Zodiac Academy 5: Cursed Fates

Two weeks. I’d hidden like a rabbit down a hole for two damn weeks. And I knew it couldn’t go on any longer. Especially when I’d received an email from Principal Nova last night stating that she was sympathetic to my situation, but I needed to get back to classes and face life like a Fae.

My Atlas had been returned the day after the trial, no longer required as evidence. I’d avoided FaeBook, the internet, instead spending hours poring over the Phoenix books Orion had given me while trying not to damage the pages with my tears. They weren’t all tears of sadness either. A lot of them were rage. Confusion. Hurt. How could he have done this to me, to us, himself?

Not being able to ask him that question was driving me to insanity. I needed to know what the hell had been going through his head when he’d thrown his entire life away. He’d clearly decided on it during the space of the trial. Changing his plea to make me out to be some poor little student he’d forced into loving him. It was sickening. Enraging. Humiliating.

But I couldn’t keep hiding from the world. I had to face it. Tory had been strong enough to show up on the first day of term after being Star Crossed, but when my world fell apart, I’d fallen apart with it. So it was time I scraped myself off the ground and took a leaf out of my sister’s book.

The worst part of all of this was that Orion’s lie was so iron clad that even if I screamed and shouted the truth, everyone would think I was still under his Dark Coercion, forced to believe I loved him forevermore. Another surge of rage clung to my soul as I thought of those words leaving his mouth. But then I pictured him alone in prison and my rage gave way to pain. And not just any prison, a maximum security prison for the worst Fae imaginable. Darkmore Penitentiary.

I stood in front of the mirror in my uniform, my hair hanging around my face which was painted in subtle make-up to hide the pallor of my skin which spoke of my lack of sleep.

I’d been sorely tempted to give myself to the shadows a thousand times since the trial. They were always there, winding beneath my flesh like my body was haunted by whispering ghosts. I never answered their call though. I knew the moment I did, I’d drown in them forever.

I eyed my blue hair with a twisting in my gut as it reminded me of him then I strode from the room, slinging my bag over my shoulder and locking the door before heading out into the stairwell. Groups of students paused as they spotted me, tugging on each other’s sleeves and whispering beneath their breath.

“Good to see you back, Darcy,” a girl I’d never spoken to in my life called to me.

I clenched my jaw, saying nothing as I headed down the stairs and words of sympathy rang around me. It was worse than being called a whore. Now they called me a victim. They believed Orion had preyed on me like some kind of monster.

My heart was thundering by the time I reached The Orb and I held my chin higher as I walked in. Geraldine leapt from her seat, her mouth opening as if she was about to make some grand speech and I shook my head at her firmly.

“Please don’t make a show,” I begged as I approached and her lips slowly closed as she lowered into her seat, her eyes brimming with tears.

“It is so good to have you back,” she breathed, reaching across the table to take my hand.

I didn’t let her take it, my brows stitching together as I grabbed a bagel and started buttering it just to busy myself. I couldn’t eat it. I’d lost my appetite the same day Orion had cast himself into hell.

I felt Diego and Sofia’s eyes on me, not to mention the entirety of The Orb, and I was grateful when Tory suddenly appeared in her running gear, dropping down beside me, her presence lending me strength.

A moment later, Darius arrived, placing down her coffee with one of the chocolate wafers she loved before walking off without saying a word.

Tory cleared her throat, picking up her coffee and taking a sip then everyone looked back to me with questions in their eyes.

“I’m only going to say this once,” I told my friends, looking between them.

Tyler leaned in closer, chomping on a bagel like he was hanging on my every word.

“Orion didn’t Coerce me, he lied,” I said firmly.

“I told them the truth,” Tory said. “And anyone who says otherwise can go sit at another table, isn’t that right Geraldine?”

“It is absolutely correct,” Geraldine said, puffing out her chest with pride. “There is no ounce of my being which would ever question the word of the true queens. If you say it is so, then it is so.”

Sofia nodded firmly and even Diego seemed to agree despite the fact that I was sure it would have been easy for him to turn against Orion.

“And for your peace of mind, I will ask my most wonderous Aunt Brenda to keep an eye on him for you. She works as a healer at Darkmore and I have no doubt she would rise to the occasion to ensure he is taken care of if he has any bumps or scrapes.”

“That’s kind, thank you,” I said, a rush of air tumbling from my lungs. I hadn’t realised how desperately I needed my friends to stand by my side in this. But now I knew that they were, I felt foolish for staying away from them for so long. I could see in their eyes how much they cared for me. “I’d rather not talk about it any more than that, okay?”

