Shadow Princess (Zodiac Academy, #4)

by Caroline Peckham

This book is dedicated to all those who thrive in bookish chaos. Your time has come…

“Lionel said they were Fire Harpies,” Lance said slowly, his gaze fixed on Gwendalina like she fascinated him. “But he was mistaken. He saw the flames and the wings and made an assumption. Their mother, the Queen, was a Harpy so that had always been a likely outcome for them. They were only in their Order forms for such a brief moment that it was an easy mistake to make.” “So what are they?” I demanded as the twins shared a look that let me know they already knew. “Phoenixes,” Lance breathed, the awe in his voice pulling a frown to my brow. “Not possible,” I replied with a shake of my head. “There hasn’t been a record of someone having the Phoenix Order in…”

“Over a thousand years,” Lance murmured, still staring at Gwen like the world began and ended with her. My eyes fell on Roxy and my heart thumped to a different tune. It wasn’t true, it couldn’t be. Phoenixes were practically a myth. No one was even sure they really had existed. They were supposed to have been the most powerful Order of all, their flames capable of all kinds of insane things. Some people even claimed they’d been immortal but if that was the case then where were they? How did a species die off if they couldn’t die? “They can’t be,” I said. “We are,” both girls replied at the same time, an amused glance passing between them as they spoke in unison. “We have to keep this a secret,” Lance said, looking at me. “Why?” Roxy demanded. “Because if the things I’ve read about Phoenixes are true - even half true - then the two of you could be more powerful than any Fae who has walked the earth in the last millennia. You’re like the Fae of old, legendary… I don’t even know what your limits would be, but I do know that you pose an even greater threat

to Lionel now. If he finds out about this before you’ve learned to harness these powers-” “He’d kill you,” I finished for him because I knew it was true. I’d learned more than enough about my father to realise this about him. He would do whatever it took to claim his position as the most powerful Fae in Solaria. And if he realised that the twins were Phoenixes then he’d eliminate them before they could lay claim to that power. I could barely even grasp the idea of something so impossible. It was no wonder Father hadn’t realised; he was distracted by the shadows he’d just harnessed and who would ever suspect something so insane anyway? “So, we should hide what we are?” Gwendalina asked, sharing a worried look with her sister. “Until you have a better grasp on your gifts and can defend yourselves, I think it should stay between the four of us,” Lance agreed. Roxy glanced at me, and my gut lurched as I rea...

gaze slid beyond me to the kitchen sink. She took a glass from a shelf and poured herself some water before draining it in one go. I watched her silently, wondering if there was something else I should say to her but not even knowing where to begin. We were like magnets, destined to gravitate towards each other or repel each other, but nothing in between. And I didn’t know how to flip it back to how it had been just before my father had shown up. It should have been the last thing on my mind, but in that moment all I wanted to do was take hold of her and pull her into my arms. My heart was still beating out of rhythm with the shock of what had nearly happened to her, and I just wished that I could fix it somehow. I wanted her close even though the moon was gone now, the Eclipse over and its effects waning. But it didn’t seem like she felt remotely the same way anymore. “Do you both feel alright?” La...

ooh. exciting.

Because Darius Acrux might not ever rescind his claim to the throne, and I didn’t want him to. But maybe I could convince him to share it with two more candidates. I just had to ride out the fucking hurricane it would take to persuade him.

i’m scared they are gonna be the enemies thing her and d omfg they need to get their shit together

The words Princess Power were emblazoned across the front of it in shimmering pink glitter. Geraldine gave it a shake and the words blurred together for a moment before reforming to say Vegas for the Throne. I raised an eyebrow at Darcy, and she bit down on a laugh. “So, what’s the problem?” Darcy asked kindly. “Aside from the fact that we don’t want the throne,” I muttered.

“Pish posh, Tory Vega!” Geraldine scalded. “One day when you’re ruling over Solaria, I will remind you of this day and you shall have to eat your words!”

that’s what i want her and d to be if im honest.

