean yourself up before you join us for dinner,” Father said coldly as he strode from the room.

He was half way down the corridor before he released Lance from the hold of his magic and my friend cursed as he scrambled towards me.

I dragged myself upright using the edge of the desk and he caught my arm to steady me.

I spat a wad of blood from my mouth and he started healing my wounds without bothering to ask my permission. I knew they hurt him almost as much as they hurt me anyway and he wouldn’t take no for an answer.

I didn’t look at him while he worked, fixing my gaze on the photographs on my father’s computer instead. There was something about that fire that didn’t add up. Someone had taken that dagger which meant it was almost certainly set on purpose. They’d come at one of the most powerful Fae in the Academy, hell in the country, but why? Who would be that stupid? Who would risk my wrath when I caught them? The only people I could even think of who hated me enough to want to come at me like that were the Vegas, but the idea of them striking back at me was ridiculous. 

Whoever it was had already marked themselves for the full force of my vengeance. And I was sure as shit going to catch them. When I found out who the fuck had done it, I’d make them pay for the issues they’d caused me in blood and misery. 

My fist clenched with determination and anger burned deep in my chest.

“Did I miss any?” Lance asked as he finished healing me.

I shook my head; every injury was gone as if they’d never been there at all. They only ever scarred me in ways that weren’t visible.

I glanced at Lance, though I didn’t thank him. He didn’t want me to. It made things more awkward whenever I tried. The bond forced him to help me when I needed him to whether he’d choose to or not. Though I’d like to think he’d want to regardless, but the fact that his choice in the matter was taken away meant I could never be sure of that. 

There were bags beneath his eyes and I could tell his magic was running dangerously low after his altercation with my father and his efforts in healing me.

“Here,” I muttered, offering him my wrist.

He hesitated. We’d both agreed not to do this too often; whenever he fed from me it felt like the bond between us sharpened, grew to something more tangible and harder to resist. But he needed blood and I had power to spare in this gold-infested house. Even the door handles were solid gold.

Lance’s teeth slid into my flesh and I waited patiently as he took what he needed from me. An ache grew in my chest as he drew my power into him and I had to fight against the urge to pull him closer, to run my hands over his hair – I clenched my teeth.

This bond is so screwed up in so many ways.

“He’s getting worse,” I muttered. “Something will have to be done soon.”

Lance groaned as he forced himself to release me and took a measured step back even though I could tell it was a struggle for him to do so.

“Maybe we should escalate our plans,” he said, holding my gaze.

“Yes,” I agreed. “Maybe we should.”

“If you’re ready to push back harder, I can double my efforts in training you. Take it to the next level.” His gaze was wary as he suggested it, we both knew that what he was offering was dangerous, possibly even deadly. 

But if I wanted any chance of facing my father and winning then I needed every advantage I could get.

I squashed the flicker of doubt that rose in me and completely ignored the sliver of fear that trickled through my blood.

“I’m ready,” I said firmly. And even if we both knew that might not be the truth, neither of us mentioned the fact. It was time we started pushing back harder.

“We will need to be particularly cautious with the FIB on campus,” Lance warned. If we were caught then we both knew that even my family name might not be enough to protect us from the consequences.

I nodded firmly but didn’t back down. “I know. But it’s time we did this.”

Lance offered me a dark smile. “Then as soon as we get back, we’ll begin.”