Zodiac Academy 7: Heartless Sky

I paced up and down inside the dining hall of The Burrows, looking between the large clock on the wall and the tunnel which led up to the farmhouse as I waited for Darius and Xavier to appear. I didn’t even know how long it would take them to fly here from the academy or how far away it was, but I also didn’t know how much stardust they’d had with them and whether it was enough to transport the entire herd, so I had no idea how long I might be waiting and Gabriel just kept telling me to be patient. But fuck patient.

“He’ll be okay,” Darcy reassured me, coming to stand at my side and taking my hand to squeeze it. The rest of the rebels had been sent back to their rooms while investigations were being carried out over the latest murder, but I’d refused to be confined to my room so I was waiting here instead – though I would have chosen to be outside if I’d gotten any real say in it.

I glanced at Gabriel, wondering if he might have seen anything else to make that guess a little more certain.

“So long as Darius doesn’t lose his head to rage, he should arrive back safely. But it’s hard for me to see too much of what has been happening – probably because the shadows are somehow involved. There are futures open to us which show him returning, so there’s a good chance,” he said cryptically, barely reassuring me at all, because since when had Darius Acrux ever been any good at not losing his head?

“I can’t bear it if anything happens to him,” I muttered, allowing myself that single moment of love-struck weakness as I bit down on my bottom lip and tried to remind myself of just how fucking strong that man was.

“Darius may be a lot of things, but he would literally move heaven and earth to be with you,” Gabriel said. “I’m sure he’s doing everything within his power to return to you quickly.”

I clucked my tongue, knowing that was the truth while still unable to shift the sense of unease from my gut.

“I feel like everything we’re doing here is taking too long,” I said. “We fought to get free of Lionel, stole a hand from him, managed to gain the Imperial Star and kept it from him and yet here we are, sitting around in some cave network, taking magic lessons in between helping make more caves to house a thousand refugees instead of just finishing this.”

“It’s not the time,” Gabriel said, the sigh in his voice letting me know that it was infuriating him too but also confirming that nothing had changed.

“I just want him dead at my feet,” I snarled. “Is that too much to ask? For my boyfriend’s father to just bleed out painfully at my goddamn feet?”

“Wow, you get really bloodthirsty when you’re worried,” Darcy teased.

“I’m not worried,” I replied, “I’m fucking angry, I’m gonna beat his scaly ass when he gets back here for running off without me like that.”

Gabriel chuckled like he wasn’t opposed to the idea of that at all and I grinned at him.

“Here,” Seth’s voice came from behind me and I turned to find him standing there, holding out a cupcake with a large letter B iced on top of it. “You look like a girl who needs some comfort food.”

“In the form of a cupcake with a random letter B on it?” I questioned, arching an eyebrow at him.

“Yeah. No doubt you’ll need to keep your energy up for all the angry sex you and Darius will be having later on.”

“Keep the sexual references about my sisters to times when I’m not within earshot, yeah?” Gabriel suggested with a grimace. “It’s bad enough that the stars show me flashes of that shit without me having to listen to conversations about it too.”

Seth had a devilish look on his face like he’d just been challenged and I rolled my eyes at him, half looking forward to watching Gabriel use The Sight to beat him in the little game I could see brewing in his beady eyes.

“Where did you even get that from?” Darcy asked, pointing at the cake.

“It was just sitting there for anyone to take in the kitchens!” Seth replied with a grin.

“So why the B?” I asked, still not reaching for the cake which he continued to hold out to me.

“I didn’t know you’d be so fussy about the letter I chose. You could have had your pick really. Maybe I should have given you the T.”

“There was a T?” I asked.

“Yeah. There were a bunch and each one had a letter on it which spelled out ‘Happy Birthday Brodie’ in this yummy blue icing.” Seth grinned and my brow dropped.

“So you stole someone’s birthday cakes?” Darcy asked him, looking somewhere between amused and horrified.

“No, not all of them. Just the Hs and the Bs and the Ps…to be honest I did take almost all of them, but I left the last three – the icing just wasn’t up to the standard of this one and I wasn’t gonna eat a substandard cupcake.”

I eyed the blue icing smeared to the right of his mouth and laughed as I realised what he was saying. “So you stole someone’s cupcakes on their birthday, and the only ones you left behind spell out the word ‘die’ right after another guy has been randomly found dead? You’re a fucking psycho.”

Gabriel laughed with me as Seth frowned and Darcy slapped a hand over her mouth like she was trying really hard not to find that funny even though it totally was.

“Are we having cake?” Caleb asked as he shot into position in our group, his arm dropping around my shoulders as he gave me a little squeeze and I quickly accepted the cake from Seth.

“Mine,” I taunted, taking a big bite from it and making him grin at the challenge before he shot towards Seth, grabbed his jaw and held him still so that he could lick the icing from the edge of his lips.

