Zodiac Academy 6: Fated Throne

I flew through the sky with Dragon fire pouring from my mouth time and again as I worked to exorcise some of the ever-present rage in my heart as my wings beat madly in the cool air.

Father had summoned me and the rest of the Heirs to join him at the Palace of Souls tonight and I knew he’d invited the other Councillors too, but I just couldn’t decide if this was what we’d all been dreading or if it was just some new power play.

I’d checked with Darcy after we’d been given the summons and she hadn’t had a clue about us turning up at the palace which was her home tonight. It wasn’t exactly unusual for Father to invite himself wherever the hell he wanted to go and do whatever the fuck he wanted to do, but the location of this had me on edge.

Darcy had gone to speak to Gabriel about it and I was left circling the clouds to try and calm myself enough to endure an evening in his company. I hated pretending to have been thoroughly put back into my place by the things he’d done to Roxy and how he’d left Lance to rot in prison.

I blew out a final breath of fire accompanied by a roar loud enough to rattle the windows in all of the nearby buildings before cutting through the sky towards Ignis House. I hurtled towards the open floor length window on the top floor where my room was, tucked my wings and shifted back into my Fae form at the last moment. I ran several paces across the carpet to counter my momentum and strode towards my closet to dress for the meeting.

Whatever the fuck we were doing, it was official business which meant I needed to be suited and booted, looking my damn best or he’d happily punish me the moment we were behind closed doors.

Over the summer he’d summoned me to his office more than once and commanded me to take a beating from him under threat of Roxy’s life, and I’d had to take it like a good little bitch because I knew the evil bastard was capable of anything. Not that I was certain he wasn’t hurting her anyway. But aside from my birthday, I hadn’t seen her once over the summer. Even though I knew she was being kept somewhere in the manor and I’d searched every fucking brick in the place, used every spell possible to try and reveal the concealment. But there was nothing. The only clues I had gotten at all were the times I’d woken in the night, certain I’d heard her screaming, calling for me, begging me to find her. But once I was awake, there was never anything but silence again.

I didn’t know if it was just my imagination being cruel to me or if the stars were gifting me glimpses of what was happening to her, but I got the horrible feeling it might be the latter. Thanks to the fucking shadows clouding Gabriel’s Sight, he was having no luck in seeking her out and I’d been starting to consider riskier and riskier moves that could be made to try and find her.

I dressed in a charcoal grey suit with a black dress shirt, pausing for a moment as I pulled the jacket over my shoulders and found it tight around my arms. That thing had been custom made only a few months ago and yet I’d managed to grow out of it already.

I glanced in the mirror at the fabric straining over my biceps and the inch of ankle showing above my shoes before cursing and pulling the suit off. Not that I was really complaining. Last I’d checked, I was on eye level with the piece of shit I called my father but seeing as I’d been making a good effort not to look at him when I was stuck in his company, I hadn’t particularly noticed that I was having a growth spurt again. It wasn’t all that surprising that my muscles were growing with the amount of training I’d been doing with the other Heirs, wrestling and learning to wield the axe Darcy had gifted me to the best of my ability. But if I was getting bigger in my Fae form then that would be even more noticeable in my Dragon form. And I seriously hoped I was about to become the biggest Dragon in Solaria, even if it was just so that I could watch Father’s head explode when he realised his own son had knocked him off of the top spot.

A knock at my door interrupted me as I changed into a black suit instead and I called out for Xavier to come in, knowing he’d been summoned to come to the palace tonight too.

But as the door swung wide and I glanced at it in the mirror, my breath caught.

‘Roxy?’ I asked, turning towards her sharply and letting the tie I’d been about to put on fall from my hand.

She was wearing a black gown which accentuated the dark rings in her eyes and she regarded me impassively as she stood on the threshold. She was stunningly beautiful as always, but there was hardly anything of the girl I’d fallen for showing in the mannequin model version of her standing before me. There was no scorn in her eyes, no wit on her tongue, even her posture was just so fucking rigid, it didn’t seem natural. She was like a painting of herself, all done in perfect proportions but with no life inside her, nothing to say she was anything more than a beautiful decoration designed to be admired and little else. I missed her quick tongue and insults, I wanted her calling me out on having a gold plated bed and a fucking jacuzzi tub. Hell, I’d take her hating me over this…nothing creature that stood in her place.

‘Your father said I should arrive with you,’ she said simply, glancing around my room like she didn’t even recognise it.

