Zodiac Academy 5: Cursed Fates

Coming back to Zodiac felt like sliding under the surface of an icy lake. I loved this place, but now everything about it screamed of Orion. And as I woke on Sunday morning, the familiar knot in my chest tightened as reality came swooping in on me the second I gained consciousness. Before the pain could swallow me though, I was distracted by a weight pressing down the end of my bed. I sat up and a scream escaped me as I spotted a guy curled up there. I started kicking him and he leapt off the bed with a growl. I stared at Seth in nothing but his sweatpants as he stared right back like he was as shocked to find me here as I was to find him.

“What the hell?!” I shouted.

He gazed around the room, rubbing his head and a flash of healing magic shot from his palm. “Oh shit…I think I know what happened.”

“Well explain in the next five seconds or I’ll-”

“It’s okay,” he said, lifting his palms in innocence, a whine escaping his throat. “I got a bit drunk with my pack last night. And then I started thinking about things…”

“What things?” I demanded. It was too early for this crap. What the hell was happening?

“You and Orion…and me being a dick…and you coming back to the academy last night and being all sad in here on your own and…well it’s my nature to comfort people I care about and I guess I just…let myself in.”

“Seth!” I admonished. “Are you serious? You crept into my room and slept on my bed? Do you realise how weird that is?”

He whined again, stepping closer. “Not really. It’s my Order…I can’t help it. I’d have slept with Darius every night since he was Star Crossed, but he’d flay me alive for it. In my drunken haze, I guess I knew I could get in here and…” He shrugged and I gaped at him, at a loss. “I’ll go.” He hung his head, trailing towards the door with a dog-like whimper that said he was hoping I might tell him to stay.

I frowned, not giving him that option and he sighed as he headed out the door, pausing before he shut it behind him. “I can teach you to cast better locks sometime, if you want?”

“Get out!” I snapped and he shut the door, releasing a mournful howl in the corridor.

Crazy damn Werewolf.

I slipped out of bed, firmly twisting the key in the lock and using the simple spell I’d learned in Cardinal Magic to lock it more firmly. Not that that did much good against trespassing Heirs apparently.

I strode into the bathroom, finding a wet towel on the floor and the scent of my shower gel in the air. Did he have a freaking shower last night?

There was an empty chip packet in the sink too and I fished it, tossing it in the trash and shaking my head. That guy had no boundaries.

I realised though, for the first time since Orion had been arrested, I’d actually slept most of the night. Sure, it had been almost one in the morning before I’d managed to drift off and it was barely dawn now, but I wasn’t bone tired like usual. My time in the palace had helped. And learning that Gabriel was family felt like finding a piece of my soul that had been missing my entire life. It made so much sense. Of course he was blood. Of course he was our brother. But processing the other revelations in those visions was almost too much for my swirling mind to bear. Lionel had used the Nymphs to kill our parents then tried to kill us too. I couldn’t say I was surprised exactly, but I was horrified at the lengths he’d gone to to try and secure the throne for himself. I knew now there was no limit on what he would do for the throne. And the body count could rise swiftly once he made his move to seize total power. The Heirs’ parents were in mortal danger. And so were we.

I washed and spent some time cleaning my room just for something to occupy my mind and keep my thoughts from Orion. Not that it worked. It was like there was an arrow lodged in my chest so there was no chance of healing unless I pulled it out. But I didn’t want to pull it out. I wanted to suffer through this pain because if I healed, that meant it was over. And I couldn’t ever accept that fate.

Instead, I focused my mind on Gabriel as much as possible and the warmth of knowing we had one other surviving member of our family still in existence. For years, I’d dreamed of my parents and wondered what they’d be like, I never once considered what it would be like to have a brother. And now we had one, it was the most comforting feeling in the world.

By the time I’d cleaned my whole room and sat down on my bed, I was growing anxious again. I picked up my Atlas just for something to do, reading over my horoscope.

Good morning Gemini.

That stars have spoken about your day!

Uranus has moved into your chart and as such, you should be prepared for unpredictable changes. These could be good or bad, but as Pluto is influencing your sign right now, you may be best to prepare for the worst. A transformation is coming your way. But with the right attitude, you should be able to tackle the oncoming turbulence head on.