“By the stars, Cal,” Seth gasped as Caleb just chuckled and pushed his jaw further back before sinking his teeth into his neck.

Seth’s hand moved to grip the back of Caleb’s neck as he fed, drawing him closer with a Wolfish growl which sounded all kinds of hot. I exchanged a look with Darcy as Caleb continued to feed, his entire body pressed flush to Seth’s for several long seconds before he finally pulled back with a rueful grin.

“You’re getting sloppy, man,” he teased. “What kind of hunt was that?”

“I got distracted by being an amazing friend,” Seth protested, his gaze on Caleb as he reached out to heal the bite on his neck before sucking the last of the blood from his thumb.

“Yeah well, some might think you’re getting sloppy. Or that you actually want me to bite you.”

“Pfft.” Seth shoved him harder than could really be called playful, his cheeks pinking a little. “I just like having someone to wrestle with who can actually match me, that’s all.”

“Well then next time, maybe you should try fighting back instead of making it so damn easy for me.” Caleb grinned then shot away from us, leaving Seth standing there staring after him.

He snapped around to face us again, pushing his fingers through his long, dark hair, his gaze fixing on my sister.

“Darcy, I need a super urgent word with you about the state of these rocks,” he said suddenly.

“Rocks?” I asked in confusion as Seth nodded.

“Yep. It can’t wait. And I need some comfort food,” he added, reaching out to snatch my half eaten cupcake from my hand.

“Hey!” I barked at him, but he was already shoving the entire thing into his mouth and dragging Darcy away from us while she gave me an apologetic smile. “What the fuck was that about?”

“I don’t know and I don’t want to know,” Gabriel replied. “I don’t wanna find out any more about what goes on in that Wolf’s head than I already do.”

Before I could reply, he jerked his chin towards the corridor which led back to the surface and I gasped as I spun to face it.

All of my worries flashed through my mind as I held my breath in anticipation of their arrival. I knew that Gabriel had told them they had to go alone, but that didn’t mean I had to like it and I was going to be giving Darius a piece of my mind just as soon as I made sure he was okay.

Before I could freak myself out even more, a clamour of noise announced the arrival of a group further up the tunnel and my lungs collapsed on themselves as I blew out a relieved breath and ran forward to meet Darius and Xavier.

The roar of a motorbike engine made my eyes widen and I stared in shock as Darius burst from the darkness of the tunnel riding on the back of the limited edition super bike he’d bought me while an entire herd of Pegasuses ran along behind him butt naked and in their Fae forms.

I spotted Xavier running at the front of the herd and as I scoured the group, I caught sight of Tyler and Sofia right behind him, my heart lifting with joy at seeing them again.

Darius sped straight towards me on my bike, the wheels skidding on the stone floor of the dining hall as he yanked it around and pulled up right in front of me.

I took in the blood staining the right side of his face and marking his entire side half a beat before he dragged me into his arms and kissed me so hard he stole the breath from my lungs. 

I broke for him, falling apart and kissing him back as the scattered pieces of my soul reformed and burned for him so fiercely that it felt like my entire body must have been glowing.

His tongue pushed into my mouth and he growled possessively as the scent of smoke, cedar and man enveloped me and I felt the furious pounding of his heart against my chest, letting me know how close he’d come to a much worse fate.

I shoved him back suddenly, my fist snapping out and driving into his chest – which actually hurt like a bitch because his stupid muscles were rock solid so it was kinda like punching a wall. “Don’t fucking worry me like that,” I snarled before turning away and moving to greet my friends.

“Roxy!” Darius called after me, but I just flipped him off over my shoulder and kept walking.

Geraldine came rushing over to the herd with a mountain of clothes floating along behind her on a gust of air magic.

“Never fear, Grussy is here!” she called by way of welcome, clicking her fingers at a group of rebels who had followed her here so that they could help hand out the clothes to the Pegasus herd.

I spotted Catalina embracing Xavier while he crushed her in his arms, blood staining his skin and making my gut clench with the knowledge of the danger they’d been in.

Sofia squealed as she spotted me approaching and I threw my arms around her, squeezing her tight despite the fact that she was butt naked.

“Shit, I’ve missed you,” I breathed as she crushed me in her hold and let out a choked kind of laugh. 

“Zodiac hasn’t been the same since you all left,” she replied just as another set of arms joined our hug and I was smashed between her and Tyler as he wrapped himself around me from behind.

“That had better not be your balls pushing up against my ass,” I warned him, though I was grinning, unable to really summon the strength to get angry while the relief over them being here and being okay filled me.

“My balls belong firmly to the girl on the other side of this hug sandwich,” Tyler replied. “So don’t worry about it, Princess.”

I snorted at the use of my title and let them squeeze me for a moment longer before the interruption of a pissed off Dragon snarling behind us drew my attention.

