Zodiac Academy: The Awakening As Told By The Boys
The Awakening As Told By The Boys: Chapter 22

I sat on the edge of Aqua Lake waiting for my Siren Order Enhancement class to start with anticipation brimming through me as I watched the Vega twins stalking across the lawn towards us.

Today they were joining our class to see if there were any clues that they might Emerge as one of us, but I was seriously doubtful about that. Sirens were naturally empathetic by nature, easily locking into the emotions of others even before our Order officially Emerged. We tended to be either genuinely more concerned about the welfare of other Fae than ourselves because we were so in tune that their feelings actually affected ours too, or we were conniving assholes who abused our knowledge for the sake of manipulation.

Whichever way, I couldn’t say I’d seen any evidence of either behaviour from the two girls who were on their way to join our class and I hadn’t felt the sway of their own emotions trying to reach out and affect others either. So I was pretty confident in my assessment that they weren’t of my kind.

That said, I was actually really looking forward to this class. The other Heirs and I knew what we needed to do now and though Darius hadn’t wanted to let me feel his emotions while we’d been discussing it, there were times that I’d tasted his fear on the air.

My friend wasn’t a man who feared much in this world and though he kept his secrets about the things he endured when he was at home, none of us were stupid. We picked up on the tone of his relationship with his father. We’d been close enough to witness some of the bruises and Caleb had once overheard some of it too though none of us could do a damn thing about it to help save him from it. But Darius was one of the strongest Fae I knew. He endured all his father threw at him and even thrived despite it and despite him having his demons, I knew he’d never been broken by any of it before now. But the fear I’d managed to sense on him over the last few days was fresher and somehow so raw that it made shivers run down my spine too. So I was willing to bet all of my scales that Lionel Acrux had threatened him with something truly motivating to have invoked such a certain reaction from him.

Which meant one thing and one thing only. We had to succeed in our task now. My own father had made his wishes on the matter perfectly clear to me too. The Vegas needed to be tested beyond all matter of doubt. If there was any chance that they were weak enough to be driven out, then we were responsible for making that happen. And if we struck at them but they still found the courage and strength of will to stay…well then we were going to have to adjust our tactics. It wouldn’t be about getting rid of them anymore. It would be about proving they could never match us. And that seemed a whole lot more dangerous to me than simply making them leave.

So with that plan in mind and the desire to help fix whatever was causing the turbulent emotions I kept tasting on Darius, I was willing to do anything it took to fight against the Vegas.

And luckily for me, as they were attending this class today, I would be able to get the information we needed, and later the other Heirs and I could finalise our plans.

The twins reached us and I felt their nerves as they made it to the large group, their attention flicking to me momentarily before shifting away again.

“Good morning girls, I’m Professor Undine,” called the teacher who ran this class, beckoning them closer. She had deep red hair which was braided down her spine and wore a thin top and shorts despite the chill in the air, ready for us to go for a swim once the class really got going. “Come on everyone, get in the circle,” she instructed.

Everyone who was still standing sat down in the grass, my little group of admirers crowding close to me as always, letting me feel their adoration, lust, envy – all nice emotions for me to feast on while inflating my ego just a little.

I sat forward to get a better look at our new arrivals, locking my arms around my knees and observing how uncomfortable they looked at being surrounded by my kind.

‘I wouldn’t mind feeding them a little lust and seeing how wild they can get,’ Lewis muttered, leaning in close beside me. The guy was a grade A ass licker who probably would have sucked my cock while polishing my shoes for me if I asked him to, but I indulged him because his family were pretty influential, and my dad wanted to keep them on side.

I smiled like I was amused by his remark, but I wasn’t a fan of forcing lust on people without them wanting it. Would I fill the room with it while I was fucking a girl? Yeah, of course I would. But at that point her consent would have been confirmed and I could use my gifts without having to feel like a creep trying to force sex on someone who wouldn’t have wanted it without the influence of my gifts. Lewis however was always a creep.

Undine took the emotions reader from her pocket, the silver ball hanging in a nest of wire which she set in motion by flicking a finger at it, making the ball inside start to spin. She tossed it at Kayla across the circle who caught it out of the air.

“Happy,” Kayla announced, reading the emotion from the ball as it stopped spinning.

“Great,” Undine said. “Who wants to start?”

I groaned, bored of this damn kids game already. I’d asked my father more than once to get me out of these classes, but he insisted that it was good for me to get to know the others of my kind so that I could build their loyalty to me within our Order. On top of that, we repeatedly ended up feeding on happy emotions which I generally didn’t like to do. “Can’t we do fear again, miss?”

“We did fear last week,” Undine said firmly. “And besides, you spend enough of your time terrorising the other students at Zodiac to get your fix, Mr Rigel. You don’t need to get it here every week too.”

