Zodiac Academy 6: Fated Throne
Fated Throne: Chapter 15

I stepped out of The Orb after dinner with Mildred at my left and Marguerite on my right as the two of them prattled on about wedding dresses and I tried not to feel sorry for myself because it was a Sunday. Five whole days before I could return to my king. I knew it had to be this way, but five days had never felt so damn long.

‘I am more concerned about practicality than flamboyance,’ Mildred scoffed at some comment Marguerite had made. ‘The main thing that matters is that it comes off easily for our wedding night so that I can produce a fine Dragon Heir for the next generation of Acruxes-‘

My fist snapped out so suddenly that I wasn’t even certain when I’d decided to strike her, but as my knuckles collided with her bristly jaw, a dark smile pulled at my lips and the shadows in me stirred with hunger.

‘What the-‘ Mildred began, rolling her shoulders back and bunching her muscles as the Dragon behind her eyes glared at me like it wanted to bite my head off.

‘Go blather about weddings somewhere else,’ I growled, shadows slicking down my arms and pooling around my fingertips. ‘The shadows are hungry. And if you don’t fuck off, I’ll let them feed on Dragon tonight.’

‘Catch you guys later,’ Marguerite gasped before scurrying away, but Mildred wasn’t so smart.

‘You might be important to the King, but I am going to be an Acrux before long, so you’d do well to remember that I-‘

With a flick of my fingers, I sent her sprawling back away from me, driving the shadows into her chest as she squealed like a stuck pig.

‘I’ll be telling the King about this!’ she gasped.

‘The King doesn’t care about you,’ I growled, advancing on her with my eyes full of shadows and pleasure tracing patterns down my spine. ‘You’re just a walking womb with Dragon blood in your veins. And guess what? You don’t need legs to give birth. So I suggest you listen to me when I tell you to run from me or you’ll be replaceing yourself without the necessary limbs to comply.’

Mildred shrieked in pain as I drove the shadows deeper into her but before they could get a true hold on her, she shifted, tearing through her clothes and expanding in size so rapidly that all I could do was watch.

She roared at me in her mud brown Dragon form, swinging her head around to glare down at me with beady eyes set deep in the scales of her head.

The shadows rolled over me as I stood my ground, my heart pumping furiously as I felt fully awake for the first time in a long time and Mildred released a blast of Dragon fire right at me.

The shadows rose up in a cloud to meet her flames and my eyes lit with hunger as I fought to control them, their power almost overwhelming me.

An enormous roar broke through the air, drawing my gaze skyward as a golden Dragon five times the size of Mildred dove from the sky and collided with her.

I sucked in a breath of fright as my gaze fell on Darius and the echoes of a thousand tortures bit into my flesh. Memories of pain and suffering surfaced in me at the sight of him and the fight went out of me as I pulled the shadows close defensively.

As the Dragons tumbled across the path, a torrent of students appeared from The Orb to watch and scream in shock so I took off.

I strode away with the shadows curling through my fingers as I took the path into The Wailing Wood and left Mildred and the other Dragon behind. Though I tossed more than a few glances over my shoulder as my brow furrowed with concern over something I couldn’t quite place.

I tugged my Atlas from my pocket so that I could just look at the screensaver of my king for a few moments, but a notification flashed up on it which I’d been tagged in.

Tyler Corbin: Looks like love’s young dream isn’t so sweet after all. @DariusAcrux was just seen swooping in to give his fiancé @MildredCanopus a beat down Dragon style in the name of love for his true mate @ToryVega. This young Pegasus saw it all going down and I swear, Mildred still has that moustache in Dragon form as well as that pig snout. Anyone else think she might have some pig grandparents hiding somewhere? For all that the great and honourable King Asscrux has to say about pure bloodlines, you’d think he might have noticed that the Canopus family have been boning farm animals…

#isawtrotters #hewontwannaporkthepork #ibetshehogsthecovers #jurassicpork #porkasaurusrex #piginawig

Stacy Denny: Someone needs to wrap that pig in a blanket and roll it off a cliff!