“You hear that?” Geraldine called to the whole table. “Not a word is to be uttered about the recent events our Queen Darcy has faced or by the glowing backside of the moon, I will smite you!”

Everyone nodded their agreement and I offered her a smile of thanks. In the ranks of the A.S.S. I managed to get through breakfast without having to engage with any other student in The Orb who was looking my way. But I caught sight of people muttering, smirking, frowning, forming their opinions, starting their rumours. The events at court would have spread like wildfire by now. And I was going to have to accept that most people had probably already made their minds up about me and Orion.

As I walked to Jupiter Hall, my heart sinking as I thought about attending Cardinal Magic class without Orion to teach it, I decided I wanted to know what was being said. I knew it would hurt. But if I ignored it, I couldn’t face it head on. So I took out my Atlas and Faegled my name, my stomach knotting as I tapped on the top article to appear – by Gus Vulpecula of course.

“Darcy, don’t,” Tory warned, reaching for my Atlas, but I side stepped away from her as we entered Jupiter Hall.

“I want to see,” I said firmly, no room for negotiation in my tone.

She sighed, but didn’t make another move to stop me.

My gaze fell on a picture of Orion at the top of the article and my heart thrashed against my ribcage. It was a mugshot, his eyes looking dead, his head tilted down, the tie he’d worn at the trial hanging loose around his throat. There were shadows cast over the black and white image that made him look monstrous, deadly. And the title of the article made me want to throw my Atlas into the nearest wall.

Zodiac Academy professor sentenced to 25 years in Darkmore Penitentiary for sordid predation of a Vega Princess.

As the people of Solaria held their breath to hear the outcome of the most televised trial in thirty years, the Court of Solaria confirms that Lance Orion, former teacher of Cardinal Magic at Zodiac Academy and esteemed Pitball coach, used Dark Coercion (a form of manipulative black magic) to force Gwendalina (Darcy) Vega into an ongoing sexual affair which began just a few weeks after her enrolment at the academy.

With her already addled mind, it seems Orion abused the Solarian Princess in what can only be described as a sick and twisted plot. Details have emerged that he dragged her into a swimming pool the first time he forced himself on her, creating an air pod in the water where he could make his first move. No doubt, Gwendalina’s history of mental illness made her even more susceptible to his suggestions and one can only pity the princess for what Orion put her through, all the while bewitching her thoughts and memories to make her believe she wanted his advances.

There is a growing concern coming from this terrible revelation that with her mind forever corrupted by her abuser, one can only wonder what kind of disturbed woman she will turn out to be beyond graduation. There are rumours that the Mental Health Institute for Fae have tried to call her in for assessment. But Miss Vega pointed them towards her P.A. for comment who, unfortunately for their efforts, turned out to be a raven.

As for Lance Orion, his past reveals the destructive route he’s been on for many years, becoming cold to his widowed mother after she lost her husband in a magical accident and when her daughter disappeared years later (see page fourteen for news on the miraculous re-emergence of Clara Orion). Stella Orion gave this comment after her son’s prison sentence was announced. ‘I am saddened and deeply hurt by this news. My son has not been himself for many years and unfortunately, I didn’t realise how bad things had gotten. As a loving mother, I would have helped him through any problems he was having. I always had an open ear for my son, but perhaps there was always something missing in him.”

I shut my Atlas off, stuffing it back in my bag as my hands tightened into fists.

“It’s all bullshit,” Tory muttered and I nodded.

“I know, but it’s bullshit the whole world has swallowed,” I growled. “And he did it to himself.”

“Good morning, my dear,” Washer’s voice made me flinch and I recoiled as he reached out to touch me. Tory had told me he’d temporarily taken over our Cardinal Magic classes and he was about the last person in the world I wanted to see right now. “Great to see you’re ploughing deeply into your studies again. But I would be amiss not to offer you my services.” His tanned face twisted into a sympathetic smile as he glanced over at Tory. “Both of you must feel as though you’ve been dragged naked through a thorn bush lately. So if you’d like me to siphon away those dark emotions writhing inside you, then I am more than willing to assist you.”

“I’d rather swallow a toothpick whole, but thanks,” Tory said coolly and Washer tutted, turning to me again.

“But you my dear, you must be so troubled, not knowing your own mind. I can pick apart your thoughts, try to help you feel out what was real and what wasn’t. We’d have to go through each of the times he touched you in quite vivid detail, but it would be most beneficial to get it off your chest.”

“I know my own mind,” I said firmly. “Orion lied in court.”

