Zodiac Academy 4: Shadow Princess

I sat in King’s Hollow alone as I waited for the message to meet Orion and the Vegas so that we could free his sister from the Shadow Realm. My knee bounced with unspent energy and I half wondered whether I should take a flight in my Dragon form to expel some of it.

The New Year’s Eve party down at The Orb was well underway and I probably should have just gone down to it with the other Heirs rather than wait here alone, but I just hadn’t felt like partying tonight.

My mind was full of all the things we’d been practicing to bring Clara back from the shadows and I couldn’t afford to let myself get distracted. Lance was relying on me. The loss of his sister had devastated him and the hope which I’d found living in his eyes since discovering she might not truly be gone was something I couldn’t ignore. He needed me tonight like I didn’t think he ever had before and I was going to be there for him no matter what.

I glanced at the clock for the thousandth time and pushed myself to my feet with a jolt of shock as I realised it was almost midnight. I’d been sat here all night waiting to meet him and yet somehow I’d just lost a huge chunk of time. My heart pounded unevenly as I struggled to understand how I’d gone from waiting around to late in the blink of an eye.

I frowned at the clock, double checking the time on my watch as I tried to figure out what the hell had happened. I’d just lost over half an hour of time and I couldn’t account for it at all.

“Shit.” I pulled my Atlas from my pocket as I strode towards the door and my frown deepened as I spotted six missed calls from Lance. “What the…”

My head snapped up as the strangest thump of drums seemed to call to me through the window and my gaze fell on the raging snow storm outside.

I dropped my Atlas and it clattered as it fell to the floor. It started ringing again behind me but I’d already made it to the window.

I frowned at the snow as it swirled in a mini vortex beyond the glass, twisting in a flurry which looked more than unnatural as it seemed to part to create a path for me which headed away south through the trees.

I grabbed the window and pushed it open, climbing out through it and standing in the deep snow which had gathered on the wooden walkway outside.

I was high up in the trees, looking down over the forest as the strange tunnel through the falling snow stretched out ahead of me.

The thumping beat of some huge drum seemed to rattle the very foundations of the earth and pulse right through my body so that my heartbeat leapt in time with it.

The cold air brushed at my exposed skin as I stood there in my jeans and black T-shirt, but the idea of turning back to claim my coat felt impossible.

There was no going back. Only forward. This path had been made for me to follow and the strange magic calling to me wouldn’t release me until I did its bidding.

I blew out a long breath, a cloud of vapour rising in front of me as the heat of my fire Element blazed beneath my skin and warmed me from the inside out.

With a surge of determination or quite possibly madness, I gripped the wooden railing before me and leapt over it.

I fell down the two floor drop at a fast pace and landed in the snow at the foot of King’s Hollow with a solid thump. It should have hurt like hell, but somehow it didn’t and I pushed myself up from my crouch as the strange magic surged around me again.

The blizzard grew fiercer beyond the pathway, fat snowflakes swirling through the trees so thickly that I couldn’t see any distance into them at all.

The only way which was clear was the path ahead of me and the pounding of drums grew louder as I took my first step that way.

A frown tugged at my brow as I tried to remember what I’d been doing tonight. There was somewhere I was meant to be, something I was supposed to be doing…

The thought came and went with the breeze as I strode on through the trees towards my destination.

A memory tickled at the edges of my mind of me being called from my bed by Max’s Siren Song when I was sixteen. I’d followed the lure of his call out into the dark then too, but something about the heavy beat of this music and the strength of the magic compelling me told me this was no Siren Song.

With every step I took, my heart beat a little harder, my steps grew more urgent, nerves stirred in my gut. It was like I knew in my veins that there was somewhere important I was meant to be and excitement was rising in me the closer I got to my destination.

I finally made it out of The Wailing Wood and followed the path painted by the magic further south.

On and on I walked, my footsteps never deviating from the trail, my heart pounding with anticipation as I drew closer to the end of this path.

There was something achingly important about this moment. Something which held my fate in its hands and locked it up tight. I knew it in my gut. This magic was no trick or ruse to lure me somewhere. It was pure. The magic of the stars in their simplest form.

Destiny.

I headed into Fire Territory, taking an unfamiliar route into the craggy rock formations until I found myself descending into a wide ravine.

The snow had formed banks against the rock faces either side of me but in the centre of the long space, a wide circle of red stone was clear and waiting.

