Zodiac Academy 6: Fated Throne
Fated Throne: Chapter 43

I stood in a huge shower which seemed big enough for eight people as I washed the blood from my skin, examining the places on my stomach where the knife had cut me open. There was no sign it had ever happened, yet I could still feel the icy lick of it imprinted in my memory.

I shuddered, turning the water off and stepping out into the large bathroom onto a fluffy white mat, using my air magic to dry myself off before wrapping myself in a towel. Gabriel’s family were away at a cabin for Christmas in their usual tradition and Gabriel would be joining them there too after tonight. He’d given me access to his house a while ago and had given me permission to come here if I was ever in trouble. I guessed he’d done the same for Orion.

My bloody clothes were bagged up in the garbage and Diego’s hat rested by the his and hers sinks with my Atlas. I picked them up, finding a text from Tory in reply to the message I’d sent her to say we had the hat and we were okay, but we’d had to run after Stella and Clara had shown up. I’d tell her the rest when I saw her next. At least for now, we were safe.

Tory:

Lay low. Lionel will send the FIB looking for Orion as soon as he realises he’s escaped. xx

My throat thickened as I let that knowledge settle over me. On the one hand, I was glad he was away from Lionel but on the other, the idea of the FIB coming for him was terrifying. What would they do to a convict on the run? How many more years would they add to his sentence if he was caught? There was only one plan we could make. They could never, ever catch him.

I dressed in a pair of soft lilac sweatpants and a white crop top I’d borrowed from Gabriel’s wife then opened the door, putting Diego’s hat and my Atlas in my pocket. Orion immediately pushed off of the wall opposite me, his eyes full of anxiety. He’d washed and changed, wearing what I guessed were a pair of Gabriel’s navy sweatpants. He didn’t stop coming, dropping to his knees in front of me and pressing his mouth to my bare stomach. I gasped in surprise, fisting my hands in his hair as desire spilled through my flesh.

He hugged me against him and looked up at me with his brows drawn low.

“I’m sorry,” he rasped, a haunted look in his eyes that made my heart squeeze painfully.

I knelt down too, leaning into his touch as he cupped my cheek. “It wasn’t you.”

His upper lip peeled back, his fangs glinting as hatred shone in his eyes. But I wasn’t sure who it was aimed at, only certain it wasn’t me. His fingers pushed through my hair like he was trying to reassure himself I was still here, and I let myself bathe in his touches despite knowing it would only make it harder to pull away.

“I’m okay,” I promised and his Adam’s apple rose and fell.

“I’m not,” he replied in a deep growl.

“I’m sorry too,” I breathed, pain caving in my chest.

“Don’t you dare be.” He looked at me with an intensity in his gaze that made my breath catch. “You freed me from the shadows. You saved us. I was the one who…” He laid his mouth on my throat where the knife had kissed my flesh and a shiver darted down my spine.

“Stop,” I said but it came out husky, more like a plea for him to continue than anything else. After coming so close to losing him again, all I wanted to do was pull him nearer and never let go. But there was still an abyss parting us that couldn’t be crossed. “It wasn’t your fault.”

He pushed to his feet, not letting go of my hand as he towed me after him with a harsh and distant expression dawning on his face. I eyed his wrists, noticing the shadow cuffs were gone and it made me feel so fucking good that I’d finally been able to free someone else from Clara’s dark control. And maybe I’d be able to do it again.

We walked through the large, empty halls of Gabriel’s house and I peeked into the beautiful nursery with light blue walls and an array of stuffed toys in the cot from a giant snake to a fluffy lion with a dark mane. Orion was quiet and brooding, his jaw continually flexing as if he was struggling with some demon inside him. We made it downstairs to a large kitchen built of beautiful honey wood and cream fixtures. He led me to a stool at the island with five seats, picking me up and planting me on it before heading to the fridge. I frowned in surprise, gazing at the taut muscles of his back as he started taking out food and piling it on the counter.

“I’m not hungry,” I said, taking Diego’s hat from my pocket and laying my Atlas on the island. “We need to-”

“You’re gonna eat,” he growled in his bossy professor tone and my lips pursed.

“No… I’m going to try and find out what Diego wanted us to see through his hat.” I moved to put it on but he shot toward me, snatching it away and shoving it into the back of his waistband.

