Zodiac Academy 8: Sorrow and Starlight
Sorrow and Starlight: Chapter 44

I pushed open a hidden door which let us out into a corridor not too far from the kitchens, my gaze flicking between Max and Xavier as they stepped out to stand beside me.

“All good?” I asked Max, our silencing bubble hiding my voice.

“I can’t feel anyone close by,” he confirmed as I straightened the tapestry we’d had to slip out from behind, my eyes moving over the green Dragon stitched into it. “But there is something…”

I looked to him as he pushed into his gifts, a frown furrowing his brow.

“What is it?” Xavier asked, a note of caution to his voice, and I knew the prospect of us coming face to face with Lionel had to be eating at him. He’d suffered beneath the tyranny of that asshole for far too long and had lost too much at his hands for this not to be unnerving for him.

“It’s like a mass of pain and fear…” Max turned and started walking away from us, moving in the opposite direction to the throne room.

“Hey,” I hissed. “You’re going the wrong way. Darcy and Orion are being held back there.”

I jerked my chin down the corridor that led towards the throne room, but Max ignored me, upping his pace as he headed towards a window further along the wide hallway.

I exchanged a look with Xavier then hurried after him, jogging until I made it to the window where a view of the foggy grounds gave way to a glimpse of the distant amphitheatre illuminated in the pale moonlight.

“Shit,” Max murmured, his eyes fixed on that place of war and ruin.

“Show me,” I demanded, snatching his hand into my grip and Max only hesitated for a moment before pushing what he was feeling into me.

Flashes of memory danced behind my eyelids, people screaming, cold stone floors, iron bars, torture.

“Fuck,” I hissed, yanking my hand away again while Xavier snorted horsily.

“What is it?” he demanded.

“Prisoners,” I answered.

Max remained standing there, lost to the swell of misery and fear that was pulsing from the amphitheatre.

“We need to warn Dante before he casts his lightning at that place,” Max said in a low growl, his eyes flashing with concern for the people who would be right in the firing line if Dante unleashed his power in the way we’d planned.

“On it,” I said, taking my Atlas from my pocket and calling Leon, who should still be in his Fae form if they’d stuck to their plans.

The call connected on the third ring. “Heyyy,” Leon crooned, and I expelled a relieved breath before launching into an explanation about the trapped prisoners, but I was cut off as he continued speaking. “I know, I know, it’s easy to be shy when you’re calling a living legend, but don’t worry, even I get intimidated by me sometimes – it’s a Charisma thing. So just take a breath, relax, and remember that I am far too busy to waste my time checking voicemail boxes, and as such, this isn’t one. P.S. If you’re trying to contact my merch shop call 5318008-535173. We’re now taking pre-orders for next year’s tiny snakes in tiny hats calendar. Byeeee.”

The call cut off and I blinked at my Atlas for several seconds before cursing and dialling Dante instead, hoping that by some miracle the Storm Dragon wasn’t in the air yet and we still had time to stop this.

“Heyyy,” Leon’s voice answered after the fourth ring, and relief tumbled through me.

“Leon, you have to get Dante to-”

“What do you call a more impressive Fae than a Storm Dragon?”

“What?” I demanded, but Leon just kept talking.

“Leon Night!”

“Leon, I don’t have time for-”

“Fan mail can be redirected through my PO box – please stop harassing my pals to try and get hold of me. Ciao.”

The call cut off without an option for voicemail and I cursed that fucking Lion Shifter and his nonsense as I spotted a darkening cloud on the horizon, lightning flashing in its heart.

“I can’t get hold of them,” I breathed, the approach of that cloud like a death toll sounding the end for the rebels trapped in the amphitheatre. “You two are going to have to go and get the prisoners out.”

“We aren’t leaving you here,” Xavier protested, stomping his foot, but I just shook my head, moving back towards the tapestry and yanking it aside so they could head back down into the tunnels.

“You know I can’t leave here without Darcy and Orion. And I know you aren’t going to let all of those people out there die for the sake of staying with me. We can’t all be in two places at once, and I’m not walking out of this palace without my twin. I’ll die here before I abandon her. So you need to go, and you need to go now. There’s no point in trying to argue with me over this,” I said firmly, opening the door with a press of my hand.

Xavier seemed inclined to protest, but Max caught his arm, shaking his head.