‘You’re coming too?’ I asked, hesitating where I was despite the desperate desire to go to her.

This helpless void of emotion in her cut me open and bled me out, but until I could get my hands on the antidote to the Order Suppressant my father was dosing her with, I didn’t know how to try and bring her back to us. We had to be careful who we trusted to get it for us and it took longer to brew than any of us wanted to wait so Gabriel was in the process of getting hold of some faster from his dodgy Alestrian contacts. I didn’t really give a shit where we got it from, I just needed my girl back to herself or it was going to kill me.

‘My king wants me there,’ she said, her eyes shining at the mention of her so-called king, and I had to grit my teeth against the rage that built in me.

‘Do you remember when you first came to this academy?’ I asked her, taking a step forward but falling still as she flinched.

It was only the smallest jerk of motion and she raised her chin to cover it a moment later, but I caught the movement and it sent ice running down my spine. Why the fuck was she afraid of me?

‘Not particularly,’ she replied coldly and a distant rumble of thunder reminded me that we weren’t supposed to be alone. Fucking stars. I hated them almost as much as I hated the man who had sired me.

‘Why did you just flinch when I moved closer to you?’ I asked and her brow creased the smallest amount in a way that made me think she hadn’t been aware of it. Or maybe she had but she hadn’t wanted me to see.

‘You hurt me,’ she replied simply, her green-brown eyes meeting mine. ‘Always have, always will.’

Fuck.

Why did those words cut into me worse than any blade ever could? Maybe because I knew there was truth to them. Maybe because that was the one thing I feared more than anything and I hated that it might be so. I regretted everything I’d done to her more than I could ever put into words, but I couldn’t even deny that I was still hurting her. My father should have died at my hands the night he took her. I had been so fucking close to saving her and everyone else from him and I’d failed. And everything that had happened to her in the months since was my fault because of it.

‘I’m sorry, Roxy,’ I breathed but she didn’t even seem to register my words, looking back over her shoulder as more footsteps approached. What I wouldn’t give for her to call me out on getting her fucking name wrong or to call me a lizard bastard or an arrogant prick or any number of insults. I’d take them all and thank her for them if I could just prise them from her lips.

‘Oh, err, hey – am I interrupting?’ Xavier’s voice came from behind her, which was probably a good thing as the thunder which was crashing through the sky was only getting more insistent and I knew I couldn’t linger alone in her company.

‘No,’ Roxy replied simply, like she had no reason at all to want to prolong our conversation. I tried not to let that hurt but it fucking did.

Xavier glanced at me with a question in his eyes and I just shook my head. There was nothing we could do right now with Father waiting for us, but I was sure as hell going to do something soon.

The three of us headed out of Ignis House and started walking for the gates while Xavier asked Roxy question after question as he tried to draw her out of herself. But he got little more than single word answers if she replied at all. 

I tried to walk close beside her, but she kept shifting away when I moved near, and I knocked against a solid air shield the third time I attempted it. She didn’t even look my way as I tried not to let the rejection bite at me, but this was so fucked up that I didn’t even know how to begin fixing it. I just had to hope that Darcy was right about her Phoenix being the key to it, because if we didn’t figure this out soon then I was going to lose my damn mind.

We made it beyond the gates where we met the other Heirs and travelled via stardust to the sprawling courtyard outside the Palace of Souls where Father was already waiting.

I exchanged loaded looks with my friends but kept my face neutral as I took in the gathered crowd, waiting to hear whatever the hell he had to say.

Roxy strode away from us the moment we arrived, her eyes lighting up for the first time since she’d appeared at my door as she headed straight for my father who stood with Mom, Stella, Vard and Clara before the gates to the palace.

‘Take it easy, remember we’ve got a plan,’ Max murmured, placing a hand on my arm as he pushed his Siren gifts at me, offering me a measure of calm as I watched the girl who should have been my mate wrap her arms around my father’s neck and embrace him in front of everyone here.

His eyes met mine over her shoulder and the corner of his lips hooked up cruelly like he could feel my fucking heart tearing open as his arms closed around her for a moment.

Fortunately for him, he released her before I lost my fucking mind and launched myself at him. I wanted his death more keenly than anything I’d ever desired and the way he was watching me said he was well aware of the fact. But it didn’t matter because he’d placed the only woman I’d ever loved between us and he knew my hatred for him would never outweigh my love for her. She was a shield unlike any other he could have constructed against me and I was tamed by his control over her just as surely as she was by the shadows that had corrupted her.