“You’re gonna eat first,” he reiterated, placing his hands on my thighs to keep me in my seat, making anger and lust wash together inside me. He was intoxicating when he was up this close, his breath on my skin making me heady. But I wasn’t going to give in to the raging emotions in me because if I fell for his allure tonight, I’d never stop falling.

I pushed his hands away, slipping out of my seat, but he didn’t move a single inch so I was caged in by his arms and trapped in the delicious cinnamon scent of his bare chest.

“Give it back,” I growled, fighting to keep my voice level. I was not in the mood for an argument after all the shit we’d just been through.

“No,” he said simply, grabbing my hips, lifting me up and planting my ass back on the seat, crowding in even closer to me. Dammit, I didn’t want a fight but he was asking for one.

“Lance,” I warned, holding out my hand. “Give it back.”

He leaned near to my face, his breath brushing against my lips and tasting like a cardinal sin. “Not. Until. You. Eat.”

I reached around his back to try and grab the hat and he shot away with his Vampire speed. The second he stopped running, I used a whip of air magic to pluck it from his waistband.

I caught it and cast a dome of air around myself as he sprinted forward to try and grab it again. I smirked as he crashed into my shield and he growled. He opened his mouth, no doubt to try and boss me about so I lifted the hat, defiantly tugging it on.

Everything went dark and I was half aware of falling off of my chair before my mind drifted into the pitch. Someone’s hand was gripping mine as the power of the shadows drew me into them and something in my soul told me it was Diego. Emotion clutched my chest and I was caught between sadness and joy at feeling his presence again. My friend. A boy who’d given his life for me, for the whole kingdom really. He’d tried to stop Clara and shown what his soul was truly made of.

The shadows wound around me but couldn’t get beneath my skin as they carried me down, down, down into an eternal darkness. Orion’s presence drifted closer and I felt him pulling on my consciousness demandingly. But I wasn’t going anywhere. I exerted my will, forcing him to come with me as I fell into the black and suddenly a cloud of white opened up ahead of us, flashing with the memories of the past.

I felt the weight of it in the atmosphere, a thousand lives, a string of ancestors stretching back hundreds of years. The hand slipped from mine and I glimpsed two dark eyes among the mist a moment later, my heart tugging with recognition.

“Diego,” I said, but the name only sounded in my head. I reached for the cloud of memories, a deep need filling me as I searched for my friend.

I felt his hand wrapping around mine once more, pulling me in and I sensed his need to show me what waited in the fog.

I tumbled into a memory, seeing through the eyes of someone who was playing with shadows in their palms, sitting in front of a large fire. There were Fae sitting around it on logs and an old woman perched on her left, adjusting the girl’s palms as the shadows danced along her skin.

“That’s it, Lavinia,” she said, tugging a fur tighter around her shoulders. “You have such a talent for it.”

“I still can’t wield them like, Nisar,” I complained, my voice Lavinia’s as I relived the memory from her point of view.

I scowled over at the boy who always held everyone’s attention with his gifts and a bitter jealousy filled me.

“You’re only fourteen, in time you will wield them better than anyone in our tribe,” the old woman said. “You’re destined for greatness.”

“Do you really think so?” I asked.

“I know so. It’s written in the stars.”

“Don’t tell her stories,” a large, bearded man called over with a scowl. “My daughter is destined to produce babies and take care of her future husband. Just like all the women in our tribe.”

“I don’t want that, father,” I growled coldly. “I will be a warrior.”

“You will be whatever I tell you to be,” he answered, drinking his ale and an icy hatred ran through me. A hatred I’d felt for a long time for a man who had always favoured my brothers. Always thought of me as nothing.

The vision changed and I sensed that a few years had passed as I watched through the eyes of Lavinia again.

I snuck through the tents of the tribe with a knife in my grip, slipping into one where my father was passed out drunk in a bed with two women. I crept up to the bed of furs and wielded the shadows as I’d been practising day and night. My power over them had grown immensely and as I felt them out in my father and the whores, I locked them down tight. Father jerked awake, but couldn’t move as I held onto that power in him, a thrill buzzing through me at how easy it was. I smiled viciously, climbing onto the bed and toying with the blade in my hand as Father’s eyes flashed with fear.