Desinie Bass: She’s Mildredful. If Darius Acrux has to marry her then I’ll never forgive the stars…

Alexandra Lanoville: This little piggy went wee wee weeee in her panties when Darius dive bombed her! #sendthatpiggytomarket

Stacey Braum: Old Macdonald had a farm E-I-E-I-O, and on that farm he had a Mildred E-I-E-I-O – with a moustache here and a big wart there, here a hair, there hair, everywhere a bear hair. #E-I-E-I-Ho

Jessica Glosson: She so ugly, when her Momma dropped her off at Zodiac she got a fine for littering

Jodie Fleming: Mildred takes so many Faeroids she’ll probably be the one impregnating Darius on their wedding night #peenqueen #dragonatrix

A snort of laughter escaped me and I frowned as I tried to figure out why, but my Atlas started ringing before I could give it too much consideration.

I pursed my lips as I saw Clara’s name illuminated on the screen but answered all the same. She was never far from my king so there was always the chance that I might hear his voice in the background of the call, even if he hadn’t wanted to speak to me directly.

‘Yes?’ I asked, keeping my pace up as I moved deeper into the woods.

‘Daddy has a message for you,’ Clara sing-songed. ‘We’re going to stay in the city for the week.’

‘Why?’ I growled, my gut lurching at the idea of him being even further away from me.

‘You always have so many questions,’ she huffed. ‘Nosey, nosey. I have half a mind to ask Daddy to let me punish you again the next time you’re home with us.’

My jaw clenched as I remembered the way Clara had made me suffer whenever I failed on her instructions with the shadows, but I didn’t back down. It may have been agonising to allow her to force them so deep inside of me, but that was also exactly why my hold over them was so strong. Besides, the punishments always put my king in a good mood, so if I had to suffer to please him then I would.

‘I just need to know where he is,’ I ground out. ‘You know the way the bond makes me ache when I’m not close.’

Clara huffed out a breath, but this was the one thing that we could always see eye to eye on, so she finally gave me what I needed. ‘He’s got some information on a network of Tiberian Rats who have been trying to flee the Nebular Taskforce rather than face the inquisition. We’re going hunting.’ The glee in her voice was unmistakeable and I sighed with relief.

‘Okay,’ I agreed. ‘But you’ll be back at the palace when I return on Friday?’

‘Maybe,’ she taunted and my grip on the Atlas tightened to the point of almost breaking it.

‘Clara!’ Lionel barked in the background and my heart soared at the sound of his voice even if it was rough with irritation. ‘We’re leaving now. Have you delivered the message?’

‘Can I speak with him?’ I gasped.

‘Sorry, Daddy doesn’t want to speak with you right now,’ she said and I could hear the smile on her poisonous lips. ‘But don’t worry – I’ll make sure he enjoys his time away from you so much that I’m sure he won’t miss you at all.’

‘Clara, just let me tell him I-‘

The line went dead after she cackled a laugh at my expense and I shrieked in frustration as I hurled the Atlas away from me, letting the shadows blossom all around me in a thick cloud until the force of their power drove deep enough into my skin to take my fury away and left me trembling with the pleasure of their power.

I closed my eyes, moaning softly as I tipped my head back and just bathed in them for a long moment.

‘Well shit, babe, if I’d realised what a turn on the shadows clearly are to you, maybe I would have understood why you love them so fucking much,’ Seth’s voice broke through the heady fog of the dark power within me and my lip curled back as I looked to the right of the path where he was standing between the trees butt naked and holding a leaf over his cock which didn’t even come close to hiding it. ‘Made you look,’ he taunted but before I could reply, a crash of raw power slammed into the shield at my back and I cursed as I was knocked to my knees, barely managing to keep my shield intact.

I twisted to look over my shoulder, replaceing Darcy hovering a few feet above the path while fiery wings burned brightly at her back and her blue hair billowed around her.

‘You should probably run,’ she warned me, giving me half a second’s notice before a blast of air magic slammed into my shield again.

I snarled as I managed to regain my feet, but Seth threw his own air magic at me from the right and I stumbled towards the left side of the path between the combined strength of their power as it drove against my shield with undeniable force.

Max stepped onto the path ahead of me and as he directed his own air magic at me too, I was left with no choice but to turn and run into the trees on my left.

I stumbled between the thick trunks as their air magic increased in pressure and the trees all around me bucked and swayed wildly in the maelstrom they were creating.

I ached to stand and fight them, unleash the full strength of the shadows on them. But my king had made it clear I wasn’t to attack the Heirs or Darcy while the country was still adjusting to the new leadership. Outside of enforcing the new laws, he didn’t want me to engage with them and I couldn’t bear to disappoint him again. So with a growl of fury, I turned and fled.

