Zodiac Academy 4: Shadow Princess

My room at the academy seemed to echo with an empty kind of hollowness as I lay in my bed. The whole place was deserted as almost everyone spent the holidays back at home and the quiet here was more than strange. 

I didn’t mind the solitude though after the horror of the Nymph battle. And at least here the reporters couldn’t hound us. I’d already had to ask for a new Atlas ID because mine had been leaked and I’d been inundated with emails, calls and texts from every fucker and their old aunt Deirdre wanting to know more about our roles in the fight. We’d agreed to do another interview with Tyler’s mom in the new year just to give them something, but other than that we’d decided not to comment. The whole of Solaria seemed to be praising us as heroes and hailing the return of us as their Queens and it wasn’t like we could just offhandedly deny that we were back to claim our throne.

On the other hand, we could hardly stake a claim either. Lionel had been trying to get in touch too and Orion said that the only reason he hadn’t already shown up here to demand answers from us was because he was needed to head up the war effort with other Councillors. It hadn’t even been twenty four hours since the fight at the palace, but there had already been six more reported battles against our enemies across Solaria since then.

A part of me was just glad that we didn’t have to take part in those fights, but another part ached to get out there and help. We had power which was so potent against the Nymphs and it felt wrong for us to be hiding away while others risked their lives trying to fight them without our fire.

But Orion was right. We weren’t trained. We hadn’t even begun Elemental Combat lessons yet. And Lionel just might be out for our blood. So it was best we stayed here.

I shifted uncomfortably as I tried to find my way to sleep, but it was proving impossible. My mind was just too full of everything from the battle to all the things we’d discovered in the palace about our parents and our heritage. 

For a little while I’d begun to let myself think of the palace as my home, but I was beginning to wonder if I’d been deluded to feel such a connection to a building. I didn’t know why I’d felt such a bond to it, but it had almost seemed like the walls themselves had hummed with a familiar kind of energy.

I pulled my Atlas from my nightstand and sat up as I searched the internet for my answer. It didn’t take long for me to find a few articles on the way the Palace of Souls had been built. Each generation of Vegas had added to the construction with their own magic, imbuing the place with the very essence of their power as well as adding to the structure itself. So I guessed I had my answer. The magic of my ancestors ran through that building just as their blood pumped through my veins.

“Come to me…”

I dropped my Atlas into my lap and looked up as if I might see the owner of that voice looking back at me. I hadn’t heard her calling to me at all while I’d been in the palace and I wasn’t sure if that had to do with the place or the fact that I’d been too happy there to even think about the shadows. There had been plenty of drama thanks to the Heirs and Councillors showing up, but I’d still been enjoying myself even then.

At least I had been until the attack.

“The hour is drawing closer. Build the bridge…”

The Shadows shifted beneath my skin and I closed my eyes as a little wave of pleasure trailed after them. I might not have been tempted by the shadows while we were in the palace, but here they seemed to call to me all the damn time.

My eyes fluttered shut and for a moment I saw her. The girl who called to me and begged me to save her from the dark. Orion’s sister didn’t look much like him apart from her eyes which burned with the same intensity as his.

“The time draws close,” she hissed, reaching for me.

My limbs grew cold and the shadows wrapped themselves around me more tightly.

Pain cut across my forearm and I gasped as the shadows rushed tighter and ecstasy spilled along my flesh.

I was vaguely aware of the fact that I was bleeding, that I’d cut my arm open with a shard of ice to let the darkness in, but I couldn’t draw my attention away from the pleasure long enough to care.

Pain carved into my arm again and I moaned as more pleasure raced after it. It almost seemed like the shadows had taken hold of my body and were guiding my actions to draw me closer to them. But it felt so good that all I wanted was more of it. More and more until it swallowed me up and I was consumed by it.

“Roxy!”

Fire blazed around me and suddenly I wasn’t alone in the dark anymore. A man stood with me, shrouded in flames with giant golden wings sprouting from his back.

His hand took mine and I was dragged from the shadows so fast that my head spun.

I drew in a shuddering breath as I found myself lying in my bed with Darius straddling me, his grip tight around my wrists and his flesh hot with the power of his fire Element. Healing energy danced along my arm, closing my wounds.

“Are you back?” he asked desperately, his gaze locking with mine as his eyes burned with a wild kind of panic.