“She’s not going to change her mind, man. And those people out there need us. I trust her, don’t you?”

Xavier didn’t look like he trusted me one bit, and to be fair, I wouldn’t have either. I was beyond the point of limiting myself in what I would do to protect the people I loved, and I knew that I was likely to stain my soul in all kinds of sin in my effort to release my sister tonight.

“Tory,” Xavier began, but I cut him off by throwing my arms around him.

“I love you for wanting to stay,” I breathed, crushing him in my hold. “But I need you to accept this and go.”

I pushed him back and he gave me a heart-wrenching look before nodding and following Max into the passageway.

“Stay safe, little Vega,” Max growled, his gifts slamming into me as he offered me courage and determination. I accepted the feelings with a grim smile.

“If you see Lionel, cut his head off for me,” I replied darkly, letting the stone door close between us and replacing the tapestry as I was left alone in this place which should have been my home.

I drew my sword and broke into a run, my steps hidden within my silencing bubble and Phoenix fire building in my veins.

I’d spent enough time in this place to know all of the shortcuts and quiet corridors, and I sprinted down a long hallway without another moment’s hesitation.

A door to my left burst open and my heart leapt in panic before I realised no one was there, my sword lowering as I took in the route the palace was offering me, the faint, glimmering silver footprints on the floor.

I may have scorned the stars, but this place, the legacy my parents had left here for me, was different.

I turned from my intended path, darting through the doors before they swung shut behind me, the sound of several male voices echoing in the corridor I’d just escaped a moment later.

Another door swung silently open ahead of me and I sprinted for it, following those silver footprints and trusting them to keep me safe as I began a slightly longer route to my destination.

It took me hardly any time to reach the entrance to the throne room though, and I didn’t meet a single soul along the way, thanks to the help of the palace itself, my feet falling still as I closed in on the heavy doors which barred my way.

I skimmed my fingers across the carved wood, testing the entrance for magical detection spells and locks, discovering several of each, the magic carefully crafted and difficult to replace. But I hadn’t been wasting my time while waiting for this opportunity to come around and I doubted there was a spell like this left in the world which I was incapable of disarming now.

The lock clicked faintly as I disabled it and I shoved the door wide, letting it bang against the wall as I took in the towering room beyond. I threw my silencing bubble out, encasing the entire throne room in it and whirling towards the shocked looking Fae who had been standing to the side of the room.

A tall guard gasped in alarm as he took me in, choking on smoke as it rose in his lips, revealing him as a Dragon. A shield of air magic flew up around him, and I shattered it with a missile of blue and red wings.

I was sprinting for him before the smoke even dispersed, and he threw an arm up to cast at me again, just in time for my sword to cut through flesh and bone, severing the limb and spraying me in a glorious arc of red blood.

His scream cut off sharply as my sword slit his throat open, and I sidestepped his corpse as it tumbled to the floor with a sickening thump.

I didn’t spare him another look as I turned for the cage on the far side of the huge Hydra throne, my heart racing and aching as I spotted my sister there, shadows clinging to her where she stood beside Orion, gripping the bars which held them, their eyes wide in surprise.

“Tory,” Darcy choked out, and it was like I hadn’t been able to breathe until that moment, like my heart had been frozen for weeks and weeks since the last time our gazes had locked and our souls had been in the same place.

I ran to her, sheathing my sword and throwing my arms around her through the bars of the cage, a sob of relief tumbling from me as I crushed her in my hold.

“Thank fuck I found you,” I exhaled, the bars cutting into me as I refused to allow so much as an inch of space to remain between us. “We need to go.”

I forced myself to release her and moved my attention to the lock on the cage door, my eyes flicking to Orion as our grief over Darius passed between us and my heart twisted in agony for a moment.

“I missed you too, asshole,” I said, pushing my power into the lock, the damn thing twice as powerfully protected as the door had been.

An enormous sound made all of us flinch as the Hydra throne at my back began to bellow and I whirled around in fright, whipping a dagger into my palm as I stared at the thing, the magic invoked by the meteor shower making the walls themselves rattle. I raised my eyes to the windows set in the roof high above us, my breath catching at the sight of the meteors tearing through the ever-darkening sky, signalling the arrival of the prophesised moment Gabriel had foreseen.

