Ruthless Fae (Zodiac Academy, #2)

by Caroline Peckham

“Isn't that where the fifth Element lives, sir?”

“There's no such thing,” Orion growled, glaring at him. “And I suggest you don't blow smoke up the ass of that particular rumour, Corbin, or you'll end up in detention with me for the foreseeable future.”

“What's the Shadow Realm?”

“It's another mirror world. But it's not like ours or Earth. It's where dark magic originates. Nymphs are born of it, but they cannot wield it. Not unless they steal magic from Fae first.”

“These pointed probes-”

“-are razor sharp and can be inserted into the heart of a Fae to extract their magic. The process takes less than two minutes and once completed, the Fae will of course be dead, and the Nymph will acquire the full power of the Elements that Fae possessed.”

“The draining sensation is a tell-tale sign of a Nymph in your vicinity,” Orion said. “Before any other tactic is even considered, I highly suggest you run. You are freshmen, not trained Fae. You will stand little to no chance against a Nymph if they begin the draining process.”

“In light of what has happened, shields will no doubt take precedence in your Elemental Classes from now on. If used well, you may be able to shield yourself from the effects of a Nymph's draining power long enough for you to get away. The second tactic.”

“Is to engage them in combat before they have a chance to start draining you. As you are not yet trained for battle, I would encourage you to blast the extent of your powers at the creature in one single, wide blow to increase the chances of you hitting your target. The third and most effective means of defence for you to use is to shift into your Order form. Nymphs cannot disable your Order abilities with their power so a Dragon can still breathe fire at them, a Vampire can still use their enhanced strength etcetera. At the very least, your Order form will make it easier for you to run.”

“Great,” Tyler groaned. “So you could be a Nymph for all we know.” He pointed at Orion and the professor gazed coolly back at him. “The only thing I want to drain from you, Corbin, is a few pints of blood.”

“Sorry to intrude, Lance,” she said and something about the way she spoke his name made my hackles raise. “Is everything alright, Francesca?” Orion asked, his voice velvet smooth. They’re definitely fucking each other. And I definitely don’t care.

As I closed in on her, Orion darted forward and caught my wrist. I nearly stumbled into him from the force he used and had to steady myself against him. My hand landed right where his rolled-up sleeve met the crook of his elbow, and I glanced down at a raised line of skin beneath my fingers. I frowned as I spotted a dark red tattoo branded there; it was a symbol I vaguely recognised, and it took me half a second longer to remember it was the one for the star sign of Leo.

“You have detention with me on Saturday,” Orion said in my ear, his voice a deadly purr that made my breathing quicken.

I met his eyes, and my heart tripled its pace at the hungry look in them. He hadn’t fed from me for a while, and I half expected h...

“Six am in the Jupiter Hall atrium on Saturday morning. Don't be late,” he demanded. “So long as you aren't,” I said before I could stop myself and his eyes glittered as I stepped back and hurried out of the door after Tory and Francesca.

“Shouldn't you be off sniffing some dog's ass somewhere, mutt?” Tory asked coolly.

“Iron is made stronger in the hottest part of the fire, Seth. You didn't break me, you forged me.”

I zipped up my fly and he wrinkled his nose. “By the stars I’ve seen you naked way too many times.” “Many Fae would pay good money to have that problem,” I teased, shrugging the shirt on.

“Well, I don’t exactly relish trips back there either but here we are,” Lance said dryly. “Perhaps you can see Xavier while you’re home anyway?” At the mention of my brother, I perked up a little.

“You wanna take the highway and race there?” Lance asked, changing the subject, and pulling me out of my tail spinning thoughts.

“You wanna lose again so soon?” I taunted. “You cheated last time.” “Overtaking you isn’t cheating,” I countered. “It is when you cut me up and you aren’t wearing a helmet. You know I can’t put your life in danger,” he said, rolling his eyes at me as he pressed his thumb to the brand on his arm which linked us to each other. “Well, it’s not my fault that you’re so obsessed with me,” I joked. “Yeah, maybe tonight’s the night I’ll finally pluck up the nerve to act on my undying love for you,”

“I sure hope so,” I replied. “All the other girls will be so jealous if I’m the one who finally bags hot Professor Orion.” Lance barked a laugh and punched me in the bicep.

I smirked at him in the dark stairwell. It sucked that we couldn't spend as much time together openly as we used to growing up. But since I'd arrived at Zodiac Academy we'd had to downplay our friendship for more reasons than one. The amount of secret meetings we had together would likely make people believe we were having an affair if they ever caught wind of it.

I’d been looking forward to getting out on my bike and racing down the highway with the wind in my hair.

“I hear you broke up with the Sphinx,” Lance said, opening the door to the parking lot and leading the way towards his car. The top level of the lot was reserved for the Heirs’ vehicles and I’d pulled some strings so that he could park his Faerarri up here too.

