Zodiac Academy 8: Sorrow and Starlight
Sorrow and Starlight: Chapter 60

A new night iron cage had been brought to the throne room since the last one had been destroyed, and I had some shiny new magic cuffs on my wrists too. Joy.

Darcy was pacing like a caged tigress, back and forth before the bars, her fingers occasionally brushing them, and her eyes glazed as she thought on whatever was circling in her mind.

“Tory will be okay,” I assured her, certain it was her twin’s fate that held her attention.

She nodded slightly but said nothing, continuing her pacing. It wasn’t natural for us to be held like this, and I had to think even my time in Darkmore had allowed me more freedom. Though at least I had access to my Order now, and I didn’t have to wait for short stints in the Order yard to access it. I certainly didn’t miss the constant gang collisions from varying criminal motherfuckers and having to fight for even an inch of extra space in the shared showers. And at least I had my mate here.

Ah fuck, am I really trying to look on the bright side? There is no star damned bright side. There’s just a shit fate or an even shitter one.

“Blue,” I tried to get her attention, but she ignored me, rage lining her features. “Blue…” I tried again more firmly, but she only seemed to get angrier.

She whirled on me suddenly and I kicked away from the back wall where I was standing, opening my arms to pull her closer, but instead she punched me square in the chest. My eyebrows arched in surprise at the impact of that ferocious little attack and she cursed, shaking out her hand and pointing at me with her other one.

“You.”

“Me?” I questioned calmly despite her rising rage.

“You knocked me out with some Vampire ninja move when Tory was here,” she accused. “You were going to let her take me.”

“I was, yeah,” I said simply.

“You are such a hypocrite,” she snapped. “You would never leave me if this was the other way around.”

“Guilty,” I agreed.

She snarled, coming at me again and I let her use me as a punching bag as she lost her shit. It was pretty fucking cute actually, even when she landed bruising hits that showed how damn wild she could be.

She was red in the face when she was finished, and I arched a brow at her. “Are you done?”

“You know what, Lance?”

“What, beautiful?” I asked.

“Sometimes you’re an asshole.”

“Don’t sell me short, I’m an asshole all the time.”

She growled, eyes flashing with ire as she didn’t get the rise out of me she so clearly wanted. But I was well versed in people hurling shit at me. I was a teacher after all.

“Why are you so calm?” she spat.

“Why are you so angry?” I countered.

“Because life is a bag of crap,” she hissed. “And you’re standing there like – like you’re not even bothered about anything.”

“Trust me, I am bothered about several things, but getting in a blind rage about them isn’t productive.”

“Well colour me unproductive then,” she muttered, returning to her pacing and my mouth twitched up at the corner.

Stella had returned to me again in the night, drawing back the darkness Lavinia had left in me. She’d even given me some vile tasting potion to help keep a barrier between me and them the next time Lavinia stole me away to her torture chamber. I wasn’t sure what to think of it all, but I certainly wasn’t above accepting her help. I would take what little I could get from her, and she could let it assuage her guilt over me, or not. I didn’t really care either way. It certainly wasn’t going to equal my forgiveness.

I lifted my gaze to the bars above me, pulling my shirt off which was an extra fun little piece of Lionel Acrux merchandise today, the word K.U.N.T. spread across the middle of it above a metallic green Dragon.

I jumped up, catching hold of the bars and starting to do pull ups. There was little else to do in here but workout sometimes, and trying to beat my personal best of five hundred gave me something to focus on. When I hit a hundred, Darcy’s gaze flicked my way, then she cursed and looked elsewhere, continuing her pacing.

Her eyes slipped my way a few more times, and alright, maybe I was trying to get her attention now as I reached three hundred, sweat slicking my skin and my muscles tight.

She bit her lip, keeping her gaze firmly elsewhere again and as I reached four-ninety, I started counting down the final ten, my arms and shoulders burning. Darcy paused to watch me smash my goal by another ten and I hit the floor with a heavy breath, picking up the K.U.N.T. shirt and wiping my face with it. When I pulled it away, I found Blue standing still, her eyes flicking up from my abs.

“Can I help you, beautiful?” I asked through a smirk, and she rolled her eyes at me, turning away.

She fell into her own workout routine, which was all bending and stretching, the shadows barely concealing her nakedness as she ignored me completely. I watched with rapt attention as she did the downward dog and I cocked my head to one side, my gaze riveted to her ass, my cock twitching happily.

When she was back on her feet, swiping up one of the water bottles we’d been given this morning, she raised a brow at me.