My brows pulled together. I couldn’t see how things could get much worse than they were right now. But I supposed it would have been naïve of me to believe that. Lionel could still take the throne. My world could always fall into more turmoil. Growing up in the mortal realm had proved that much to me. Just when I thought our foster parents couldn’t get worse, we’d be moved to a new house and met with a deeper kind of hell.

I clicked on FaeBook, scrolling quickly past the posts about me and Orion and pausing on one Tyler had posted.

Tyler Corbin: Has anyone seen Kylie Major anywhere? She disappeared after an altercation with the Heirs and the Vegas the other day and I have no clue where she’s gotten to… #missingmajor #ghostgirl  #ithoughtismelledheryesterday #medusaloser

Victoria Pauley: I have no idea, maybe a Dragon ate her for being a #whiningwilly

Jasmin Hosseini: I heard she dissolved into a pool of tears and @Seth Capella bathed in them with his whole pack #saltysoak

Elke Henderson: Side note: that shit was cold blooded! Are the Vegas and the Heirs teaming up now? I don’t know who I support anymore #allofthemgetmehot #cantheheirsshare #whychoose

Amy Milton: I heard she’s hiding in Mildred Canopus’s moustache #hairyhideyhole #combtokeepyourhome

Telisha Mortensen: Maybe she blew away on a Pegasus fart and now she lives in a rainbow #maybeshellmarryaleprechauna #preshitterglitter #sparklefart

Kylie Major: I’m right here assholes!!! @Seth Capella haven’t I suffered enough yet?

Seth Capella: Oh dear, someone must have hacked her FaeBook account because she wouldn’t DARE reply to comments like she’s an actual person.

Kylie Major: Please baby!!!

Seth Capella: **Song: Click to play – Don’t Call Me Baby by Madison Avenue**

I couldn’t help but laugh. She was getting exactly what she deserved at last.

A knock came at the door and I frowned, wondering if Seth had come back and I stood up, unlocking the door and tugging it open ready to set some firm boundaries, but it wasn’t him. Darius stood there dressed in a black long-sleeved shirt and jeans, his brows were knitted and his eyes full of some emotion I couldn’t read.

“What is it?” I asked, my pulse escalating. He couldn’t have come here unless someone had let him in the tower, but I doubted there was a single air Elemental in this building who would have refused him access. “Is Tory okay?”

“As far as I know,” he said darkly. “This isn’t about your sister. It’s about Lance.”

My throat balled up and my lungs ceased to work. “What about him?”

“I’m going to visit him. Now, in fact. And I figured you’d want to come too.”

I felt like someone had reached into my chest and pulled my heart right out of it. “Of course I do,” I said breathlessly, lurching toward him. “But how? Surely they won’t let me see him.”

Panic and hope and terror filled me in equal measures. I wasn’t ready. But I’d never be ready. And I wasn’t going to miss the chance, not for anything.

“I’ll cast an illusion spell on you to get you in and I’ve paid off a guard who’s on duty in visitation today. He’ll disregard the warning spells that let him know your identity is being hidden, but we have to get there before his shift ends at nine.”

I didn’t know what to say. It was an opportunity I’d thought would never come. I could finally get answers from Orion, but more than that, I’d find out if he was okay. If he was surviving…suffering.

I moved forward and wrapped my arms around Darius, squeezing him tight. “Thank you.”

His eyes darkened to pitch as I stepped back. “This is a one time only deal, you understand? I won’t be able to get you in there twice.”

I absorbed that fact, nodding my head as that truth settled over me like a ton of bricks. One time. This could be it for who knew how many years?

I had to find a way to get him out, but the Kiplings were struggling to find a loophole in the law that would allow Dark Coercion to be performed on someone for the sake of proof. It was utterly illegal no matter what the circumstances. And apparently Cyclops interrogation wouldn’t be an option as my memories were now assumed to have been tampered with. But they still had hope. And so long as Orion agreed to the appeal, we’d at least be able to tell the judge the truth and prove Phoenixes could block legal mental invasion from Orders like Sirens.

Fear chewed on my insides as I pushed my feet into my sneakers and followed Darius into the hall. I was wearing jeans and a rumpled navy tank top and my hands smelled of cleaning products, but screw it. I wasn’t going to waste a second in going to Orion.