I drew in a deep breath, panting as I tried to get my bearings again. “What happened?” I asked, frowning as I tried to figure out how I’d gone from sitting in my bed to almost drowning in the dark in the space of a few minutes. Or had it been hours? I felt so lost, like I wasn’t sure what way was up or what my own name was. There was just one, solid thing tethering me to this place and he was staring at me like he didn’t know whether to kill me or kiss me.

I made the decision for him as I reared up and pressed my mouth to his, groaning with need as he met my kiss with a passion so dark I felt like I was drowning all over again.

Darius’s grip on my wrists tightened painfully as he pinned me down, driving me into the bed and kissing me so hard it seemed like he was trying to steal something from me with the brutality of it.

He drew back suddenly with a growl of anger, locking me beneath him with both his grip and the fire in his eyes.

“I just dragged you back from the clutches of the shadows,” he snarled. “Why the hell were you feeding them your blood?”

I frowned at him as I tried to figure out what had happened. “I don’t know,” I breathed eventually. “I don’t remember…”

“Well try harder.” The fire in his gaze was catching and I could feel my own temper rising up to meet his.

“I told you, one minute I was just sitting in my bed and the next I could hear Clara calling to me. I don’t remember much after that except waking up with an asshole on top of me.”

“From what I gather that last part is pretty much standard for you,” he snapped.

“Fuck you.”

“Again?” he taunted and my Phoenix bristled with anger as I squirmed beneath him, trying to free myself from his iron hold.

“Not likely,” I snapped. “I’d sooner burn all the skin from my body than let you touch it again.”

“That would be why you just kissed me like that then,” he said with a smirk which said he thought he owned me.

“Get the fuck off of me,” I demanded, yanking on my wrists as I tried to buck him off. He had about thirty seconds before I was gonna call on my Phoenix to light a fire right beneath his balls.

Darius laughed without any humour and shoved himself upright before stepping back to lean against my desk. “Get up and get dressed. You’re coming to King’s Hollow to explain to the other Heirs exactly why you hid your true Order form from them. I suggest you play the dumb little mortal card and claim you didn’t know. Because if you can’t convince them, you’ll be answering to the Councillors.”

“Maybe I don’t plan on answering to anyone,” I replied, pushing myself up so that I could stand and face him. He was still so much taller than me that I had to tilt my head back to meet his eye but I didn’t care. I wasn’t going to let him stand over me like my superior.

“Well your plans don’t mean shit to the Celestial Council. And they don’t mean much to me either. I’ll drag you there if that’s what it takes. So are you gonna get dressed or are you wearing that?” Darius’s gaze slid over my baggy sweats and crop top like they genuinely offended him and I was more than tempted to keep them on just for that reason.

I sighed loudly to let him know he was the most irritating person I’d ever met. “Fine. Are you gonna just stand there and watch me get changed?”

Darius hesitated like he might really have been thinking he’d do that then rolled his eyes as he headed for the door. He paused before leaving me to it and looked back with a frown.

“If you’ve lost control over the shadows then we need to do something about it. Do you swear you didn’t intend to cut yourself?” he asked, the asshole portion of him hidden again for a moment.

I pursed my lips, half tempted to lie to him but the truth was more terrifying than the idea of trusting him with this small sliver or honesty.

“I didn’t,” I replied. “I really don’t know what happened…”

Darius frowned. “I’ll talk to Lance and we’ll figure out what to do.”

The door closed between us with a snap before I could reply and I decided to ignore the little part of me which was wondering why he even cared.

I shot a message to Darcy, warning her that the Heirs wanted to see us incase Seth was headed her way too. I was guessing Orion had stayed with her last night and I doubted she wanted the Wolf asshole catching them in the act again.

Sadly, I was too late to save her from that fate and her reply told me that she was already walking to the Hollow with Seth now.

I tossed my clothes off and snatched a bikini top from my drawer before pulling on a pair of high waisted leggings too. I grabbed a sweater from the cupboard and moved to my window with a smirk.

If the Dragon asshole required my presence at the Hollow that was fine. But I didn’t have to endure the walk down there at his side.

I climbed up onto the window ledge and threw the window wide with a laugh.

My back tingled as I called on my wings and I leapt off of the ledge with a whoop of excitement half a second before they burst from my flesh.