“Can I help you, beautiful?” she parroted me, and I pressed my tongue into my cheek.

“You can, actually.” I beckoned her closer, but she just tossed her hair and placed her bottle down before kicking up into a handstand.

I moved behind her and she rested her feet on my chest before kicking hard to flip herself back upright. I prowled forward before she could escape this time, capturing her waist and yanking her flush against me, my pulse rising. The shadows receded from her body and I smiled at the feel of her warm skin against mine, so perfectly soft.

“How about you lie down and spread those pretty thighs for me like a good girl and I’ll use my tongue to make you like me again,” I offered.

“How about get fucked,” she said airily, and I growled, my hold on her tightening.

“How about you watch your mouth, or I’ll stop playing nice.”

“Maybe I don’t want you to play nice,” she said, eyes sparkling furiously. “Maybe I’m sick of you being nice with your overprotective bullshit.”

“Someone really pissed in your cereal today, didn’t they?” I growled.

“The stars have been pissing in my cereal since I showed up in Solaria. I used to think it was all magic and rainbows here, but it’s not, is it? Tory was right all along. It’s bullshit.”

“So, what are you gonna do? Go back to the mortal realm?” I asked dryly.

“Maybe I will,” she said, looking for that reaction in me and she was getting it now, though she was also getting me hot as hell.

“You’re being a brat,” I warned.

“So, what are you gonna do about it?” she demanded, and I flipped her around, shoving her forward so she was forced to grab the bars to stop herself falling to her knees. The moment she was bent over in front of me, I spanked her hard enough for the clap to echo around the whole throne room.

“Ah,” she gasped, all lust and want tangled with that sound. I needed an outlet. She was pissing me off and I was clearly doing the same to her, so if this was what she wanted, I was more than willing to play her game.

I pressed up against her ass, letting her feel the full swell of my cock and riding my hand along the length of her spine. “Look what you do to me. You drive me crazy.” I gripped her hips in a bruising hold, then dragged my hands up over the nip of her waist and higher still, sliding beneath her and squeezing her breasts roughly.

She ground back into me with a heady moan, panting, “Fuck you.”

I tugged her nipples hard, grinding them between my finger and thumb of both hands.

“You sure you can handle this, little mortal?” I taunted, aiming to rile her and she tried to stand up, but I moved my hands fast, one locking in her hair, the other forcing her to stay down as I splayed it over her back.

“I’m not a mortal,” she snarled.

“Are you sure? You look like an angry little mortal to me.”

“Asshole.” She twisted sharply, trying to get free but I yanked on her hair and held her down, laughing cruelly.

“What did I say about watching that filthy mouth of yours?” I spanked the side of her ass cheek hard enough to make her spine arch and a string of curses fall from her lips, only causing me to spank her again. “Manners, Blue.”

“I hate you,” she hissed, that fire in her only burning hotter. She was a wild thing today.

“Are you sure?” I asked, slowly sliding my fingers between her legs. “Because I’d bet you fifty auras you’re soaked for me, beautiful.”

“I’m dryer than your humour,” she said.

“Liar.” I slid my fingers over her wet pussy, grinning at my victory. “You owe me fifty auras. Though I’ll take payment in other forms seeing as you’re fresh out of cash. Why don’t you get on your knees and open those silky lips for me?”

“I hear mortals give shit blowjobs. You might get your dick bitten off,” she said, and I broke a laugh, spanking her again, making her cry out in pleasure and pain.

“I’ll take the risk.”

“Pass,” she said lightly. Fuck, she was being difficult.

I ran my fingers over her clit, slicking it with her arousal and she gasped, her back softening and her thighs parting wider.

“That’s it. Stay still,” I ordered, letting go of her hair and reaching for my pants to push them down, but she took the opportunity to stand upright and run away from me, the shadows rushing over her skin once more.

I folded my arms, my jaw grinding as she continued with her defiance. “I can catch you in the blink of an eye,” I reminded her and she decided that was the perfect opportunity to flip me off.

My gaze narrowed. “You’re asking for trouble.”

“And yet here I am, perfectly free from trouble.” She shrugged. “Maybe you’ve lost your touch at this. Or are you afraid you’ll hurt the fragile little mortal?” There was bitterness in her tone, but a challenge there too, a determination for me to prove she could handle anything as the Fae she was.

I shot forward, decision made, trouble impending. I picked her up, flipping her upside down and making her squeak in alarm. I threaded her legs through the cage, bending them over the horizontal bar near the top of the cage so she hung from it before me, her mouth lined up perfectly with my cock.