The halls were deathly quiet as we headed downstairs and out into the cool morning air. The sun was hidden behind a sea of dark clouds and thunder rumbled ominously in the distance, though no rain was falling yet. I let my Phoenix fire push into my veins to banish the cold and keep goosebumps from rising across my arms.

We took off at a fast pace towards the north of campus and the secret gap in the fence that would let us out.

“How are you?” I asked Darius as we hurried through Earth Territory.

He grunted, glancing over his shoulder at me as I half jogged to keep up with his furious pace. “Not good. You?”

“Not good,” I agreed with a weighted sigh.

“I’m furious with him truth be told,” he muttered. “And this bond between us is making me pine for him like a fucking wolf cub for its mother.”

I frowned, my heart wrenching for him. “Has your father said anything more about him?” I asked, the note of hope in my tone impossible to disguise.

“No,” he gritted out. “I’m sorry, Darcy…I think he’s going to let him rot in there and let us suffer through this bond.”

“But he’s your Guardian,” I gasped.

“And I guess my father doesn’t give a shit,” he said quietly and barbed wire seemed to coiled through my chest. “He may even get me a new one to replace him, though I’d still pine for Lance for the rest of fucking time. And I’d rather cut off a hand than be bonded to some other asshole.”

It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right. How could Lionel just leave him in prison after all Orion had sacrificed for him? Willingly or otherwise. That Dragon asshole owed him that much.

“What did your lawyer say about the appeal?”

“That we can go ahead if we can get Lance to sign the document today,” Darius said and my heart soared.

“We will,” I said determinedly. “We just need to talk some sense into him.”

He nodded stiffly. “Or beat it into him,” he muttered.

We reached the fence and stepped through to the other side then Darius turned to me, his gaze raking over my face. “I’m going to make you look like Max, he’s given his permission for you to use his identity today and removed his anti-mimicry wards,” he said and my heart warmed at the thought. It was strange to be on the receiving end of the Heirs’ kindness. Especially when I’d spent so long thinking they didn’t have a kind bone in their bodies. “Close your eyes and hold still.”

“Will it hurt?” I wondered, knowing I’d go through whatever hell it took anyway so long as it got me to Orion.

“No, but if you move while I’m doing it I could accidentally cut your nose off. So stay still or you won’t be so pretty when I get you to Lance.”

I breathed a note of laughter though he was clearly being deadly serious and I shut my eyes, falling as still as possible.

Heat licked over my skin, running across my scalp then the warmth continued to spread, making my skin tingle with pins and needles as it travelled all the way down to my toes. I became dizzy, but rooted my feet to the ground as the magic continued to flood over me.

“There,” he announced and I opened my eyes, glancing down to find myself looking exactly the same as before.

“Didn’t it work?” I frowned.

“You can’t see it. It’s an illusion for others, otherwise you’d be about three sizes too big for those clothes right now. I’ve changed your voice too so no one will be able to tell.”

“So I look like Max to you right now?” I asked.

“Yep.” He took out a pouch of stardust and I moved toward him, nerves taking hold of me as he tossed a pinch up into the air.

We were yanked through a galaxy of stars and my feet soon impacted with solid earth. Darius steadied me, then turned sharply away and I took in the huge metal fence that rose up above us like a wall, hiding whatever lay beyond it. It stretched away in either direction across an expansive plain of flat land. In front of us was a gate manned by two guards standing up in towers either side of it.

“Announce yourselves!” one of them barked, raising his hand with flames curling in his palm.

“Darius Acrux and Max Rigel,” Darius called, his shoulders pushed back as I moved to his side. “We’re here for visitation with Lance Orion.”

The flames extinguished in the guard’s hand and he signalled down to someone on the other side of the gate.

A moment later, a deep humming noise rumbled through the earth and the gate parted in the middle, opening inward to reveal a straight road with a couple of armoured trucks parked up either side of it. The road ran directly across the grassy land, cutting a path to an inner wire fence that looked at least half a mile away. Beyond that was a huge dome which seemed to glitter in the morning sun. The structure was immense and a glimpse of green could be seen within it even from this distance, but I couldn’t tell what it was.