I knew it was pointless saying it. No one was going to believe me. But not saying it felt like a betrayal to myself. I couldn’t let the whole world think I’d been brainwashed, even though Orion had given me zero choice in the matter. And I wasn’t going to give up trying to clear his name.

I’d talked it over with Tory a hundred times already and we’d decided it was time to let everyone know that Phoenixes couldn’t be Dark Coerced. That our Order powers could block all kinds of invasive mental magic. But we couldn’t just blurt it out and let the papers dismiss it. We had to handle it right. So Darius was working on an appeal with his lawyers which would allow us to prove it in front of a judge.

“My dear.” Washer stepped closer, his musky cologne reaching to me from the patch of waxed chest I could see between the few buttons undone at his throat. “The first step towards healing is accepting what happened. Professor Orion seemed like a fine, fine man, but unfortunately it is never the ones you suspect that have a dark seed growing inside them.”

“He did not abuse me,” I snapped, my voice rising enough that the entire class turned to face me. “And the only pervert in this school is you.”

Washer’s lips parted in offence. “I beg your pardon? I do understand that you’re dealing with a swell of emotions right now, but do not turn your ire against me, Miss Vega.”

I pursed my lips, refusing to apologise. Why should I? He went around getting in people’s personal space without their permission all the time. He was gross, and the fact that Orion was being called a creep by the whole world and not this guy was an actual joke.

Washer frowned pitifully, apparently giving me a free pass as he patted my shoulder and walked away to the front of the class. “Come on in, I’ll be handing you over to your new professor today. She will be here any minute.”

The door opened and people started muttering as they headed inside. My gaze hooked on Kylie giggling with Jillian and rage singed my insides as I took in her smirking face and the light dancing in her eyes. She was seriously damn pleased with herself for getting her revenge on me. Revenge for something I didn’t even do. Bitch.

Tory scowled, stepping closer to me. “Want me to punch that smile off of her smug face?”

“No,” I said through my teeth. “I want her to hurt far worse than that.”

“Ooh, that’s dark, Darcy,” Tyler said, slinging his arm over Sofia’s shoulders as they followed us inside. “I’m so here for it. Just make sure to gimme a heads up so I can have my camera ready when it goes down.”

“I think she deserves a stint in hell for what she did,” Sofia said with her upper lip peeling back.

They were all so determinedly on my side about this and it made my heart thaw out. They didn’t doubt my story. They just blindly believed it. And I couldn’t thank them enough for that.

“The stars will punish her,” Diego said in a growl. “There’s no justice in the world if they don’t, chica.” He laid his hand on my arm and I frowned at him in confusion, my heart tugging.

“You hated Orion,” I breathed.

He dropped my gaze. “I think we were starting to see eye to eye. And Tory said she saw you together, she knows the truth. That’s enough for me.”

I was incredibly grateful to her for that and I reached out to squeeze her hand as we moved along the line.

We headed into class and I took my usual seat between Diego and my sister while Washer gathered up a box of things from the desk. Orion’s desk. Things he’d obviously filled the drawers with. And I was hit with a blinding fear – where has all his stuff been taken?

Had his house been emptied out? His things thrown away or shoved in storage somewhere? My muscles tensed at the thought that his presence had been so swiftly and sharply removed from the academy when he’d given so much of his life to this place.

I took my Atlas out, shooting Darius a message with anxiety warring in my chest.

Darcy:

Do you know what happened to Lance’s things?

Darius:

I’ve got them in storage. Don’t worry, I wouldn’t let any fucker touch his stuff. If there’s anything you want to hang onto let me know.

Relief filled me and I released a slow breath as I sent another reply.

Darcy:

Thank you. How’s the appeal coming along?

Darius:

The Kiplings are working on the documents. I’ll let you know when I receive them and what will be required.

P.S.

Glad to see you back. Don’t break alone. I know you have your sister, but I’m always here if you need to talk about him.

The weight of my heart lessened at his words and I offered him the only thing I could in return.

Darcy:

You too, Darius. Thank you for everything you’ve done for him.

“Ah, here she is,” Washer announced and I turned to the door where a woman with raven hair down to her waist was stepping into the room.

She was beautiful, almost sickeningly so. Like every inch of her skin had been buffed and polished, her makeup impossibly flawless. It was as if she was wearing a Faechat filter that made her practically glimmer with beauty. Her almond eyes were delicately painted with eyeliner and her full, pouty lips were scarlet red. The knee length black dress she wore hugged her petite yet curvaceous figure, her boobs shoved up and displayed without modesty and a pendant hung around her neck with an aquamarine stone in it that matched her unusually coloured eyes.