The Vega twins will lead you to the answers you’ve always sought. He flipped the card over again and looked between us. “The Star card is a sign of peace and hope, of coming together and reunion, joy after heartache... For some reason, Falling Star wants to bring us together. And I’m hoping you’ll want to figure out why with me?”

shut my eyes to try and locate the source of it, pushing my magic toward the edges of the room to try and quiet it. It sounded like someone whispering, but I couldn’t quite hear what they were saying. A heaviness seeped over me, and the whispers grew louder. “Almost…closer.” A deep thrumming started up in my chest like the dull beat of a drum, the rhythm tantalising, drawing me into a state of utter calm. My body relaxed so much I almost felt detached from it, floating in the endless dark expanse of my mind. “Into…falling…help.” The voice sounded broken, louder and quieter intermittently and I couldn’t grasp any of the words in between the few I caught. But something made me long to reach out to whoever it was as bliss washed through me, asking me to give in to its call. I hit the floor, blinking hard as pain flared along the back of my head. I found my sister leaning over me, shouting something I couldn’t hear. Someone pushed her aside, the world still entirely quiet as Orion came into view, taking my hand so his magic came flooding into my body. I inhaled in shock as his power blended with mine and he dispelled

knew what had happened. The shadows had lured me into them and that strange voice…it was the same one I’d heard when Lionel had sent us into the darkness. Fear gripped my bones, but I didn’t even know what I was afraid of. Just that I should be terrified.

“I can’t promise you that this isn’t dangerous,” he said, his eyes on Darcy. “But the two of you are the strongest Fae I’ve ever met. Hell, you’re the strongest Fae there is. I believe you can do this. And I swear that if you get into any difficulty with it, I’ll do everything in my power to help you.” “So will I,” Darius added, and my skin tingled at the intensity of that vow. I lifted my eyes to his for a moment, my heart thumping out of rhythm as I looked into his dark gaze. Whatever the hell else had happened between us, he meant that, I could feel it in every piece of my soul.

I flinched as a warm hand landed on my shoulder and looked around to find Darius way too close to me. “Have they gone now?” he asked seriously. A flash of pain burned through my chest as I realised I’d almost hurt him. Worse than that, a part of me had hungered for his blood in a way I couldn’t quite understand. But the idea of me doing something like that to him scored a line right through my heart. It felt like the shadows had cut me open, their will pushing against mine and twisting my emotions into

something far darker than I felt without their presence. They’d taken my anger and hurt over Darius and shifted it into something too close to bloodlust for my liking. I reached out before I could stop myself, brushing my fingers along his jaw. His gaze flickered uncertainly as I looked at him. “They wanted me to kill you,” I breathed. His lips parted but he didn’t speak for a long moment. “But you didn’t,” he said eventually. “No,” I agreed. My gaze fell on my fingers where they still lingered on his jaw, his stubble biting at my flesh. I pulled my hand back and hardened my gaze, fighting off the temptation to stay there and remembering all the reasons I had to hate him.

As I reached the door, voices caught my ear and I paused. Stella was talking to father’s colleague, Alejandro, in a low tone that suggested they didn’t want to be overheard. “-have any more insight than I do, Alejandro?” Stella whispered. “All I can gauge is that this Shadow Princess is drawing closer.” “We have received the same message,” Alejandro said in his soft accent. “I don’t know anything more than you do.” “Liar,” Stella hissed, and a strange rattle filled the air. “Ah! Don’t you dare.” “The shadows only provide the information they want to give,” Alejandro said in a calm tone which somehow carried a dangerous edge at the same time. “But she is coming.” “And who is she?” Stella demanded, her voice rising an octave. A hand suddenly slid over my mouth, and I lurched in surprise as I was half carried across the entrance hall and planted on the stairs. Lance Orion released me and half a second later my father strode into the hall.

“I’ll say all of this to Tory too, chica,” Diego went on. “But there’s something I need to get off my chest. I’ve been debating it for days since…” He cleared his throat, looking to me with a pinched expression. “Don’t freak out, okay?” “Er…okay,” I said cautiously, magic rising to the surface of my skin. “I know you have the shadows,” Diego said, and I gaped at him, feeling like I’d just been punched in the gut. “You – what?” I spluttered in alarm, sure Orion was having a similar reaction in my bathroom right about now. “How can you know? Did you hear something? Who told you?” “It’s okay,” he said quickly, raising a hand in innocence. “No one told me. But I can sense them. I have no idea where you got them. Or your sister…or Darius Acrux…or Professor Orion.” My mouth was literally hanging open as I stared at him, waiting for some explanation to this that made any sense. “How?”

holy shit

“Can you guys just call me Gabriel?” he asked with the hint of a smile. “I’ve already seen enough of our relationships in my visions to know we’re Nebula Allies and if we’re going to be friends for life, I’d rather just cut the shit.” I barked a laugh and Darcy rose her eyebrows in surprise. “Are we allowed to just be friends with a professor?” she asked sceptically. “Allowed? Well, there aren’t any specific rules against it. In fact, the two of you should come and hang out with me and my friends this weekend. We’ve got the VIP room at Celest and there’s an open bar.”

inhaled slowly. “Why are you telling me all of this? I mean…we don’t exactly talk about it, Lance, but aren’t I Darius’s enemy? Doesn’t that make me yours too?” He reached out to take my hand. “I trust you instinctively, Blue. Since the first day we met, the stars have reeled you towards me and me towards you. Don’t you feel it?” I nodded, unable to drag my eyes from his as I was pulled into their glittering depths. “But why?” His mouth twitched at the corner, and he broke my gaze again. “There’s only one reason that makes sense to me, but I could be wrong. Maybe I fear I’m wrong too.” “What?” I pressed.