Darius led the way through the gates and magic tingled over my flesh as we passed through some barrier.

“Here, I’ll take you down to the elevator,” a young, blonde woman called to us in a black uniform, a badge on her breast pocket naming her as Officer Lucius.

She waved us into the back of the nearest armoured truck and I climbed in beside Darius with my heart thumping furiously against my chest. As she took off down the road, I tried to ignore the conflicting emotions warring inside me, knowing they were only going to drive me insane. I was desperate to see Orion, but nervous as hell and still so angry at him for sentencing himself to so many years in this place, I didn’t know what to feel.

We soon passed through a second gate for the inner perimeter and another wave of magic crackled over the vehicle, making blue light spark across its surface. I gazed through the windshield to the dome looming ahead. It towered above us, a criss-cross pattern of magical energy spreading over the incredible space inside. From what I could see, there was a magical environment contained within it, a forest rose up toward us on the nearest side, the hint of rocky hills climbing up to the right of it and even a glimpse of snow further on. Clouds hung thickly in a makeshift sky beneath the dome, flashing with lightning and the grumble of thunder.

“Holy shit, what is that?” I breathed as the car veered around the side of it towards a large metal building standing about a hundred feet away from the edge of the dome.

“The Order Yard,” Officer Lucius answered, as the truck slowed beside it, giving no more explanation than that as she directed us into the building.

I followed Darius out of the car, my pulse ratcheting up a level as we walked inside. Another officer sat behind a glass screen and a security door barred our way onwards.

“Ah Mr Acrux, Mr Rigel.” He stood up, bowing his head to us both, but giving me a lingering look that suggested he knew what I was hiding. “Please step into the pod one at a time.” He ushered Darius forward and the metal door slid open as he entered confidently before it closed again after him.

The door reopened a moment later and I moved into the empty space, another door barring my way on as I turned to look at the guard through the glass.

“Both feet in the boxes on the floor, Mr Rigel,” he instructed and I arranged my feet, waiting for something to happen, but nothing did. “That’s it. Okay, all done.”

The door opened to my left and I headed through it, finding Darius waiting for me beside a large set of elevator doors. They opened as I approached and we walked into the shining silver space, turning back to face the doors just as they slid closed. The elevator descended at a rapid pace and my heart lurched in my chest as we drew closer and closer to Orion.

I noticed a strange tingling sensation in my chest and a chalky taste filled my mouth. I instinctively reached for my Phoenix, but it seemed to be sleeping, unable to be roused.

“My Order,” I gasped and Darius nodded.

“It’s Order Suppressant gas. They pump it into this place twenty four seven, so unless you take a daily antidote like the guards do, it’s impossible to shift.”

I didn’t like that feeling at all. It was as if a part of my body had being severed clean off. “So Lance…he can’t bite anyone?” The thought of him starving in this place was unbearable. It wasn’t something I’d even considered and it made me want to tear him out of these walls and never let them have him back.

“Not unless he’s in that big dome up top. That’s where they’re allowed access to their Orders,” Darius explained and a knot in my chest eased a little. At least he wasn’t entirely cut off, but it still must have been hard to go without access to it in between his time out there.

I tried to get my thoughts in line for when I saw him. I had so many versions of what I wanted to say to him in my head, I had no idea what was going to come out of my mouth when I actually saw him. I chewed on my lower lip, getting more and more worked up.

The doors slid open and a short corridor stretched out ahead of us with a waiting room at the far end of it. Fae were gathered in the monochrome space, sitting on the metal chairs provided. People’s mouths dropped open as they spotted us, exchanging looks with one another, a few of them bowing their heads while others stared, seemingly awe-struck. It was the strangest feeling in the world to be looked at like that. Tory and I didn’t leave the academy enough to receive this sort of attention regularly. And I guessed for a moment, I knew what it was like to be an Heir.

A guard stood beside a door, checking his watch. “You’ll be called in alphabetical order and will proceed to the room number I assign you,” he announced then took out his Atlas, tapping on the screen. “Acrux, Darius and guest.” He looked to us, dipping his head respectfully as we approached before pressing his hand to a scanner beside the door and it slid smoothly open. “Room thirteen.” He pointed us down the corridor full of doors and we headed that way, my heart lodged firmly in my throat.