“Oh, Tyler there’s probably something you should know about me and Darius-” I began a beat before Tyler was ripped away from me with the force of a Dragon Shifter in beast mode and I whipped around to find him sprawled on the floor several feet away. Darius was stalking closer to him with death burning in his eyes.

“Where did the black rings in your eyes go?” Tyler asked as he stared up at Darius from the ground, his gaze shifting to find my eyes and a gasp escaping him as realisation hit. “No fucking way! How did you guys-”

He was cut off as Darius lunged at him, but I managed to flick an air shield up between them before he could attack and I stepped forward to grip his arm, tugging on it to force him to take notice of me.

“Hey dude, the only balls I have any interest in are yours, even if they aren’t going to be getting anywhere near me for the foreseeable future due to the stunt you just pulled by running off on me like that,” I snapped.

Darius ignored me, smoke spilling between his lips as he glared down at Tyler who raised his hands innocently from his position butt ass naked on the floor.

“I get it man, she’s your girl. Even if that makes no star damned sense after the whole Star Crossed thing. But whatever. Message received. No more naked hugs no matter how emotionally provocative the reunion is,” Tyler promised and Sofia stepped from foot to foot anxiously as she watched.

Darius still looked intent on murder, so I reached out and gripped his jaw in my hand, forcing his gaze around to meet mine. 

“I’m guessing you’re all tapped out?” I asked him, the irritation in my voice pretty clear over the fact that he’d let himself end up vulnerable like that. No doubt he had damn good reason for it, but right now I was pissed at him for risking himself without having me there to watch his back, so I wasn’t going to be reasonable.

Darius grunted some kind of affirmative response that didn’t contain words and I tightened my grip on his jaw in warning, my fingernails biting into his skin just enough to make him take note of how serious I was being.

“Then I think instead of attacking my friends, you should be getting cleaned up and piling gold all over yourself to replenish, don’t you? I’ll come find you once I’ve made sure Sofia and Tyler are settled in. We need to talk about your macho bullshit.”

“Don’t give me the ‘we need to talk’ crap, Roxy. I’m not some house pet for you to train up. And if I wanna beat the crap out of this asshole for touching my girl with his cock out then I’ll fucking do it,” he replied.

I stepped closer, tilting my mouth up towards his without quite getting close enough to kiss him as I spoke in a low tone. “Well unluckily for you, Darius, I have plenty of magic in reserve and I’m putting myself between you and Tyler, so unless you think you can take me on without a drop of magic in your veins, I suggest you go on back to your room before I beat your ass in front of all of these lovely people.”

Darius growled, leaning in to me and taking hold of the side of my neck, his thumb slipping around to caress my pulse point which pounded as he drew me closer by the hold on my throat.

“You should know better than to threaten a Dragon, Roxy,” he said, his words brushing against my ear as he moved his mouth so close to my flesh that it made a shiver of energy pass down my spine. “I might just have to remind you why that is.”

“Bring it on, asshole, I’m not afraid of you.” I tilted my chin up, making no attempt to remove his hand from my throat and bathing in that pissed off Alpha energy he was exuding all over me as I stood my ground and dared him to do his damn worst. 

Darius tightened his grip the smallest amount, drawing closer to me and speaking low into my ear, making my whole body spark with the energy I only ever experienced when I was riling up this particular beast. “You’re lucky I like it so much when you call me names, baby.”

He released me suddenly, brushing past me and leaving me hanging in the abruptly empty air which rushed in to try and fill the void his aura had left behind.

I rolled my eyes at his back, trying to maintain the illusion that I was utterly unaffected by that monster of mine and no doubt failing miserably as I practically drooled all over the floor and stared at his ass in those jeans while he walked away.

I dropped the air shield which had been protecting Tyler and offered him a hand up as he released a low whistle. 

“I’m gonna need access to an Atlas and info on the FaeBook group you all run in here – what did you call it? Rebels Forever? Down with the King? Let’s stick it up his Dragon Ass? Tell me it’s something catchy.”

“I dunno, dude, there hasn’t been a whole lot of social anything going on here so far as I know. It’s a closed system so we can only share FaeBook posts and messages with other people in The Burrows on our Atlases. I spend most of my time training with Orion and the Heirs so-”

“Back the fuck up, you have the Power Shamed professor here? Hashtag did they do it in detention. Hashtag did she get spanked by the Vampire tank-”

“No hashtags,” I said firmly, reaching out to place a hand over his mouth and looking around to find Darcy with Sofia and Xavier as they all embraced and she got caught in her own naked hug sandwich.

Instead of arguing with me, Tyler followed my line of sight then snorted angrily, stomping his foot as I withdrew my hand.