My gaze tilted to the sky as the heavy snow clouds parted impossibly right above that spot.

My lips fell open as I drew closer, my gaze locked on the circle of black, star-filled sky as it appeared miraculously right above that clear spot of ground.

My boots hit stone as I stepped into the circle and my heart pounded to a reckless rhythm. Because I suddenly knew exactly what this was. I was here to face the most important question of my life and my heart was jackhammering in my chest as I watched the sky in fascination.

Two constellations weren’t sitting where they were supposed to be. It was as if the heavens had rearranged themselves for this one moment and the stars which made them up glowed even brighter than usual as they came together, so close they were almost touching. Leo and Gemini. I’d recognise those constellations anywhere. And if the sky was rearranging itself to bring them together, then it could only mean one thing.

This was a Divine Moment. The stars had guided me here and they’d be bringing someone else to join me. Someone who was perfect for me in every way. Who pushed me and challenged me. Who made my heart beat harder and my flesh prickle with desire unlike anyone I’d ever known.

She was my mate.

The one the stars had selected for me. My one true love. And after tonight there wouldn’t be a force in the universe that could ever tear us apart again.

The soft sound of footfalls approaching through the snow pulled my attention down from the stars as I looked towards the far side of the ravine.

The blizzard had closed in again and I couldn’t see any more than a shadow moving amongst the snow as she drew closer to me. But I didn’t need to see her. I’d known who was coming from the moment I’d looked up at the stars.

Hell, if I was being honest with myself, a part of me had known this was coming from the very first moment I’d laid my eyes on her.

Roxanya Vega was the daughter of The Savage King. The girl I should have hated without even having to try. She was a thorn in my side and a challenge to everything that had ever mattered to me. She made me angry like no one I’d ever met before, made me hate her with a passion which was unequalled by anything I’d ever felt. But despite everything that had passed between us, I’d never once been able to deny how much I wanted her.

The few times she’d let her guard down around me and let me in, I’d felt like the whole world had stopped spinning just for us. I’d held her when she was in pain, tasted raw lust on her lips, watched her rise from the shadows and rescued her from the dark. And she’d rescued me too. Before she’d come into my life I’d been stagnating, hardening and growing into a man I’d sworn I never wanted to become. But she was like a breath of fresh air. When she looked at me, it was like she really saw me.

Despite my privileged upbringing, I’d had very few chances to make any real decisions for myself. My father governed everything I did like a puppet master pulling my strings. He’d planned out a life for me which I was destined to lead no matter my own wants or desires.

But he couldn’t control this. He couldn’t twist this fate. The moment we both accepted this bond between us, our destinies would be sealed and we’d be bound together forever.

Elysian mates. Unbreakable. True love.

I’d never taken anything for myself like this before. Never had something purely because it was the deepest desire of my heart. But that was what she was.

Roxy Vega was the piece of me that was missing. She was everything I should have realised I needed sooner. If we hadn’t gotten so caught up in hating each other, we could have already had something to build the foundation of this on. But none of that mattered. Because from this day on, I’d be hers and she’d be mine. And I’d do everything and anything it took to prove to her that I could be worthy of her love.

The snow whipped around the clearing and my heart thundered a desperate tune as her footsteps drew closer.

My breath caught as she stepped out of the blizzard and her gaze fell on me.

Her full lips parted, snow clung to her long hair as it fell around her shoulders and the brightness in her eyes made me want to stride straight up to her and pull her into my arms. But the fear in her gaze held me still. She didn’t know what was happening. She didn’t understand the importance of this moment. But I did. I knew. And as I looked at her, I couldn’t help but feel the most overwhelming sense of happiness. Because I’d never had anything like this. Something pure and untouched by my father or the Council or the Heirs or my responsibilities… something that was just mine.

The blizzard raged around us and we stood in the centre of the storm as this immortal moment held us both hostage.

It was time for us to choose our fate.

And I didn’t think I’d ever had such an easy decision to make in my entire life.

I’d wanted her to be mine for so long that I couldn’t remember a time when the idea of it hadn’t consumed me. And it had been for this. All of it. Everything we’d faced together, every fight and disagreement, every single moment leading us here. We’d faced more tests and challenges than I could count to get us here, but we’d made it.

Now all we had to do was grab this moment with both hands and claim it for our own.

It wasn’t a decision, it was fate. And for the first time in my life, it felt like destiny was on my side.