Silence slowly fell throughout the courtyard as Father stepped away from Roxy and moved to stand in the centre of the space, facing the crowd.

‘No doubt you are all wondering why I summoned you here this evening at such short notice,’ he called out and the other Councillors all exchanged looks, standing a little way behind him and clearly having no fucking idea what this was about.

I met my mother’s eyes across the wide courtyard, but she was obviously just as in the dark as the rest of us, so I turned my gaze back to the man running the show to see what the hell he had to say for himself.

‘Last night, I awoke with the words of the stars whispering in my ears,’ Father called loudly to the deathly silent crowd. ‘They summoned me from my bed and led me to the lake at the edge of my land and there, I saw a vision in the reflection on the surface of the water.’

I frowned as I tried to figure out what the fuck he was going on about, but the crowd of onlookers were all watching him with rapt attention so I could only wait to find out where he was going with it. I seriously doubted he’d been gifted a fucking vision though. There was no trace of The Sight in our heritage and he’d never had one before to my knowledge.

I glanced over at Vard, my father’s creepy new Seer, wondering if he was going to claim to have something to do with this apparent vision, but he just stood watching, his mismatched eyes fixed on the show, the blood red one seeming to pulse with magic on and off.

‘I saw destruction, devastation, death and the end of the world as we know it. I saw us losing this war against the Nymphs.’ Screams of fright went up amongst the crowd and the Councillors exchanged shocked glances, confirming that they were as in the dark as all of us, though they seemed to be more interested in hearing him out than interrupting his speech. ‘Then the stars offered me a deal. One which I felt duty bound to accept as it was presented by the guiding force of the heavens themselves. The true and divine beings who have given us all we have in this world. They gave me and those most loyal to the stars a gift – the Fifth Element.’

The silence in the crowd erupted into whispers of shock and suspicion but Father was more than ready for that as he raised his voice to quiet them again.

‘They offered me this and all the power that goes with it for the sake of our kingdom. But they also pointed out that our kingdom isn’t truly a kingdom at all because it is not ruled by a single monarch the way that they intended for it to be.’

He raised his hands and my gut lurched with bile as I felt the dark power of the shadows rising up around us before they even became visible to the naked eye. Father lifted his arms slowly and shadows crept down his hands, coating his fingers and pooling in his palms. 

My heart raced in my chest as I looked between the other Heirs in horror, realising that this was it, his play for power. He was going to claim the throne. Which meant he was about to formally challenge their parents. And if he proved his power over them in front of this entire audience and all of the cameras that were trained on him, there would be no denying that he was the most powerful Fae in all of Solaria. He would claim his position at the top of the pecking order and there was nothing that any of us could do to stop him. Fae took their power and fought for their place and if he was the most powerful Fae of all then there was one clear position for him to assume.

But instead of doing that, of following the guidelines laid out in place for a formal challenge, Father just raised his hands higher, the shadows thickening around him as more people screamed and some of the weakest Fae in the audience bolted like they feared for their lives. And they should have. Nothing good came from the darkness of the shadows. Nothing lived in them but pain and misery and a hunger that could never be sated.

I made a move to step forward, to make my own challenge, to try to force him to face me without putting Roxy between us or do anything at all to stop this horror show from playing out.

But as I tried to move, I found my body locked in position, the shadows within me rooting me to the spot and binding my tongue just as firmly as my limbs. My gaze caught on Clara across the courtyard where she stood in her trailing black gown, shadows twisting between her legs and beneath her skirts in an unnatural wind as she smirked at me with black painted lips. She looked like a witch from an old fairy tale, not the sibling of the man I loved like a brother.

‘I am a willing pawn of the stars and I will gladly let fate guide my hand in protecting our kingdom and ruling over all of my subjects!’ Father cried, either totally oblivious of the countless horrified, terrified faces before him or fucking relishing every second of their fear. ‘And I am here to claim my crown.’

With a swift strike of his hands towards the ground, shadows burst from him like a blanket of pure darkness, snaking out in every direction and seeking each and every member of the crowd surrounding us. 

As they coiled around each person, they tangled them in their grip and forced them to their knees one after another and I watched in horror as the Councillors were all made to bow too.

My knees hit the cobblestones with a heavy thump that echoed right through every bone in my body as I stared at the only man left standing in the entire courtyard while a victorious grin slid across his face.

