Zodiac Academy: The Awakening

THE WHOLE ACADEMY was buzzing with excitement for the dance this weekend and I couldn’t help but get a little caught up in the idea of it too. Apparently the Professors always went all out to try and beat the previous year with impressive magic to decorate the place and fulfil the theme which was going to be ‘fall’ this time to match the season.

I was a little apprehensive about attending a party with our classmates who ranged from the weirdly obsessed A.S.S. to the outright hostile mean girls and quite possibly murderous Heirs. But I was trying to convince myself that the presence of the teachers and the general desire to have fun would mean that Darcy and I could enjoy it too.

After the arrival of my new clothes, I finally had some running gear and I was burning off a bit of nervous energy with a workout before I had to meet my least favourite Heir.

I jogged down to the Fire Arena wondering if Darius would actually show up for our tutoring session today. He’d skipped the one that had been arranged for last Thursday and Professor Pyro had bought into his blatant lies about getting caught up helping out some other students saving a cat from a well with a glowing look in her eyes that told me she was firmly Team Darius. I on the other hand had been told off for not rearranging the lesson myself even though I’d actually shown up and hadn’t heard a word from Darius to excuse himself.

I was a little nervous about spending time with him one on one especially as I definitely had a few fuzzy memories of his hands trailing all over me on the dance floor the last time I’d gotten close enough to speak with him.

Each time I’d caught a glimpse of him in the Ignis House common room or The Orb since, I’d received glares from Marguerite which were toxic enough to cause physical harm. But she needn’t have bothered; I had zero interest in approaching the possible-murderer/constant tormentor/crazy-hot asshole who had appointed himself king of the Academy. In fact if I had it my way I wouldn’t even be heading to this session with him but Professor Pyro had made it clear that I would be held responsible if we missed another one and it would have a negative affect on my Reckoning. And despite all the glaring reasons for me to be running as far from this damn Academy as humanly possible, I wanted to stay. I wanted this magic that ran in my veins and I wanted the knowledge to wield it. And I wanted my damn inheritance too.

How many people could say that they’d had two sets of parents up and die on them? And what had our reward been for surviving those two tragedies? We’d lost our birth-right, grown up amongst people who had no idea what we were and had never had anyone to call mom or dad. We deserved that money for our suffering alone. We were owed a better life. And I’d survive a few years of torture if that was what it took to claim it. Hell, I’d already taken eighteen years of emotional neglect and uncertainty, what were a few more years to add to my sentence?

I reached the Fire Arena and forced myself to keep my head held high as I strolled straight in. As I’d run before having to face this meeting I chose to stay in the pair of tight fitting red yoga pants and grey sports bra for our session rather than changing into the Elemental lesson outfit.

I could never mention it to Professor Pyro but I’d been growing to hate that fire-proof outfit. I felt almost certain that it was making me struggle more with my fire magic rather than helping to protect me from the flames. I wasn’t afraid of my own power hurting me no matter what form it took; it was such an intrinsic part of me that I just didn’t believe it could. And something about the material designed to protect me from the flames felt more suffocating than I could explain. I’d taken the chance at summoning fire without it on a few times and had had much more success at controlling the flames in my hands.

Whether it was in my head or not, I wasn’t sure but while she wasn’t here to tell me otherwise, I was going to attempt this class without the outfit. I doubted Darius could give a shit what I wore and I guessed the only thing I had to worry about was the chance of someone else’s flames burning me. But as Darius was only supposed to be helping me contain my own magic and not using any of his, I had to hope that wouldn’t be a problem.

I looked around at the wide arena as I arrived and unsurprisingly didn’t see Darius anywhere.

I resigned myself to waiting for him and eyed some of the other practicing students with interest.

The more I watched them creating different shapes and aiming their flames at various targets, the more my own magic seemed to build within me, aching to join them.

I glanced around a little guiltily, hoping I wasn’t about to lose control again before easing my palm up in front of me. I bit my lip as I focused on the size of the flame I wanted to summon and suddenly it appeared.