Sure, I’d had thoughts about why this bond between us was so powerful, but I could explain it away through the intensity of a forbidden relationship. If I was being really honest with myself though, I knew it was more than that. I hadn’t trusted anyone for years, why would my heart suddenly choose the most risky man possible for me to put my faith in? It didn’t make any sense. Not unless there was more to it… “I think…. maybe…” Orion frowned then let the barriers around his magic down and I gasped as my power rushed to meet his. I moaned from the feel of it, his magic soaking into my blood and settling there like it was where it belonged. He felt like air and light and freedom. “Lance,” I said breathlessly as he caught my hand and more of his magic crashed into mine like two waves colliding in a stormy sea. “I think the stars picked you for me, Blue. I think you’re my Elysian Mate.” His fingers intertwined with mine and I bathed in the caress of his magic, tipping my head back to rest against the couch as I absorbed his words. Elysian Mates? Me and him? It made sense in its own way, but it scared me too. That fate was currently winding us together, making it

impossible to pull away. And if it was true, it meant we’d already been tested and there was likely more tests to come. “Are you sure?” I asked, my mind spiralling with the possibility. “No.” He shrugged one shoulder. “We’ll find out sooner or later though, I guess.” I finally withdrew my power from his, my thoughts too hazy to focus on anything while we possessed each other like that. A low growl rumbled through Orion’s chest, and I smiled at him, tugging my leg back to fold beneath me once more. “It goes against everything in my nature to be able to power share with you,” Orion said with a smirk. “As a Vampire, I’ve always done things alone. It’s not easy to let people in, especially not so deeply as to share magic with them. The only Fae I’ve ever managed it with are Darius, you and-” He halted mid-sentence, a flash of pain crossing his featur...

beside him, laying my hand on his arm to try and coax him out of the darkness. He released a breath, opening his eyes which were curtained by sh...

“I want to help you stop him,” I said with fervour. I’d stand against Lionel in any way I could. I’d feed Orion power to keep him strong, and I’d even suck up my pride when it came to Darius Acrux if I had to. “We’ll destroy Lionel for what he’s done and make sure he never hurts anyone we love again.”

“What do you want me to say?” I asked, my voice bored as I pulled my headphones down to hang around my neck. Darius growled at me. “I want you to bow your head when I walk into a room. I want you to learn your place and stick to it. If I say jump, I want you to say how high.” I leaned forward, invading his personal space just as he was invading mine, holding his eye. “I think,” I breathed quietly, though I knew any Vampires in close proximity would hear us anyway. “That you made a mistake with me. You took me to your room when you saw me in pain. You looked after me when you should have left me to suffer. You brought me to your house to play on your bikes and let me find out your secrets. And then you realised that

even showing me all of those parts of yourself weren’t enough.” “Enough to what?” he snarled. “Enough to change the way I see you. To make me hate you any less.” He flinched minutely at my guess, just enough for me to think I was right about it. “But the bit I’ve been struggling to figure out, Darius, is why do you give a shit what I think about you? Shouldn’t you want me to hate you like I do? Why are you so damn obsessed with me?” “I’m not obsessed with you,” he snapped. “I just want to get rid of you. And I want to sit in this seat. So move.” I half considered fighting him over the chair, but I wouldn’t win and it was just a fucking chair. I pushed myself to my feet suddenly, forcing him to straighten and release his grip on the armrests as he scowled down at me. I looked up at him impassively and I could see just how much that pissed him off. Barely an inch of space divided us, and my heart was thundering a panicked tune, but I refused to let him see me flinch. I reached up, parting my hair and pulling half of it over my shoulder, twisting it in my grip as I looked at him. “Shall I start tying it in

pigtails?” I asked innocently. “So that you can pull on them whenever you see me?” “Be careful what you wish for, Roxy,” Darius warned, reaching out to take my hair into his grasp. “If I pull on your hair, you’ll be screaming my name in response.” He tugged just a little and I snorted dismissively. “Why don’t you let that little fantasy keep you warm while you’re sitting in my chair?” I asked, shifting aside and gesturing to the seat he wanted me to vacate so badly. Darius narrowed his eyes at me as he dropped his hold on my hair and folded himself into my seat, leaning back and spreading his legs like his balls ...