“For fuck’s sake,” I growled. It wasn’t even about preferring the taste of fear, I was just so powerful that if I fed on another Fae’s happiness for too long I usually ended up stealing it away and leaving them feeling empty or sad for a while afterwards. I much preferred to get my fix from taking unpleasant emotions away from them and leaving them feeling free from their burdens and happier than they’d been to begin with. Not that I ever gave out that truth to anyone. Let them think I was a monster who thrived on the taste of fear and pain – it only fed my reputation as one of the more ruthless Fae in the kingdom anyway.

“Language, Mr Rigel. That’s five points from Aqua,” Undine shot at me. “You know how much I hate the Fs and the Ss.”

“What about the Cs?” I taunted with a smirk.

Undine ignored me, glancing around the circle until she fixed her attention on the Vegas. “Ah, this is a good opportunity to introduce you to our Order, girls. Come and stand up here with me.”

They rose to their feet and everyone perked up as they eyed them with interest, knowing how this game went. Everyone here clearly wanted the chance to feed from the most powerful Fae in the kingdom.

“Think of a happy memory you’ve had this week,” Undine instructed and the girls exchanged a look which seemed to suggest they hadn’t been happy at all this week.

The empathy engrained in me almost made me feel bad about that, but then I focused on the need to remove them from this academy and realised it could only be a good thing if they were miserable here.

“Er…” Tory frowned and Darcy chewed her lip.

A couple of giggles sounded from the watching Sirens but I remained quiet.

“You must have something that’s made you happy in the last seven days? Or the last fourteen perhaps?” Undine raised her brows, looking concerned as she reached out with her gifts to assess their emotions.

I felt the shift in the twins’ emotions as they both managed to replace a happy memory to focus on. “Got one,’ Darcy announced and Tory nodded with a grin.

“Okay.” Undine picked out ten people from the circle, including Lewis who gave me a dirty grin as he hopped up and they all rushed forward eagerly while I remained where I was.

“Take your coat off,” Bree urged Darcy and Simon pulled it from her shoulders, tossing it on the grass before she could protest.

“Hey!” she made a grab for it but the Sirens closed in around her, blocking her off.

“Hold that happy memory in your heads,” Undine called out.

“Tell us about your memory,” Bree encouraged and I could feel her trying to calm Darcy down so that she’d be more willing to share.

“I was out in town drinking with friends,” Darcy said, with a smile that turned into a snort of laughter and the Sirens all chuckled along as they drank in her happiness and fed their magic reserves.

“What else?” Lewis asked, and from the smarmy lust I could feel coming from him, I could tell he was hoping for a sex story. “I can sense something else in you, tell us about the rest of your evening.” He reached out to brush his fingers over her wrist and I felt his power pushing against her will as he drew what he wanted from her tongue. “I saw Professor Orion.”

Kayla gasped, shooting a look at Lewis then grinning keenly as she held onto Darcy’s arm.

I could taste that lust from all the way over here and I rolled my eyes. Half the girls in this school were lusting after out Cardinal Magic professor. It was kinda sad really.

Darcy frowned as she tried to pull back, but Lewis held on tight and shoved all of his will into forcing her to go on. “He was angry…he’s so hot when he’s angry.”

A couple of the girls moaned lustily and Undine suddenly clapped her hands as she realised what they were up to. “Enough. We’re not doing lust today.”

The group of Sirens released Darcy and her face burned red as she seemed to realise what she’d said. Lewis returned to sit with me, grinning from ear to ear and holding out his hand for a high five.

I wasn’t high fiving that shit so I pretended not to notice as I looked towards Tory who was still sharing her story with the group surrounding her, but I wasn’t close enough to eavesdrop on that one.

Undine split the group up into smaller clusters and they started recounting happy memories for each other while I just lay back in the grass, cupping my head with my hands and waiting for our professor to move past this boring part of the lesson.

No one tried to force me to participate so I just watched the grey clouds rolling by and bathed in the feeling of happiness surrounding me as everyone continued to feed on that emotion and I was gifted a rare break from all the teenage angst and drama which generally filled this academy.

Undine moved to try her luck stealing some lust from Darcy and I sighed. She was no better than the rest of them for that. When I was certain she was fully distracted by whatever Darcy Vega was thinking about Professor Orion, I got to my feet and prowled up behind them.

I crept closer then pounced with a yell, grabbing Undine’s shoulders and sucking the fear right out of her as she squealed in fright. My power reserves swelled and I grinned at her furious face as she whirled on me.

“We’re not doing fear, Rigel,” she snarled, throwing up a hand so a gust of air shoved me back a few steps.

She stalked away, checking on the other students and I turned my attention to scaring some of the others to alleviate my boredom. I got a kick from the spike of fear I could create followed by a rush as I stole it away from them and I wasn’t done yet.