Roxy was on her knees before him, her eyes glazed as she looked up at him in devotion, one of the rightful queens of our kingdom forced to bow before a monster and quelling any doubts that might have been left about whether or not the Vegas might try and stand against him. It didn’t matter that Darcy wasn’t here. That wasn’t even going to make the news. All that anyone would see was one of the princesses and all of the Councillors kneeling at his feet like adoring subjects.

‘This is dark magic!’ Tiberius boomed and my gaze slid to Max’s father as he struggled against the shadows which had engulfed his entire body aside from his face.

‘Let us fight,’ Melinda demanded, her fangs snapping out as she snarled in a fierce refusal of what was happening.

‘You are fighting,’ Father said casually. ‘And yet you can’t break free. So I think that proves I’ve already won.’

Tiberius started cursing and Father flicked his fingers, tossing a silencing bubble over him and the other Councillors as he turned his attention back to the crowd and the cameras broadcasting this fucking farce to the entire kingdom.

‘I know that this is new and that you may be feeling concerned. But I can prove to you that the stars know what they’re doing in this matter,’ he called, raising his arms again as he beckoned, looking towards the trees that surrounded the palace grounds like he expected something to emerge from them.

Clara allowed me to turn my head and I caught Caleb’s gaze as his eyes widened in horror.

‘Nymphs,’ he breathed, hearing more than I could with his gifts and making my skin crawl as I tried to turn further towards the approaching monsters.

When they burst from the trees led by Drusilla, Miguel and Alejandro in their Fae-like forms, more than one Fae in the crowd screamed in horror but none of them fled and I could only imagine it was the hold of the shadows which kept them in place.

‘Don’t be afraid!’ Father shouted, commanding quiet as the Nymphs moved into the courtyard at an unhurried pace and formed lines behind him. Their grotesque bodies were twisted and rough with skin like the bark of a tree and their red eyes glared out at the crowd of gathered Fae, promising long and agonising deaths to each and every one of them. Drusilla and Alejandro exchanged a smug look and Miguel gazed at them blandly, his eyes unfocused like he had no opinion on the wild events ensuing around him.

‘The shadows have gifted me the power to control their kind!” Father cried. “The war is over. With the gift of the stars, I have won it for us in a single night!’

A long and agonising beat of silence followed his proclamation, then all of a sudden some members of the crowd erupted into cheers as Father’s smile grew and a chant of ‘Long live the King! Long live the King! Long live the King!’ broke out amongst them.

Roxy and Clara slowly stood before him, the only ones of us allowed to return to our feet as Clara pulled an iron crown inlaid with emerald Dragon scales from within her skirts and handed it to the girl who was born to be a queen.

Roxy didn’t even hesitate as she lifted it up and placed it on his head, leaning forward to press a kiss to his cheek which came close enough to his mouth to make the Dragon in me snarl with fury and beg to be set loose to rip him limb from limb.

Roxy and Clara stepped to his side then Mom, Xavier and I all found ourselves on our feet, moving to join them. 

I ended up right beside my father as cameras flashed and people yelled praise to the new King Acrux. Inside, I was doing everything in my power to fight off the grip of the shadows so that I could tear his fucking head from his shoulders, but externally I stood at his side, the loyal son, helping create the picture of the perfect family he painted us out to be in his lies.

Once the crowd began to quiet, Father strode away from us to stand over the three Councillors he’d forced to their knees. 

‘Will you serve in my Council the way we all once did for the Savage King?’ he asked in a booming voice which carried across the crowd and silence fell once again.

He removed the silencing bubble that had stopped their protests earlier and the three Councillors looked resigned as they exchanged glances.

‘I swear my loyalty to the crown,’ Melinda agreed, the reluctance in her voice clear as Father took her hand and forced her to make that oath before the stars, binding her to her word.

‘I swear my loyalty to the crown,’ Antonia ground out and Seth’s shoulders dropped an inch as he watched his mother be forced to bow like that.

Tiberius held out the longest and as my father waited on his oath, I could see the way his eyes tightened against the pain of the shadows which were no doubt being driven into him with more power to force an answer from his lips.

‘I swear my loyalty to the crown,’ he gritted out eventually and with the clap of magic that sealed the oath, it was done.

Solaria was no longer ruled by a Council. We had a monarch. A king who would no doubt be so much worse than the Savage King had ever been. 

Father turned and strode towards the gates to the Palace of Souls, the Nymphs parting for him like a tide as he took ownership of this royal place, the people, the kingdom, everything. And all of our nightmares came true at once.

In short, Solaria was well and truly fucked.