“You never should have underestimated me, Father.” I leaned down, holding the tip of the blade of his chest.

He jerked against the power of the shadows but I was immensely gifted. More gifted than anyone in the tribe. I stabbed him hard in the chest, then again and again before striking at the women too, relishing their pain. Blood coated my flesh and I licked it from my lips as I destroyed the man who’d kept me down, who refused to acknowledge my greatness. And I whispered my deepest desire in his ear as he died, “I will be a queen.”

The vision changed once more and sickness filled me as I could still taste the iron tang of blood in my mouth. I felt myself slipping into Lavinia’s memory once more.

I rode a horse, charging across a battlefield with my hands raised and shadows tearing around me, ripping through the hearts of other Fae who wielded their Elemental magic against me. I turned my head and my heart swelled at the sight of the huge army of magnificent beasts running behind me, smashing through our enemies.

Shock ran through me. The tribe weren’t Fae at all, they were Nymphs. And so was Lavinia.

I cast the shadows at the Fae ahead of me, cutting through their bodies. They looked poor, their clothes worn and their faces gaunt. Though they tried to fight, nothing could stop my power and they were soon bleeding and screaming for mercy. A mercy I would not give. I was the ultimate power in this land, and I would do whatever it took to claim my rightful place as Queen.

The Fae were forced to surrender and the Nymphs declared victory before the vision changed once more, showing Lavinia and her tribe moving into their new territory, claiming the town as theirs and killing any survivors. I watched through Lavinia’s eyes as she callously murdered a family hiding in a barn and my stomach turned as I wished I didn’t have to see it.

The bodies fell into the mud and a cold laugh left my throat as the Nymphs around me gazed on in fear and respect. I thrived on it, death and power feeding the darkest piece of my soul and making me hunger for more.

The vision changed once more and I sat on a throne made from the curving bow of a tree, placed at the top of a large hill with an ornate stone gazebo standing over it.

A man was escorted toward me, flanked by two Nymphs in their shifted forms while other guards stood watching closely. The man was tall and blonde, his eyes deepest green and I recognised him as the Dragon Master, Octavius Acrux. He was handsome. A man I respected and had quietly coveted from afar.

“Princess Lavinia.” He bowed lowed. “I bring a gift from my family. An offering of peace from the Dragon Guild.” He stepped aside and a large, rectangular object came floating forward on a gust of air he cast. He placed it upright in front of me and moved to tug the silk free from it.

A beautiful gilded mirror was revealed, the frame silver, twisting like vines around its edges, covered in delicate roses. I stood from my throne and gazed at my reflection.

The girl staring back at me was stunning, her hair long and raven, her eyes two purest marbles of blue. She was beautiful, her lips full and wide and her features strong. She looked like a warrior, her body clad in armour, scars marking her arms.

“We want to offer you an alliance,” Octavius said, moving to stand beside the mirror as I admired it. “I know you are seeking to claim the throne from the Vegas, but you haven’t got the numbers behind you to face them. Uniting with the Dragons would make us all strong enough to achieve it together.”

Hope stirred in my chest as I looked to him, but suspicion too. “And how am I to trust you?”

The man dropped down to one knee with a smile, taking out a wooden box and offering me a ring. “Marry me and make a promise on the stars. Our families will be bound by the powers of the heavens. Acrux and Umbra. Our Seer has had a great prophesy. Gaze into the mirror so you can see for yourself.” He gestured for me to step forward and I did so cautiously. I needed this, I wanted to be a queen more than anything else in the world. But I had never wanted to share my throne…

I stepped in front of the mirror and the image twisted, showing me sitting on a large throne in a room full of burning sconces. The throne was made of a deep, ruby red glass, glinting in the firelight. The place was beautiful, the high walls towering and seemingly built from the earth itself. Beside me in another throne of deepest sapphire was Octavius Acrux, his robes crimson and his eyes shifted into reptilian slits, gazing at me adoringly. Across my lap was a beautiful silver sword with a glittering stone in the hilt. I looked happy, in love. So maybe sharing my throne wasn’t unfathomable. If ever a man were to capture my heart, it wouldn’t be so bad if it were this one.

The vision in the mirror faded and I looked at Octavius in awe. “I’ll have the Imperial Star?”