I got a top up from a few more victims but then Lewis found me again, bringing a couple of girls he’d snagged with lust and they giggled as they pressed closer to me.

‘Hey man, these four say they wanna come party with us after this lesson is over,’ Lewis said excitedly, nudging me in a way that made me want to snap his damn elbow off.

‘I heard you can fill a room with so much lust that a girl can come just from walking into it,’ one of the girls said breathily, eyeing me with a keen interest which I couldn’t say I minded.

‘It’s happened once or twice,’ I admitted with a grin that made them all giggle.

‘So what do you say? Shall we head back to your room after class and make a party of it?’ Lewis pushed, his lust sliding over me like a greasy hand caressing a pumpkin.

‘Sounds good to me,’ I agreed as one of the girls bit her bottom lip hopefully. But I wasn’t going to be including Lewis in this party. I just had to be a little more subtle than simply telling him to fuck off thanks to dad’s political agenda. But I was sure I’d come up with something.

“I am not a Siren,” Tory Vega’s voice drew my attention and I looked over to see her standing with her sister who nodded in agreement.

‘I just need to have a little word with the Vegas before we head off,’ I murmured to the others and Lewis groaned like a dirty old lech as he looked over at the twins.

‘Are you gonna get them to join us too?’ he asked excitedly.

‘No,’ I snapped. It was one thing sharing lust with this group of Siren girls who were actively adding their own powers to the mix and clearly wanted it, but I wasn’t ever going to be forcing lust on a girl who didn’t want it and if I ever caught Lewis trying it then I’d punish him for bringing shame on our Order, political agenda or not. Dad would back me if it came to that.

Undine clapped her hands to signal the end of this part of the lesson and everyone headed to the edge of the lake where they started peeling off their clothes and shifting to reveal the scales of our Order form coating their bodies.

Undine didn’t bother with a further explanation, diving straight into the lake the moment her red scales appeared on her flesh.

“I’m not going in there,” Tory said firmly, backing away from the edge of the water and a touch of fear brushed against my skin which got me all kinds of intrigued.

The rest of the class were quick to follow Undine into the lake and I tugged my shirt off like I was going to dive in too until only me and my little group remained on the bank with the Vegas.

I let the shift come over me, navy scales rippling across my flesh and coating my skin like a cool caress which instantly protected me from the bite of the cold wind.

I grinned at the Vegas as they turned their attention to me, stalking closer to them and signalling the rest of my group to hang back while I unleashed the full force of my power and prepared to get what me and the other Heirs needed to complete our plans.

The girls fell still as I caught them in the thrall of my gifts and I took their hands, using the skin on skin contact to fully immerse them in my power and make them feel calm and safe with me.

“Hi,” Tory said breathily and I had to fight the smug bastard look which was crawling over my face as I took control of the two most powerful Fae in Solaria as easily as breathing.

“How’re my favourite twins?” I asked, and Lewis and the others laughed like a bunch of cronies though none of them dared approach, knowing this was my feed. “Come sit with me.’

I guided the Vegas toward the edge of the lake and they sat either side of me while I kept a tight hold on their hands and made sure they remained fully under my spell. I released their hands but dropped an arm over each of their shoulders to pull them closer, sinking my power in even deeper to make sure I had them before I went on.

“What’s your greatest fear, Tory?” I breathed in her ear and she turned to look up at me, her eyes widening with terror as I felt it building in her under the strength of my gifts.

I sighed softly, waiting them out as both of them tried to fight me off, but my influence was potent and lodged deep within them. With a hard shove of my gifts, I managed to force them back under my control, drawing that truth from Tory’s lips.

“My ex-boyfriend was driving me home late one night,’ Tory whispered and for a moment the sound of shrieking tyres seemed to bounce through my skull. ‘We’d been fighting and he kept shouting at me. I told him to shut up and watch the road. He was driving like a maniac.” Her fear increased and I held on tight, needing more than this, needing something we could use. “We were heading back from a weekend in Wisconsin. The roads were so dark but he wouldn’t slow down. He took a turning too fast and…” Her eyes glimmered with tears and Darcy reached out to take her hand, making guilt well in my chest for a moment before I forced myself to focus on why I had to do this. Our parents needed us to do it. Solaria was relying on us to ensure it was ruled by the best Fae for the job. Darius needed this to happen more than all. It was necessary. And I wouldn’t back down.