“Because we’re the same you and me. Both fucked up, broken pieces on a game board that’s bigger than we can cope with. Both hoping to find some way of winning despite the odds being stacked against us all the damn time. Both addicted to things that push our boundaries and make us feel alive. Because at the end of the day, even feeling the worst of things is better than feeling nothing at all.”

“So I won’t let you ignore me, Roxy,” he snarled. “I’ll have your attention even if I have to take it without your permission.” “Why?” I demanded. “Why not just go after someone else?” “Because we don’t get to choose our obsessions. And you’re mine.”

I laughed, my power stirring beneath my skin as if it liked the sound of that. “I think it’s time for us to accept who we are. We’re the lost Vega Princesses, Heirs to our own throne and the most powerful assholes in the whole of Solaria. And I think it’s time we stop letting other people tell us what that means and start deciding it for ourselves.”

“I want the details,” Seth said like an excitable fifteen-year-old girl who’d just been asked to prom. I snorted a laugh, and he shot me a grin. “Where did you take her?” “Fine,” Caleb said, dropping down to sit on the end of the bench beside Darius’s. “I took her to that sushi and karaoke place on the east side of town.” Darius barked a laugh as he placed his weight back on the rack and sat up. His muscles bulged from the workout, the Phoenix and Dragon tattoos which danced with each other on his back gleaming with sweat. “No wonder it went to shit then,” he taunted. Caleb narrowed his eyes on him in return. “Oh yeah? Why’s that?” “Well for one thing, Roxy doesn’t eat fish, or meat, or anything pretentious that comes in tiny little squares. So I’m betting she thought sushi was fucking disgusting,” Darius replied with a snort of amusement. “Yeah, she did,” Caleb admitted irritably. “And she doesn’t really strike me as the type to enjoy applauding idiots for making fools of themselves. Or as the kind of girl who would like getting up on stage and enjoy being gawked at while she did her best rendition of some power ballad.” Darius looked mildly disgusted by the fact that Caleb had even taken her there at all and I had to admit it didn’t exactly seem like the best choice of venue. “Well, she likes having fun,” Caleb replied defensively. “You know, pushing limits and stuff, so I thought I’d try pushing her out of her comfort zone.” “That’s so far out of her comfort zone that I...

you know he knows all about her lol.

“I want the details,” Seth said like an excitable fifteen-year-old girl who’d just been asked to prom. I snorted a laugh, and he shot me a grin. “Where did you take her?” “Fine,” Caleb said, dropping down to sit on the end of the bench beside Darius’s. “I took her to that sushi and karaoke place on the east side of town.” Darius barked a laugh as he placed his weight back on the rack and sat up. His muscles bulged from the workout, the Phoenix and Dragon tattoos which danced with each other on his back gleaming with sweat. “No wonder it went to shit then,” he taunted. Caleb narrowed his eyes on him in return. “Oh yeah? Why’s that?” “Well for one thing, Roxy doesn’t eat fish, or meat, or anything pretentious that comes in tiny little squares. So I’m betting she thought sushi was fucking disgusting,” Darius replied with a snort of amusement. “Yeah, she did,” Caleb admitted irritably. “And she doesn’t really strike me as the type to enjoy applauding idiots for making fools of themselves. Or as the kind of girl who would like getting up on stage and enjoy being gawked at while she did her best rendition of some power ballad.” Darius looked mildly disgusted by the fact that Caleb had even taken her there at all and I had to admit it didn’t exactly seem like the best choice of venue. “Well, she likes having fun,” Caleb replied defensively. “You know, pushing limits and stuff, so I thought I’d try pushing her out of her comfort zone.” “That’s so far out of her comfort zone that I...

H E H A S A P H E N I X T A T O O S H E I S O N E

“Well if you know her so fucking well then tell me where you’d have taken her, asshole,” Caleb shot at him, rolling his eyes like he didn’t think Darius would be able to do any better anyway. Darius leaned forward, his elbows on his knees as he answered without even having to think about it. “I’d take her over to Clearmont Park on the west side of town,” he replied. “You think she’d want to go for a walk in the park?” Caleb scoffed. “No. I’d take her there because they’ve got the best burrito truck in town parked up by the main gates every Saturday night and she practically has an orgasm every time she eats Mexican food.” “Oh shit, that’s right!” Seth piped up. “That girl totally makes sex noises when she eats!” “She’s louder than that in bed,” Caleb replied, earning a ...

to the Everland Street parking lot just as it was getting dark.” “You think she’d want to hook up with you in a parking lot because you bought her a burrito from a restaurant on wheels?” Caleb laughed. “No. Every Saturday there’s a bike meet in that lot. And street races to win bikes. So I’d take her to that and after she’d beat every fucker there and won their bikes from them, I’d take her to Blue Lake,” Darius added. “Why? That bar isn’t even on the west side,” Caleb pointed out. “I know. But they stock fifty different types of tequila and have over a hundred tequila cocktails on the menu. Plus, they play good music, and she loves dancing.” Caleb pursed his lips irritably. “That does kinda sound like a perfect date for her,” Seth said with a shrug. “Assuming she likes tequila.” “She does,” Dari...