This is happening. I’m really going to see him.

The silence in the hallway made my skin prickle with unease. This place was cold and the air felt thin. Being so far underground was disquieting. Like this prison was a realm of its own, one I didn’t want to wander too deeply into. And if I felt like that after a few minutes here, Orion must have been losing his mind.

We reached door thirteen and Darius opened it, blocking my view as I followed him inside. A heavy breath fell from my lungs as I found the room empty.

“Where is he?” I hissed.

“Just wait,” Darius growled, looking about as anxious to see Orion as I was. His fingers were flexing and his muscles were bunched. He cast a silencing bubble and I felt it push out around me. “Don’t speak to him until I give you a signal. I’m going to buy you some time in here alone, I have to cast ice on the cameras to make sure the video and sound is blocked. I’ve paid off the guard who’ll be watching the feed, but it’ll cost Lance a full cavity search.”

“Oh my god,” I gasped.

He shrugged. “He could have saved himself the inconvenience by not sending himself to prison.”

“Holy shit,” I breathed, my throat tight as he dropped the silencing bubble.

My heart was a desperate animal, clawing at the confines of my ribcage as I stared at that door. Waiting, waiting, waiting.

What if he’s angry I came here? Or upset?

What if he’s been hurt in this place? He’s stuck with killers and degenerates, he could have been attacked or beaten or-

The door opened and I stopped breathing as Orion stepped into the room in an orange jumpsuit with four symbols on the breast. A pair of fangs, his two Elements and his number. One hundred and fifty.

His beard was overgrown and his ebony hair was falling into his eyes which looked sunken with lack of sleep. My heart practically beat its way out of my chest at seeing him like that. Looking so utterly broken. Like he was half the man he’d been the last time I saw him.

Darius rushed at him and the two of them embraced hard. I could almost see the bond between them blazing in the air as they gripped each other tightly.

“Fuck, I’ve missed you,” Darius growled.

Orion groaned as he dug his fingers into his friend’s back, the tension in his body making me hurt.

Darius suddenly shoved him back with a snarl. “You fucking asshole,” he snapped. “What the hell were you thinking?”

Orion’s eyes slid to me and my pulse thundered everywhere as he frowned, clearly surprised to see Max here, then looked back to Darius. “I had to,” he said with a flash of resilience in his eyes, but he didn’t expand on that.

“Yeah, well you can explain it to him first.” Darius jerked his chin at me and Orion’s brow pinched in confusion as his friend strode toward the exit. He threw me a nod as ice frosted over the cameras then he stepped out of the room and slammed the door shut behind him. The second it closed, I felt the illusion lift from my skin, fluttering away like butterflies.

“No,” Orion gasped, taking a step back. “He brought you here?!” he roared and a tremor rocked through my body.

“Yes,” I said, lifting my chin, trying to ignore the writhing ache in my chest as I forced myself not to run into his arms. I was so angry at him. And betrayed and hurt. But then seeing him look like this… like he’d been going through hell in this place, it made my anger fade enough that I could feel my heart shattering all over again.

“You’ve lost weight,” he growled as his eyes slid down me.

I said nothing, my throat too tight.

“Don’t let yourself suffer because of me,” he said in a harsh tone.

The dam broke in my chest and anger won out over every other emotion. “Is that a command or are you trying to Dark Coerce me?” I asked icily.

His jaw ticked and he stalked toward me like a hunter starving for his next meal. His eyes scoured every inch of me, his throat bobbing and a tangible energy in the air swallowed me up.

He crowded me in against the wall, making my breath hitch at how little space parted us. He didn’t smell like cinnamon anymore, he smelled like soap and misery. “It’s a command. And one you’re going to follow. Get out of here and forget this place. Forget me. It’s over. Done. So move on.”

His words were sharper than a knife, the hollowness to his voice making me long for the warmth he usually directed at me.

“You don’t get to decide that for me.” I blinked back tears, choking on my tongue. “You had no right to do this. You threw away everything, including your own life. Why?” I asked the question that had been haunting me for weeks on end. The one that had kept me up at night, the single word making me want to dive into the shadows just so I could forget it. But I hadn’t. I’d stayed strong. And now he owed me this answer.