“We veered off a bridge and crashed into the river below. The car sank so fast and my ex…he got out. He left me. Just swam to the river bank,’ Tory’s voice was filled with the horror of that memory and I got a few flashes of water pouring in on her, the sounds of her screams. ‘I couldn’t get my seatbelt undone and I panicked. The air was running out and it was so, so dark.” Tears ran down her cheeks and I bit my tongue against the inclination to stop, instead drawing back enough so that I didn’t have to see her memories and could take in the words. ‘And when the water went over my head I just thought that was it. I was going to die stuck in that shitty car while my even shittier boyfriend sat on the riverbank and didn’t try to help me.” She swallowed thickly and I decided to release her from that moment, having what I needed anyway. “Luckily a farmer had seen us swerve off of the road. He swam out and cut the belt. He saved me. But since then I just can’t go in deep water. It frightens the hell out of me.” She shivered and I soothed her, rubbing her arm as I pushed calming feelings into her skin and hardened myself against any sympathy I might have been inclined to feel for her. Everyone was afraid of something. And her fear just so happened to be an easy one to make use of, so it was a good thing. I was going to keep telling myself that until I could wash the feeling of this fear from my skin and taste some happiness again.

I turned to Darcy, focusing my power on her next. “And you? What’s your worst fear Darcy?”

“Every foster family we ever had got rid of us. We were barely in one home for more than a year. We caused trouble. Sometimes I regret some of the things I did so much. If I’d treated those families better, maybe they would have wanted me. That was almost bearable. I knew I was difficult to love but I didn’t think I was entirely unlovable not until…” She tried to fight against my power, but I had a firm hold on her and I needed this done so I pushed until she couldn’t fight it anymore.

“Go on,” I whispered, lacing my tone with my gifts too.

“This guy started pursuing me in school last year. I never really spent much time making friends with people but he was nice and it felt good to talk to someone who cared. We dated for around three months and I thought for one idiotic second I was actually falling for him. I lost my virginity to him at a party and afterwards he was so cold with me. He would barely look at me and I knew something was terribly wrong. The way the air changes just before a storm, that was how it felt. He’d gotten what he wanted and he just left me there after feeding me some bullshit excuse about how he wasn’t ready for a relationship.”

“Darcy,” Tory whispered, trying to fight my hold so that she could save her sister from recounting this but I needed to hear the end of it, so I pushed her to go on.

“He dumped me five seconds after he’d gotten what he wanted. I got out of there as fast as I could. And on my way home, I was crying and couldn’t see properly. I tripped over on the sidewalk and bashed my right knee like the clumsy idiot I am. That night I sat in bed just staring at that bruise, wondering how a physical wound could look so bright and angry but emotional wounds stayed entirely invisible. I wanted my hurt branded on me, to remind me never to trust anyone again. So I dyed my hair the colour of that bruise. Black and blue. My own personal wound. My deepest fear is being cast aside, my heart crushed by trusting blindly again. So I’ll never let anyone in again.”

Silence fell between us as I tried to figure out how we could use that against her and for a moment she just cried in my arms.

I pulled my power back, hardening my heart against any foolish notions of sympathy as I focused on all the reasons I had for doing this before I stood abruptly, leaving them sitting there on the ground.

“Thanks for the meal Vegas. See ya.”

I dove into the lake without a backwards glance, wanting to scrape the feeling of their fear from my flesh. But at least I’d gotten what I needed from them. And when I met the Heirs for lunch in a couple of hours, I would be able to bring the Vegas’ fears to them so that the four of us could finalise our plans against them.

I didn’t waste much time swimming in the lake, instead heading for the underwater entrance to Aqua House and striding up out of the water onto the small beach inside the common room.

To my surprise, the four girls and Lewis followed me out of the water and their lust washed over me as they all moved closer as I stepped onto the dry carpet.

‘So is this happening?’ Lewis asked excitedly, looking to me like the idea of the two of us spit roasting a girl together would be the highlight of his entire life.

The Vegas’ fear was still clinging to me but as the Siren girls moved closer, fluttering their eyelashes and biting their lips with lust dancing all around me, I realised I could easily banish that feeling by taking up this offer. I could skip a few classes in favour of indulging in this to brighten my mood again.

‘Yeah, come on then,’ I said, using my water magic to dry all of us off before striding through the common room and down the corridor which led towards my room.

The lust built between the six of us as we went and I used my gifts to stoke it, building it until I was hard as stone inside my shorts and looking forward to fucking these girls until they lost their voices from screaming my name.

But Lewis was not going to be joining the party.

As I spotted my door ahead, I pushed more lust into the guy who was walking at my side, building it up and up until he grunted.

‘Fuck, watch it, Max,’ he gasped, fisting his hard on through his shorts. ‘You’re so powerful, I’m going to come before I even get inside at this rate.’

My lips twitched and I shoved even more lust at him, using the brute force of my power and making him groan loudly as he jizzed his pants right outside my bedroom door.

‘Oh shit, sorry man,’ I said, faking an apologetic look as I opened the door and the four girls scurried inside with flirtatious giggles.

‘Fuck,’ Lewis cursed, staring down at the cum stain seeping through his shorts.