“Oh for fuck’s sake, he’s already trotting in on my girl,” he grumbled, his eyes narrowing on Xavier. ‘Look at him. He’s clearly been working out this whole freaking time. He’s all, ‘hey, Sofia, look at my tight ass and washboard abs and did you know I could totally bench press you beneath a rainbow?’ Gah.”

Tyler took off at a fast pace and I breathed a laugh as I fell into step with him and we approached the others.

“Hey Xavier!” Tyler called out with a bright smile as the hugging ended and I exchanged a grin with Darcy over having Sofia here with us, safe from the monster who was currently ruling our kingdom.

“Oh, hey man,” Xavier replied, his gaze roaming over Tyler in that assessing man way before hesitating on his dick which I had to admit had been trying to catch my eye too. Not that I had the slightest bit of interest in Tyler’s cock, but it was super sparkly and covered in gems and shit so it kinda drew the eye. “I’m so glad we managed to save you.”

“You were so brave,” Sofia said, batting her lashes up at Xavier and biting down on her bottom lip.

“Can you put some clothes on?” I interrupted, holding a hand out to shield my eyes from my boyfriend’s brother’s dick which was casually on display in front of me.

“Oh, I’m so sorry his plain Jane dick is offending you, Tory,” Tyler said dead seriously, turning and grabbing some sweatpants from the floating pile behind Geraldine with a whip of earth magic. He handed a tracksuit to Sofia who pulled it on as he and Xavier got dressed and Darcy tried not to laugh while the two male Pegasuses seemed to race to be the first to get their clothes on.

Tyler won by about half a second and Xavier stomped his foot like a three-year-old who had just been told he couldn’t have any candy.

“I was just telling Sofia that we can make up a room for her and Tyler along in the royal quarters,” Darcy said as we all silently agreed not to discuss the racing. “There’s one going spare since…” She glanced at Xavier then over to Catalina and cleared her throat uncomfortably. 

“You mean since Catalina started sneaking into Hamish’s room every night instead of sleeping in her own?” I asked, making Xavier wrinkle his nose.

“She thinks me and Darius haven’t figured that out,” he muttered, glancing over at his mom who was helping Hamish hand clothes out to the rest of the herd since he’d arrived. “And I don’t think she will admit it if you asked her, so maybe they’ll just have to get a room in the new tunnels.” His gaze moved to Sofia and I could tell he didn’t really want her to be that far away – The Burrows were getting so damn big now and there were so many refugees here that the latest sections of them were literally a couple of miles away beneath the ground. There were additional bathhouses and kitchens which were being run by the people who lived in those areas too, and if they ended up down there, we weren’t likely to see a whole lot of them.

“I’ll deal with Catalina. You guys show them around and I’ll catch you up once it’s sorted.”

Xavier gave me a look which said he seriously doubted that would work and I just offered a cocky grin in reply before heading over to talk to his mom who was just finishing up with the last of the herd.

“Beautifully done, Kitty,” Hamish murmured, his hand brushing against the small of her back as she turned a bright smile on him, and I swear I could feel the happiness pouring off of her.

“Sorry to interrupt,” I said, moving closer so that they spotted me and they flinched apart like I might not have noticed that whole exchange.

“Oh gooseberries on a gander bush, you gave me quite the heebee jeebies there, My Queen,” Hamish breathed, pressing a hand to his chest as I smiled at him.

“Because you thought you were being all subtle with your sweet nothings as you whispered them to each other?” I teased and Hamish honest to shit blushed while Catalina’s full lips popped open.

She really was a beautiful woman, and that was so much more apparent now that she was here, dressed in simple dresses which flattered her figure without flaunting it, her long, dark hair free of its perfectly polished up-dos and instead threaded with tiny flowers which she’d placed there with her earth magic. She still had her illusion in place, but Orion had taught us to see through simple ones like hers last week. And because I already knew the illusion was there, it didn’t take much effort on my part to see the real her.

Her smiles were no longer plastic but shone with actual happiness and she was finally able to spend time with her sons and shower them with the love they’d been missing from her for so long. She even extended that maternal love to me and Darcy whenever the opportunity for it arose, as well as Lance and even Geraldine too. It was like she’d been bursting with a love that had been all trapped and tied up inside her for so long that now that it was free, she couldn’t help but dole it out to everyone as often as she could. And though I found it hard to express, I freaking loved her playing mom with me. She’d even styled my hair for me a couple of times and it had made my heart feel all light and fluttery even though I hadn’t known how to tell her that. But I kinda got the feeling she knew, because she’d been missing that kind of affection for so long herself that she just recognised it easily in others.

“Do the boys know?” she asked, glancing around for them but Darius was long gone and Xavier was pretending not to have even noticed us talking. 

“Everyone knows,” I deadpanned and Hamish threw a hand to his forehead.

“Oh by the love of the stars, I have tarnished your good name, my lady,” he gasped.

“I’m pretty sure Lionel tarnished my name a long time ago when he started lending me to his friends for political advantages,” she muttered bitterly and I frowned at the thought of that.