The golden feathers blazed with fire which warmed my skin and drove out the final dregs of the shadows as I flew hard and fast straight towards the heart of The Wailing Wood.

I laughed aloud as the wind clawed through my hair and pushed at the feathers of my wings.

All my life I’d ached for a pure kind of freedom and I found it in its simplest form when flying through the clouds. My skin buzzed with the joy of the flight and I could feel each and every burden I carried just slipping away from me as I spun and soared through the sky.

A huge roar sounded behind me and I turned with a laugh as I spotted Darius taking chase in his stunning golden Dragon form. 

I dove from the clouds and shot straight towards the centre of the forest.

The air stirred behind me as he drew closer and his powerful wings sent my hair swirling with each beat.

Darius turned sharply, diving into the trees as he spotted King’s Hollow before I could and I gave chase. He landed on the roof of the enormous tree house with a thump and I dropped down before him with a smirk.

He looked at me for a long moment, his bright, golden eyes watching me through the reptilian slits of his pupils. His nose bumped my chest and I reached out on instinct, running my fingers over the glimmering scales between his eyes.

“I like you so much better when you can’t talk,” I mused.

He snorted derisively and I was shrouded in smoke for a moment. By the time it cleared, Darius stood before me in his Fae form. “But then you wouldn’t be able to bite back at me with such force, Roxy. And as much as you might claim to hate that, I think we both know it gets you going. You might hate me. But you like hating me way too much to want it to just stop.”

He didn’t wait for me to reply before lifting a hatch in the roof and dropping inside.

“Dipshit,” I muttered.

I withdrew my wings and a shiver ran down my spine as they disappeared again and I pulled my sweater over my head.

I dropped down into the treehouse, following Darius and finding the space inside empty aside from him. He’d pulled on a pair of black sweatpants, leaving his chest bare as he headed into the kitchenette and started up the coffee machine.

His back was to me and I frowned as my gaze lingered on the two biggest tattoos which ran over his broad shoulder blades. I’d never really looked at them closely before but as I did, my lips parted.

“You have a Dragon and a Phoenix fighting on your skin,” I pointed out like he might not already know. Fire danced across the space between the two beasts, licking against each other in a raging inferno.

“Well don’t go thinking I got a tattoo for you, Princess,” he taunted. “You might be a fucking tom cat in the sack, but I had that tattoo long before I ever set eyes on your pretty face or got my hands on your body.”

“I didn’t think you’d gotten a tattoo for me,” I snapped, moving closer to him as he turned to face me. “I just think it’s a weird coincidence.”

“You never struck me as the kind of girl to turn all stalker on me just because we’ve hooked up a few times,” he said, watching me over the rim of his coffee cup as he took a long sip.

“Oh please, I’d sooner stalk a fart on the wind than start mooning over you,” I replied, rolling my eyes. “You should get over yourself, Darius.”

“Maybe you should get over me,” he countered. “Because you’re the one who had their tongue half way down my throat ten minutes ago.”

“Well don’t worry about it because it won’t be happening ever again,” I promised.

Darius set his coffee cup down and moved towards me suddenly, walking so close that I was forced to back up against the wall to try and escape him.

He rested his hand on the wall beside my head and leaned down close so that his mouth was mere inches from mine. My heart pounded out of rhythm from his proximity but I kept my expression set to unimpressed as I held his eye. 

“You can deny it as much as you like, Roxy, but you and me are going to happen over and over,” he promised, the scent of him wrapping around me and the heat of his flesh blazing so fiercely I could feel it despite the inch of space dividing us. “So no matter how much you hate me or despise me or wish you didn’t want me in any way at all, there’s no stopping it. You don’t feel fire like that and just let it burn out.”

The sound of a door opening came from downstairs and Darius shoved away from me like he hadn’t said a word.

I glared at the Phoenix on his back as he walked away from me, collecting his coffee and taking a seat by the fireplace. He flicked his fingers towards it and a fire burst to life just as the others all appeared.

Darcy looked less than impressed as she walked into the room with Seth’s arm wrapped around her shoulders and Max on her other side.

Caleb’s jaw was set in a tight line and he frowned at me as he came in last.

“Good, we’re all here,” Max said darkly as he looked between everyone and took a place standing before the fire.