‘Maybe next time then, yeah?’ I stepped into my room and swung the door shut in his face before he could even try to protest.

A dark chuckle erupted from me as I turned to my room and found the four girls naked on my bed already. Two of them had started without me, the brunette feasting on the other girl’s pussy like it was her favourite meal and making my cock harden even more as I watched the show.

I dropped onto the bed between the other two and I lost myself in the feeling of fucking all of them one after another until any lingering guilt I might have been harbouring was well and truly gone.

***

By the time I’d worked my way through all four of the girls and made them come so many times that I knew they’d never forget the time they spent in my bed for the rest of their lives, I was officially late to meet with the other Heirs.

I left the girls in a sated, sleepy heap of limbs and gave myself a slap of cold water to the face to wake myself up before tugging on some jeans and a t-shirt and heading out of the House to go meet with them.

There were a bunch of messages from Seth and Caleb warning me that they were gonna eat my pizza if I made them wait much longer, so when I made it out onto the shore of Aqua Lake, I broke into a jog.

I hurried through The Wailing Wood, heading off into the trees and passing through them before diverting to The Orb where the others were waiting for me to show up for lunch.

I headed inside, moving straight across the space to our couch. There was a stack of takeaway pizza boxes and several cans of soda on the coffee table in front of them.

‘Oh, here he is,’ Cal mocked from his position on the couch beside Seth who had half a slice of pizza hanging out of his mouth.

‘Yeah, yeah,’ I said as I dropped down into my spot on our red couch to the left of the fire, glancing at Darius who sat at the far end of it as I subtly tried to gauge his mood. The others were generally open books to me, allowing me access to at least the surface of their emotions, but Darius always worked the hardest to keep me out.

‘Did you do it?’ Darius asked, tossing a silencing bubble up around us and ignoring the others as Caleb shot away from us to get himself a drink.

‘I did,’ I said, grabbing a pizza box for myself and flipping the lid open so that the scent of cheesy goodness swept over me and made my stomach rumble in anticipation.

‘And?’ Darius demanded, leaning forward and pinning me in his dark gaze as he rested his forearms against his knees.

‘Tory’s is easy. She’s afraid of deep water, drowning, that kind of shit,’ I said before taking a bite out of my pizza and letting them give that some thought.

‘So why don’t we just toss her into the pool at Lunar Leisure?” Seth suggested with a grin like he couldn’t think of anything better.

“And freeze the top over so she can’t get back out,’ I added with a dark tone to my voice, remembering the fear she’d felt at the touch of icy water against her skin and figuring that would really ramp up the terror.

‘Freeze the top over?’ Darius asked, his jaw ticking. ‘I don’t think we can actually kill one of the Vega princesses.’

There was a bite of anger and maybe even pain which accompanied that statement but as I shot him a look, he slammed his mental shields up in a solid wall which wouldn’t let me so much as sniff at what he was feeling. Asshole.

‘No,’ Seth agreed. ‘But we could make her think we will. Scare her up good until she’s begging us to save her then we sweep in, pluck her out of the water, give her mouth to mouth and maybe a little slip of the D when she pleads for it, then send her running on out of here away from the big bad monsters who she’s just not strong enough to face. Simple.’

It wasn’t as simple as he was making out though. He was playing psycho since his mom had threatened him to get rid of the Vegas and I knew when he got like this he wouldn’t back down until he’d gotten what he wanted.

‘What else was there?’ Darius demanded of me. ‘There must have been something else that she was afraid of. Something that’s not so…’

‘Nothing,’ I replied with a shrug. ‘Water is it for her.’

Darius’s hand balled into a fist but he nodded finally. ‘We can make her think we’re going to push her in. Maybe the fear of that will be enough.’

‘And if it’s not we kick her ass in and freeze the water over, yeah?’ I asked, purposefully pushing at him to try and get a read on what he was feeling. Was he reluctant to go ahead with this for some reason or was this what he needed? It was infuriating not knowing and I hated that he refused to let me get a full read on him to tell.

Darius stayed silent, looking to me again like he was still waiting for another option to pour from my lips, but I didn’t know what he wanted me to say. The plan seemed pretty solid to me. I’d even be able to feel her heartbeat in the water if I maintained a strong connection to it with my power while we did it. It wasn’t like she’d be in any real danger. It was just about using her fear.

Caleb made it back to us, dropping a can of soda onto the table before launching himself at Seth and beginning to wrestle him over a slice of pizza despite the fact that there was plenty of pizza left on the table.

Seth growled playfully, shoving away from Caleb as he managed to finish chomping down on the pizza and Cal looked around at the rest of us as he took in the serious mood of our conversation.

“So what did I miss?” Caleb asked, leaning back in his chair with a frown.

“We’re just deciding on the best ways to use the Vegas’ fears against them,” I said firmly.