“It will be ours,” he growled. “The Vegas will fall, we’ll claim the Palace of Flames and destroy the last of the Phoenixes.”

“But how will we defeat the Queen?” I asked.

“I know of a dark curse that even her power cannot overcome,” he said with a twisted smile. “Once her army is defeated, you can use the power of the shadows to ensure we can destroy her at last.”

Excitement swelled in my chest and I nodded keenly, accepting the ring from him and the vision changed once more.

I was on a bloody battlefield and Nymphs were falling all around me, Phoenix fire tearing through their bodies and casting them to ash. They raced through the sky on flaming wings, raining down hellfire on their enemies. I fought against Fae on the ground with everything I had. They weren’t just using their Elements to counter my attacks, they were using dark magic, fighting the shadows of my Nymphs with power wielded through bones to enhance their natural magic.

Hatred spilled through me as my gaze fell on the Phoenix Queen hovering above her army, her dark hair spinning around her in the breeze, her face fixed in a snarl. She wore a silver crown on her head and in her hand was the huge sword which held the Imperial Star and had all the constellations of the sky etched into its surface. She held it up, speaking a word to it which I couldn’t hear, but which made the air pulse with shockwaves of power.

A Dragon soared toward her, but a Phoenix man swept past his queen to hold it off, fighting it with huge blasts of fire from his palms.

Though it was day, the stars suddenly shone in the sky, glittering brightly down on the world as blood and chaos reigned.

I panicked as a huge wave of power blasted out from the Imperial Star, sweeping over the entire battlefield. The Nymphs fell prey to its power, crashing to their knees and I fell too, grasping at my chest as some fierce magic took root in me.

A huge fissure opened up in the sky at the command of the Phoenix Queen and the shadows started pouring into it from my army as the dark power was drawn from them, stolen away and cast into the abyss. I screamed in anguish as the shadows were taken from me too, ripped from the centre of my soul and leaving an empty hollowness in my chest which I feared would never be filled again.

When the last of them were drawn into the hole in the sky, it closed up and the Imperial Star stopped shining in the hilt of the sword.

“There will be no more war!” the Queen cried, her voice carrying across the quiet field, desperation in her tone. “And there shall be no more dark magic and no more shadows in our land ever again. From this day forward, it is outlawed. And those who call upon it will face my wrath.”

“No!” I screamed, pushing to my feet. “We need the shadows to survive, we’re not like your kind!”

“You will find a way,” the Queen sneered, calling a retreat to her people, leaving the Nymphs powerless on the ground.

A huge red Dragon swept towards us and my heart lifted as I saw Octavius coming to aid me like he’d promised, backing me to the end and offering one final chance for us to turn this around.

But instead of charging in with tooth and claw to save me, he roared an Order to his army and they turned on my Nymphs, burning them to soot with huge billows of fire from their lungs. 

“Octavius!” I cried in horror as the Dragons decimated my army, betraying me and his promise, breaking my heart in two.

How could he do this? He’d promised me the world, made love to me, spoken endlessly of all the things we would have together. How could he betray me after telling me he loved me? Was it all a lie? Some great deceit to lure me here and destroy my kind?

 The Dragon Master led his beasts to land beneath the Phoenix Queen, bowing to her as they all roared. She nodded to them and my heart shattered as I watched the world fall around me. My chance at true power stolen away.

The Queen landed before me in her golden armour, her flaming wings folding behind her as she gazed down her nose at me. “This is the end of your reign of terror, Lavinia.”

“You can’t just kill me,” I gasped. “I’m a princess of my kind. There is no other left to lead them.”

“You are nothing but a princess of the shadows now, so you will die with them,” the Queen growled, clutching the Imperial Star in her hand and murmuring something to it.

I pushed to my feet, raising a knife from my hip, but the Queen melted it with nothing but a flick of her hand. Another twist of her fingers sent a blast of air magic crashing into me and I flew back, thrown through a rift between worlds opened up by the Imperial Star once more, dragged away into nothing but shadow.

The dark Element wrapped around my body and consumed me whole, tearing through my flesh until I became one with it. I didn’t die as I expected, as that vile queen expected.

