Zodiac Academy 7: Heartless Sky

I shoved Darius back against our bedroom door, kissing him hard and moving my hands to his waistband as my heart thundered to a panicked rhythm and I worked really damn hard to keep the violent memories of being at the mercy of monsters out of my head.

“Roxy,” Darius growled against my lips, pulling back and breaking our kiss but I just moved my mouth to his neck and started kissing my way down it as I yanked his shorts down. “Roxy,” he said with more protest to his tone, his hands moving to my arms as he tried to nudge me back but I ignored him again, dropping to my knees in front of him.

“I want you to fuck my mouth, Darius,” I replied, looking up at him as I pushed my hand into his shorts and he released a Dragon’s growl as I took his solid length into my grip and licked my lips in anticipation.

“By the stars,” Darius groaned in frustration, cursing as he reached down and caught my wrist before I could tease him anymore and pulling me to my feet again with his hold on it.

“What?” I snapped as he fixed me in a glare and I reached for his cock again, but he had already tugged his shorts back up and was shaking his head at me.

“Tell me about it,” he insisted. “I saw that look in your eyes when Hamish said there would be a Cyclops interrogation and I know that Vard-”

I yanked out of his grip as a knot of tension formed in my stomach and memories of what I’d suffered through the night before his wedding coated my tongue with acid as they tried to creep in again.

“I have my Phoenix back again now,” I replied, trying to shrug it off as I turned away from him and moved towards the bed, snatching one of his shirts from it and pulling it on over my bikini, trying not to feel the sting of rejection at him pushing me away. The black fabric swamped me but I felt better like that, hiding myself beneath it like I was wrapped in a security blanket. “No one can get into my head if I don’t want them there.”

“That doesn’t make it any easier on you,” he insisted. “I know what they did to you. I know how the idea of anyone else getting into your head must make you feel.”

“It’s fine,” I said, my pulse thumping against my eardrums as I remembered the sickly, cloying feeling of that fucking creep crawling around inside my head, of all the things he’d tried to make me believe and the fear he’d tangled up with all the good memories I had of the man in this room.

“It isn’t,” he snapped, moving up behind me and gripping my arm as he pulled me around. My heart leapt at the contact and fire burst to life in my fist as he made me look at him, the echoes of the fear they’d tried to make me feel for him lingering in my skin for several seconds before I forced them away.

“You can talk to me about it,” Darius insisted, his hand curling around my cheek as my breaths came faster and I closed my eyes as I tried to fight off the memories. But they wouldn’t leave me be. And suddenly it didn’t feel like his hand was on my cheek, it felt like Lionel’s as he’d forced my gaze up to meet his while I panted through the agony of my flesh and sat chained before him with my skin slicked in my own blood.

“Don’t touch me,” I snarled, jerking back and feeling the fire race up my arms to coat my body, coming to my aid the way it couldn’t that night.

My back hit the wall and I was vaguely aware of someone calling my name but all I could feel was the heat of the fire magic which raged against my skin while my Phoenix was buried away and pain of a knife sliding between my ribs.

A hand locked around my throat, taking the burns from my fire as he continued to shout my name and suddenly the sound of a door bursting open crashed through the screaming in my skull. Except it wasn’t in my skull and as I peeled my eyes open, I found myself curled up in a ball on the floor with Darius leaning over me, his eyes blazing with concern.

“It’s alright, little Vega,” Max said softly, his hand slipping into mine, his skin cool with the touch of his water magic and an offer of escape in his deep eyes which I accepted wholeheartedly as I fought to stop myself from thrashing against the wall.

Another hand took my free one and I turned to discover my sister there, finding peace in her gaze as she squeezed me tight, the fire unable to burn her at all as I continued to blaze between them.

“Come on,” Max said, his voice filled with the allure of his kind as he pulled me away from the panic and helped me bind those memories with hate and rage instead. Because I refused to cower in fear from the motherfuckers who had done that to me. They’d drugged and immobilised me to do it, and it was clear that they wouldn’t have stood a chance of penetrating my defences if I’d had access to my Phoenix.

I let that hatred and desire for vengeance rise in me until I was fit to burst with it then let Max encourage those flames to simmer instead of blaze, drawing me back to the moment we were in and offering me a sense of peace and calm which I took hold of greedily, releasing a long breath as the fire consuming me finally guttered out.

Darius slid his hand from my throat up and into my hair, his gaze wary as he took in my reaction to him, and I had to fight against the tears which pricked the backs of my eyes. His skin was stained with soot and his shorts had been burned from his skin in places, but he’d already healed away any burns I’d given him so at least I didn’t have to dive into the guilt I’d have felt over those.

“I know it wasn’t you,” I swore to him and he nodded, leaning in to press a kiss to my hair while Max let the calming sensation of his magic run through me and my pulse finally began to settle.

“It was because of me though,” he replied, drawing back and releasing me as I frowned at him.

“I don’t believe that,” I replied firmly and Darcy slipped closer to me, winding her arm around my shoulders while still keeping hold of my hand.

“We all know this comes down to Lionel and his followers,” she said firmly. “Don’t let him get between the happiness you two have found together out of some bullshit sense of guilt, Darius.”

A sad kind of smile tugged at his lips as he pushed to his feet before us. “The shrew has bite.”

“You know I do,” she confirmed. “And I’ll prove it if you even consider pulling away from this now. Tory needs you. So get that self loathing shit out of your eyes and be the man she needs you to be.”

“Ouch,” Max muttered, throwing a smirk up at Darius as he nodded in acceptance.