I stared in surprise at the handful of fire as I held the magic steady. It didn’t grow or shrink or reshape itself without me wanting it to. I felt… in control. A satisfied laugh escaped me as I banished the flame and I wondered if my theory about the Elemental lesson’s outfit had some merit to it. Or maybe it was just not having an audience that worked in my favour. Whatever the reason, I was feeling a lot more hopeful about this session. If Darius ever turned up…

“Excuse me, your majesty?”

I glanced up as a tall guy with dark hair pushed back in a carefully styled kind of way walked towards me. He stopped about a meter away and bowed – fucking bowed – to me.

“Don’t do that,” I snapped, looking about to see if anyone had noticed him.

“Apologies, your majesty, I didn’t mean-”

“And don’t call me that either!” I said with exasperation as I eyed the shiny silver A.S.S. badge on his chest with distaste.

“Oh, err, apologies again, Roxanya I didn’t mean-”

“Don’t call me that either,” I practically snarled. What was with these guys? What part of just treat me like anyone else and don’t bring up that royal bullshit was so hard for them to compute? If they really did think Darcy and I were their sovereigns then shouldn’t that mean they’d do what we asked them to?

“Right… Darcy?”

“Tory.” I frowned at him thinking go-the-hell-away-from-me thoughts but he didn’t pick up on them despite the shouty barrage going on in my head. I probably wasn’t any breed of psychic Order then…

“Tory,” he agreed finally. We were two minutes into this conversation and he’d only just landed on a damn name for me, how long was it going to take him to get to the point?

“My name is Justin Masters,” he announced and I kinda got the impression that that was supposed to mean something to me but my blank look encouraged him to go on. “I’m a senior. But my family served yours loyally right up until the devastating fall of your bloodline. I just wanted to tell you how deeply sorry I am for the tragedy your family befell.”

“Oh. Well, thanks. I mean, we were babies so it’s not the freshest wound but I appreciate the sentiment. Was that it?” I knew I was treading the line of bitch but the last thing I needed was for this guy to still be standing here when Darius finally arrived.

“No, actually. I was hoping that you might consider allowing me the honour to escort you to the dance this Friday?” he asked, his gaze holding mine as he awaited a reply.

I was so surprised that for a moment I could only stare at him. He was good looking, tall, well put together and clean shaven. In a nutshell he looked like the kinda guy your momma would love for you to bring home and your daddy would affectionately call son. Nice, clean cut – so not my type at all. He also clearly didn’t know the first thing about me and was sporting that super shiny ass badge.

I leaned forward conspiratorially and lowered my voice a fraction. “Are you hoping to get into my pants, Justin?” I teased.

The heat that filled his cheeks at my suggestion was more than enough of a confirmation of my assessment of him and the spluttering response filled with words like ‘escort’ and ‘propriety’ and ‘duty to protect’ urged me to interrupt him.

“I’m just teasing you, Justin,” I said soothingly. “But in all honesty I don’t think we would be very well suited for a date. Perhaps you should see if Geraldine is free? If she’s recovered by Friday I know she’d love to come to the dance and I get the feeling the two of you have a lot in common.”

To his credit, Justin didn’t seem upset about my refusal or even surprised. He merely thanked me for my time and excused himself with another bow.

I shook my head and gave my attention back to my solo practice session, keeping one eye on the entrance as I awaited my reluctant tutor.

I checked the clock. Multiple times. It was gone half past. At this point he wasn’t just late; he’d left me waiting thirty-seven minutes. And as much as I wanted to think that maybe he’d just forgotten or wasn’t good at time keeping, I knew better. He wasn’t coming. And that left me with a conundrum. Of course I could just count my blessings, thank whatever forces that were working in my favour to save me from the torture of an hour in his company and leave it at that. But if I did, I knew I’d hear about it from Professor Pyro. She wanted me to work on my fire skills and she’d told him to tutor me and even though I was the one who had actually shown up, I knew I’d be the one to take the blame for this non-lesson if it didn’t go ahead.

I released a breath of irritation and got to my feet, crossing the Fire Arena quickly as the other practicing students followed my movement with their ever-watchful stares. Nosey fuckers. No doubt everyone would be talking about Darius standing me up tomorrow if I left it at this but that wasn’t what I was going to feed the rumour mill. No. It was time that lazy, entitled asshole got a taste of my fire.