And through the fog and haze of all that pain and power, I hungered for vengeance and the king I’d been promised in an empty, endless land of darkness, swearing that one day I’d return to claim it.

I was pulled out of the vision, torn from the cloud of memory and suddenly I was wide awake, laying on my back with Orion panting beside me.

“Oh my god,” I breathed. “That’s her. The Shadow Princess.”

“Somehow she’s bound to my sister,” Orion said, clawing a hand over his face.

My heart was still racing like crazy as I pushed myself upright, taking the hat off, the power of it quiet now. I pushed it into my pocket and turned to look at Orion, his chest rising and falling frantically.

“She’s trying to fulfil her prophesy, even after all this time,” I said in shock and he nodded, looking to me with a crease between his eyes.

“I have so many questions,” he said, his gaze alight with all the information we’d been fed.

That dark magic had once been used by all those Fae. That the Nymph Princess and the Acrux Dragons had been aligned once before.

I got to my feet and started pacing as excitement ran through me.

Orion sat up, watching me pace with a hopeful smile and my gaze snagged on the dimple in his right cheek. “This proves my sister is still in there. She’s being controlled by the princess.”

“We’ll save her,” I swore to him as I had once before. “We’ll find a way. Maybe the hat will show us more.”

“Blue,” Orion said as I continued pacing, but I couldn’t stop.

“Maybe there’s some answer here, something that can help us. Did you see all those Phoenixes? They must be my ancestors-”

“Blue…”

“But what happened to them? Did the Dragons eventually destroy them? But how?” My mind ran through everything at a hundred miles an hour. I felt excited, like we were on the cusp of knowing something life changing but I didn’t know what.

“Blue,” Orion shot in front of me, gripping my crop top in his fist.

“What?” I demanded, looking up at him in surprise as my heart juddered.

“You’re going to be a queen,” he growled. “Just like your ancestor. I can feel it, I fucking know it.”

“How do you know?” I asked, doubt flitting through me.

But I knew I wanted it. I needed Lionel to fall, and right now it felt more possible than ever. We had the Imperial Star. We had a connection to a sea of memories which could hold answers to defeating the Shadow Princess, to unravelling the power Lionel currently held in the kingdom.

“I’ve known since I crowned you in my car. Just don’t ever forget you were my queen first.” He yanked me forward and his mouth met mine, his kiss urgent and furious and I couldn’t help but give in to it for two whole seconds. I felt urged toward him as if by the stars themselves and I remembered what it was like to have him as my will was broken down inch by inch.

But then I pulled away, shaking my head, unsure of myself, of him, of anything.

“Tell me no. Say the word,” he growled and my lips parted but it didn’t come out. Why wouldn’t it come out??

I stepped away, backing up as I tried to get my head straight. But it was crooked as shit.

He stalked after me, slow and intentionally and I couldn’t ignore how every fibre of my being burned for him. “I thought you were done with me, Blue, I really did. I hoped it too even though that knowledge would have destroyed me. But then I found out you were sleeping with the dog.”

“We’ve been through this-” I started in exasperation but he spoke over me.

“I almost lost all hope for us, beautiful, even though I wasn’t meant to have any in the first place. But I did, I just hid it really fucking deep, denying it to myself that I still dreamed about a future where you were mine, no matter how impossible that seemed. And after you told me you weren’t his and kissed me back in the tomb, fuck, I’ve not thought of anything else since. Nothing but your mouth on mine and you pulling me closer. But I still kept away. Because I can’t give you anything. Nothing’s changed. I know that in my heart. I know it and I still can’t accept it. Because tonight I found out what it was like to have you dying in my arms and nothing has ever terrified me more. Nothing, Blue.”

“So what are you saying?” I demanded as I rounded the couch and put the coffee table between us, my heart jack-hammering like crazy.

He shot toward me and raked his thumb up my cheekbone. “I’m saying I fucked up everything. And it’s not getting unfucked any time soon. But I also can’t stay away from you any longer.”

“You don’t get to just decide you want me again and expect us to pick up where we left off.” A snarl left my lips as I shoved him in the chest and he pushed back against me, grabbing my hips and yanking me closer.

“I know,” he said on a furious breath. “I wish there was a future where I could offer you everything you deserve, but there isn’t. That life doesn’t exist for me. Fate closed the door on it, but some part of me is still foolishly scratching at it trying to find a way back in.”