“Well Lionel is currently still learning to jerk off with his left hand, so let’s hope he can’t even satisfy himself these days,” I growled and Hamish gasped again.

“Oh my!”

Catalina breathed a laugh though, so I just owned it. I had made it clear on plenty of occasions that I really wasn’t princess material anyway and my blunt tongue was the least of it.

“Well, point is, Xavier would fucking love it if Sofia could get a room close to his because he’s got that whole Dom thing going on with her. I think he really needs to be around some of his herd again too after being cooped up here without a Pegasus in sight for the last few months. So I was hoping they could have your room, seeing as you spend your nights with your new boy toy anyway-”

“Sweet heavens, forgive me,” Hamish whimpered and I arched a brow at him in surprise. Fae weren’t generally prudish about this kind of thing, but he looked like he was hoping the ground might open up and swallow him to rescue him from this conversation.

“What’s the big deal?” I asked.

“Hammy believes that fornication outside of marriage is all well and good until love is involved. And since we umm…said the L word, he feels like we should really be married if we are going to continue to be…physical.” Catalina honest to shit blushed and if that wasn’t just the cutest thing in the world then I didn’t know what was.

“So…do you want to get married?” I asked, unsure if that was what she was saying or if she was saying she’d refused.

“Well, technically as I didn’t really die, my marriage to Lionel still binds me. So if I tried to marry again, the bond wouldn’t form and the stars would reject it. You can marry multiple partners in a polyamorous union, but in this kind of situation the stars would know I am being dishonest.” Catalina’s lips turned down sadly and Hamish tugged her to his side, placing a kiss to her head.

“I only wish to honour you as my bride, my love, don’t think for one moment that I think any less of you because of your miserable union to that cad,” he murmured.

“What would it take to divorce you from the lizard king?” I asked, wondering if we could find some way around this.

“A Fae marriage can be dissolved by law – but in that case we would have to file paperwork which he would be notified of, therefore informing him that I was still alive. I have considered it. We are safe here after all, but-”

“I won’t allow my Kitty to come under the notice of that menace once again, unless she is truly ready to do so,” Hamish growled protectively, a doggishness to his tone which spoke of his Order form.

“What else then?” I asked.

“Death,” she breathed then shrugged.

“So, the Savage King didn’t have the power to dissolve marriages?” I asked, thinking of the power the old mortal kings used to have and feeling like I’d heard something about them being able to do that. Then again, maybe I was wrong. History had never been my best subject.

“My lady…I think perhaps he did,” Hamish gasped, looking at me with hope in his eyes.

“Then his daughters might be able to do it?” I suggested, the corner of my lips lifting as Catalina stared at me with barely contained excitement.

“Perhaps! Oh fish on a Ferris wheel, do you think you could?” Hamish gushed.

“I dunno, what would we have to do?” I asked, glancing around and waving Darcy and Geraldine over to join us from where they’d been standing talking to Gabriel.

“Gabriel said it will work,” Darcy said as the others turned to look to her too. “With no further explanation.”

“Any chance he told you what we need to do?” I asked, a grin filling my face as I realised that this was actually happening. 

“He just said we should combine our magic, call out to the stars and tell them it is so. Whatever the hell that means.” She shrugged.

“What in tarnation is going on, my ladies?” Geraldine asked, looking between me and her dad who still held Catalina close.

“Their royal majesties are going to attempt to untether my dearest Kitty from the clutches of that uncouth usurper to the throne,” Hamish said excitedly. “He will free her from her bonds and make her available to woo in the most natural of ways!”

“In English?” Darcy asked me as Geraldine burst into tears.

“We’re gonna try and give Catalina a star divorce,” I explained and Darcy smiled widely.

“Okay then. Let’s do it.” She reached for my hand and I took hers, pushing my magic up to the surface of my skin to meet with hers and waiting for her to drop the barriers dividing us.

Darcy frowned for a moment and I cocked my head as I looked at her in confusion while I waited for her to power share with me. I’d never had to wait like this with her before, our magic always desperate to collide and combine so the pause was more than a little odd.

“Is everything okay?” I muttered as she gritted her teeth.

“Yeah. I’m just feeling a little tired today,” she said in frustration just as her magic slammed into mine and I gasped at the collision, getting used to feeling the might of all that power as one.

I tipped my head back to look up in the direction of the stars beyond the cavern roof, unsure if I actually had to say the words or what they wanted from us, but as soon as I thought about wanting the marriage between Catalina and Lionel dissolved, I felt the presence of the stars all around us.

I sucked in a sharp breath as the whispers of the eternal beings slipped through the air and seemed to brush through my hair like soft fingers, exchanging a look with my sister as we both held our intentions clearly in our minds and like a sudden downpour of rain upon my cheeks, I felt the magical bond which we were trying to affect fall apart.