I crossed the Fire Territory quickly, not giving anyone the chance to come at me on my journey. I drew on my power as I went, reinforcing my mental shields to the best of my ability in case I happened across any of Marguerite’s posse.

My gut churned a little at the idea of confronting Darius. Who knew what way he’d take this but I wasn’t about to just accept being stood up. If I challenged him over it and he flat out refused then Professor Pyro would have no choice but to assign me another tutor. Which I was hoping would be the case.

Only one way to find out.

I started up the stone steps which spiralled through the middle of Ignis House, ignoring the corridors which led to the various accommodation floors and heading straight for the common room.

A few people looked up curiously as I stormed in, wearing my irritation like a badge of pissed off right across my face. Luckily none of my regular tormentors appeared to be present and I used my momentum to carry me towards a group of three girls I didn’t know. Their eyes widened as I stopped before them and I wondered if they knew who I was. The return of the Vega Heirs had certainly caused enough impact to have our names thrown around the masses but I wasn’t quite conceited enough to believe my fame preceded me. Darius however was known by everyone.

“Hi,” I said, not quite throwing enough saccharine into my tone to come off sweet and friendly but oh well. “I’m looking for Darius, has he been in here recently?”

“Not tonight,” one of them replied slowly, her eyes narrowing as she tried to figure out why I wanted to know.

I turned away from them with a huff of irritation. He could be anywhere. Where was I supposed to look next?

“He’s in his room,” a guy offered from the couch beside me. He was big enough and sultry enough to be a Shifter but I wasn’t sure what kind.

“Care to elaborate there pal?” I asked with a sigh. “It’s a big building.”

He raised an eyebrow at my tone then rolled his eyes as he decided to let it slide. “Top floor, all the way at the end of the corridor. Best room in the house.”

“Of course it is,” I muttered. “Thanks.”

I turned away from him and headed straight to the stairs while my anger was still running hot in my blood and my nerve stayed strong. This could well be a terrible idea but I wasn’t going to back down now.

I marched to the top of the stairs and all the way along the corridor. Beside his bedroom door a floor length window stood wide open and I resisted the urge to pull it closed as I looked at the dizzying drop below. It looked like the perfect place to toss someone who had disturbed you uninvited and I just had to hope that Darius didn’t end up with the same idea.

The thump of a heavy bass reached me through the door to Darius’s room and I ground my teeth as I recognised one of my favourite songs. Thanks for ruining it for me, asshole.

With a steadying breath, I lifted my hand and knocked on the door.

“It’s open,” Darius called, his tone casual, clearly expecting one of his friends. “Come in.”

I hesitated, taken aback by the friendly tone and wondering what the hell I was letting myself in for by coming to invade his personal space. But I was here now. I’d knocked on the goddamn door so I couldn’t back out. Besides, what was the worst he could do?

I steeled myself and pushed the door open. A huge space greeted me, at least four times the size of my own room which was in no way small. In fact I’d probably have gone so far as to call it more of a penthouse than a dorm.

He had goddamn king sized bed which sat beneath sprawling yellow and orange windows with a view out over the Fire Territory beyond. There was even a couch to the right big enough to seat four people, sitting beneath a huge TV hanging on the wall.

Aside from the extravagant size of it, the most eye catching thing about the room was the choice of gaudy decorations. Everything that possibly could be was made of gold and it didn’t look fake either; the bed posts, coffee table, bedside cabinets and wardrobe doors were all heavily gilt. There was an alarm clock, picture frames, coasters, even a small trash can, all of which seemed to be solid gold. At the foot of his bed a chest stood with the top open to reveal the fact that it was half full of gold coins and gemstones as big as goddamn eggs. More of the same treasure was spread across his bed where he was currently laying, surrounded by the stuff and glaring at me like I’d just grown a second head. He was only wearing a pair of jeans and for a second I couldn’t help but stare at the thick muscles which lined his chest but my attention was quickly snagged by the treasure again.

“What the hell do you want?” Darius snarled, pushing himself up to a sitting position so that he could throw the full weight of his scowl at me.

