Zodiac Academy 5: Cursed Fates

“Tory!” Darcy’s voice found me where I was hiding in sleep.

I groaned as I rolled over, tugging a pillow over my head as an incessant thumping started up at my door.

“What’s going on, Tor? Let me in!”

I shifted towards wakefulness, but my body recoiled like I was afraid of what I’d find there. My thoughts were fuzzy with sleep, but there was an ache in my body which resounded right down to my hollow soul. I couldn’t remember why. I didn’t want to remember.

The sound of the door bursting open assaulted me and I recoiled further into my bed as everything came crashing back in on me. The blizzard, the broken promises to Darcy and Orion, the look in Darius’s eyes when-

“What the hell is going on?” Darcy demanded. “And where the fuck were you last night? We needed you, Tor! I needed you.” Her voice hitched on that last sentence and I shoved the blankets off of me as my heart throbbed painfully.

Darcy had thrown her hands over her face to try and stop her tears and I instantly jumped up and wrapped my arms around her, tugging her close.

“I’m sorry, Darcy,” I breathed, my soul aching as I felt her pain. I’d let her down last night. She’d been waiting for us in that cave with Orion when- “What happened?” I asked, fearing that I might not want to know.

“We got Clara back, no thanks to you and Darius,” she said, trying to wrench out of my arms but I wouldn’t let go. “It took everything we had to create the bridge. And then…then…”

“What?” I breathed, sensing the desperation in her voice as a sliver of fear raced through me.

“Then she turned on us. On him. She stabbed him with the draining dagger and drank so much of his blood that he barely had a drop left. He almost died without the two of you there to help us!”

Darcy ripped herself out of my arms and my lips parted on a thousand empty apologies. But what could I say? I’d done what she said. I’d let her down when she’d needed me more than ever. I couldn’t even get that right. She deserved so much more from me than broken promises and meaningless apologies.

Darcy strode away from me towards the foot of my bed, her fists clenching as she tried to restrain some of the emotions warring within her and I dropped my gaze to the carpet by my feet.

“How did you save him?” I asked because she said he’d almost died and I could only imagine that she wouldn’t be here now, wasting her time on me unless he was alright.

Darcy barked a merciless laugh. “Seth. He heard me screaming for help and proved that he has some kind of soul rattling around in the depths of his depravity. And then Darius finally showed up to help with the rest. Even with all three of us, it was a close call.”

“Darius came to help you?” I breathed, my heart throbbing painfully as I spoke his name.

“Better late than never,” Darcy muttered bitterly. 

I nodded, looking down at my toes where they were curling against the carpet. I’d painted my toenails pink for some reason at some point before all of this and I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the colour. It was so light and happy and innocent. Like baby pink. It didn’t suit me at all. Why had I chosen such a cheery colour?

“You’re not even going to explain yourself?” Darcy demanded, whirling back towards me, but I didn’t lift my gaze to her. I didn’t want her to see my eyes. I didn’t want to give her this excuse like it was okay that I’d let her down just because the stars had a shitty sense of timing.

“I’m so sorry,” I said, my breath catching in my chest as I curled my fingers so tightly that my nails cut into my palms. “But sorry doesn’t feel like enough. It doesn’t make it okay. It doesn’t excuse me letting you down like that…”

“So why did you?!” Darcy screamed, making me flinch. I wasn’t sure she’d ever yelled at me like that before.

I shook my head, my heart throbbing painfully as I remembered where I’d been last night. The way I’d been getting ready to go and meet everyone down at Aer Cove, but I suddenly found myself late. How I’d felt this urgent tug in my chest, demanding I walk straight out of my room then leading me away from my sister and Orion and the magic I’d promised to play a part in and drawing me down a path I couldn’t turn from. My bare feet pressing into the snow because I hadn’t even grabbed any shoes, let alone a coat. I’d felt like a puppet on a string, dancing to a tune I didn’t know and yet I hadn’t been afraid. I’d been hopeful. At least I had been until my brain had caught up with my heart.

“Tell me, Tory!” Darcy demanded, striding towards me and shoving me as her rage and heartache fuelled her actions.

I stumbled back a step towards my bed and she shoved me again when I still failed to offer her an answer.

“What could possibly have been so urgent that you would let us down like that?” The third time she pushed me, my legs knocked against my bed and I fell back on my ass.