The stars seemed amused by the relief that tumbled through my chest and the next thing I knew, they were retreating, leaving us alone once more and turning their attention elsewhere as I focused on pulling my magic back and separating it from Darcy’s.

I released her hand and she stumbled as she withdrew, managing to keep her feet at the last second and laughing at herself as she muttered an apology.

“Did it work?” Geraldine cried, drawing my attention to her wide eyes and clasped hands as she waited desperately for the news.

Hamish and Catalina were holding hands, looking to us hopefully too and I couldn’t help but grin as I nodded. 

“You’re free,” I told Catalina and Hamish howled like a dog baying for blood as he swept her into his arms and dipped her back like they were finishing up some old Hollywood movie as he kissed her deeply and Geraldine started sobbing.

When they finally broke apart, Hamish dropped to one knee and pulled a sapphire ring box from his back pocket, flipping the lid open and presenting a ring with a rose quartz crystal the size of a freaking egg to Catalina as he got all choked up and found himself unable to even ask the question.

“Yes!” she cried, lunging for him and kissing him so hard that they fell back onto the floor, the ring crushed somewhere between them as we backed up and laughed, trying not to get knocked over by their exuberant display.

“The wedding shall occur on the new moon to give it the most wondersome of blessings!” Geraldine announced, taking off running without another word, her arms flapping in the air as she barked excitedly.

“Isn’t the new moon in like two days?” Darcy asked me, grinning as we backed away a little more while Hamish and Catalina continued to make out like a couple of horny teenagers.

“If anyone can pull off the wedding of the century in two days it’s Geraldine Grus,” I replied as we started heading for the royal quarters.

“So how much shit are you going to give Darius for running off on you like that?” Darcy teased, knowing me all too well.

I smirked, shrugging innocently. “Only as much as he can handle. Besides, I get the horrible impression that he’s been deluding himself into believing I’ve gone soft since we got together properly. I think he needs reminding of exactly who he’s dedicating himself to.”

“Well just warn me if world war three is going to break out down here because I get the feeling you’ve met your match in that one, and I’m a little worried you’ll bring the roof of this place down on all of us if you really get into it.”

I laughed, not disagreeing because she knew me well enough to know that would be bullshit.

We went our separate ways as we made it to the royal quarters where we could hear Geraldine sobbing and gushing about the news to anyone and everyone, and I peeled off to go find my Dragon and give him hell for scaring me like that.

I strode up the corridor quickly, reaching our room and disabling the magical locks to pull the door wide.

My heart did that insane skittering thing as my eyes fell on him and I stilled, taking in the sight of him lying in the heart of a heap of treasure, chains around his neck, rings on his fingers and a couple of crowns perched lazily on his head, tilting to one side.

His chest was still bare, and blood stained his inked skin from several wounds which he still hadn’t healed, and I guessed that was down to him lacking in magic. I frowned as I spotted a set of four raised pink scars on his side, my throat bobbing as I remembered the wound Clara had given me when she’d tried to drag me into the shadow realm, and a thousand questions about what the fuck had happened at the academy rushed to my lips, halting there as I gave myself a moment to process this rush of emotion.

I was furious and terrified and the depths of my feeling for this beautiful nightmare of mine was pressing down on me so hard that I couldn’t fucking breathe.

Darius’s eyes were closed and his breathing heavy and as I stood there, I found my irritation sliding into relief at having him back.

He was okay. Here. Mine.

That was all that really counted. Besides, he’d helped rescue Sofia, Tyler and the rest of their herd so I couldn’t really justify staying angry over that.

Shit. Maybe I was going soft.

I closed the door quietly behind me, locking it again and casting a silencing bubble around myself so that I wouldn’t disturb him as I moved further into the room. The space felt weirdly like home despite the fact that it was just a cave beneath the ground. But since Darius had gotten Caleb to create furniture and little home comforts around the space and formed a hearth in the corner which always held a roaring flame, I couldn’t help but like it here. There were little white flowers decorating the rock walls, a soft carpet of moss on the floor and a tiny waterfall which tumbled down the far wall in an endless trickle too and somehow it just felt like it was…ours. Our own little slice of peace away from the world outside.

I drew closer to Darius, tilting my head as I looked at him, drinking in this rare sight of his features fully relaxed in sleep as he just lay there, the monster in him dormant and the man so achingly beautiful I couldn’t tear my eyes away.

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d caught him sleeping. He always held me in his arms while I drifted off then inevitably woke me up every morning with his mouth either on my lips or on some other part of my body if I was particularly lucky.

Then we’d get up, head to the surface for our run which consisted of endless laps around the protected area above ground before getting breakfast together – where he made sure to grab me a coffee every single day. But amongst all that, I never really caught him sleeping, and now that I had, I was starting to realise how odd that was. Did he always sleep this little? I’d never had the chance to find that out before we came here, but it seemed strange that he literally never fell asleep before me or woke after.