It was almost certain that I’d end up marrying my pig-ugly second cousin if my father got his way anyway. Not that I intended to let that happen without a fight. Either way, I’d need to find a pure-blooded Dragon Shifter as an alternative if I wanted to marry someone else and there were very few of those available in this generation.

I did manage to get back in there though and I confirmed what I’d suspected about the draining dagger,”

“That’s some pretty boring pillow talk, Lance. Maybe you need to work on your game,” I teased. “I haven’t had any complaints,” he replied. “And I don’t need advice on that from a kid.”

“I’ll look forward to the wedding invite then.”

“She’s a Capricorn, we clash more often than we agree on anything. She’s too stuck in her ways to work with me long term. We both know that’s how it is and it’s not an issue.” “Sounds just like all...

“What would I do without you?” I asked. “Take more of your own beatings from your father for a start,” he replied. The smile fell from my face at that comment, and I turned away to look out of the window instead of responding. The silence stretched between us, and Lance sighed dramatically. “Forget I said that. You know I don’t blame you for it.”

I felt guilty enough that I had to drag him away from his life every time I had to go home and knowing that I was putting him closer to my father’s rage only compounded my guilt. But if I showed up at home without Lance in tow, Father would punish us both mercilessly for it. His job was to protect me from any possible threats and Father seemed to think he’d have trouble doing that if we weren’t within at least a mile of each other at all times.

I’d once gone to Northern Terania for a long weekend with a girl I’d been seeing at the time and had spent the whole vacation pining for him because of the distance between us. I’d ended up flying back to him in my Dragon form in the middle of the third night,

I’d found him blind drunk in his apartment after he’d tried to drink away his longing for me and I’d ended up staying there for two nights in his bed. The bond was twisted and humiliating sometimes. Thankfully we’d managed to resist the temptation to spoon each other. And we hadn’t spoken about it since.

The fact was that my father’s magic was too strong, and we weren’t powerful enough to sever it. We kept hoping that that would change, and I’d be able to free him from his bond to me but it never worked. As far as I could tell, Lance would be stuck protecting me for the rest of our lives and there was nothing we’d be able to do to free either of us from our connection.

It wasn’t like I would have wanted anyone else to be in his position; Lance was practically a brother to me; I more than trusted him with my life. But I never would have stolen his life from him like this to bind him to mine.

“I’d be delighted, Aunt,” Lance replied, letting her lead him towards the lounge. She wasn’t really his aunt, but our families always insisted on us addressing each other like we were related. It was an age-old tradition. The Orions and Acruxes were bound by more than the stars. We were bound by power and greed, our families' gifts used for each other's benefit.

Xavier had transformed into a lilac Pegasus complete with golden horn and rainbow patterned wings. His coat shone with glitter in the light of my magical orbs and his wide, horsey eyes looked back at us fearfully.

A Pegasus was about as far as you could get to the opposite end of the Order spectrum. They were flying horses who pooped glitter, granted wishes and were... cute. Xavier hadn’t even been lucky enough to have a dark coloured coat, it was lilac. Lilac!

We’d both agreed not to do this too often; whenever he fed from me it felt like the bond between us sharpened, grew to something more tangible and harder to resist.

Lance’s teeth slid into my flesh, and I waited patiently as he took what he needed from me. An ache grew in my chest as he drew my power into him and I had to fight against the urge to pull him closer, to run my hands over his hair… I clenched my teeth. This bond is fucked up in so many ways.

Lance groaned as he forced himself to release me and took a measured step back even though I could tell it was a struggle for him to do so.

“I’m going to walk out there with my head held high and show those assholes that you can’t break a Vega,” I said, determination lacing my tone. “Hell yeah you are,” Darcy said with a grin.

“Now, now,” Professor Washer chided. “No need to start teasing the lovely ladies the moment they show up.” He grinned at us before slapping Max on the ass in the weirdest display of teacher discipline I’d ever seen. Max flinched away from him, and Darius barked a laugh at his expense.

The two of them had A.S.S. badges fixed to their skimpy bathing suits which was quite impressive considering the lack of room in the things. I was surprised they hadn’t speared a nipple when pinning them on.

“Good golly, I just realised the darndest thing: neither of you have seen my Order form!”

“This is Angelica, the latest member of the Almighty Sovereign Society,”

“And her Order form is equally impressive in the water. Professor Washer agreed that it would be educational for you to spend this lesson with us so that you can see how some of the most powerful Orders adapt their powers to the water.”

“She’s a great big guard dog,” Max said dismissively but I noticed that he’d stopped his advance on us, and his eyes were glued to Geraldine who was now fully nude. “A guard dog with poisonous teeth which can kill even the strongest of Fae in less than fifteen minutes,”

“And my bastard cousin is a smaller version of the king of beasts,” Darius added, throwing Angelica a dismissive look.