I let out a heavy breath and raised my gaze to meet hers.

Darcy sucked in a horrified breath, recoiling as she raised a trembling finger to point at me. “What the hell has happened to your eyes?”

I chewed on my bottom lip, knowing I had to tell her. That she had to hear it from me even if it tore me apart to say it.

“Last night, I…I don’t really know how to explain it but, while I was waiting to meet you, something happened. It was like time just slipped away from me and then all of a sudden the stars were calling me to them. I didn’t choose to go, they just took me and when I followed the path they’d laid out, I came to a clearing in the snow and…”

“And what?” Darcy breathed, dropping into the space beside me and taking my hand in hers. Blood smeared against her fingers from the crescent shaped wounds on my palms, but she didn’t comment on it.

I swallowed a thick lump in my throat. “Darius was waiting for me,” I murmured.

My heart lurched, but I forced myself to go on. I’d stood across that clearing from him and he’d looked at me like everything somehow made sense to him. My heart had pounded for him and I’d wanted to dive straight into his arms and never let go. But I’d held myself back, knowing in my soul that that wasn’t right. That it wasn’t how I’d felt about him the last time I’d seen him. Yes I’d wanted him, ached for him, desired him, but I’d also hated him, feared him, despised him. There was something in the magic of that place which had wanted me to forget all of that, but I knew my own heart. I knew it and I wasn’t going to have it governed by anyone but me.

“I don’t understand,” Darcy said slowly. “You mean he’d lured you there somehow, or-”

“No. The stars brought him too. Our constellations appeared in the sky overhead and we were locked in this little bubble of solitude that no one and nothing in the world could shatter. It was ours. He called it destiny.”

“What destiny?” she whispered, her grip on my fingers tightening like she already knew. Which she must have. We’d learned about this in class. We’d talked about it with Gabriel. She’d seen my eyes. She just didn’t want to believe it any more than I did.

“Apparently the stars chose him for me,” I said. “And me for him. And they wanted us to choose it too…”

“He’s your Elysian Mate?” Darcy whispered.

“I always did have terrible taste in men,” I muttered. “The stars obviously pick badly for me too.”

“Did he do this to you? Did he say no to-”

“It was me,” I said, shaking my head. “He wanted it. Wanted me. Wanted to own me and keep me and have this hold on me for the rest of my life.”

“I don’t think that’s how it works, Tory. He would have loved you, he would have-”

“Love?” I scoffed. “Who has ever loved me? Look at all the things he’s done to me. That isn’t love. It’s hate.”

“But maybe he could have changed. He isn’t always so bad. He looked after you before when you needed him, you fought together against the Nymphs. Hell, you even slept with him twice. Why would you deny yourself the chance to-”

“Because it wasn’t a chance, Darcy,” I said bitterly. “It was forever. All or nothing. Saying yes meant letting him own me. It meant I’d have to love him no matter what he did to me. What if he was just as cruel to me in love as he’d been in hate?”

“You think you might have been stuck in a life where he’d continue to hurt you?” Darcy asked, shaking her head like it was so obvious that wouldn’t have been the case.

“Yes…no…maybe. The point is I don’t know. How could I agree to forever with someone who had treated me like that? He never even tried to make up for any of it before last night. He never felt a drop of remorse for it until he realised he’d been doing all of those things to the girl who fate had chosen for him.”

“But Tory you’ve still got forever with him,” Darcy said desperately, her eyes swimming with tears for me. “Instead of forever with him loving you, you’ve got forever pining for him. Don’t you remember what Professor Zenith told us about Elysian Mates? You only get one. And if you don’t choose them, you’ll never love or be loved by any other…”

“What difference does that make?” I muttered. “No one’s ever loved me anyway, Darcy.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” she snapped, shaking my arm like she wanted me to realise what I’d done. But I already had realised. And it was too late to change it even if I wanted to.

“It wasn’t like I had long to decide,” I said, releasing a slow breath. “All I know is that I was suddenly standing there being asked to choose a man who’s hurt me time after time. Who tried to drown me and tormented me and… It doesn’t even matter now.”

“It does,” Darcy insisted.