“You know why,” he growled. “You’re a princess of Solaria-“

“Fuck you.” I shoved my palms into his chest with a blast of air magic that made him stumble back. The worst thing was how he didn’t fight, he just stared at me with that look of acceptance stamped across his features.

I started to pace, my pulse thrumming everywhere and finally my anger came back in full force. “You had no right to do what you did!” I rounded on him, pointing at him in accusation. “We had a plan. You could have avoided prison if you’d just done what Darius’s lawyer said.”

“It’s my life, Darcy, I’ll do what I please,” he said flatly.

I cringed at that name, shaking my head. I was always Blue to him, but he’d taken that from me along with everything else.

“So that’s it?” I asked breathlessly, the wind crushed from my lungs. “We’re done? Finished. Because you say so? And I never even got the chance to fight for us?”

His eyes darkened and he had the look of a wounded beast as he turned his gaze from me to the wall. “Yes.”

“Is that all you have to say?” I lunged at him, throwing my hands into him with another blast of air. He staggered away, his back bumping against the wall as he didn’t even bother to raise a hand to try and fight me off. The glowing cuffs on his wrists ensured he couldn’t use magic, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t try to stop me physically. He just didn’t seem to care enough to.

“That’s all I have to say,” he said in an empty tone with no emotion in it. Nothing. Didn’t he care? Wasn’t he even going to apologise for tearing my heart to pieces?

Of all the times I’d imagined seeing him again, I never could have predicted this arctic front from him. This apathy. It was worse than anything else I’d pictured.

My tears started flowing and I wanted to hide them away, but there was no force in the world which could stop them now.

“Why?!” I screamed again, my voice raw. “Give me the honest reason. I deserve that much.”

Shadows swirled in his eyes and for a moment I feared he’d gone into them. He seemed so distant, so beastly. Like the man who’d loved me didn’t even live in him anymore. He looked heartless and cold and exactly like the cruel creature he’d let the world think he was.

I approached him slowly when he remained quiet, the air alive with electric energy as I closed the space between us. And that was something of a comfort to know this compelling bond between us still existed, he was just refusing to acknowledge it. I reached out, pressing my hand to his chest as I got closer and closer, feeling the powerful pounding of his heart beneath my palm as I tried to hunt out the truth through it.

His jaw locked and his eyes focused on me so intensely that I couldn’t draw in a single breath.

“Answer me,” I whispered, a plea in my voice. I needed this. It was torture living without an explanation from him. Still, he remained quiet and another tear rolled down my cheek. “Seth said you were trying to save me. Is that true?”

“Seth,” he hissed like his name was poison. “Why would you listen to Seth Capella?” There was a dangerous edge to his tone and I huffed a breath.

“So you want me to answer your questions but you won’t answer mine?” I slid my hand up to cup the back of his neck, stepping closer so my chest brushed his ever so gently. I could have sworn the lights in the room flickered with how much energy bound us together.

I tip-toed up, aching to kiss him, wondering if he’d melt if I could just get past his defences. If we kissed, he’d remember why we were worth fighting for.

His eyes remained locked on mine, a desperation in his gaze I didn’t understand the meaning of. Then he stepped out of my hold, brushing past me and turning his back on me, the biggest insult you could offer another Fae. And my jaw fell slack.

“Leave,” he growled. “And don’t come back. It’s over, Darcy. Move on with your life.”

“It doesn’t have to be over,” I gasped, terror wrapping its way around every organ in my body. “I don’t care that you’re here. You could be on the moon and I’d still find a way to love you.”

“I don’t want you to love me. I want you to leave and never come back.”

Those words nearly brought me to my knees. Panic ripped at my soul as I stared at the man who possessed me, telling me to walk away. To never see him again.

“You don’t mean that,” I demanded, desperate to stop him from forcing me away.

“I do,” he growled coldly, dismissively. “I mean every word. Get out.”

I backed up, starting to shake as I reached the door. I gripped the handle behind me, unable to blink as I gazed at him in despair.

“Lance,” I tried one final time, blinded by my pain. “Please don’t do this.”

“Get out!” He swivelled toward me, his gaze as dark as pitch as he pointed at the door.