“Class, this is Professor Highspell,” Washer announced. “Although Professor Orion taught with a firm hand that we will all miss-” He paused as he sighed. “- I have no doubt that your new professor will make sure your needs are met, won’t you Honey?”

“Honey Highspell? Is she some kind of escort for hire?” Tyler snorted and Highspell strode towards him, pushing her fingers into his hair then yanking backwards so he was forced to look up her.

“Watch that tongue of yours,” she purred. “Or it might end up in trouble. And I always find a punishment that fits the crime.” She chuckled flirtatiously then stalked up to the desk like a panther, waving her hand at Washer disinterestedly. “You may go.”

He nodded, apparently not taken in by her allure despite him perving on ninety nine percent of the population. He kept his eyes fixed on her face instead of her obvious cleavage, smiling tightly before heading out the door.

Highspell leaned her ass against the desk, gripping it either side of her thighs with her long, manicured nails. Her eyes roamed over the class, moving from face to face as if committing each of them to memory. When she reached me and Tory, her upper lip pulled back almost imperceptibly. “I think it’s apt for me to mention the elephant in the room,” she said with a gentle smile. “Lance Orion, an upstanding citizen in Fae society whom I had the pleasure to train with for our teaching degree, has been convicted of a terrible crime. A crime which he did not commit.”

My lips parted and I exchanged a look with Tory, wondering if I was about to find an ally in this woman.

“After visiting him in Darkmore Penitentiary, I have come to understand the true story of what happened to him.” Her eyes landed on me and there was no sympathy there at all. “He was manipulated by a girl with royal blood, a girl who has walked into this world alongside her sister and lied and cheated her way to being actually considered for the throne.”

“Liar,” I snapped and she whipped her fingers toward me, a hardened line of ice sealing my lips together as she turned her gaze from me onto Tory who looked ready to tear this bitch’s face off. And I was seriously rooting for her.

I raised my fingers to my mouth, bringing heat to my fingertips to burn through the ice, but the magic was insanely powerful. I was desperate to unveil her as the liar she was. This woman hadn’t visited Orion and he hadn’t told her anything of the sort.

My heart crashed against my ribcage as fury bubbled under my flesh.

“Poor Lance thought Darcy Vega really did love him, but she manipulated him, gave her body to him and when he stood up in court, he sacrificed himself for her just like she’d always planned.”

“Shut your mouth,” Tory barked and Highspell’s gaze fell on her.

“And you are no different, are you Miss Vega?” she said darkly. “Manipulating an Heir into falling for you only to cast him aside when the stars called you both together. I don’t know how they do it, but these girls wield some sort of dark magic over powerful men and I will be watching you both very closely indeed to find out what it is.”

I managed to burn through the ice sticking my lips together at last just as Kylie’s voice rang around the room.

“I’m so glad someone finally sees it, Professor Highspell. I’ve been trying to expose them since they arrived,” she said airily.

“What’s your name?” Highspell asked.

“Kylie Major,” she answered brightly.

“Well you’d have to be a talented Fae to achieve such a thing, Miss Major, and according to Professor Orion’s notes you are sub-par.” Highspell shrugged innocently and I could practically feel the heat burning from Kylie’s reddened cheeks behind me. Apparently our new teacher wasn’t looking to make friends with anybody. Even ass kissers.

She moved forward to perch on Tyler’s desk, crossing her legs so her skirt rode up to reveal her long bronzed legs. She waved a hand at the board and a question appeared on it.

What is the difference between the Mutatio Orders and the Divisus Orders?

“Today, you’ll be quizzed on everything you have learned from the beginning of term and I will rank you all at the end of the class. Take out your notepads and prepare to answer each question.” She leaned down to speak to Tyler, her boobs thoroughly in his face. “Be a good boy and draw a map of the class with everyone’s names on it. You can skip the first few questions.” She winked before sliding off of his table like a cat and slinking her way to the front of the class again. “Begin,” she commanded.

I ground my jaw as I worked through the questions, trying to keep my hands from shaking with anger. This woman was vile. I’d only known her five seconds and I would have taken Washer over her any day.

Tory’s Atlas buzzed and she subtly slid it off of the desk, placing it in her lap as she checked the message she’d received.

“Oh my god,” she breathed, then passed her Atlas over to me.

I watched the video Darius had sent of her ex-boyfriend, Zane, apologising to Tory, his face bloodied and bruised. I momentarily forgot the witch in the room as my heart lifted at seeing that bastard clearly having gotten exactly what he deserved. I passed Tory’s Atlas back, finding her eyes glimmering with something that looked an awful lot like love. Trust her to get all gooey over Darius violently smashing her ex’s face in. But it made me like him even more too and a grin tugged at my lips that she returned before quickly schooling it.