“Why didn’t he just apologise before then?” I asked, tears burning the backs of my eyes. “If I’d known that he felt bad for it, that he even gave the littlest bit of a shit about everything he’d done to me then maybe I could have made another choice.”

“He never said anything to you when you hooked up with him?” Darcy asked softly.

“Nothing about that. He told me he’s obsessed with me and that he wants to lay claim to me, but that’s not love. It’s infatuation at best. Like I was some challenge he wanted to conquer or a prize to win. Why should I have to agree to that?” The bite in my voice was bitter and harsh and entirely forced and I knew that she could tell. But it was all I had. Because if I gave in to the pain of this heartache then I had no idea how dark it might be within it.

“Maybe you should talk to him,” Darcy suggested weakly because she knew it wouldn’t make any difference just as well as I did. The decision had been made. There was no going back. Talking with him wouldn’t change it.

“I don’t imagine he wants to talk to me,” I said, turning away from her to look out at the cloud filled sky.

“I saw him at Lance’s place, he seemed…I don’t think he’s doing so well…”

A raw slice of pain cut into me at that knowledge. I hadn’t wanted to hurt him. I’d just wanted to be free. Free of fate or destiny or the stars. Free to choose my own life and live it how I wanted, not how I was told to.

“It’s got to be worth trying to talk to him…” Darcy pushed.

“He won’t want to talk to me,” I insisted.

“I’m sure he can understand why you made the choice you did. And perhaps if you talk then you could try and figure out a way to-”

“It’s worse than that,” I muttered, the reality of what I’d done last night burning through me. “Caleb messaged me after it had happened and I… I don’t even know why, but I was just hurting so much and I wanted to try and forget about it. To try and prove that I could feel something for someone else and the stars couldn’t rob me of that…”

“Oh, Tory…” Darcy breathed and I could tell she was disappointed in me. Hell, I was disappointed in myself. I’d literally fallen back on the same old habits I’d always used to distract myself from my problems. And to make it worse, Caleb was one of Darius’s closest friends. I hadn’t planned it, I hadn’t meant to do it, but I’d been drowning when he messaged me, burning up in pain and heartache and I’d just felt so alone. It had been selfish and stupid and it had only really made me feel worse, like I was betraying Darius somehow despite the fact that I’d never been his in the first place. Was that how it would be for the rest of my life? Any time I was with anyone else I’d be thinking of him, feeling like I was in the wrong just because I’d wanted to choose my own fate?

“Maybe I’m the one who doesn’t deserve happiness,” I said. “Maybe Darius deserves better than me.”

“Of course he doesn’t,” Darcy growled. “He had every opportunity to change the way he treated you. He had every chance to apologise if he felt as strongly about you as he claimed to. I understand why you made the decision you did.”

“But you don’t agree with it?”

Silence stretched between us and Darcy drew me into her arms. I buried my face against her shoulder and the tears slid free of my hold on them as I gave in again.

My aching heart felt a little less frayed as I held her, though in no way healed.

“It’s not that I don’t agree,” she whispered. “It’s just…I can’t bear the idea that you’re cursed now. That you’ll never have love because of this. Because of him.”

“Well, he wanted to break me. So I guess he got his wish.”

Darcy shook her head, but she couldn’t really deny it. This pain which had carved its way into my heart when I’d refused him was only growing sharper. I didn’t expect it to heal any time soon. In fact, I didn’t expect it to heal at all.

I’d wanted to choose my own fate and this was what I’d decided on. So I was just going to have to live with it.

Darcy pulled me into the bed with her and we curled up beneath the covers together like we used to when we were little kids. She didn’t ask me anything else about it because there wasn’t anything more that I could say. And I just tried to take what comfort I could from the only love I’d ever know.

***

I emerged from the shower with dripping wet hair and a dripping wet mood. I couldn’t help it. This ache in me wasn’t going away and thinking of anything other than Darius Acrux was proving to be damn near impossible.

Darcy was sitting on my bed and she looked up from her Atlas as I walked into the middle of the room with a towel wrapped around me.

“Orion?” I guessed as her Atlas pinged and the corner of her mouth curled up with that secret kind of smile which said she was lighting up from the inside out.

“I just feel like I have to keep checking he’s okay and he’s teasing me about it,” she said, lowering her Atlas like she was going to put it away.