“Lance you’re so fucking stupid,” I snapped and his brows pulled together like he damn well knew that, but I didn’t think he even understood it in the way I meant. I knotted my fingers in his hair, leaning up and staring him in the eyes. “You’re the best man I know, the best, fucking stupidest, most frustrating man I know. Whether you’re a professor, a convict, a fugitive, a power shamed Fae or all of the above, there isn’t one thing you could be that wouldn’t make me want you. But I just can’t trust you.”

“You still want me?” he asked like that was all he’d heard.

I wanted to fight and claw and scream to get through to him, but I just stood there trapped in the gaze of the man who’d captured my heart so completely that it barely even felt like it belonged to me anymore. It had never healed when he’d left. And now he was asking me to surrender for some finite amount of time, and the worst thing was that my heart wanted it too.

I pushed away all of the doubt and fear inside me over us and just took one sweet moment for myself, surrendering to this love and letting it consume me like fire. The second I pulled him closer, he groaned in desperation and my heart beat like powerful wings as his mouth fell against mine. I knew nothing was fixed between us, that it possibly couldn’t ever be, but I’d craved him for so long and I couldn’t think. I wanted it to be us again. Just one more time.

His tongue moved with mine and I felt the stars colliding somewhere above us as he put his hands on me, raking them up my back with a growl of need. His fingers dragged between my shoulder blades and I moaned, shivering all over from his firm and demanding touches. Phoenix fire sparked from my flesh and I couldn’t control it as he grasped my hips and the heat of his chest moulded against my body.

I didn’t dare break our kiss as he lifted me so I wrapped my legs around his waist. Little fires blazed in my periphery and his hand shot out to douse them with water before the whole place went up in flames. He sped across the room, knocking over a lamp as he crushed me to the wall and the wallpaper went up in blaze. He broke the kiss and slammed his hand to the wall, sending ice spilling up and away from us, coating the whole room and turning it into a shimmering winter wonderland.

“Oh shit,” I breathed, looking at the mess we’d made of Gabriel’s home.

“You can burn the house to the ground if you want, beautiful, I’ll happily rebuild it brick by brick when you’re done with me.” He captured my chin, yanking me back to look at him and my breathing faltered as I fell into the endless depths of his eyes. The truth sat on my tongue, weighing it down as heavily as lead. That I’d never be done with him. I loved him too completely. In every minute of every hour, right down to the space between seconds.

This was a terrible idea with a million repercussions that I’d have to face tomorrow. But weren’t all the best ideas that kind?

I gripped the back of his neck, drawing him toward me, my palm sliding down to his chest to feel the furious, desperate beating of his heart.

The whole world came crashing down around us, the roof shattering above and I cast an air shield with a scream as Orion clutched me to his chest and started running. Dragon fire spilled through the air, tearing across the room and ringing around us in a blaze that melted the furniture. Orion didn’t slow as he ran at the flames, but the heat sweeping toward us told me he’d die if he tried to get through. I did the only thing I could think of to stop him, ripping his legs out from beneath him with a whip of air. He hit the ground and we tumbled toward the fire before I threw up a wall of air to stop us before we rolled into it.

Orion wrenched a pouch of stardust out of his pocket, tossing a pinch over us but it fell in a cascade of glitter around us without us going anywhere. “The wards aren’t completely down,” he cursed.

Debris tumbled down from above as a huge shadow blocked out the light of the moon and Lionel’s Dragon form dropped out of the sky, landing on the shattered roof and glaring down at us, his jaws wide and fire flickering in the back of his throat. Panic bled through me as I cast air beneath us the same time Orion did, grabbing onto each other as we propelled ourselves over the flames. Lionel snapped his jaws at us and I blasted out a line of Phoenix fire at him before we hit the ground, making him rear away.

Orion lifted me up again and started running once more, blasting a window apart ahead of us and diving out of it. A huge wall of shadow stood in the sweeping vineyard ahead, ringing the entire property and trapping us in.

“No,” I gasped.

Clara stood between the vines with a crazed smile on her lips and the awful Seer Vard stood just behind her.

“Now, my King!” he cried and Lionel released a huge blast of fire which crashed over our combined air shield.