My boots thumped over leaves and sticks in my path as I ran through the trees and for a moment, I swore I spotted a blur of movement to my right and then again ahead of me on my left. Fucking Vampire.

The assault of air magic didn’t let up behind me though so I had no time to focus on what was ahead and with each moment that passed, my magic was being stretched to its limits as I fought with everything I had to keep my shield in place.

The trees seemed to open up ahead of me, a clear path free of debris on the ground appearing and allowing me to run faster as I took it and upped my pace.

The shadows writhed beneath my skin, but I kept my focus on my Elemental magic even as I burned through more and more of it while pushing everything I had into maintaining my shield as the wind continued to ram against the back of it.

I cast a ball of fire beside me to replenish my magic but the moment I did, the ground bucked beneath me so hard that I was thrown up in the air. I yelled out as I forgot about the flames and threw everything I had into air again to stop myself from face planting the smooth path ahead of me.

My magic was seriously depleted as I made it back to my feet by some miracle and I cursed loudly as I ran on down the path, taking a turn to the left as it curved that way, the trees and bushes either side of it far too thick for me to try and break through at this speed.

I suddenly found myself at the top of a steep hill and as my boot landed on the path again, my foot slid out from under me as I hit ice instead of mud and I fell onto my ass. But between the sharp decline of the hill before me, the slick ice and the never-ending gale at my back, there was no way for me to stop myself from sliding straight down the hill at high speed.

I threw my arms out ahead of me, trying to slow my fall with air magic, but the dull ache in my chest warned me that I was almost out and I knew there was no way I was going to be able to fight off the three assholes at my back now.

Just as my magic reserves guttered out, I crashed through an illusion that had been placed on the path making it look like there was nothing ahead of me and screamed as I was propelled straight into a heavy metal cage.

I hit the bars at the back of it hard, smacking my face and hearing bone crunch before the agony of the injury even reached me.

I rolled over, scrambling back towards the door with blood dripping down my face, but before I could even get close, Caleb shot into view, slamming the door and locking it with a metallic clang that resounded right down into my soul.

I shrieked in fury, crawling forward and throwing my hands towards him as Geraldine stepped from the trees too, a triumphant look on her face even as tears streaked down her cheeks.

Shadows burst from my palms as I directed them through the bars of the cage they’d trapped me in. But the moment the dark fog got close to the metal it ricocheted back at me, sending agony burning all the way down to my bones and making me howl in pain.

‘That cage is made of night iron. The shadows can’t pass through it and every time you try to force them through, the power you use is going to strike back at you instead,’ Darcy said grimly as she landed on the path ahead of me just as Geraldine melted the ice out of existence.

Darcy dissolved her wings, shifting back into her Fae form and making sure there was no chance of me replenishing my magic from her flames.

Seth appeared next, wearing sweatpants now with Max stalking over to stand on Darcy’s other side, his face set with determination and my Atlas in his hand.

‘When my king hears about this you’ll all pay,’ I snarled at them, my gaze shifting between my sister, Geraldine and the Heirs before realising that one of them was missing.

‘That’s a risk we’re willing to take for you, sweetheart,’ Caleb said, cocking his head as he looked down at me crouched in my cage.

I couldn’t even stand up in this thing and when I reached out to grip the bars, they burned my shadow coated hands until I felt the skin melting on my palms and I was screaming in agony again.

‘Stop, my lady!’ Geraldine gasped in horror as I wrenched my hands back, panting and sweating, my body trembling with the pain.

‘Let me out,’ I demanded but Darcy shook her head, her eyes wet with unshed tears but her expression firm and unyielding.

‘You’re not coming out of there until you’re yourself again,’ she growled and before I could reply, a mournful roar sounded from somewhere overhead.

I shrieked in fear as I looked up through the bars of my cage and found Darius diving from the sky in his golden Dragon form. His gaze was set on me and the fear I always felt around him intensified as I found myself so helpless before him.

The cage juddered as his weight collided with it and I fell flat on my back as his enormous claws wound around the metal bars above me and I was suddenly lifted into the air.

I yelled and cursed and swore retaliation against all of them as he flew me up above the trees and I felt a concealment spell sliding over me and my cage as one of the others cloaked my presence from below to make sure no one spotted him kidnapping me.

The flight didn’t last long and Darius landed awkwardly on the roof of King’s Hollow before ripping a hole in it and depositing my cage inside the central room in front of the unlit fireplace.