“Don’t do that,” I said, waving at the thing. “My choice with Darius has nothing to do with you and Orion. I don’t want you to ever feel like you have to hide your happiness from me.”

“I don’t think that,” she replied, but the tension around her eyes betrayed the truth and I sighed.

We’d been hiding out in my room all day. Darcy snuck out to find snacks at lunch time and she’d been keeping an eye on FaeBook too. Clearly no one had seen Darius yet either as there’d been no stories emerging about us, but they’d come. I couldn’t hide in here forever. And I wouldn’t.

Today, all of the students who went home for Christmas had returned to the academy in time for classes to resume tomorrow and there was a start of term dinner being held in The Orb.

Geraldine had been texting us all day, double checking what time we were arriving and what we were going to be wearing as if it was a damn royal occasion. I’d been letting Darcy handle the replies. In all honesty, I hadn’t dared touch my own Atlas. I couldn’t face the idea of finding a message from Darius there. Or worse, not finding one.

“Geraldine has suggested we wear pink,” Darcy said mildly and I forced myself to snort a laugh.

Beneath the flow of water in the shower, I’d let the shadows have me. They’d swept me up and stolen my pain and I’d coated my skin in a layer of darkness before I’d banished them again. Every time I did it, it got easier. And it felt a little better too. I knew their call was addictive, but I was too focused on our end goal to care. I needed to master them. I needed to be able to wield them better than anyone else. Better than Orion or Darius and especially better than Lionel. He had the Shadow Princess with him now and we still didn’t know what that meant. But I was sure it couldn’t be a good thing for us. And I had to admit that escaping my pain and sinking into the shadows for a while was a welcome relief even if it came with risks.

“Fine. Let’s wear pink,” I agreed.

“I told her we’d go with red. I’ve already been eyeing up that cute skirt in your closet and I think you should wear this dress.”

I looked over at her as she presented the dress to me. I’d bought it before Halloween with vague thoughts of a devil costume coming together before my Pegasus master plan occurred to me. It was short and low cut and kinda screamed I-wanna-get-laid which I definitely didn’t need to do again anytime soon.

“You don’t think it’s a bit much for dinner at The Orb?” I asked.

“Look, Tor, I don’t wanna freak you out or anything but you know that people aren’t just going to accept the fact that you and Darius are Star Crossed now like it’s nothing. There’s going to be questions and pointing and photos which will most definitely get leaked to the press and if you don’t wanna look like the girl who just had her heart crushed, then…”

I sighed, accepting the dress and smiling at Darcy as she moved forward to do my hair and makeup for me. I never would have asked for the TLC, but she knew when I needed it most and a twin pamper session was clearly in order right now for both of us. Orion might have turned out to be okay, but she’d still had one hell of a fright and I knew it was killing her that she couldn’t be with him now. I was half tempted to claim the fucking throne just so that I could change the law about student teacher relationships and set them free.

We took our time getting ready and Darcy didn’t even mention the fact that I was clearly stalling as I slowly applied eyeliner to my newly black-ringed eyes. The makeup made my Star Crossed mark stand out even more which was why I’d decided to do it. I needed to rip the band aid off, head out there with my resting bitch face firmly in place and let the nosey motherfuckers at this academy say whatever the fuck they wanted about it right away. Then it could become yesterday’s news and I could move the hell on with my life. Easy. Or not so much, but I was going to front it out like a trooper come hell or high water.

When I finally gave in to the inevitable and stood to leave, Darcy caught my hands in hers and stopped me.

“What do you want me to tell people about this?” she asked, her gaze skipping between my eyes uncertainly as she took in the difference.

I was finding the change to my eyes to be one of the hardest parts in this. Not because of any dumb vanity reasons, but because now Darcy wasn’t my identical twin anymore. I mean, sure, our hair had been different for ages and we wore pretty different clothes half the time, but that was all superficial. A quick dye job and a set of matching outfits and no one would have ever been able to tell the difference between us…until now.

“Nothing,” I said, shaking my head so that the loose curls she’d given me danced across my spine. “Tell them nothing. They can figure it the fuck out for themselves. I’ll give our friends a basic explanation and that’s it. I don’t give a shit what anyone else thinks anyway.”