I pushed my pants down, freeing my throbbing length and pushing it between her lips. She didn’t resist me, holding onto me for support and sucking the length of me, making me growl in pleasure.

I forced her knees wider, gripping her ass in both hands and dropping my mouth against her pussy, lapping at her clit and making her moan around my cock. I thrust between her lips, playing her at her own game and letting her replace out for herself if she could take it, while feasting on her in turn.

Her nails dug into my ass and I growled, high on this girl and her feral nature. We were full of pent-up energy and a hundred reasons to hate the world, but here between us, we found an answer as always.

She took the length of me into her throat once more, her tongue running all over my shaft and driving me crazy as I thrust deeper. Her lips were velvet soft and perfectly designed to destroy me, but I wasn’t giving in to her power yet.

She choked on my cock and I drew my hips back, but she clawed her nails into my skin, forcing me closer again, proving she could take it. I was more than happy for her to prove her point, and as the tip of my cock slid against the back of her throat and she sucked, I nearly exploded there and then. I only held on by sheer force of will and I lapped my tongue over her clit, faster and faster until I was using my Vampire speed to bring her to ruin.

She moaned, her throat vibrating around the tip of my dick, and I growled against her pussy, ecstasy calling my name and begging me to dive into it. She was going to fall first though. My tongue slid over her clit once more, lightning fast, and she came beautifully, her thighs tightening around my ears and holding me there as I prolonged her pleasure with long, slow strokes of my tongue.

Darcy lifted a hand, caressing my balls and I all but lost my mind as I fucked her mouth, drawing all of my focus. Two more pumps had me finishing with a roar of pleasure and she moaned, her throat gripping the head of my cock.

I stilled inside her and she swallowed me down, her lips tight around me and her hand squeezing and massaging my balls, making me fucking dizzy.

When I was totally spent, I slid out of her mouth and hooked her legs off the bars, catching her by her ankle before she cracked her head on the floor and swinging her up into my arms.

Her lips were red, her hair fucking everywhere and her eyes watery as hell. She pulled my pants up with her free hand, looking seriously pleased with herself, and I reckoned we’d just put our issues to bed.

“Perfect.” I crushed my lips to hers and she melted into me, her arms winding around my neck.

She nuzzled against me like a cat, and I grinned stupidly at her, nuzzling her back as if I was one of the cuddlier Orders. Only ever for her. And alright, maybe Darius in the past.

“Happy?” I asked.

“Happy,” she said through a cute smile, and her eyes flashed green as she gazed up at me, her silver rings shining bright around them, a mark of her bond to me.

“Darcy,” I gasped, but then they became dark again and she frowned as my face fell.

“What is it?”

“Your eyes.” I brushed my thumb over her jaw, kissing her softly. “They were yours again. Just for a second, but your rings were there.”

“Really?” she asked, all hope and light about her at last, like I’d tamed the savagery in her. At least for now.

“Really.”

She slipped out of my arms, the shadows washing over her skin again and wrapping around her body like a gown woven from shade. She moved to the edge of the cage, examining her eyes in the reflection of the bars, trying to see for herself and my heart stammered as I feared she would be disappointed.

My head snapped up as I heard the approach of heavy footfalls and I shot closer to Darcy, gazing at the door.

Darcy stood straighter, her instincts alerted by my reaction and the two of us tensed like guard dogs waiting for a thief to break into their home.

Of all the Fae I’d feared walking through that door, my mother was the least of them and I scowled as Stella scurried into the room, casting a glance over her shoulder as she moved towards us.

“What do you want?” I barked, hearing Darcy’s heart leap.

She scowled out at my mother who was approaching us within a silencing bubble, and I gripped the bars, my hackles prickling as danger trickled closer.

“I’m sorry, Lance,” Stella croaked, looking defeated as she stood there before us in a jet-black robe that hung down to her bare feet. She angled her raised hand towards Darcy, and a powerful wave of slumber crashed into her before I could do anything to stop it. Darcy grabbed the bars of the cage to try and keep herself upright and I held onto her with a curse, her limbs going limp as she sagged in my arms.

“Stop! What are you doing?” I demanded of Stella frantically, but then my knees buckled too, that same spell falling over me and the two of us clung tight to each other before we hit the floor in a tangle of limbs.

I was half aware of Stella approaching, her shadow falling over us as she opened the cage door.

Panic cascaded over me.

I tried to rise, tried to fight. But the spell was stealing me away into the abyss, and I couldn’t do anything at all as she leaned over us, taking hold of Darcy’s arm in a possessive grip and whispering, “I never wanted it to come to this.”