I scrambled for the door of the cage as he released me from his golden talons and managed to force the shadows back enough to lessen the pain in my hands as I worked to break the lock open. But the thing was sealed up tight in some way I couldn’t even begin to figure out and the longer I worked at it, the more the flesh was burned from my body wherever I touched the metal bars.

Darius dropped down into the treehouse in his Fae form and I scrambled back to the middle of the cage as I watched him warily, my gaze shifting over his powerful, naked body as fear swept through me and I wondered what the hell he was going to do to me.

He grabbed a pair of black sweatpants from a chest at the side of the room then turned to face me, his face pinched in pain like he wasn’t happy to replace me here. But that made no damn sense.

‘What are you doing?’ I growled, fighting not to show him how much pain I was in even as the blood from my nose dripped over my lips and flooded my tastebuds and the scent of my burned flesh filled my nostrils.

‘Will you let me heal you?’ he asked, his voice tight and rough.

‘No,’ I growled because if there was one thing that could make my situation worse right now, I knew that it would be allowing him to lay his hands on me. All Darius Acrux ever caused me was pain and even just looking at him now made my chest ache with the memory of lightning slamming into my body and burning me alive from the inside out.

Caleb shot into the room before Darius could say anything else and he sighed irritably as he looked up at the destroyed roof before lifting his hands and using his earth magic to fix the damage Darius had done to fit my cage inside.

‘I take it she won’t let you heal her?’ Caleb asked Darius, acting as if I wasn’t even here and I narrowed my eyes on him, trying to figure out how I could get myself out of this.

‘Caleb,’ I breathed, looking up at him through the bars as he turned to look at me in surprise. ‘I don’t want him near me,’ I said, glancing at Darius whose posture stiffened at my words.

‘That’s just the shadows talking,’ Caleb growled firmly, giving Darius a look I couldn’t read, but the Dragon clearly could because he clenched his jaw then stalked towards me.

I instantly shifted back, using my hands and feet to propel myself along until I knocked against the rear of the cage and I hissed at the pain of the shadows burning where the bars came into contact with me. The only part of the cage that didn’t burn me was the solid base, but as I pressed my palms flat to it, it felt like it was trying to suck the energy from my freaking soul, so I had no desire to push any power into it just to have it stolen.

‘Roxy,’ Darius growled, dropping down into a crouch and looking in at me with his brow creasing. ‘Please stop looking at me like that.’

‘Like what?’ I hissed, not moving another inch but hating how vulnerable I was right now.

My whole body was coiled with tension in anticipation of what I knew he was going to do to me now that he had me at his mercy. It was all that I could do not to cower and to keep holding his gaze.

‘Like you think I’m about to attack you. I fucking love you, Roxy,’ he growled. ‘Why the hell would you think I’m going to try and do something to cause you pain?’

I tried to take in what he was saying to me, but the moment I considered his words, the sharp echoes of the pain I knew he’d caused me echoed through my flesh in a keen pulse that made me wince as it bit into me.

Darius tried to reach for me and I scrambled back again, hissing between my teeth as I was pressed against the bars of the cage once more. He cursed loudly as he lurched to his feet and stormed away from me, throwing the couch over as the temper I’d known he had snapped and a roar escaped his lips.

‘Darius!’ Caleb barked as my skin howled in pain from the contact with the bars but I refused to move even an inch closer to him, knowing it would only be worse with him. ‘Calm down! What the fuck is wrong with you?’

Darius threw me a pained look and shook his head before storming towards the door. ‘I’m just making it worse by being here. I’ll go and see what’s taking the others so long.’

Caleb looked torn between going after him and staying with me and I slowly eased away from the bars as I watched him come to the decision to stay. The look he gave me was pitying and the shadows rose up in me again, murmuring sweet promises into my ears, reminding me that this was my chance to escape.

A door slammed downstairs and some more tension slid from my body as I realised that Darius really had gone.

‘Caleb?’ I murmured, my voice low but more than enough for him to hear with his gifts. ‘Why are you doing this to me?’

He turned his dark blue eyes on me and moved to lift the couch back up again before rounding it to stand before me.

‘I know this is confusing right now, Tory, but I swear to you this is for the best. When you reclaim your Phoenix you’ll be able to fight the shadows back. Then you’ll be able to think more clearly. Remember-‘

‘Lionel told me that the things I’ve forgotten cause me pain,’ I breathed, crawling towards him and peering between the bars. ‘That’s true isn’t it?’

‘It’s not that simple,’ he ground out, his jaw clenching.

