Zodiac Academy 6: Fated Throne
Fated Throne: Chapter 39

Darcy and I stardusted to the outskirts of my mother’s property, the icy air whipping around us as we stood in the dark woodland. I listened for sounds of anyone close by, but all was quiet. Darius had messaged to say the Nymphs were at the palace as his father wanted to show off his control of them to his pious followers. For once, we were lucky he was such a vain, prideful bastard. Because his peacocking had opened up a window of opportunity for us. So Blue and I were climbing through it, about to piss all over him. Metaphorically speaking, obviously. But I wouldn’t have minded taking a piss on the Dragon King if I ever got the chance.

We were both dressed in black, but it was just an extra precaution. I’d make sure we were shrouded in concealment spells as we moved. It was going to be an in and out job. No time wasting. And as a Vampire, that was kind of my fucking forte.

“Do you remember where you last saw Diego?” I asked Darcy and she frowned thoughtfully. The moonlight highlighted her face in profile and my gaze slid over her small nose and full lips. Lips I wanted to score my thumb across before claiming, marking, biting – concentrate, asshole.

“I’ll recognise it when we get closer to the house. It’s somewhere over that way I think.” She pointed off into the trees to our right and I nodded.

I stepped toward the wards, feeling their energy humming close to my flesh as I reached out and angled my palms towards them. My mother’s magic was powerful, but her blood ran in me – much to my misfortune – so I could get onto the property if she hadn’t restricted my access. And as I’d been a prisoner for months, I was betting that she wouldn’t have bothered. As my hand slid through the invisible barrier, I grinned triumphantly, pressing my magic into it and creating a doorway for Darcy to pass through.

“Your carriage awaits, ma’am.” I beckoned her forward and she stepped through the gap.

“Are you my carriage?” she asked.

“Yeah, I forgot my saddle, but you can ride me bareback, right?” the joke slipped out as easily as if we were still a couple and I immediately regretted it.

She punched my arm, but a smile played around her lips and my regrets instantly went away.

“So that’s a yes?” I taunted and she rolled her eyes.

“Stop wasting time,” she muttered, walking ahead of me but she was definitely trying to hide her smile from me. And that made me feel all kinds of good.

I glanced between the dark trees. I needed to mark this area out so we could replace it again. I didn’t want to leave anything too conspicuous, but I also wasn’t going to take any risks. If we had to run, or if we got split up, Darcy needed to replace her way back to this place.

I used my water magic to cast glinting icicles on the nearest tree, the moonlight just highlighting them if she came looking.

“That’s your way out if things go to shit,” I told her and she gazed up at the icicles in concern. But her expression quickly hardened into resilience. “It won’t go to shit. We’ll replace the hat and be gone before you know it.”

I started casting concealment spells and she helped, adding to my magic until the darkness clung to us.

“Okay, let’s go,” she breathed and I turned around.

“Hop on, beautiful,” I instructed and she jumped up onto my back, wrapping her legs around my waist. The warmth of her body against me felt so fucking good and I was seriously not complaining about being her steed for the night.

Her knee nudged the diary which I’d concealed in my pocket, shrinking it down and using an illusion to make it look like a silver coin. It was too important to ever let it out of my sight and I double checked that it was still in place before getting ready to run. I held onto Blue’s thighs as she wound her arms around my neck and leaned in close, her breath on my neck sending a line of heat straight to my dick. This is not the fucking time.

She cast a tight silencing bubble around us and I shot off through the trees, focusing on the task at hand.

It wasn’t long before we made it to the edge of the treeline and I slowed, letting Darcy get down as we hid in the shadows and gazed out across the yard toward my old home. The house was dark, not a single light on inside and that gave me some comfort. No one was here.

The house had obviously been rebuilt since Lionel had levelled half of it, and I noticed a few embellishments and rooms that hadn’t been a part of it before. I hated that my home had been ruined for me. It was where most of my memories of my dad existed, and my mom had managed to tarnish them all. It had once been a place of happiness, but now it was just a place that homed a wicked witch and nothing but misery.