“Alright, alright. But I’m not going to let any fucking Cyclops near you, Roxy. I’ll tell Hamish he can just take your word over these murders unless he wants me committing a new one.”

I snorted a laugh and the corner of his lips lifted as he tugged off his ruined shorts and tossed them aside before using water magic to clean his skin. Darcy and Max looked away, clearly not interest in seeing him naked, but I kept my gaze fixed on him. It was kinda like watching my own personal strip show and I bit my lip as I watched the way his wet abs glistened as he scrubbed at his skin.

The cold sensation of a bucket of ice being dumped on my libido fell over me and I cut Max a glare as he shrugged innocently.

“You need to stay calm for a bit,” he said by way of explanation. “No eye fucking the Dragon.”

Darius threw me a look filled with promises for later then pulled on a fresh shirt and a pair of jeans and moved to the door. “Look after her, Darcy,” he said before he left and Darcy clucked her tongue at him.

“I think your boyfriend needs reminding of his place on your favourite person list,” she muttered.

“Oh he knows,” I promised her. “A couple more orgasms and he might even make the top ten.”

Max chuckled darkly as he released my hand and I looked to him as we both waited to see if I’d hold it together on my own. But this wasn’t our first rodeo and we were pretty in sync now, so I wasn’t surprised when my heart rate stayed low and nothing but hatred and a desire for vengeance filled me when I thought of Lionel, Vard and the Shadow Princess.

“Thank you,” I murmured and he gave me an easy smile, though I could see the tension around his eyes which hadn’t been there before from the weight of taking on my fear and pain.

“Any time, little Vega.” He got up and headed from the room, a strangled sob from beyond the door letting me know that Geraldine was hanging around out there as he emerged.

“Oh you salty sealion,” she praised. “You have a true heart of gold beneath that barnacle encrusted exterior, don’t you, Maxy?”

“Err…yeah?” he replied, his tone seeming brighter already.

“Come let me fix you some snacks to rebuild your fortitude,” she offered and the sound of them heading away together drifted down the corridor until we were finally left alone.

“What are the chances that there’s someone down here who doesn’t know about my freak out?” I asked in a low voice and Darcy looked away from me as she made a show of thinking about that.

“Well…you didn’t have a silencing bubble up so Lance and Caleb definitely heard and Seth was the one who ran to get me even though I was already on my way, and obviously Geraldine heard so…”

“Let’s hope it was just our group then,” I muttered though I wasn’t really embarrassed about it. I would happily challenge any fucker who thought less of me for losing my shit to spend a night in the company of my tormentors, let alone the amount of time I’d endure them, and come out peachy on the other side.

“We could always spread rumours of a ghoul in the tunnels if it comes to it,” she agreed, squeezing me tight and I knew she was hurting over what I’d been through.

“I’m here now,” I reminded her, though maybe I was reminding myself too. “Free.” I pointed at the clear patch of skin on my arm where the Aries brand had once marked it and a real smile lit her lips as she nodded.

“Thanks to Darius,” she agreed, looking towards the door for a moment before frowning as she turned back to me. “Has he told you exactly what happened to make the stars release you from the bonds?”

“He just said he begged them to break them and they listened,” I replied, unable to hide the smile that came to my lips at that. “I guess we were overdue a turn in our luck.”

“Hell yeah we are,” she agreed but her brow furrowed and I tilted my head as I realised she was holding something back.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Hopefully nothing,” she replied quickly.

“But?”

Darcy blew out a breath, making a lock of deep blue hair flutter before her and she sighed. “The Shadow Princess tried to place a curse on me during the battle.”

“What?” I gasped, pushing away from the wall and sitting up so that I could look at her directly. She started explaining all about how the real Shadow Princess was called Lavinia and that she’d possessed Clara’s body. She told me about how Orion had had to drive a blade into his sister’s body to free her soul and that the shadow bitch had remained in her place. But I couldn’t get my mind off of the word ‘curse’.

“What did she do to you?” I demanded in fear.

“Honestly, I think it’s fine,” she said quickly. “There was a mark on my arm here when she left the curse.” She rolled her sleeve up to show me her arm, but there wasn’t so much as a freckle out of place. “But it disappeared again and Lance and I think my Phoenix has burned it out of me.”

“Really?” I asked dubiously, gripping her arm and turning it back and forth to inspect it more closely, but there was nothing to see.

“Really,” she swore. “I feel absolutely fine and our Phoenixes have burned a whole lot of crap out of our bodies, so it makes sense that it would work to protect me from this too.”

I nodded slowly, relief filling me.

“And you definitely feel okay?” I confirmed, annoyed at myself for not asking her more about the battle sooner, but honestly, I’d just been glad to steal a little respite from the horrors of that day.

“Yeah. I feel great. I hope that bitch is off crying herself to sleep somewhere because her dumb curse didn’t take root in me,” she joked and I grinned.

“That’s because you’re a total badass,” I replied knowingly.

“Well that makes two of us,” she said.

“Wanna go find some snacks to steal and watch some trash TV with me while we wait for Hamish to finish up the interrogations?” I offered and her smile widened.

“There’d better be chocolate down in these tunnels.”

“If there’s not, what even is the point of living?” I lamented and she laughed.

“I can see the headlines now, the Vega twins die in joint chocolate-related suicide,” she said and I chuckled.

“I think our bigger concern around here is a sneaky white Wolf stealing all of our chocolate away,” I added, narrowing my eyes on the door in case Seth was already lingering close by at the mere mention of snacks.

“Then we’d better go and get our hands on it first, Tor, because I swear to god, I’ll summon an army of fleas to take dog boy down if he takes our chocolate.”