“Gabriel sent me a prophecy on the battlefield,” I explained as I turned back to the cage. “The Hydra bellowing in a spiteful palace – Dante is going to take the opportunity Gabriel offered us to kill the fucking king while I came here for you.”

“He saw Lionel die?” Orion gasped.

“Let’s hope so.”

I gripped the lock again, summoning my magic as the noise from the throne fell away again, the magic of it making my skin prickle with awareness, and I could have sworn the air itself stirred with the presence of our parents, as though they were watching this moment, urging me on.

Darcy’s hand fell over my wrist and she squeezed tightly, taking my hand from the lock and forcing me to look at her.

“Tory, you have to leave us here,” she said, her eyes full of pain and heartbreak. “Lance made a Death bond with Lavinia to break the curse on me. He can’t leave for two more months, when their deal will end, and I can’t be trusted among the rebels until then either-”

I blinked at her in confusion, the words tangling in my mind before finally aligning into a horrifying truth.

“You fucking idiot,” I barked at Orion as those words sank in, my fist snapping out and punching him straight in the balls.

Orion doubled over with a curse, stumbling away from the bars and wheezing out a breathy, “Why?” but I just glared at him.

“What is it with the self-sacrificing bullshit you men keep throwing at us? We’re fucking princesses born to the most powerful bloodline in the whole of Solaria, the first Phoenixes born in a thousand years, and we claimed all four motherfucking Elements just to put the icing on the cake. We aren’t damsels in distress, we didn’t ask you to do any of this shit, and I’m so fucking sick of having to clean up the mess your knight-in-shining-armour routines keep causing!” I yelled, punching the bars which separated us and letting him know with a glare that if he’d been standing closer to them then that it would have been aimed at his balls again.

“Shit, Tor, I’ve missed you so much,” Darcy said, a half laugh, half sob escaping her as she shifted her grip on my wrist to my fingers and squeezed them tight.

“Don’t say that,” I snapped, yanking my hand out of hers and returning my attention to the lock.

“Why not?” she frowned.

“Because you might be saying you missed me, but what you’re really saying is goodbye, and you can stick it up your ass, Darcy. So Orion made a Death bond – sounds like he’s stuck here, but you’re not, are you?”

Darcy sucked in a sharp breath, moving towards Orion in what I knew was a refusal to leave him, but I ignored her. My concentration was too scattered by their world-altering announcement to break the magical lock, so I simply brought Phoenix fire to my fingertips and melted the whole thing, tossing the glob of molten metal aside and yanking the door wide so that she could get out.

“I’m not coming with you, Tory,” Darcy said fiercely, but I could tell with one look at her that she was tapped out, her magic and Phoenix both out of her reach, and that meant she couldn’t do shit to stop me taking her. I’d been too broken without her, and I wasn’t going to leave her in the hands of Lavinia and Lionel to do what they pleased. It was a miracle she was still breathing at all.

I looked to Orion, knowing without asking that he’d agree with me on this, and he nodded.

“Blue, listen to her. You need to get out of here. It’s only two more months. I can take it. I will gladly take it in payment for your freedom from the-”

Darcy slapped him so hard that his head wheeled to one side, and I arched a brow at her as she snarled at him, like full-on snarled as she stalked right into his personal space.

“Tory was right about the self-sacrificing shit, Lance,” she hissed. “If you can enter a Death bond to save me, then I can sure as hell stay here in this cage with you if I choose to do so. The two of you can’t make that choice for me. You need me here.”

“Tory needs you with her,” he growled back, the low blow like a punch to my heart as she turned to me with pain in her eyes, knowing the truth of those words even if I was trying to mask how much I was hurting right now. I did need her. I needed her like I needed air in my lungs, and I was breaking more and more every day that I was forced to remain without her. She was my rock, my sanity, the one thing I had always and would always fight to the death and beyond for, and without her, I was nothing but a ruinous shell of the girl she loved in return.

“Tor…” Darcy shook her head hopelessly, and I swallowed thickly, a small, pathetic little girl inside me wanting to beg her not to turn her back on me now when I had come so far for her, when I had already lost so much. I didn’t know how I’d cope with it if I left this place without her. I couldn’t even fathom the possibility of that happening or what would happen to the last dregs of my soul which were only clinging together because of my love for her.