Silence fell but I could see him wavering a little, watching me closely like he didn’t know what to think so I wet my lips slowly as I tried to push him to help me. If I could just make him see how I felt now, surely he’d realise that this wasn’t right. Surely he wouldn’t keep me locked up in here.

‘Please, Caleb, don’t do this to me,’ I begged, letting him see how much I feared what they were planning. ‘I’m happy now that I’m bonded with my king. And nothing you can do will sever that bond. Besides, I want the shadows. I need them. Please don’t let them take them from me.’

Caleb groaned and dropped his head into his hands. ‘You’re not yourself right now, sweetheart,’ he said. ‘But you will be. Soon.’

Anger burned through me hot and wild and I lunged towards the bars, throwing the shadows at him with everything I had so that my whole world was consumed in a thick fog of darkness.

The impact they made with the bars had me screaming in agony within moments, but I refused to back down. I’d been reborn in suffering and pain and I could push through this torture to escape the fate they’d decided on for me.

I howled as the bars held, slamming down onto my back as my power ricocheted into me. I began to jerk and convulse with the magic I was wielding as it was driven into my body and the pain felt like magma running through my veins.

But I didn’t stop. It would be so much worse than this if I stopped. If I failed my king then the torture I would endure would make this pale in comparison.

Memories of that stone room echoed around my mind. Of the jars of lightning and the metal tools that had carved into my flesh over and over. Darius had done that to me. It was all Darius. Every time I thought of him or woke calling for him in the night or screamed his name while begging for his help, that was what I’d gotten in return. He’d never come for me. He’d abandoned me to that fate.

I couldn’t let him take me. I wouldn’t.

I threw so much power at the cage that the whole thing shook and rattled while I jerked on my back until suddenly the darkness that surrounded me swept me up and devoured me whole.

And I was finally freed from all of it as I fell into a void of nothing.

***

Heat slid beneath my veins, thick and potent and full of too many memories for me to fully comprehend.

At first, I recoiled from the intensity of the flames, receding into a corner of my mind that was safe and dark and wrapped in shadow, but the stronger the fire grew, the harder it became to shield myself from it.

When I was certain I was going to burn up in the heat, my eyes snapped open and a cry of fear escaped me.

I gasped as I lurched away from the fire, but there was no escaping it, no retreating from this thing that seemed to be living inside me. I jerked around, replaceing Darcy looking in through the bars at me as she held a syringe tight in her fist and I looked down at my arm, replaceing a small puncture wound in my bicep.

‘What did you do to me?’ I gasped, scrambling back and crying out as I hit the bars of the cage again.

My lips parted on a grunt of pain and I slapped a hand over the puncture wound, looking around at the sea of faces surrounding me as my heart raced.

‘Back up,’ Max growled, his hand landing on Geraldine’s arm and tugging her back a step as she sobbed. ‘She’s freaking out and she’s about to lose control of her Order form.’

‘Shit,’ Seth cursed and he caught Caleb’s wrist as he pulled him back too.

‘Look at me, Roxy,’ Darius growled from my right and a shriek of fright escaped me as I found him too fucking close to the bars that contained me.

A blaze of heat raced along my shoulder blades as Max yelled something panicked and more energy than I could possibly contain rose up within me.

My body detonated into a ball of fire, wings tearing from my back and making the cage explode around me, shooting the metal bars out in every direction in a spray of deadly projectiles.

For a moment I was paralysed in fear and panic but in the midst of it, the call of the Phoenix fire in my blood centred me and I found a girl between the flames, her body coated in fire like mine and her arms outstretched to me in a silent plea.

I collided with her with a sob escaping me as she pulled me close, squeezing me so hard I was sure I would break. But I didn’t. Because I had her. And she was all I’d ever needed.

My tears turned hysterical as I clung to her, my brain unable to concentrate fully on anything other than how much I’d been missing without her, how much I needed her and how much less I’d been altogether.

I wasn’t sure how long we clung to each other like that, practically forming one body, two halves of the same whole. Just the way we’d been born to be.

I slowly became aware of the fire around us dying down as the tears stopped sizzling from my skin and my Phoenix withdrew, sinking within me again though staying close to the surface as it chased the lingering shadows aside.

‘You’re okay, Tor,’ Darcy was saying over and over as she held me tight against her and stroked her fingers through my hair.