“Do you have a pirate fetish or something?” I blurted, eyeing the coins and gold with confusion.

“What?” he asked, his scowl somehow defying the laws of physics and finding a way to deepen.

“Well you’re half naked in a bed full of coins so either you’re doing something with them or putting them somewhere… inaccessible while fully dressed or I missed the memo about your enrolment in Captain Silver’s new fleet.”

A beat of silence passed as his gaze dragged over me.

“You really don’t know anything do you?” he asked. “This is how my kind regenerate our power; from gold.”

“Oh.” I frowned at the coins again as I processed that. “So are you Order of pirate then? Do you transform into a one legged man with an eyepatch, a hankering for rum and a pet parrot?”

Darius stared at me for several long seconds and I began to wonder if he might just be about to crack a smile when he spoke again.

“What the hell are you doing in my room?” he demanded.

“Why do you think I’m here?” I bit back instantly. He knew full well that he’d been scheduled to meet me for our tutoring session and there was no way that I was going to allow some bullshit excuse about a kitten to spring from his lips this time.

“The only possible reason I can imagine for you to be stupid enough to come bursting in here would be that you’ve finally come to realise who really deserves to rule Solaria. And that being the case, I imagine you’re about to bow down low and praise me and the other Heirs as your kings,” he said, the casual tone of his voice possibly suggesting he truly thought I might be here for that reason.

“Keep dreaming,” I muttered. “I’m here because you missed yet another one of our tutoring sessions, as I’m sure you’re aware.”

“And what if I am?” he asked, rising to his feet suddenly and sending a little cascade of coins to the floor. “What will you do about it? Make me bow to your will?”

I lifted my chin with every last shred of my anger. “Come and do the session like you promised,” I demanded firmly.

Darius stalked closer and the difference in our heights was made painfully clear as he towered over me and I was forced to look up at him.

“No,” he breathed, his body coiled with tension that I could practically feel. “If you want me to train you, you’ll have to make me. If you really are one of our kind then you’re going to need to learn quickly that Fae take what they want and the only thing that matters to us is power. So if you want me to do something for you then you’re going to have to force me.”

I bit my tongue against the urge to start calling him names and remind him that he’d already agreed to this and replied in an icy tone. “How many Elements do you wield again, Darius?” I asked. “Two isn’t it?”

I let the insinuation hang between us and I almost felt his hatred of me and what I was as it simmered inside him.

“Two are more than enough,” he replied bluntly.

“Yeah… but having all four has got to be better.” God, why the hell was I rising to the bait like this? I’d only wanted him to help me, I’d never had any intention of prodding him about my potential. Hell, I’d never even given my potential much thought but now it sounded like I was challenging him for the throne I’d claimed to have no interest in.

“I’m an apex predator. My kind aren’t built to take orders from anyone. It’s written in my DNA to rule over you. I could never bow no matter how powerful you might have the potential to be,” he growled, clearly reading between the lines I’d never meant to draw.

“How can you know that? You don’t even know what Order I am. Maybe I’m higher up the food chain than you think,” I snarled. I had no idea what had prompted me to enter into this argument with him but now that I’d embarked upon it, I felt like there was no way for me to turn back.

Darius snorted a laugh as he moved to pass me in the doorway, pausing right in my personal space so that I was face to face with the rippling muscles of his bare chest. The scent coming off of him was enough to make me bite down on my lip. It was at once metallic and animal. A hint of smoke and cedar and something totally him.

“No one is higher up the food chain than me, Roxy,” he purred, placing a hand either side of my head and pinning me in against the door.

I swallowed a lump in my throat as I tilted my head back to look up at him, my heart pounding with fear and exhilaration at his proximity. I pressed my palms to the door behind me, locking them in place in case they got any ideas about reaching for the beast before me. Because despite the fact that Darius Acrux was a complete and utter asshole who had made it his mission to make my life a living hell, he was still my exact brand of temptation.

This close to him I felt like an addict sitting before a lit pipe, just hoping the smoke didn’t blow in my face before I caved entirely.