“I don’t actually need him to fight my battles though,” she huffed and I rolled my eyes.

“Vegas!” Highspell snapped and she marched over to us with her eyes turning to snake-like slits. “What do you think you are doing?” Neither of us replied and she hissed between her teeth, holding her hand out to Tory. “Give it here. Now.”

Tory reluctantly handed over her Atlas with a scowl and Highspell stared down at the video on the screen for a moment before walking back to her desk and placing it there. She took her own Atlas out of her shiny, leopard print handbag and returned to stand before us, holding it up as if she was about to record us.

“Both of you stand on your desks,” she commanded and I swallowed the burning sensation in my throat as I obeyed, climbing up and standing above her beside Tory.

“Watch a video in my class and you will have a video made of you in my class,” Highspell said with a vicious smile. “You look like a strong man.” She pointed at Diego and beckoned him up. “Come here and record this for me.” Apparently Highspell didn’t mind making friends with the boys in this class.

Diego frowned as he got up, moving to take the Atlas from her and giving us an apologetic look as he aimed it at us.

Highspell looked between us with that snakelike expression again and in my bones, I could tell she was a Medusa. She had that same aura about her as Kylie had, the dangerous glint of a hungry python in her eyes.

“As you are so hellbent on disrupting my quiz, you will have an extra round. Answer my questions incorrectly and you will be punished. If you fight back against your punishments, you will be in detention with me for the rest of the semester. And trust me when I say, it will be far more unpleasant than facing your punishments here like Fae,” Highspell said, flicking a lock of that long, raven hair over her shoulder then raising her hands. My heart beat wildly out of tune as magic flickered in her palms. “How did the extinct Order of the Ophiotaurus recharge their magical power?”

I glanced at Tory, having no damn clue. We’d never been taught that and why would we have?

We shrugged in unison and she flicked her fingers at us and tiny shards of ice flew into my right cheek. I gasped as they nicked my skin and blood warmed my face. I glanced at Tory, finding her cheek cut open too and fury burst through my veins like an inferno. It was so difficult not to fight back. I wanted to destroy her for this. But a single look with my sister confirmed it wasn’t worth the extra hours in detention with this cow.

I turned to Highspell in disgust, waiting for her next question, refusing to give her the satisfaction of complaining about the punishment.

Her eyes glimmered as she carried on. “Which spell would you use to bottle a Kithendium Glow worm?”

I bit down on my tongue, staring at her with a patient look. She wanted us bloodied on camera for her own satisfaction. All of the questions would be impossible to answer. So I stared evenly at her and waited for her to flick her fingers.

The second strike slashed across the bare skin between my knee high socks and the hem of my skirt. I reached out and took my sister’s hand as we stared defiantly at her, refusing to acknowledge the camera which was shaking in Diego’s hands.

The game continued on until our uniforms were ripped and blood seeped through the slashes. Blood dripped between my fingers as she finally let us sit back down, snatching the Atlas from Diego and tapping something on the screen.

“Maybe the comments on my post from your FaeBook friends will remind you not to be disruptive in my class.” She released a light laugh then roamed back to the front of the room, tucking her Atlas back in her bag.

My pulse pounded in my ears, my jaw was grinding and heat invaded every part of me. It felt like the world was turning against us, taking every good thing and smashing it to dust. And I decided I hated the stars as keenly as I hated Professor Highspell.

The moment the lesson ended and me and my sister were announced at the bottom of the class rank despite the fact we’d gotten full marks, I was livid. She’d accused us of cheating and ripped up our papers saying we could work our way up the ranks fairly or not at all.

I peeled away from Tory and my friends, making my excuses before heading off across campus towards Aer Tower. The cuts on my skin still stung and blood stained my white shirt with patches of red. I had a free period before lunch and I didn’t want to be around anyone for the next two hours. I’d had enough. Highspell’s bullshit had brought my anger to the surface all over again and I couldn’t take it. Sickness swirled in my gut as I started to come apart.

Not here. Not in front of everyone.

I was soon running into the tower, racing upstairs as emotion swallowed me up and the shadows started whispering, promising to drown it all away if I just gave in to them.

I tried to force it all down, but I needed some outlet and I found myself tearing past the corridor that led to my room, instead continuing to climb and climb until I made it into the stairwell that led to the roof. I sprinted up to the door, shoving it wide and the wind whipped around me, the sound of the huge turbine on the side of the building groaning in my ears.