Caleb pursed his lips. looking from Seth to me and Darius like he had something to say but he held his tongue as Seth spoke again.

“It’ll be great, we’ll force them to go up against the things that terrify them most and when everyone sees that they’re not even Fae enough to stand against their fears, there will be no more doubts about who is fittest to rule the kingdom after our parents.”

‘Do you really think all this is necessary?’ Caleb interrupted, pushing his fingers into his blonde curls as he looked between the three of us. ‘I personally feel like it makes us look kinda weak. Why are we attacking a couple of untrained girls and trying to chase them out? If we really believe they’ll never be able to outmatch us in skill, then why not let them attend the academy? I don’t feel like they’re ever going to claim the throne from us anyway. Not if we keep building on our knowledge and refining our magic. How could they ever catch up to us in skill? And it’s not like our power is that much lower than theirs.’

‘You’re only saying that because you want in Tory’s panties and you know you won’t get in them if you fuck with her like this,’ Seth scoffed.

Darius growled in a dark warning, his gaze narrowing on Caleb who didn’t even bother to deny it.

‘So what? I like the taste of her blood and I wanna taste a bit more of her too. Doesn’t mean I’m suddenly a royalist. Besides, I stand by what I said, and my mom agrees too. Them staying on here isn’t the end for us and if anything, it would only offer us up more opportunities to prove that our superior skill and knowledge outmatches their brute strength.’

Caleb looked between all of us in aid of an ally, but Seth seemed more interested in grabbing another slice of pizza and I was just happy to follow my dad’s plan to try and squash this problem now. If it didn’t work then we’d be doing what Caleb wanted anyway.

‘No,’ Darius barked, speaking for all of us and causing a ripple of tension to pass through the group for a moment as the Alphas in all of us bristled against the idea of him trying to take charge. ‘I just need this over. We have to do what our parents want and that’s the end of it. I can’t afford to go against my father on this.’

A beat of silence passed where we all read between the lines of his words, and I caught the barest hint of desperation coming from Darius. In fact, I was almost certain there was reluctance there too but it was tempered by a steely determination which I knew wouldn’t be swayed. He wasn’t even giving his own feelings on this any kind of consideration, he was clearly just focused on fulfilling Lionel’s wishes and I had to assume that if he didn’t do so the consequences would be something he couldn’t stomach.

I glanced at the others, knowing they’d picked up on that too even if the subtleties I was partial to thanks to my Order gifts had been lost on them. But it was clear enough that Lionel had made some threats over this being done and none of us wanted Darius to face his wrath over any kind of failure on our parts.

‘Okay,’ Caleb conceded though he didn’t look all that happy about it. ‘If you’re all determined to go ahead then you know I’m with you like always.’

Darius nodded in satisfaction, leaning back in his chair and sighing, letting a few tendrils of smoke pass between his lips. ‘So what about Gwendalina?’ he asked, looking into the fire instead of at us.

‘Hers is a little more tricky,’ I admitted. ‘She’s got this deep rooted kind of fear of rejection. Of trusting someone, opening herself up to them and having them betray and humiliate her, that kind of thing.’

I looked between the others as they all frowned at that, as lost for a way that we could turn that against her as I was. She wasn’t even seeing anyone who we could force to turn on her and the only person she really cared about was her sister.

But the bond between the twins was ironclad and I knew there was no way we’d be able to force a wedge between them, especially on such a tight timescale.

‘What if someone were to make her like them?’ Seth asked thoughtfully. ‘You know, get her all tingly and excited for the dance, take her as a date then pull a full Carrie on her.’

‘You want to dump pig’s blood all over her head?’ I scoffed. ‘Isn’t that a little overdone?’

Seth shrugged. ‘Maybe something a little better than that, something more personal, something that would really hit hard and-‘

‘Her hair,’ I blurted as the rest of what she’d said came to me and I realised what we’d need to take from her if we really wanted to hit her hard. ‘She dyed the ends blue to remind her never to trust anyone ever again. So if she were to trust someone and then they cut it all off…’

Seth clapped his hands excitedly, waving a hand in the air. ‘I volunteer as tribute! I’m gonna make her fall in love with me so hard that she’ll be panting all over my cock by the night of the party. Then bam, like a ninja with more than just a single weapon between my thighs I’ll strike and cut her hair clean off. Bye bye hair, bye bye dignity, bye bye Vega.’

Darius’s lip curled back like he was disgusted by that idea and Caleb didn’t seem to like it much either but neither of them spoke out against it.

‘It will work,’ I said confidently, because I’d felt those fears in the girls and I was certain that if anything would be enough to break them then this would be it.

‘Let’s do it then,’ Darius said firmly, shadows flickering behind his eyes as he turned to look at us again.

‘On the night of the dance?’ Seth suggested, his head whipping back and forth between us eagerly like this was the best game he’d been invited to play in a long time.