A roar from somewhere beyond the palace walls had me turning away, taking the coward’s way out as I snapped my gaze from hers, not wanting to have to watch her make the choice I would never make. I would never leave her on her own. But the fear building in my chest was telling me that she was about to abandon me to the dark all over again. She was going to choose him over me.

“We need to give her what we found,” Orion said urgently, moving to the back of the cage where the bars had been welded to the wall of the throne room itself, and Darcy moved after to him to open a secret door in the wall.

I blinked in surprise as a little white Rat poked his nose out of the opening, a tiny nest revealing itself beyond him with something glittering inside it.

“This is Eugene Dipper, and we found another Guild Stone. We also found this book on Queen Avalon’s reign, and there’s a Memoriae crystal full of Phoenix memories here too,” Orion said.

“Shit, you have been busy,” I said in surprise.

“There’s also a ring full of Francesca Sky’s memories,” Orion added, his voice tightening a little on those last words as he wrapped the items in a wad of navy-blue fabric with tiny jade green dragons embroidered all over it.

“You need to get them out of here,” Darcy said seriously. “Fran’s memories need to be shown to the press, and you need to see all this stuff about Phoenixes, Tor. It’s important.”

I accepted the small package automatically, my gaze moving back to my other half as I slipped them into my pocket.

“Don’t forget Eugene,” she said, lifting the rat from the hole in the wall and passing him to me.

The large rodent leapt from her palms, landing on my shoulder and nuzzling my cheek in greeting before scurrying across my collar bone and shifting the fabric of my shirt aside as he attempted to nestle down towards my tits.

“Ew, stop that,” I snapped, grabbing the Rat Shifter by his tail and holding him up before my face where he squeaked angrily as he spun in a slow circle. “I’m assuming you don’t want me to burn all of that pretty white hair off and turn you into a Naked Mole Rat Shifter, so I suggest you sit in my pocket like a good Rat and don’t try to bury yourself in my damn cleavage again.”

Eugene squeaked in a way I could have sworn was apologetic, and I rolled my eyes, dropping him into my pocket before giving my attention back to Orion and my sister.

“We can’t linger here,” I said firmly, refusing to accept the answer shining in my twin’s eyes. The Hydra had already bellowed, the wheels of fate were turning, and I didn’t want to tempt it again. “Caleb, Seth, and Geraldine are busting Gabriel out, and Dante is about to strike at Lionel. Like I said, at the end of the battle, before he was taken, Gabriel sent me a prophecy. He said that the king can fall today. We’re going to end all of this, but we can’t stay here, it’s not safe. But if Lionel really does fall, then we can go after Lavinia next, we can kill her and end the Death bond, we’ll come back again.”

I gave Orion an apologetic look as I grabbed Darcy’s arm, yanking her towards the cage door, but she dug her heels in.

“Tory, I can’t!” she yelled when it became clear that I was going to ignore her attempts to shake me off.

“Go with her, Blue,” Orion growled, backing me up, and for once I was okay with the self-sacrificing because right now, she needed to realise that she couldn’t stay here. “You know Lavinia won’t let anything happen to me while our deal is in place. It’s only two more months and then-”

“Then what?” she spat, ripping her arm from my grasp and whirling on him. “She’s not just going to shake your hand and let you walk out of here, is she? She could have Lionel cage you instead and she wouldn’t be breaking her part of the deal so long as she lets you go first. Then how long do you think he’ll keep you alive without Lavinia stopping him?”

“I can figure out a plan by then, but it’s no better if you’re here to face her when that time comes, is it?” he shot back.

“We have to go,” I insisted, closing in on them again, but Darcy whipped towards me, the defiance in her gaze making it clear she had no plans to come with me, and something cracked inside me as I took in that choice, that rejection. I got it, she loved him. But I had never put any love of mine above my love of her and never would have either. It broke something in me as I took in the decision she’d made, the last piece of the girl I’d been shattering as I found myself utterly alone in the world with no one to hold on to at all. I swallowed against that pain, and I knew she could see it as tears welled in her eyes, but she wasn’t going to change her mind either. She’d picked, and it wasn’t me she chose.

“You found the star,” Darcy gasped, her eyes falling to the necklace I’d been wearing since replaceing it on the battlefield. My own ruby pendant hung beside it, warming as if trying to soothe the ache splintering through me as I fought to stay upright beneath the weight of the hopelessness I felt pushing in on me.