I kicked the door shut and screamed at the sky, raising my arms in the same moment and releasing my magic in a flood. A hurricane of air poured from my body in a wild and chaotic storm. I grabbed hold of it and wielded the air to spin around the tower, forming it into a huge pillar of storm clouds which grew larger and larger as it rose up towards the sky and shrouded everything in darkness.

The turbine spun faster in the raging tornado that twisted around the edges of the tower and the wind sent my hair flying in the maelstrom.

Tears streamed down my cheeks as I let everything out. All the pain, the hurt, the betrayal.

How could you do this? How could you break every promise we’d ever made to each other? How could you throw it all away and not even say goodbye?

I ached for answers, burned for them. I needed to go to him, but how was I ever supposed to do that?

“Darcy!” a voice made my heart leap and I turned, dropping my arms as the storm continued to swirl and grow ever darker.

Seth stood by the door as it swung closed behind him, his face pinched with concern.

“Don’t look at me like that,” I snapped. “You have no right to.”

“Come inside,” he encouraged. “We can talk.”

“I don’t want to talk to you,” I snarled. “Leave me alone.”

His arms fell limp at his sides and he shook his head as his hair billowed around him in the storm. “I can’t do that.”

“Why?” I demanded, my heart tearing to pieces. The last person I wanted to see me like this was him. “What do you want from me? Isn’t my pain enough? Don’t you have your pound of flesh yet?”

My body shuddered as he took a step closer, his eyes glinting with hurt.

“I never wanted this,” he said earnestly, shaking his head.

“Screw you!” I shouted, making my lungs raw. “You tortured me and Lance. So get out of my sight or I’ll bring this whole storm down on your head.”

Seth stepped closer and I raised my hands threateningly. He swallowed thickly, his gaze moving to the blood on my cheek and the reddened cuts across my body. “I know what I did. I’m not denying it.”

“So just leave me alone, Seth,” I snarled. “Do you really have to bathe in my misery any more than you already have?”

“No…I…” His jaw pulsed as he pushed a hand through his wayward hair. “I’ve suffered through this too, alright?”

“What is that supposed to mean?” I hissed as he took yet another step closer and magic tingled in my palms, ready to rip him apart if he got too near.

He seemed to be struggling with something as he opened and closed his mouth, then his eyes found mine again and a heavy breath left him. “Here’s the truth.” His shoulders dropped and he suddenly looked broken, his head dipping and shame colouring his angular features. “From the moment you walked into this school, I was primed to fight against you. You were my opponent, but I didn’t expect…I didn’t expect to like you too. To respect you every time you got up again. I hated that I couldn’t hate you. And it was more than that…” He glanced away from me as if he couldn’t bear to speak his next words.

“What?” I pressed, suddenly unable to look away, somehow sure I needed to hear whatever he was hiding.

“I envied you, Darcy. You and your sister,” he forced out. “You grew up away from all this…this fucking pressure,” he spat the last word. “You’d both avoided the weight that had pressed down on me my whole life then walked right into our world and had everything I’d suffered for handed to you. You have no idea what it’s like to have every move you make watched, recorded, judged. And not just by the press, by my family. My brothers and sisters may love me, but they’re constantly hunting for weaknesses, waiting for me to slip up so they can steal my place as Alpha and take the crown. It’s our nature. But you…you most of all were so fucking innocent. So good. So unaffected by the world because you never had to bleed for glory like I did.”

“I didn’t have it easy in the mortal world,” I said in disbelief. “And I never asked for this.”

“I know that now, really…I do. But back then, every time I looked at you, I wanted to know what growing up without being corrupted felt like and every time I hurt you, I wanted to see the darkness in you to prove to myself that no one was that virtuous. But after everything I did, there was no black heart to find in you. You never became like me, even when the world tried to crush you.” His throat bobbed as he bared his truth to me and I didn’t know what to say before he barrelled on. “I’ve never figured out what I wanted from you, all I know is you possessed me, you drove me crazy. I thought for a while you were my equal, and that was why I obsessed over you. That maybe my instincts were driving me towards taking you as my mate. But then…”

“Then what?” I breathed, suddenly needing to hear it all. The very depths of his honesty.