I yelled in exertion as Orion and I threw more and more of our power into the dome surrounding us, the fire spilling everywhere until it was all I could see.

I acted fast, casting an illusion of the two of us standing in our place then blasted the ground apart as Orion helped to conceal the hole. He shot down into the tunnel I carved as I held onto his back just as the fire surrounding us fell away. The illusion wouldn’t last long, but it might give us just long enough to get beyond the wards and stardust out of here. Lionel must have broken through them somehow, despite the strength of them. And my gut told me Clara had had a hand in it, her power unimaginable. It made me sick to think Vard had seen us here. That we actually thought we’d been safe.

The tunnel was completely unstable, collapsing in behind us as I blasted through the earth, casting a Faelight to see by as we moved faster and faster. One falter by either or us and we were done for.

A tremendous roar above ground told me Lionel was coming for us and an awful thundering, ripping sounded through the earth over our heads.

“Faster!” I screamed, clinging to Orion with one arm while tunnelling deeper, further.

Light spilled over us as the earth was cleaved apart above and tendrils of shadow clawed through it, digging us out.

I felt the tingle of magic against my body, the ward surely just ahead. But something wound around my waist, dragging me backwards and wrenching me above ground.

I was flung into the vineyard and I rolled at speed, the air knocked out of me as I crashed through the vines, softening the earth with my power a second too late. I got to my feet with my head spinning, not hesitating as I spotted Lionel in his Fae form, a dark robe wrapped around him as he raised his hands and the force of a hurricane blasted at me. I threw my own air against his, digging my heels in to stop him forcing me back, desperate to turn and look for Orion. But I couldn’t take my eyes off of this monster.

Vard strode up behind him, glee twisting his features as he watched and whispered in Lionel’s ear, giving him an advantage I couldn’t counter. But I had to damn well try.

I held my shield up with one hand then cast Phoenix fire toward him with the other, a tunnel of flames racing away from me. Clara shot into his path, throwing out a swathe of shadow which swallowed up the fire before she was thrown backwards with a shriek.

“Fight me like Fae!” I roared at Lionel.

“Now, sire!” Vard barked then a whip of air slammed into my shield, cracking through it like a nut.

I cried out, blasting more Phoenix fire away from me as Clara shrouded Lionel in shadow. I couldn’t see where any of my enemies were as I continued to throw my power at the Dragon King. Another whip of air caught my wrists, twisting them violently to the sides and I screamed as Lionel snapped every bone in my hands.

Orion suddenly crashed into me from the side, carrying me away from them once more as fast as he could possibly go.

“Heal me!” I gasped in a panic, unable to cast anything and he reached up to press his hand to my arm. His power washed into me and the bones started snapping back into place, but his magic was waning and fear hit me.

“Fuck,” he growled.

He’d used too much magic tonight and he hadn’t fed. I should never have let my guard down. I should have let him feed as soon as I’d replenished my own magic back at the house.

His power stuttered out and he put on a final burst of speed, giving everything to just getting us beyond the wards.

We reached the wall of shadow and I turned my hands to it, blasting out as much Phoenix fire as I could to carve a hole in it.

Something collided with Orion’s back, knocking us down in a tangle of limbs and I groaned in pain as I was crushed beneath him. Clara dove on us with a cry of elation and something sharp slammed into my neck before I could turn my flames on her once more. The strength faded from my body as my cheek pressed into the damp earth and my heartbeat started to slow, my limbs as heavy as boulders.

A bare foot pressed against my side, kicking me over and I found myself looking up at Lionel as my body continued to shut down. Orion’s hand brushed mine, but I couldn’t turn my head to look and see if he was okay.

“Medusa venom,” Clara announced with glee in her eyes. “Uncle Vard’s idea. Isn’t he a clever little Seer?”

Vard stepped into view, smiling proudly with his chest puffed out and hatred rippled through me.

“Your visions are finally paying off, Vard.” Lionel smiled smugly but it turned into a sneer as his gaze dripped over me.

He reached down and panic made my blood run cold as I was sure he was going to take the Imperial Star from me. Instead, his fingers wrapped around my throat, his eyes filled with a promise of death. “Take one last look at the night sky, Gwendalina. The next time you see the stars, you’ll be up there with them.”

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