I climbed up onto the bed, my silencing bubble hiding the sound of the treasure shifting about all around me and the few coins which tumbled to the floor as I made my way onto his lap.

Darius murmured something in his sleep, his hands shifting to my thighs as he drew me a little closer and I let the silencing bubble fall away.

But his grip was loose, his breathing still deep and there was a furrow in his brow which made my heart tug.

I reached out gently, my fingers caressing the tattoo he’d gotten for me where it curved over his left hip and disappeared beneath the waistband of his jeans. My eyes drifted over the words as I sought them out. There is only her.

Fuck, I loved this man.

I pushed my hands up his chest, healing magic building in my palms as I went and I sent it into him, seeking out the cuts and bruises, healing the wound to the side of his head where blood clotted against his temple and finding a cracked rib which I promptly fused back into place too.

I wasn’t even sure I wanted to know what the hell he’d survived while he’d been away from me.

It took a fair bit of magic and a lot of concentration, but with the fire raging behind me, it was replenishing almost as fast as I was wearing it down.

A sigh escaped my lips as I finished and I realised my eyes had fallen shut in concentration. I opened them again, finding Darius’s gaze locked on mine as I did, his grip on my thighs tightening enough to make me feel like he was holding onto me just as much as I was holding onto him in that moment.

“Shit, I didn’t mean to fall asleep,” he said with a frown, looking genuinely pissed off about the fact and I breathed a laugh as I reached out to run my fingers along his jaw, loving the bite of his stubble against my skin.

“Are you apologising for sleeping?” I teased, but it didn’t lessen the unease in his dark eyes.

“I just don’t want to miss anything,” he said, swiping a hand over his face and releasing a flash of magic which looked like a beam of pure sunlight. It sank into his skin, making his eyes blaze more intensely as he dropped his hand back to my thigh, his fingers moving over my pants where my tattoo lay against my skin.

“What was that?” I asked, cocking my head to one side curiously because he didn’t even look tired anymore, his gaze intense and raking over me like he was afraid I might disappear if he looked away.

“Just a spell to give me energy and keep me awake,” he said dismissively. “I didn’t have the magic to do it when I got here and my eyes must have fallen shut…”

“What’s so bad about falling asleep?” I asked, moving my fingers down from his jaw to his neck and over the pattern of flames that curled across his shoulder and onto his chest, seeking out the letters he had hidden within them. The blood, dirt and smoke from the fight he’d taken part in still clung to his skin, but I didn’t make any attempt to wash it off, liking him like this, seeing the raw truth of him on the outside too.

Darius only watched me for the longest time, not answering my question and letting the seconds drag until I thought he wasn’t going to reply before finally he did.

“I wish we could just stay here like this forever,” he murmured, his voice low and rough like he was trying not to tarnish the silence with his words. “Make time stand still beyond that door and live in this moment eternally.”

“That’s not living,” I replied, the corner of my lips lifting as I shifted over his hips, feeling the hard length of his cock pressing against me in a demand.

“So what is?” he asked, like a starving man begging for scraps and my heart hurt as I looked down at him, hating the scars which Lionel had placed upon him inside and out.

“Taking hold of every moment and making it count,” I replied. “A life well lived should be full of adventure and danger and passion.”

“Sounds like every moment we spend together then,” he replied, his hands moving to my waist and pushing the hem of my shirt up a little as I nodded, his heated skin brushing against mine in the most delicious way.

“I guess we have it pretty perfect then,” I agreed. “You wanna tell me what’s in the bag?”

Darius glanced down to the bag he’d brought back with him where it sat beside the bed and released a slow breath.

“Don’t be pissed at me.”

“That seems unlikely.”

“You’re infuriating,” he accused. “You don’t even know why I’m asking you not to get angry.”

“The fact that you have to ask that has already warned me that you’ve screwed up, so I reserve my right to flip out,” I replied with a shrug which made him growl.

“Fine. You remember when me and the other Heirs went to the mortal realm to beat the shit out of your ex?”

“How can I forget? The sight of you beating him bloody was basically my favourite porno for about six months.”

“Seriously?”

“Well I couldn’t have you at the time so I got pretty good at satisfying myself. The inspiration was appreciated,” I teased.

“Savage girl,” he said, his voice full of heat.

“There was a point to this story,” I pushed as his hand moved towards my waistband and he fell still with a sigh.

“Alright. So after we’d finished teaching him and his punk friends a lesson, we decided to go see the place where you’d been living before you came to the academy.”

I fell still as I took that in, my gaze slipping to the bag again and the edge of a well worn sweater jogging my memories.

“Oh.”