“Then I found out about you and Orion and I just…snapped.” He fixed me with a dark look that ate into my soul. “I thought he’d corrupted you. Him of all people. The asshole professor who’d decided he hated me with a passion since you arrived. He’d been the one to make you bad. Not me. And I despised that. I couldn’t swallow it. So I punished you. I wanted to get vengeance for all the suffering I’d put myself through over you. All the nights I’d wondered what it was that drove me quietly mad about you. Envy, hate, love? I didn’t know which one it was or if all of them played some part in it.” He stepped forward again so there was only a meter between us. “But after a while, I saw how Orion coveted you. How he hadn’t made you bad at all, you’d made him good. And I realised it wasn’t just some fling. The way you two looked at each other it was like…like an unbreakable thread was binding you together. Nothing anyone said or did would ever change it. Least of all me. And that was when I realised what I’d done. How I’d tried to tear you to pieces, tried to make out as if, somewhere deep down, you were as bad as me when all I was really doing was ignoring the fact that I’d become the monster I’d tried so hard to find in you.”

His words hung in the air, kissing my skin, begging to be let in. But accepting them meant I understood why he’d done it. And I didn’t want to do that. I didn’t want to be the good girl he painted me out to be. I wanted to prove I was the bad one. The girl that could throw him off this tower for hurting me. But instead I just stood there, lost and rattled to my core.

Seth’s eyes bored into me. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forgive myself for what I did to you, and I’d never ask you for your forgiveness because I don’t deserve a drop of it. But for what it’s worth, I am so fucking sorry, Darcy.”

The wind roared in my ears and fresh tears spilled down my cheeks, turning icily cold the moment they met the air. I’d never wanted an apology from Seth. I didn’t expect one, let alone one that made me believe he really meant it. But now those words fell from his tongue, I realised how desperately I had needed that apology. How much rage and hurt I’d kept in my heart over him. I knew it couldn’t undo the awful things he’d done to me. But I could finally see remorse in his eyes. I could see a resentful boy becoming a remorseful man right in front of me.

Seth moved forward, closing the distance between us and capturing my chin between his finger and thumb as he tilted my head to look up at him. “There’s one more thing I should have realised. You could never be my mate, Darcy Vega. Because we’re not equals. You’re far better than me in every way imaginable.”

I didn’t know if I fell into his arms or if he surrounded me in that moment, but suddenly he was holding me against his chest and I felt like he was the only solid thing in this storm that was keeping my feet on the ground. He was one of the few people who had witnessed the truth about me and Orion. He’d seen it first hand, and hearing him admit that what we’d had was undeniable soothed a piece of my fractured, suffering soul.

“Why did he do this?” I asked him, stealing the heat from his body as the wind froze me to my core.

“Isn’t it obvious?” he sighed, resting his chin on my head. “He was protecting you, babe. By taking absolute responsibility for that crime, he ensured your name wouldn’t get muddied in the press. You won’t lose support for the crown. If anything, you’ll win more sympathy for it.”

A ragged sob escaped me as I realised he might be right and I fisted my hands in the back of his shirt as I buried my face in his chest. He brushed his fingers over my neck and healing magic washed through my skin, finding each of the stinging cuts Highspell had marked on me and knitting them over.

“That new professor is going to be a dead woman if she thinks she can get away with this,” Seth growled, a fierce protectiveness filling his voice as his arms tightened around me.

It should have felt wrong taking comfort from him, but it felt awfully, frighteningly right. Like he would have my back through anything now. But that couldn’t be true. It made no sense. We were still on opposite sides of a war. But I guessed that war would never come if Lionel seized the throne. He was an enemy to all of us now. Which currently made us allies.

“We need to deal with Kylie,” he said in a low tone as the storm around us started to fall away. “That girl has grown far too big for her fucking boots.”

I drew back, swallowing down the last of my tears. “Kylie Major is mine.”

He pressed his tongue into his cheek, a dangerous shadow entering his eyes. “You wouldn’t deny me the pleasure of being a part of that show though, would you babe? I have a few words I’ve been dying to say to her for weeks. But I figured you’d want first dibs so I’ve held off.”

I nodded, finding it strange to be on the same team as him for once. He lifted his hand, checking the flashy watch on his wrist. “It’s lunchtime. She’ll be in The Orb.”

“Then let’s go.” I stepped past him and sensed him following as I headed into the stairwell, the last of the storm flittering out behind me. My heart turned to stone as I hurried downstairs and Seth Capella walked at my side like a prowling animal on the hunt for a kill.

When we walked into The Orb together, eyes turned our way and Geraldine stood up with her mouth agape and a sandwich falling from her grip.

I ignored the stares, hunting for Kylie and spotting her with Jillian, Marguerite, Mildred and a bunch of their mindless Hores. I made a beeline towards her as adrenaline rolled smoothly into my limbs alongside a wave of magic. Tory moved to walk beside me, wordless as she realised where I was headed and suddenly Darius, Caleb and Max materialised too like they were drawn magnetically to Seth’s side.