“It was somewhere over this way,” Darcy said and I followed as she led me through the trees, my skin prickling as I listened, keeping my ears trained on the wood. The hoot of a far off owl was like a klaxon in my head and the sounds of nocturnal creatures scurrying and scratching reached me from all directions. That was good though. Nothing was off. It was when the animals went quiet that we had to worry.

Darcy paused as we made it to a more open patch of woodland, gazing around with a taut frown.

“It was here,” she breathed sadly. “This is where Clara fought us. If Diego shifted into a Nymph then he must have left his clothes somewhere.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you that night. All of you,” I admitted, my chest tightening.

It had haunted me ever since I’d found out about it. I’d known something was horribly wrong that night after I’d experienced the agonising pain of Darius fighting Lionel. The need to go to him had driven me insane. I’d tried to fight my way through five guards and ended up locked in isolation for the night, going crazy with worry. I’d broken both hands trying to batter my way through the steel door and had eventually had to be sedated so a medic could heal me.

Being unable to protect my Ward was an agony I never wanted to know the taste of again. But replaceing out Blue had been there too after Darius had come to explain what had happened had left me in pieces. That day had spiralled into one of the worst weeks of my life. I’d grappled with regrets while facing the bad luck from the stars, ending up in more fights than I could count. Some of Gustard’s unFae assholes had shanked me in the showers and I’d nearly bled out. There was nothing like almost dying on a cold, dirty, wet floor in prison to put your life into perspective.

Darcy gazed at me with an echo of hurt and I knew there was nothing I could do to heal it. I’d fucked up. I hadn’t been there when she’d needed me most. Some part of her probably hated me for that. Even if she’d never admit it.

“You couldn’t have known,” she said with a sad look as she gazed into the trees. “Let’s get looking.”

She set off to search and I started hunting the ground, kicking over leaves as I tried to block out the voice in my head reminding me of how much I’d failed her. But there was one thing I could do at least. And that was replace this damn hat. We couldn’t use a summoning spell on it as it was bound to the damn shadows, but it had to be around here somewhere.

We moved methodically across the ground, skimming the debris on the surface as we hunted. I felt the time ticking by and every faraway crack of a twig had my fangs lengthening and my hackles rising.

I hadn’t known Diego all that well, but I’d been starting to like him. At least he’d died valiantly, and in the arms of a girl who adored him. I couldn’t imagine a better way to go myself. And I’d come pretty close to doing it once too. Maybe barring the valiant part.

When we’d turned over every rock and leaf in the area, Darcy gave me a frustrated look that creased her brow.

“It could be anywhere in these woods. What if he shifted a mile away?” she aired her thoughts in frustration, looking out into the shadows between the trees.

“What did he say to you exactly?” I asked.

“Nothing…he just said to take the hat,” she said with a pained frown as she looked to a place on the ground like she was reliving the memory of his death.

I hated seeing that grief in her eyes, it awoke a monster in me that wanted to fight her demons and lay them dead at her feet. This girl didn’t deserve to have so many wounds on her heart. She deserved peace and happiness and a life without pain. If I could have one wish from the stars, I’d wish for that. Alright, and for Lionel to have his power blocked and be kicked off of a two hundred foot cliff. Small dreams and all that.

“Well, it was important to him, so maybe he left it somewhere he would replace it easily,” I said thoughtfully and she nodded, biting her lip as she considered that.

“Maybe he hung it somewhere.” She looked around to the trees in the space and I nodded, striding forward with purpose.

“Get on my back again, we’ll do a circuit. There’s no one here, if we use a Faelight we might spot it easier.”

“Alright,” she agreed, climbing onto my back and casting a Faelight in her palm. I locked her legs tight around my waist then started running while she angled the light at the trees and the ground as we searched for any sign of it.

Come on Diego, where did you stash your abuela’s damn soul hat?