My heart jammed into my throat and I turned the handle, wrenching it wide and shoving past Darius as I fled down the corridor. I needed to escape this place. I needed fresh air. I was going to suffocate if I didn’t get it.

“Darcy!” Darius called, his footsteps pounding after me.

My blue hair flew around me as the guard admitted me back into the waiting room, his eyes narrowing as he took in my appearance. “Hold on-” he started, but I raced into the open elevator with Darius hot on my heels.

“You saw nothing!” Darius barked at him and the man’s cheeks reddened before he bowed his head in submission.

The elevator started to rise and I pressed my hands to my face as Darius cast the illusion spell on me once more. The second the doors opened, I was out of them and when the guard finally let us outside, I dragged down a lungful of air, dropping to my knees on the dusty ground beside the building.

Darius fell down beside me, clutching my arm. “What happened?”

I couldn’t get the words out, holding a hand to my chest as my heart felt like it was going to combust.

“What did he say?” Darius demanded.

“He said it’s over,” I forced out, wiping my tears away as I managed to catch my breath at last. I moved to sit against the wall of the building, the ground beneath me seeming unsteady. Everything was broken. All of it ruined. The world wasn’t the same one I’d been in just moments ago.

Darius rose above me so I fell into his shadow, his features twisting into determination. “Wait here,” he growled. “I’ll speak to him. And I’ll make sure he signs off on the appeal.”

I nodded, cupping my head in my hands as I tried to slow my racing heart. The whole conversation replayed in my mind until I was breaking apart all over again, tears running down my cheeks. He wanted me gone. He didn’t want me anywhere near him. Did he blame me for this? How could he? He’d made this choice. But maybe now he’d come here he’d realised what a terrible mistake he’d made. Maybe he would sign off on the appeal, but that wouldn’t fix things between us.

Darius finally returned and before I could stop him, he threw his fist into the wall beside me.

“Darius,” I gasped, getting to my feet as he dropped his arm to his side and blood dripped down into the grass. “What happened?”

“He’s being a stubborn fucking asshole,” he spat. “He won’t sign off on the appeal. He’s going to stay here and rot because he’s a righteous prick.”

“There must be something we can do.” I clutched his arm as he looked to me with pity in his eyes. And I hated that.

“I’m sorry,” he said heavily like he meant it from the depths of his being. “He’s made his bed, now he’s determined to fucking lie in it.”

“No,” I choked out and he dragged me into his arms, suddenly becoming the only thing solid that was holding me upright. “Darius,” I sobbed. “Please do something.”

He said nothing but his silence said it all. There was nothing he could do. He’d go to the ends of the world if it meant he could free his friend, but unless Orion made the choice to help himself, it was all pointless.

“He did this for you,” he said quietly when I managed to draw myself together. “This fate means you can still rise in society without your name being sullied.”

“I don’t care what people think of me,” I growled. “He took that choice away from me.”

“I know,” he said in a low tone. “But…we can’t waste his sacrifice.”

“What are you saying?” I stepped back out of his arms with accusation in my voice, my brows pulling together.

“It means, the best thing you can do for him right now, is give him what he’s hoping for. Back off, give him time to stew in there until he comes to his senses. Don’t send letters, don’t try to call.”

“But-”

“There’s no other way,” Darius said grimly. “If he thinks you’ve moved on, he might start listening to me. And in time…maybe I can get him to agree to the appeal.” He didn’t even sound convinced of his own words. I didn’t know if he was saying them to placate me or himself. The chances of Orion changing his mind were miniscule. He’d chosen this fate. And I knew he was stubborn enough to see it through if that was what he’d decided.

A final tear tracked silently down my cheek as reality settled over me like a ten ton weight. The broken pieces of my heart sat jaggedly in my chest, piercing right through to my core. There wasn’t a single part of me that didn’t hurt.

That was it. My only option. I had to walk away from this place and not look back. I had to hold onto a hope that was so small, it barely shone at all.

The stars had turned against us so thoroughly, I wondered if they’d ever been rooting for us.

Me and Lance Orion were officially over. The most beautiful, pure love I’d ever known had been taken away from me just like that. And I didn’t know how I’d ever recover.