‘Is she under control again?’ Seth’s voice drew my attention and I turned my head slightly, replaceing him standing within a dome of ice that Max, Geraldine and Darius were all maintaining around their side of the treehouse to shield everyone.

Behind us, the entire place had been blasted apart and flames still blazed throughout the branches of the trees in the forest beyond.

‘You’re okay now, aren’t you, Tor?’ Darcy asked and I blinked up at her, drawing back a little as my brain tried to catch up to what was happening.

I was left feeling like I had to wade through a layer of cotton wool to even understand the words everyone was throwing at me.

‘My lady, you may have my clothes!’ Geraldine announced loudly, parting the ice beside her and stepping forward as she began to peel off her shirt, making me realise that I’d burned all of my clothes off in the shift and was crouched naked on the floor with my arms wound tightly around myself.

Darcy had clearly had the presence of mind to protect her own outfit when she shifted so I was just the naked ass chick that everyone was staring at.

Embarrassment clawed at me and the shadows slithered beneath my skin, offering me some reprieve from this feeling, but I resisted their call, looking at my sister and replaceing all I needed to centre myself in her gaze.

Max caught Geraldine’s wrist and tugged her back before she could take anything off. ‘Don’t crowd her,’ he warned. ‘She might blow again.’

My skin prickled with the touch of his Siren gifts and I glanced at Darcy nervously as she gave me an encouraging nod. ‘Max will help you if you’ll let him?’

I was trembling with weakness from the injuries the cage had given me and my brain felt so close to cracking that it was all too tempting to accept, but as a huge figure moved in the corner of my eye, I locked up.

Darius took a step towards me and I gasped, my Phoenix rearing up beneath my skin protectively as fear skittered through me and I tried to scramble back away from him.

‘Here,’ he offered, pulling a hoody from a chest of clothes that had been protected from the blast by the ice shield and offering it to me.

My magic had been replenished a little by the flames of our Phoenixes and I threw an air shield up before Darius could move any closer, recoiling into Darcy’s arms as a whimper of fear escaped me.

‘Shit,’ Max cursed, glancing between me and Darius as his face pinched with sadness. ‘Darius…I think you should leave.’

‘What?’ the Dragon growled, his eyes flashing with a clear refusal and his muscles rippling like he was on the verge of shifting himself.

I sucked in a fearful breath as I pushed more magic into the shield and Darcy caught my chin, turning me to face her as healing magic slid beneath my skin and eased some of the aches in my flesh.

‘You don’t need to be afraid of Darius, Tory,’ she breathed. ‘He’s not like his father. He’d never hurt you like Lionel did-‘

‘Lionel doesn’t hurt me,’ I snarled, pushing out of her arms. ‘He heals me. He loves me. He’s my king.’

Silence fell among everyone heavily then Geraldine started wailing loudly as she threw her hands over her eyes.

‘Oh sweet heavens have mercy! My lady has been beguiled by a lying lizard and tricked in the most hateful way!’

‘No, Tory, he’s not,’ Darcy growled, sending a blast of magic at the shield I’d created and shattering it before using air magic to take the hoody from Darius so she could deposit it over my head. I pushed myself to my feet and it hung down to my mid thigh, a cedar and smoke scent coming from the fabric that made me feel a little safer even as I hurried to back away from Darius.

‘You have your Phoenix back now. You need to use it to burn the Dark Coercion out of yourself,” Darcy said.

My gaze slid to her as I opened my mouth to tell her I wasn’t under the influence of any Coercion but the moment I thought about it, the Phoenix within me flared to life again, rising up and shifting beneath my skin. It blazed a path of destruction through command after command that had been placed on my mind until I was crying again with the relief of the chains being lifted from my psyche.

‘What the fuck has he been doing to her?’ Caleb murmured as a whine escaped Seth’s throat and my gaze darted between all of them as I found myself totally overwhelmed by everything.

‘Roxy,’ Darius breathed, stepping closer again with a hand outstretched in offering. But the moment I looked at him, my heart leapt and pounded with fear again as the memories of so much agony burning through my flesh overwhelmed me. Him. It was all him.

‘Stay back,’ I gasped, almost calling on the shadows again as I found myself without magic once more and at the mercy of this fierce creature before me.

Darius’s face tightened and something in his gaze seemed to shatter as I looked at him with fear in my soul so deep that I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to escape it.