Darcy’s eyes watered like her heart was breaking for me and I lifted my chin as I fought off the urge to fall weeping into her arms. I was the one who’d chosen this. I didn’t get to cry and pout about it like I was so hard done by. I’d always lived with the consequences of my actions before and I didn’t intend to stop now.

I gave her a tight smile then reached out to grab my Atlas. I couldn’t leave this room without checking to see if he’d messaged me. I just couldn’t.

The first thing that popped up on the screen was my horoscope from this morning and I sighed as I tapped on it.

Good morning, Gemini.

The stars have spoken about your day!

Today marks the start of a new chapter in your life where you will learn to tread the path less wandered. It’s time to face the consequences of your actions and find out if you can survive the fallout or not. You may come to blows with a Leo today, but take heart, if you travel the road of least resistance then you can avoid a collision altogether. However, the stars are feeling vexed with you and you may find your luck on a downward spiral for some time to come.

“Brilliant,” I muttered, flipping my Atlas around to show Darcy and she scanned it quickly.

“Well, it says you can avoid coming to blows with a Leo so it sounds like you don’t have to argue with him at least.”

“Yeah, if I travel the road of least resistance which I’d guess means avoiding him altogether. And that sounds great, aside from the fact that I live in the same building as him, attend classes with him, eat my meals in the same place as him and have a political future surrounding that fucking throne which will clearly tangle me up with him for the rest of my life. Not to mention our cosy little shadow lessons.” I sighed, turning back to my Atlas so that Darcy didn’t have to dignify that pouty rant with a response, but her hand landed on my arm all the same and she gave me a little squeeze.

There were several messages from Geraldine and Sofia, a few mentions in newspaper articles which I didn’t read beyond the headlines (there were very mixed accounts of the Nymph attack at the palace over Christmas and depending on what you read, we’d either saved the day or come really damn close to causing everyone’s deaths. The only thing all the papers could agree on was us being Phoenixes and we’d had more than a few requests for interviews and photoshoots about that). Nothing from Darius. But what did I expect anyway?

I sighed again, wondering if I was going to make a habit out of making pathetic little noises like that, and locked my Atlas before painting on a smile for Darcy. She was wearing a tight red skirt and a cute black top with roses printed on it. She didn’t look like her whole world had almost fallen apart last night and I hoped I didn’t either.

“Let’s go,” I said, kicking my stilettos on and heading for the door.

Darcy moved to my side as I hesitated with my fingers on the door handle, but what was I going to do, hide in my room forever? No. That just wasn’t me. When I’d gotten out of the hospital after my ex, Zane, had left me to drown in his car, I’d headed on over to his house, cut the crotch out of all of his pants, piled all his favourite things in his front yard, doused it in lighter fluid and set the whole thing blazing the moment he’d shown up. The asshole had the cheek to call me a crazy whore as he dove in to rescue his shit and I just flipped him off and went right on back to my old routine of walking past his house every day on my way to school. I never let it show that I had nightmares about that crash and spent weeks waking up screaming as I dreamed of drowning. Never chose a different route to take to school despite the way my heart raced and palms grew slick every time I passed by his house. Never said a word to him again no matter how many times he’d tried to get my attention. Because fuck him, fuck letting him have my pain. Fuck letting him make me walk a different way and fuck talking to him when he never once even attempted to apologise and never even showed up at the hospital to check I wasn’t dead.

So I’d had plenty of practice at facing down my demons. I had an excellent poker face. And I refused to let a single person see me bleed for Darius Acrux.

We headed out of my room and passed through Ignis house without meeting anyone. We were late and apparently the start of term dinner was a big deal. My Atlas and Darcy’s were both blowing up with messages from the Ass Club asking how long we’d be and I left it to her to reply.

As we drew closer to The Orb, the sound of music and excited voices raised in laughter reached us and my pulse started pounding. I licked my blood red lips, glad to have a thick layer of war paint to hide behind as we closed in on what I could only think of as one of the circles of hell.

I guess it would be naïve to hope that no one will notice.

Darcy’s fingers brushed mine but she didn’t take my hand, knowing I needed to face this alone.

I offered her a tight smile to let her know I appreciated the gesture and she nodded in return.

Just as we reached the door to The Orb, it swung open and my breath caught in my throat as we came face to face with Max and Seth.

None of us said anything, but their eyes locked on mine like they’d been hoping not to see the black rings there.