Marguerite tapped Kylie on the shoulder to point us out as we approached, her face paling as she looked from the Heirs to me and my sister.

“Get up,” I demanded of Kylie as we crowded around their table and her eyes widened as she rose to her feet in front of me, looking to Seth.

“Sethy, what’s going on?” she asked innocently. “What are you doing with the Vegas?”

I’d spent the last two weeks thinking up all the horrible ways I wanted to destroy Kylie. And now she was before me, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I wasn’t going to lower myself to her standards and humiliate her, ridicule her, hurt her. Not in the way she expected anyway.

I grabbed a fistful of her shirt, dragging her nose to nose with me and she shrieked, her hair bursting into venomous snakes that lunged for my face. But I was ready, casting an air shield close to my skin so their fangs slammed against it, unable to reach me as her complexion turned green and her eyes sharpened to slits.

“Get off of me!” she yelled, shoving my shoulders with a blast of air magic, but I cast air into my own back to keep myself rooted in place.

“You cost me the love of my life,” I said in a calm but dangerous voice. “He’s in prison because you couldn’t wait to destroy me the second you got the chance. And all over a Wolf I never laid a hand on. Do you understand what that makes you to me?”

“Your enemy?” she asked bitterly, looking to Seth again like she was expecting him to vouch for her.

“No, it makes you nothing,” I growled. “Just a worthless, waste of oxygen who I now no longer acknowledge as existing.”

“Why are you standing there beside that street trash over me, Sethy baby?” Kylie asked, her lower lip betraying her with a tremble.

“I’m not your baby,” Seth said coldly. “Haven’t been for a long fucking time. And even when I was, I wasn’t just yours. Never have been. I made it clear I fuck around. I don’t settle with one person until I find my mate. But you just kept denying it to yourself until I stopped correcting you.”

“I am your mate, you just haven’t realised it yet,” she insisted, pouting in defiance.

Seth stepped closer with a growl. “I am an Heir to the Solarian throne. You haven’t got enough power in your veins to fuel a bus. How could you ever think we would be mated? You’re just a low born, low mannered, low class snake.”

Her jaw dropped and though I’d pitied her in the past for Seth breaking her heart, I was done feeling sorry for her. She’d actively ruined Orion’s life. And I wanted her ruined in return.

“That’s not true!” she shrieked, still in denial and at this point it was just embarrassing.

“It is true,” Seth snarled dangerously. “You were just a handy lay when my pack weren’t around. And I am thoroughly fucking tired of your obsession with me.”

She finally fell quiet, her eyes turning to me full of blame as if I’d somehow caused Seth’s dislike of her. But she’d managed that all on her own.

In my periphery, Tory was squaring up to Marguerite and I could tell this might end in a brawl, but that wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted to strip Kylie of the one thing she valued above all else. Her pride, the respect she had from her little friends, the circle of safety she surrounded herself with.

“Kylie Major is no longer visible to anyone who supports me and my sister!” I called to the room and Seth flipped his fingers so my voice was amplified ten times over.

I caught Darius’s eye and he nodded with a dark glint in his gaze before I continued.

“You will not see her, hear her, or even smell the sickly sweet perfume she wears to hide the scent of evil on her,” I spoke clearly, my voice ringing around The Orb and Tory let out a little laugh of triumph.

“That goes for anyone who supports the Heirs too,” Seth suddenly boomed and I looked to him with a smile twisting up the corner of my lips. It was dark and savage and tasted new on my mouth. But it felt good to wield our power at long last over someone who deserved it. I thought of all the times she’d cursed me, laughed at me, of the time she’d spat on me. She thought I was beneath her, but she was going to get a rude awakening when she found herself at the bottom of the food chain in the next five seconds.

“If anyone is seen with her, they’ll get the same treatment. She is officially nothing,” Darius took over, a hungry glimmer of vengeance in his eyes.

Kylie’s jaw fell slack as if I’d punched her, but it was really much sweeter than if I had. Her friends started backing away from her and Mildred strode resolutely to the other side of the room with her shoulders pressed back and her head held high. Marguerite glowered at Tory then me for a long second before looking to the Heirs, bowing her head and scurrying away with the rest of her friends.

Kylie was left alone, shifting back out of her Order form as she started to shake.

The Heirs turned their backs on her and we followed suit.

“Wait!” she cried with desperation in her tone, but I couldn’t hear her. No one could. She was going to suffer alone and pay for what she’d done. Invisible, ignored, nothing.