Darcy shrugged out of Seth’s grip and moved to sit on the couch while I stayed on my feet with my arms folded.

“Sorry we’re a bit late, Darcy begged to give me a blowjob on the way here and it seemed rude to refuse,” Seth said casually, dropping down beside my sister as if he didn’t notice the shudder of disgust that ran through her at his words.

I rolled my eyes at him, biting my tongue on flat out calling him out on his bullshit. “Well no doubt it took her a while to find your tiny dick in amongst that big old Werewolf bush she told me you’ve got going on down there,” I replied mockingly. I might not have been able to call him out on his lies while I was supposed to still be in the dark about the truth between Darcy and Orion, but I’d soon figured out the best way to disarm him. I just made out that Darcy had shared all kinds of unflattering details about him with me and he couldn’t really argue against them unless he wanted to admit to his lies.

Seth growled but didn’t rise to bite back at me and Darcy smirked at me gratefully.

“Why were you lying about the truth of your Order forms?” Caleb demanded, ignoring our back and forth as he cut to the reason we were here.

“We weren’t,” Darcy replied innocently, giving them the story Orion had suggested we stick to after we’d returned to the academy last night.

“All we knew was that we had wings and some kind of crazy fire magic,” I added with a shrug.

“We weren’t the ones who said we were Fire Harpies,” Darcy said with a nod. “And it’s not like we know anything about Orders, let alone extinct ones.”

“I don’t really see what the big deal is,” I finished.

The Heirs exchanged loaded looks and Darius just watched the fire.

“You don’t see what the big deal is?” Max asked incredulously and I could feel his Siren gifts trying to find a way past my Phoenix fire, but it danced beneath my skin and kept him out as easily as breathing.

“Orion said something about it being why we’re impervious to fire and about it guarding us against mental magics like Siren spells,” Darcy said thoughtfully. “Which is handy, I guess.”

I almost laughed out loud and had to raise a hand to cover my mouth and fake a cough. Caleb narrowed his eyes on me like he didn’t buy it, but what could he really do?

“So you just expect us to believe you had no idea?” Caleb scoffed.

“In the same way that we had no idea that we were Fae or that magic even existed or that we were Princesses? Yeah I expect you to believe we were once again left in the dark about our true natures. Sorry if you think we were secretly planning a Phoenix bonding session without you or whatever, but I don’t really see what you think we would have been trying to achieve by lying about what we were.” I arched an eyebrow at him and folded my arms like I was pissed about being here and had zero idea what he meant.

Darcy nodded firmly in agreement and I almost smirked at the sense of déjà vu that gave me. I couldn’t even begin to count the amount of times I’d lied like this to foster parents, teachers, social workers or even cops while Darcy bit her tongue and agreed with a firm nod, knowing she was too much of an open book to front out a bare faced lie if she spoke too much.

“Fine,” Darius said, piping up at last. “It doesn’t matter anyway. So what if they’re Phoenixes? Their magic still can’t rival ours, but they’re handy in a Nymph situation. I don’t think they need to have a discussion with our parents about it if that’s all they know. Do you?” He looked between the other Heirs and they seemed to agree with him, albeit a little reluctantly.

“I thought you’d be the most pissed about this,” Max said, frowning at Darius. “They’re impervious to fire. Even Dragon Fire. Doesn’t that mean-” 

“It doesn’t mean anything,” Darius said with a shrug, lying so damn well that I had to believe he’d been at it as long as me. And when I considered the monster who’d raised him, I guessed I could imagine why he’d be good at that. “They might not burn, but they can still drown.” Water slid between his fingers in a clear threat and I bristled internally as he casually suggested that of all things. He might have been trying to cover for us to some degree, but it was only because that served him and his vendetta against his father. He didn’t give a shit about us. He clearly held no remorse for any of the things we’d suffered at his hands. He’d almost drowned me once and he would clearly do it again if he felt he was justified in doing so.

“Can we go, then?” Darcy asked, pushing to her feet.

The Heirs looked like they might protest, but I didn’t see how they could.

“So long, asshats. We’ll leave you to your dastardly plans,” I said casually as the two of us strode for the door and none of them made a move to stop us.

Darcy and I stayed silent as we made our way out of King’s Hollow and she tossed a silencing bubble up around us as we headed away from them at a fast pace.