I bit my tongue, waiting to see what they’d say to me and bracing myself for the harshness of their words, but they didn’t come.

Max’s face pinched as he looked at me and I knew that he was feeling my pain with his gifts. I didn’t even have the energy to try and block him out.

Seth whimpered softly, reaching out to brush his fingers down my arm in a comforting gesture and I was so shocked by it that I didn’t even flinch away.

An achingly long moment passed between the four of us then Max stepped aside, holding the door wide so that we could head in.

“Thank you,” I breathed as we stepped around them and I wasn’t even sure if my thanks were for the door or the lack of assholiness they’d offered me.

I hesitated as we moved into the crowded space of The Orb which had been decorated like a winter wonderland complete with icicles hanging all over the ceiling and frost coating every surface.

Before the door swung shut behind me, I caught a few of Seth’s words. “Do you think he’s going to show up?”

“I have no fucking idea,” Max growled in a low tone and the door closed between us before I could hear anymore. But even that had my heart pounding. It sounded like Darius wasn’t here. Which was a good thing. Or was it? I didn’t even know anymore.

Darcy led the way through the crowd to the Ass Club and I tried not to feel like I was walking to my execution as I followed her.

People moved aside for us, some calling out greetings but none of them looked closely enough to notice my eyes until I passed Marguerite.

“What the-” She snatched my arm and whirled me around so she could look at me in her sparkly silver dress. Her red hair fell all around her pretty face and she didn’t even look hateful, just shocked.

I pulled my arm out of her grasp and dove back into the sea of bodies before she could ask the question, but the whispers started up behind me as I went and the news began to spread.

“Come hither my queens!” Geraldine’s voice rose above the crowd and I spotted her raised up over everyone as she stood on a chair and waved enthusiastically.

She was dressed in a puffy pink skirt and a blue crop top which barely managed to contain her huge breasts.

“We have gathered a delectable feast of the most glorious food! You must pop a cheesy ball in your mouth and give it a jolly good suck. And don’t forget to dip your dunkers in the creamy-”

Geraldine fell silent as her gaze zeroed in on my eyes, her lips popping open. She raised a trembling finger and started to shake her head in a hopeless kind of denial.

Everyone surrounding us noticed her behaviour and one by one their gazes fell on me too.

Gasps and curses passed around and I could feel so many sets of eyes on me that a blush began to prickle its way beneath my cheeks.

Sofia and Diego were staring and Angelica began to cry. Milton’s eyes had stretched so wide that I was worried they might fall out of his head. It seemed like they were all about to talk at once but before they could, Geraldine released a noise which could only be described as a pterodactyl shriek.

If anyone in the room hadn’t been looking at us, they were now and some helpful little douche canoe even cut the music.

There’s something quite intimidating about a room filled with two thousand people falling silent so that they can try and get a look at you. I was seriously tempted to bolt. And I was wondering why I’d thought it would be best to do it this way. Darcy had suggested getting our friends to come to my room so that I could tell them before the whole campus found out. But I’d wanted to do it like this. All at once. Over and done with. Rip the band aid off. It was starting to seem like I was a fucking idiot to think that though.

“Oh, my lady!” Geraldine cried as words returned to her after her prehistoric outburst. “What in the name of the stars, by the light of the great and bulbous moon and long hard night has happened? Great gargoyles, galloping Griffins, ghastly goulash and gargantuan gazelles! For the sake of Lady Petunia and all that’s wrong in the world, how in Solaria did such a travesty occur?”

Geraldine burst into tears, sobbing so loudly that I couldn’t even have responded if I’d wanted to.

I exhaled slowly and dropped into a chair, pulling a plate of pizza closer to me and taking a bite. It tasted kind of like cardboard.

A clamour of noise burst out all around me and one question in particular kept ringing in my ears. Who? Who? Who?

Darcy took the seat beside me and Sofia moved to my left, winding an arm around me. Diego’s hand landed on my shoulder and as I looked up at him in surprise, I found Milton there too. All of my friends closed in around me as Geraldine continued to sob so loudly that her voice echoed off of the walls.

“Oh sweet torture, oh purest hell, how could fate be so cruel?!” Geraldine cried.

“Attention students!” I was saved by the sound of Principal Nova’s voice as she called everyone to order and after a few more shouts to get their attention, the students all returned to their seats and turned to look at her.