“We weren’t trying to pry into your business,” he said, his hand moving to grasp my chin as he got me to turn and look at him. “We were just going to take some photos of us there or whatever. We thought you’d find it funny. We didn’t really expect it to be so…”

I fought against the shame I felt at the idea of the four richest assholes in the whole of Solaria stepping into the shitty apartment we’d been shacked up in, and forced myself to hold his eye.

“So you brought our stuff back for us?” I asked.

“It made me realise why you’d been so upset by me burning your clothes off that first night. Why so little money had meant so much to you-”

“It wasn’t a little bit of money,” I bit out. “It was fucking everything we had.”

“Roxy-” Darius began but I cut him off as I sighed, forcing myself to let it go. We were past all of this now anyway. And if I was being totally honest with myself, I was glad he’d seen it, because I could tell he really did understand now, and I wasn’t sure he ever would have if he hadn’t gone there himself.

“It’s okay,” I said. “Thank you for saving it for us.”

“That’s it?” he asked suspiciously.

“I’m not totally unreasonable,” I pointed out and he arched a brow like that wasn’t true.

“And I’m not a hot headed asshole,” he replied, making me laugh.

“What happened while you were gone?” I asked, my fingertips moving to the four pink scars on his side and he looked down at them as I traced the raised ridges. “What’s this?”

“Lavinia gifted my father a shadow hand to replace the one you took from him,” Darius replied darkly and I growled angrily at that revelation.

“Oh, fuck him,” I snapped angrily. “He’s such a fucking dick. Why couldn’t he just be off crying over his lost hand and feeling sorry for himself in a hole somewhere? I bet he was so fucking smug about it too.”

“He didn’t look so smug when I was tearing him open with tooth and claw. He got lucky with this one.” Darius’s hand landed over mine on his scars. “But I fucking had him, Roxy. I was so close to ripping his miserable head off.”

I smiled at the fire in his eyes even though I knew there was a but coming.

“Lavinia?” I guessed and he nodded.

“Yeah. The UnFae piece of shit had her save his ass again,” he grunted.

“Well, let’s hope he’s off licking his wounds and having nightmares over the way you beat his ass,” I said, trying to focus on the positives because that really was something. If we could only get Lavinia out of the fucking picture then maybe we could win this war and end Lionel’s reign for good.

“I really did.” He smiled savagely and I fucking loved that bloodthirsty look in his dark eyes.

“Are you going to show me how to heal this then?” I asked, shifting my fingers over his scars. “Because when I was healing your other wounds this one didn’t respond the same way.”

“You just have to use a lot more power,” he sighed. “The shadows taint the wound and make it resist Fae magic. But I’m fine. I’ll do it myself once I’m replenished.” He ran his fingers through the gold he was sitting on and I shook my head.

“No chance of that,” I said, looking into his eyes as I pushed my magic into his skin and worked to continue the healing process on the scars. They resisted like he’d said and I frowned as I forced more and more magic into him, the fire at my back topping up my magic as I used it and slowly, the scars smoothed out until there was nothing left of them at all and I was left trembling a little from the exertion of using so much magic at once.

Darius pushed himself up so that he was sitting beneath me, his lips brushing mine as he looked me in the eyes and tightened his hold on my waist.

“I still don’t deserve you,” he said. “But I love you with all my wretched heart has to offer and I’m going to keep proving that to you with every moment gifted to me on this earth until my dying breath. So no, Roxy, I don’t want to sleep. Because I refuse to waste a single second that I’ve been gifted with you. I want to claim each and every one and work to make them good enough for you.”

My heart lodged in my throat at the sincerity of those words and as he kissed me with a soft and unyielding form of possessiveness, I felt like my entire being was falling apart for him.

His tongue pressed between my lips and I moaned softly, unbuckling his belt with shaking fingers as I tried to accept the weight of his love despite my natural inclination to feel unworthy of it. Because when Darius Acrux looked at me like I was his entire world, it felt like a whole lot of pressure for a jaded, guarded girl to live up to and yet his faith in my worth was so fierce that it was impossible to deny.

We peeled each other’s clothes off with slow, intense, and deliberate moves, which had my chest heaving between the kisses which locked us together and threatened to drown me.

Darius held me like I was the most precious thing he’d ever owned and as I sank down onto the hard length of his cock, our magic spilled between our skin, merging together and stealing my breath completely.

The feeling of being possessed by Darius, body, heart, magic and soul consumed me as his dick sank in inch by delicious inch until I was finally filled by him in every way.

Our kiss broke and we fell still as we looked at each other, every part of us united as one while his power and body took hold of me, and I willingly fell prey to his demands while claiming him right back in return.

When we started moving, every single fragment of my soul came alive for him and as he drove me into a climax which stole the air from my lungs and dominated every fibre of my flesh, I knew there was never going to be any turning back from this. From us.

Darius Acrux had taken full ownership of my heart. And I was claiming his right back in return.