“Do you think we did enough to keep the Councillors away from us?” she asked, worrying at her bottom lip.

“Hopefully,” I agreed. “But if we have to face their questions too, we’re ready. Even Lionel’s Dark Coercion can’t breach our mental walls so we can do it if we have to.”

Darcy’s Atlas pinged and she drew it from her pocket, her expression softening as she saw who it was from and I rolled my eyes at her. This thing with Orion was making her all gooey. It was adorable in a slightly terrifying way. Because as much as I loved to see her happy like that, I just couldn’t see how they were going to make this last long term. At what point would it be acceptable for them to be open about their relationship? We had to survive four years at the academy with him as her teacher and even if they weren’t caught, then how could they suddenly say they’d decided to get together after the fact?

“He’s asking where we are,” Darcy said as she typed out a reply. “Apparently Gabriel’s seen something about New Year’s Eve and-”

A blur of motion shot towards us and I flinched as Orion came to a halt before us, his eyes bright and hair disheveled. He wore a Solarian Pitball League shirt and sweatpants and looked younger than usual. When he took his teacher’s hat off completely like this, I could see the two of them working as a couple so much more easily. I just had to forget the whole teacher thing and it was as clear as day.

“Gabriel had a vision about me for New Year’s Eve,” Orion said excitedly, taking Darcy’s hand as he looked between the two of us with hope shining in his eyes.

“And?” Darcy asked. “Has he seen us getting Clara back?”

“He can’t see the shadows, they don’t show up in visions,” Orion said with a frown. “But he saw me heading down to the cave and he said he got a sense that something huge was coming right before my future was lost to the darkness!”

“That doesn’t sound like a good thing, dude,” I said, raising an eyebrow.

“Of course it is,” he replied, shooting a frown at me. “It means we were there using the dark magic to create the bridge. He’s seen us doing it. It must be the right time.”

“But he couldn’t see whether or not it worked?” I asked dubiously.

Darcy shot me a warning look as Orion frowned at me.

“Of course it’s going to work,” he growled. “Haven’t you noticed how strong the call of the shadows have been since we came back to the academy? Something big is coming, this has got to be it. We’re going to save my sister!”

I bit my lip and looked to Darcy for the answer because I was coming up short. Yeah, I’d noticed the call of the shadows was stronger than it had been, but it was hard to say what that meant. Was it because we were drawing close to something huge like pulling Clara back into the real world? How the hell was I supposed to know that?

“Are we ready to build the bridge?” Darcy asked, squeezing Orion’s fingers encouragingly.

“Yeah, but we’ll need to wield the shadows together. I’ve been studying a lot of ancient texts on it, I’m confident that I can do the right spells. But it’ll be easier with more power. So the four of us will have to work together on it. I’ll tell Darius too. It’ll be like power sharing for the three of you, you’ll all just channel the shadows through me and with our combined strength, we’ll be able to build a bridge strong enough for her to cross back.”

He looked so damn sure and so damn hopeful that I felt myself nodding in agreement without needing to consider it further. If this was what it took to get his sister back, then I was all in. I just hoped he was right about the meaning of Gabriel’s vision because if I found out that my future was lost in darkness, I sure as shit wouldn’t be looking so damn cheery about it. But he clearly knew more about dark magic than me and if this vision had convinced him, then it convinced me too. We were going to get his sister back and with a bit of luck, the shadows might not draw me so much once she wasn’t stuck there to call on me.

“Okay. So what do you need us to do?” I asked.

“I’ll make all the preparations,” Orion said, his attention sliding to whatever that meant. “You just need to show up at the cave before midnight on New Year’s Eve. Make sure your magic is fully replenished and wear something warm. Gabriel said there’s a blizzard coming.”

“Okay,” Darcy and I agreed at the same time.

Orion gave us both the biggest fucking grin and I almost laughed. I didn’t think I’d ever seen him smile like that before. He pressed a kiss to Darcy’s lips briefly then shot away from us, sending a flurry of snow up around us as he went.

“I guess we won’t be partying the new year in then,” I said with a smirk.

“Nope. It looks like we’ll be spending it in a dark cave, making Orion’s dreams come true,” she agreed with a wide smile.

“Well, when you put it that way, I can’t think of anything I’d rather do,” I laughed.