‘Yeah,’ I agreed and Caleb nodded though he still seemed reluctant.

‘Let’s figure out the details then,’ I said firmly. ‘It’s time to get rid of our Vega problem for good.’

‘You guys figure out the details without me. But speaking of our Vega problem…’ Cal nodded towards the door and I turned to watch as the twins walked into the room, looking tired from their lessons and probably still pretty drained after spending so much time among the Sirens earlier.

They crossed the room, choosing to join a couple of their friends tucked away in one corner rather than sit with the Ass Club today and the four of us watched them go with a silent kind of anticipation.

Tory’s gaze scoured across our line up and as she landed on Darius, her upper lip peeled back in clear dislike which caused him to tense up irritably.

Seth grinned widely, shooting his hand in the air and waving at Darcy like they were best buddies but she just turned away.

‘And let the fun commence,’ he said, digging around in his pocket for a scrap of paper and a pen before scrawling out a note which the rest of us read over his shoulder.

Be my date for the dance.

‘You’ve got no chance, dude,’ Caleb said with an amused look but Seth just hid the note in his hand and pushed himself to his feet.

‘Err, yeah I do – I’m crazy hot, stupid sexy and every girl and guy in this room can tell with one look that I know exactly how to make them howl if I want to. And even through the haze of disdain Darcy Vega throws my way, I just know there’s a whole heap of curious vagina waiting for my attention.’

‘Fifty auras says she turns you down flat,’ Caleb said with a shake of his head.

‘A hundred,’ Darius upped the bet and Seth gasped as if he was offended.

‘Just because you guys were hoping I’d ask you to the dance with me doesn’t mean you get to be salty little bitches over me asking someone else.’ He turned and strode away purposefully and I chuckled as I watched him go.

‘No fucking way he can pull this off,’ Caleb muttered, watching him too.

Darius dismissed the silencing bubble which surrounded us as our conversation about the Vegas came to an end.

Seth looked as confident as ever as he just strode on up to the Vegas and dropped down into the free chair beside Darcy, causing her little friends to pretty much recoil in horror while Tory just scowled at him.

I couldn’t tell what they were all saying from way across the room, but it looked like Seth was getting shot down.

‘Do we need a new plan for her?’ I asked the others dubiously as Seth got to his feet again.

‘Nah, he’s got her interest piqued,’ Caleb pointed out and I gave them my attention again as Seth leaned down to speak in Darcy’s ear before dropping his note in her pocket.

He strode away from her, returning to us and I watched as Darcy’s cheeks pinked while she watched him walk away.

‘I think it might actually have worked,’ I said in surprise though Darius didn’t look convinced.

Just as Seth made it back to us, Marguerite appeared too, her school skirt hiked up to her ass and lust pouring off of her like syrup as she moved to drop into Darius’s lap.

‘Don’t,’ he barked, catching her hips and redirecting her to her feet.

‘Don’t what?’ she asked in confusion, batting her eyelashes as she gazed down at him.

‘Sit your ass on me,’ he replied in a flat tone. ‘In fact, I’d prefer if you didn’t place any part of your body on me again, okay?’

Marguerite spluttered in confusion as a few of her friends drew closer behind her like a pack of hyenas scenting a kill while trying to cover it with an act of concern.

‘But sweety, you and me are rock solid. I don’t understand-‘

‘Let me paint it out for you then,’ Darius replied in a bored, flat tone as he leaned back in his seat and regarded her like she was nothing more than an irritation in his life.

That shit was cold. And Caleb was raising his eyebrows at me as if to say holy fuck, Darius is savage. I could tell from the twinkle in his blue eyes.

‘You and me were never officially anything anyway,’ Darius said. ‘And now we’re officially nothing.’

‘You’re breaking up with me?’ she gasped, her hand flying to her heart as several people glanced our way.

‘No,’ Darius replied and she sagged in relief but I winced because I could already tell what was coming next. ‘You were never my girlfriend so we can’t break up.’

‘W-what?’

Darius sighed and I could tell he was done with this. I probably could have stepped in to help move Marguerite on or something, but I was an asshole and I was enjoying the drama as much as Seth who had actually managed to replace a bag of popcorn somewhere which he was munching on as he watched the show.

I reached over and he let me take a handful and I pushed it between my lips as Darius delivered the fatal blow.

‘We hooked up a few times, but it got dull fast,’ Darius said. ‘Maybe go try out some new tricks with someone else or something, I don’t really care. Point is, we’re done. If you wanna believe I’m breaking up with you, then fine – I’m breaking up with you. Got it?’

“You can’t!” Marguerite shrieked so loudly that the entire Orb fell silent and everyone swivelled to look our way.

“It’s over, move on,” Darius said loud enough for everyone to hear before looking away from her in dismissal.