My gaze roamed over his features as the distance between us was reduced to millimetres. The heat between us was building, sparks of energy lighting my skin with a carnal need which I was sure only he could satisfy but I refused to acknowledge the fact.

“What Order are you?” I breathed, wondering why I’d never asked before. He always acted like a monster to me so I guessed I’d never needed proof of what his nature was. But as I stood before him I began to feel like coming here had been a terrible mistake. The look in his eyes said he might just devour me whole and I got the feeling that wasn’t an empty promise.

“I’ll show you mine if you’ll show me yours,” he replied mockingly and for a moment I could have sworn his eyes changed. They’d looked golden, the pupils shifting to reptilian slits before he blinked and the deep brown colour had returned. Perhaps I’d imagined it but I didn’t think so.

“But I don’t know my Order yet,” I said. “Professor Orion thinks growing up in the mortal world suppressed our abilities.”

Darius eyed me intently as though he were looking for a lie and I resisted the urge to try and shrink into the door he’d boxed me against.

He stepped back suddenly and unhooked his belt buckle before unbuttoning his jeans.

“What are you doing?” I gasped, my gaze locked on his movements as he dropped his pants, boxers and all and I was given an eye full of every single inch of him.

“When you stop eye-fucking me I’ll show you what you’re so desperate to know,” he replied mockingly and I snapped my gaze back up to his face, throwing him a scowl.

“People don’t tend to whip their junk out in the middle of a conversation,” I quipped. “So if you didn’t want me catching an eyeful of little Darius then you shouldn’t have brought him into our discussion.”

Darius released a breath of laughter and for half a second it was as though we didn’t harbour eternal hatred for one another.

He leaned close to me again and I had to work hard on maintaining eye contact as his naked god-like body shifted so close that I could hardly breathe.

“If you come to my room uninvited again then it had better be because you’re ready to bow to us or to beg me to bend you over that headboard and make you scream my name,” he purred and the total confidence with which he said it made my traitorous libido kick into overdrive. I bit down on a reply, not wanting him to know the effect he had on my body as I pressed myself back against his door defensively. Thankfully the movement was minimal and I managed to maintain my disinterested scowl.

Darius turned away from me suddenly then took a running jump out of the open window beside us. I gasped in surprise, my heart leaping as I shot forward to look out at what had happened.

For no more than two seconds, Darius free fell from the ten floor drop before his body shifted with unexpected ease and a huge, golden dragon burst from the prison of his flesh as if it had been there all along.

My mouth fell open in shock as I stared at the glorious beast of legend as Darius gave a few flaps of his powerful wings and spiralled up towards the clouds. Each of his scales glimmered in the light of the setting sun like a million gemstones. The thin membrane of his wings let a soft orange glow through them as he banked hard, weaving across the landscape of the fire territory with more grace than should have been possible for such an enormous beast.

As if that display wasn’t enough to make my heart pound and my desire for him grow ten-fold, he released a powerful roar which made the whole glass structure of Ignis House shudder. He followed that up with a blast of dragon fire so potent that it warmed the skin of my cheeks despite the huge distance between us.

My gaze stayed locked on him as he tore through the skies and I found myself desperate to join him in the clouds. I wondered if there was any chance that when my Order revealed itself, I would be granted the blessing of wings. Flying through the clouds seemed like its own beautiful kind of freedom and I knew that if I could experience it even once then I’d be able to die having lived a life fulfilled.

I stood watching Darius in his dragon form for way longer than was necessary but I couldn’t help it. He was beautiful, magnificent, a king amongst beasts. He’d been right when he said that we’d find nothing to tame this hatred between us though. Mine and Darcy’s very existence threatened his position as a monarch of this realm and I knew with one look at his shifted form that a creature such as him would never be tamed. 

He was power and heat and war wrapped up in a single being. He’d fight to the death to maintain what was his. And while we remained at this Academy, we were a threat. But for the first time since I’d arrived here, watching him soar through the skies sparked something in me. It was like a primal ache to rise to the challenge he presented. I didn’t want his throne or his kingdom but I did want something else from him. I wanted his respect. And with that knowledge I knew I’d never bow to him. So if he was determined to see me fall, he was going to have to try and make me break.