Geraldine kept sobbing so I tossed a silencing bubble up around her and Angelica as they held each other and tried to come to terms with what had happened to me. It was sweet in a completely over-the-top-Geraldine kind of way and I loved her for it, but it just wasn’t me. Sure, I’d cry about this but not here, not where everyone could see me bleed. I refused to. But I did kinda envy her for her freedom. She was so unashamedly herself at all times.

“Due to the ongoing Nymph situation, it is my duty to inform you of new and tighter safety measures which will be put into place at the academy over the coming weeks,” Principal Nova called and I turned to look at her across the sea of students.

There were still way too many eyes on me, but I ignored them. Let them look. They’d get bored eventually. My pain would lose their interest. My choice would become just another thing about me that people judged me for and then forgot. I just had to weather the storm until that happened.

“We are tightening the security measures around campus. There will be magical shields going up which will mean no flying Orders will be able to pass on or off of campus without being detected. We have over a hundred new security personnel starting up patrols around the outer wall. Due to this, we no longer feel the need to enforce a curfew within the grounds, but we urge you not to go off campus unless necessary for your own safety. We are also going to start teaching Elemental Combat to all of you, not just the older students and your timetables will be adjusted to include these classes,” Nova said. “In addition, all after school clubs will be supervised by an extra member of staff. Professor Prestos has agreed to assist with the swim meets at Aqua Lake, Professor Washer is going to join Professor Orion at Pitball and Cheerleading practice-”

A groan went up amongst the cheerleaders as Washer smiled widely from his position at the front of the room.

Well that’s just great. As if cheerleading needed to be any more painful.

Darcy suddenly straightened in her chair and I followed her gaze as Orion strode into the room. No one would have known he came really damn close to death last night. Outwardly he looked exactly like always but as his gaze met mine, my heart twisted sharply with guilt. We should have been there to help him. I couldn’t bear to think about what would have happened to Darcy if she’d lost him.

Nova was still talking about the extra security measures, but all of a sudden every drop of oxygen seemed to be sucked from the room as Darius stepped in behind Orion.

His gaze moved straight to me and my heart stilled as I took in the dark rings around his deep brown irises which seemed to stand out so clearly despite the expanse of space between us.

My grip on Darcy’s hand tightened as my ears began to ring and a well of pain opened up inside me. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think and absolutely couldn’t tear my eyes away from the sight of him standing there looking so broken.

He didn’t move. It almost seemed like he was rooted to the spot.

My heart was pounding so hard it hurt and the backs of my eyes began to burn.

“No!” Marguerite shrieked suddenly, interrupting Nova’s speech as she leapt to her feet and pointed at Darius. “Not you! Not you and her! You can’t have been destined for that whore!”

A ringing silence followed her words for all of three seconds as everyone stared between me and Darius in disbelief and suddenly everyone was talking at once, completely ignoring Nova as she called out to get their attention back and they all demanded answers which I refused to give.

My vision blurred as the backs of my eyes burned more fiercely and I ripped my hand out of Darcy’s grasp, shoved out of my seat, knocking it over and pushed through my friends.

“Tory, wait!” Darcy called but I just shook my head.

“I just need to be alone,” I choked out as I turned and tried to run, but the wall of bodies surrounding it made it impossible for me to escape. “Move!” I demanded but they didn’t and I couldn’t breathe. I had to get out of there, I had to escape this room, these people, him.

I threw my hands up before me and blasted an escape route into existence with a gust of air before racing for the doors.

No one recovered fast enough to stop me and I sped out the exit before throwing a layer of vines over it to seal it shut behind me and give me time to escape.

I ran across the courtyard towards the Lunar Leisure building and skirted the silver walls of it until I made it into the shadows on the far side.

My heart crashed and tore apart against my ribs as I leaned back against the cold wall and tears ran down my cheeks as I wrapped my arms around myself and tried not to fall to pieces.

This was my choice. Mine. It shouldn’t have hurt this much to follow my heart. And that was what I’d thought I was doing. But if that was the case then why did it feel like I was being torn to bits from the inside out?