But the poor, desperate fool just couldn’t let her shame end there and she lunged forward, snatching his hand into her grasp and tugging on it as she began to sob.

“Darius, baby, how can you throw away everything we have?”

Darius chose not to validate that with a response and focused on reclaiming his hand instead, the flicker of irritation in his gaze letting me know that he was fighting the urge to make more of a scene, no doubt not wanting this to be spread across the tabloids tomorrow.

“Darius!” Marguerite shrieked desperately and fire burst to life in her palms as she lost her shit.

My amusement fell away in an instant and I shot to my feet alongside the other Heirs, Seth’s popcorn tumbling to the floor as a snarl escaped him. Nobody made a threat against one of us and got away with it.

Darius stepped forward with a challenge in his eyes and Marguerite backed down instantly, a whimper escaping her lips as she extinguished the flames in her hands and murmured an apology.

The circling girls moved forward to tug her away and she let them pull her back while she continued to sob dramatically.

Darius was clearly much more irritated over the display than he was over the loss of his most recent fuck buddy and I clapped a hand on his shoulder, offering him some chilled vibes though he didn’t accept them.

“This is about them.” Marguerite fell still abruptly and pointed across the room at Tory who to her credit only arched a brow in response. “Ever since they arrived you’ve been acting different.”

“Stop embarrassing yourself,” Caleb said, rolling his eyes. “You just can’t deal with the fact that Darius got bored with you months ago. Move on, replace someone else to screw. From what I’ve heard, it sounds like you need the practice.”

Marguerite looked back to Darius in horror but I couldn’t feel much heartbreak coming from her, more like dashed ambitions and unfulfilled lust. “But you love me.”

Silence rang out and Darius’s blank mask shattered as he looked between me and the others with cruelty in his expression and I knew she’d gone and pushed him too damn far.

“Love you?” he laughed, turning to look at her with contempt. “At what point in our once a week bed parties did you get that idea?”

Marguerite blushed furiously and her friends tried to pull her away like they could see that this was only getting worse for her if she didn’t quit now and me, and the other Heirs rallied around Darius.

Seth started laughing at Darius’s words and Kylie puffed her chest up as she glared at him. “You’re no better! I saw that video of you and Darcy fucking Vega at the bar last Friday.”

Seth pressed a hand to his heart, gasping dramatically. “Sorry, babe, did I forget to ask your permission? You know I’m totally polyamorous right?”

She looked about two seconds from shifting into her Medusa form as fury burned through her expression and her hands balled into fists. “No Seth, you have never told me that.”

“No?” he questioned, leaning his shoulder against mine. “Well you can’t go poly-shaming me now can you?”

“You’re a liar,’ she hissed and that dangerous kind of silence fell again at that accusation.

I stepped forward, cracking my neck. “Wanna say that again, peaches?”

Kylie backed up, fear sweeping through her expression. “He’s not polyamorous, Max, he’s just cheating on me.”

I almost felt sorry for her if she really believed that.

Darius was clearly done with the whole show though so he moved to walk around Marguerite but she grabbed his arm, holding on tightly as she forced him to look at her. “Please,” she begged.

“Let go,” he said in a deadly tone and I could tell that he was doing all he could to restrain himself as the Dragon balked at this public fucking mess taking place around him.

She flinched back, seeming to finally grasp how deadly serious he was being and the four of us strode through the crowd of girls as we headed out of the room and left the drama behind us.

‘That was fun,’ Seth grinned. ‘You know what you should do now to really piss her off, Darius?’

‘What?’ he asked, still looking irritated as hell.

‘Fuck Tory Vega. Do it without a silencing bubble so the whole House can hear her screaming your name and then-‘

‘I’m going flying,’ Darius snapped, dropping his bag and starting to strip quickly. ‘Will one of you wait for me outside Cardinal Magic with my shit?’

‘Yeah, brother,’ I replied, grabbing his clothes and stuffing them in his bag before he shifted into his Dragon form and took off without another word.

‘Poor big D,’ Seth sighed. ‘He really needs to have some decent sex. That frustration is gonna eat him alive if he doesn’t dick it out of him.’

I tutted and smacked him around the back of the head. ‘He doesn’t need to get laid,’ I said firmly. ‘He needs to get rid of the fucking Vegas so that his father doesn’t follow through on whatever threats he’s clearly worrying about.’

‘Oh,’ Seth said, a soft howl escaping him as he looked up to watch Darius disappearing into the clouds overhead.

‘Yeah. Oh.’

‘Let’s just do it then,’ Caleb said, sounding resigned. ‘Then after the party we can all get back to normal again.’

We all agreed to that and headed away to enjoy the rest of our lunch break in peace. But I was pretty sure the only real peace we were gonna replace was when the Vegas renounced their claim to the throne.