‘Everyone needs to go,’ Max commanded suddenly. ‘Cal, Seth and Gerry, fix the walls before you leave then make sure the forest doesn’t show any signs of damage from the flames. ‘Darius, you just need to…go, I’m sorry but she can’t be around you. She’s fucking terrified of you. It’s overwhelming her-‘

‘I’m not abandoning her again,’ Darius growled ferociously and a stab of pain lanced through my flesh at the darkness in his tone.

‘I’m sorry, man,’ Max said, turning to him and grabbing his face, forcing him to look his way. ‘But you being here is…it’s hurting her. I don’t know what Lionel has done but every time she looks at you she feels physical pain as well as terror. If I’m gonna have any chance of fixing this, you can’t be here. I hate to tell you this, but the more you’re around her at the moment, the worse you’re making things for her.’

Darius gritted his jaw, looking like he could feel that pain in himself as he turned his dark eyes on me and I tried not to flinch this time, but I couldn’t help it.

‘Is that true, Roxy?’ he asked, looking like he wanted nothing more than to close the distance between us and making me want to scream and leap out of the giant hole I’d blasted in the wall just to escape him.

I didn’t reply but I didn’t deny it and that seemed to be enough to break his resolve as grief flashed through his gaze and he nodded stiffly.

He turned and strode for the exit and Seth howled as he chased after him, Caleb only hesitating a moment longer before he raced out behind them and I relaxed a little as their dominating presences left.

Geraldine was still sobbing while patching up the wall like Max had asked but my gaze moved to the Siren as he slowly closed in on me.

‘I think I can help you, Tory,’ he said gently, a sense of calm and understanding washing through me as he approached, his gifts filling the air around him and drawing me in like a gentle embrace.

‘I don’t know if-‘ I began, but Darcy cut me off.

‘You can trust him, Tory. He’ll help you. Please just let him.’

My gaze met my twin’s eyes and I found so much hurt and pain in them that I found myself nodding, just needing to do something to alleviate what was making her look at me that way. Memories of our childhood were bubbling up in me until I felt like I was overflowing with them. The good, the bad, the downright fucking miserable. And yet no matter what we’d experienced over the years, I’d always had this one burning light right beside me, like my very own star set to guide me back home always. Darcy. My other half. My one, truest love.

‘Okay,’ I agreed on a breath and Max took my hands in his.

‘We’ll figure this out, okay little Vega?’ he murmured, catching my gaze with his deep brown eyes and for some reason, I really did trust him.

‘Alright,’ I agreed.

‘I need to do this with her alone,’ Max said, not looking away from me for a moment. ‘So that my sole focus is on her emotions at all times.’

Darcy looked ready to refuse and Geraldine threw an arm over her eyes as she sobbed loudly. ‘You’d better bring my lady back to me, you prize pufferfish. Or I’ll cut your fins from your fanny and throw them in a fire!’

Max rolled his eyes at her, smiling warmly at me as his fingers tightened around mine and he continued to push soothing emotions into me.

‘I don’t want to leave her,’ Darcy growled defiantly.

‘Look,’ Max said in a rough voice, breaking my gaze as he turned towards her. ‘Your sister has been through something seriously fucked up. I can’t even begin to explain to you the complexity of the emotions she’s feeling right now, but if you want me to have even the slightest chance of reversing this shit then you need to get the fuck out of here and let me show you why Sirens are the best fucking Order there is. Because right now I’m pretty sure time is of the essence. Her mind is fractured and malleable with the shadows pushed back and all of that Dark Coercion broken. But every moment that passes, more and more of the things she’s feeling are becoming fixed. So do you want me to help her remember who she was before that motherfucker got his hands on her, or do you wanna just stand there and fuck up her chances?’

Darcy glared at him for a long moment then shot me an apologetic look. ‘I’ll be back, Tor,’ she promised. ‘Just as soon as you’re ready to see me again I’ll be here.’

I nodded as she grasped Geraldine’s arm and tugged her from the room, their footsteps disappearing down the stairs as Max and I regarded each other.

He stepped up to me and took a deep breath as he reached out to cup my face between his large hands.

‘Don’t fight anything, Tory,’ he murmured. ‘Just feel all of it and I promise, I’ll help you figure this out.’

My heart was racing with panic and fear and I was filled with the desire to bolt and this urgent need to see my king. But as I looked into the depths of his brown eyes, something in me settled and though the tears tracking down my cheeks didn’t slow, I managed to release a shaky breath that seemed to hold the weight of the world on it. And then I gave myself to the hold of his powers and let him sweep me away on a tide of pain and heartache.