“I’m not usually good with crying,” Orion’s voice came to me and I quickly scrubbed the heels of my hands over my eyes as I tried to force the tears away. “Don’t stop on my account though. You did a good job of running away, but it’s a little harder to outpace a Vampire than the others.” He looked me up and down for a long moment like he wasn’t really sure what else to say. “I came to see if you were alright, but you’re obviously not-”

I threw myself at him and wrapped my arms around his neck, squeezing him tightly just to make sure he was really standing before me.

“I’m so sorry, Lance,” I breathed. “I should have been there to help you last night, you could have died, I could have cost you-”

“We both know that you couldn’t have resisted the call of the stars no matter where you needed to be. Besides, I’m not dead,” he replied, trying to shrug it off as his arms slowly closed around me, but we both knew there was so much more to this than that. So much pain. He’d gotten his sister back only to find out she was a monster, that the shadows had corrupted her beyond recognition. I couldn’t even imagine the agony of that.

“I’m still sorry,” I murmured, forcing myself to release him as I stepped back.

“Do you want to talk about Dari-”

“No,” I breathed. “I can’t…I just, need to move on with my life.”

Orion gave me a pitying look which said he didn’t believe for one second that I’d be able to do that.

“He understands your decision,” he said softly. “Even though he hates it. He knows why you felt you had to…”

“You’re a good friend, Lance,” I said, wiping the tears from my cheeks. “But it doesn’t matter what either of us think about it now, does it? The stars gave us our chance and that’s the end of it.”

The look he gave me said he wished he could do something to change that, but he knew as well as I did that he couldn’t.

“I just don’t want you to think he’s his Father,” Orion said in a defeated tone like he knew that there was no point to this conversation.

“I don’t,” I replied honestly because I did understand that much about Darius. He wasn’t the monster who’d created him, but he had more than enough darkness in him anyway and I’d borne the brunt of that too often.

Orion looked like he wanted to say more, but he just released a sigh which spoke of defeat. “Do you want me to run you back to your House?” he asked as the sound of students partying in The Orb slowly grew again.

“Yes please,” I said, offering him a real smile. Escaping was about the only thing I wanted to do right now.

By tomorrow, everyone would be over the shock and I’d walk amongst them with my head held high and my lips sealed. No one else needed to know the details of what had happened between me and Darius. The fact that we were Star Crossed was enough.

“Hop on then,” he turned his back to me and I jumped up onto it with the hint of a laugh. Who’d have thought my Cardinal Magic Professor would be giving me piggy back rides around campus when I first started out at this school?

Orion shot away with his Vampire speed and before I knew it, we’d stopped outside Ignis House and I was sliding back down to the ground.

“I’ll tell Blue where you went,” he said, taking a step back, but I reached out and caught his wrist to stop him before he could shoot away again.

“Thanks.”

“You know, I owe you an apology too,” he said and I hesitated without releasing him.

“What for?” I asked, my brow pinching.

“When you first came here I assumed the two of you would be weak girls, incapable of rising up to claim the position you’d been born for. I thought you’d be all sorts of things and no matter which of them were true, I didn’t once consider the idea that you might actually be capable of claiming your birth right. Or that you might deserve it. And I was wrong about that.”

My lips parted in surprise, but I couldn’t find any words to give him in response.

“And for what it’s worth…Darius is starting to see that too. He might not be ready to admit it, but he can see your potential. And I know it’s destroying him to think of all the things he did to you in an attempt to keep you beneath his heel. Even if he believed he was justified in doing it at the time.”

Silence hung between us for a long moment and I smiled sadly.

“I can see why Darcy loves you,” I said eventually and Orion’s eyebrows rose in surprise.

“Are we the sappy declarations kind of friends now?” he asked in a tone that suggested he found the idea of that about as horrifying as I did.

“Well, you’re still an asshole, but you’re a good man too.” Magic spilled from my fingertips where I still held his arm and Orion looked at me in confusion as I conjured tiny brown vines into existence, plaiting and braiding them together until they formed a ring around his wrist.

“What’s this?” he asked, raising his hand to inspect it and I had to say I’d done a damn good job too.

“I promised you a friendship bracelet,” I teased. “We can get together for a slumber party another time though.”

He snorted a laugh at me as he backed up. “I’ll treasure it always. Goodnight, Tory.”

“Goodnight.”

He shot away from me and I was left alone, but somehow that didn’t seem so lonely anymore.