“Yeah,” I grunted, knowing it was important but not really giving a shit about it in that moment. “I’ve been keeping it safe for you. When we get out of here you can-”

“Just stop, Tor, and listen to me. You need to keep the broken promise. I still don’t know what that means, but it’s to do with the Imperial Star – it was a gift bought with death, and there’s some price that should have been paid for it a long time ago. I can’t explain all of it now, but it’s a curse, Tory. Look at the memories in the crystal and maybe you can figure out more of it, but it’s important. Our bloodline is cursed, and I’m afraid that we won’t ever be able to win this war unless that curse is broken-”

“What are you talking about?” I asked, my mind cracking with whiplash as I tried to follow what she was saying at a hundred miles a minute. “Are you saying everything that has happened to us is somehow because of this thing?” I pointed at the Imperial Star, and she nodded fearfully as she looked at it too.

“Yes. Our ancestor made a deal with a fallen star to claim it – but she broke some part of the deal she’d made, some promise that she had to keep and never did, but the memories didn’t show me what. The legacy of its power descended through the generations, and with each new owner who didn’t keep the promise, I think the curse deepened, making sure all Vega lives were steeped in sorrow. I don’t know what the promise is, but you have to figure it out, Tor. You have to fix it so we can end the cycle and be free of this plague,” the desperation in Darcy’s words had me nodding my agreement, the oath leaving my lips without hesitation because I would do anything for her, always. Even if it did sound insane.

“You can help me do that when we get out of here, Darcy. Please, just come with me now. We’ll replace a way to break the bond Orion got himself into and come back for him,” I swore but she was shaking her head and I’d already seen that decision in her eyes, already knew she wasn’t planning on coming with me even after all we’d risked in coming here to rescue her.

“Just go, Blue,” Orion demanded, moving up behind her, but still she was resisting.

My heart thrashed with the thought of leaving this place without her, rebelling against the idea of being parted from my other half so soon. I couldn’t leave her here. I wouldn’t.

“I’m dangerous,” she breathed. “The beast inside of me is volatile, and I can’t always control it. I’m no good to you or the rebels, I’d just be putting you in danger.”

“Fuck danger,” I snarled, closing in on her. “All I want is you.”

I looked to Orion desperately, realising that she wasn’t going to see sense on this as she continued to refuse, and he gave me a slight nod of agreement, both us knowing that we couldn’t accept that answer.

She would hate us for it, but that was okay. I could take her hatred so long as she was safe and as far away from Lionel and Lavinia as I could manage.

“You need to leave, Tory,” Darcy began again, but as her lips parted on more words which I knew I didn’t want to hear, Orion snapped his hand out and struck her in the temple.

He caught her as she sagged to the floor, her eyes widening at the betrayal as she passed out. A choked sob escaped me as I dropped down to my knees, brushing the shadowy strands of her hair from her face.

“I’ll keep her safe,” I swore to him, my hand grasping his and squeezing tightly as I felt the pain it had caused him to do that to her. But he’d had no choice. I had no choice.

“I’ll hold you to that,” Orion snarled, his dark eyes meeting mine with nothing short of a threat in them, and I threw my arms around his neck, Darcy pinned awkwardly between us.

“I’m sorry,” I breathed, hating myself for abandoning him here, and the thick muscles of his own arms banded tightly around me in return.

“Don’t be,” he growled. “Never be sorry for protecting her. That’s something the two of us will always put above everything else.”

I nodded, a rogue tear splashing against his neck as I fought the repulsion inside of me at the thought of leaving him here, but there were no other options and time was running out.

I released him, reaching for my twin as I gathered my magic to transport her out of here. But before I could cradle her in the air I’d conjured, her body began to fall apart between us, clouds of shadow pouring from her and then growing and growing, forcing us back as the shift took her.

“Run!” Orion roared at me, but it was already too late, my eyes widening in horror as the enormous Shadow Beast that lurked within my sister’s flesh took complete control of her. Coils of darkness rushed out of her skin, slamming into Orion and tethering him against the back wall of the cage. He cried out at me again to flee, but I wasn’t going anywhere without my twin.

Darcy rose before me as a giant creature of dark fur, bearing drool-coated fangs at me and lunging forward with my death flashing in her eyes.

My sister was lost, and a monster had taken her place.