“Pity she hates you too much to ever agree for you to take her out then,” Caleb shot at Darius who just shrugged in response. “I never said I was going to ask her. But you asked me where I’d take her if I did,” he replied. “Well for someone who isn’t going to ask a girl on a date, you seem to have thought pretty damn hard about what you’d do for one,” Caleb accused. “No I haven’t. You asked and that’s what I came up with.” Darius replied and I only felt honesty coming from him, making me actually believe that. Which was worrying in its own way because that meant he’d been paying enough attention to Tory Vega to figure out all that stuff about her and know it so well he didn’t even have to think about the answer before it sprang from his lips. Caleb glanced at me for confirmation, and I gave him a slight nod. “Well why not?” Caleb asked with a huff of irritation. “She told me that the t...

as I knew, the two of them hadn’t actually discussed this so frankly before. Darius stilled, his eyes dropping to his hands as he considered his answer. “I think she’s hot, but she annoys the fuck out of me too,” he said dismissively but I didn’t miss the tension in his posture. “Besides, even if she didn’t and even if I hadn’t done all of the shit I’ve done to her and she didn’t hate me about as much as it was physically possible to hate a man, what can I offer her?” “Don’t tell me you’ve got an inferiority complex,” I teased, aiming to keep the subject as light-hearted as possible while exerting my gifts and spreading a sense of calm and friendship between us just in case. They would feel my influence touching them, but I always took a lack of complaint as permission to use my gifts when it came to the other Heirs. Darius smirked, giving Cal an exaggeratedly assessing look. “Well, I can’t really compete with tha...

Seth trailed off as he blatantly checked Darius out and we all laughed. “I want the real answer,” Caleb said before the subject got dropped. “What do you mean, ‘what can you offer her?’” Darius stood and started lowering the weights on the rack as Seth switched positions with him. “I just mean I can’t exactly take her on a date like that, can I? Even if she would say yes, my father would lose his fucking mind if I was seen showing her around Tucana,” he said dismissively. But it was the kind of casual tone that sounded false. Darius glanced my way, his mental shields reinforced again so it was damn hard for me to get a read on him. But as always when he spoke about his father, there was a darkness in his eyes. “And she wouldn’t say yes anyway so this is a pointless conversation. Like you said, she hates me.” Darius’s gaze darkened even further with that remark and for a moment I could have sworn ...

“Don’t be an idiot, Seth,” I said, dropping the kettle bell and taking a seat beside Cal. Seth lifted the weight over his chest and started on his set. “The Vegas aren’t just some girls. They could screw up everything. None of our parents would be pleased to think we were getting too close to either of them. Unless they were hoping ...

“Mom hasn’t said anything that calculating,” he replied. “But she hasn’t discouraged me from spending time with Tory. She likes to hear how her magic is progressing and stuff, I think she believes keeping the Vegas sweet can’t hurt in the long run. Just in case…” “Just in case they rise up, claim their place and de-throne us?” Darius scoffed. “Don’t worry, Father will kill them before that day ever comes. Why do you think I work so hard to keep them beneath us?” I raised an eyebrow at that because it sounded suspiciously like Darius was trying to protect the Vegas by tormenting them instead of his motivations being about maintaining his own power. Our power. Protecting them from the wrath of his father seemed like a secondary priority to me. Everything I did to them was for the security of our throne. For us. For Solaria. The Vegas’ protection hadn’t ever really crossed my mind. “Lionel wouldn’t actually kill them though, would he?” I asked with half a laugh. Darius pushed his tongue into his cheek, opened his mouth then closed it again. I caught a hint of frustration from him, but he didn’t answer. I exchanged a look with Caleb. There was something we’d been beginning to suspect about Lionel for a while, but none of us had had the balls to ask it outright. But I was sick of dancing around the subject. “Is it that you don’t want to tell us?” I asked slowly. “Or that you can’t?” “What do you mean, can’t?” Darius asked, his eyes on the weight Seth was struggling with. Just a...

that’s an interesting thought.

Caleb growled, reading between the lines just as I was. “And what about Dark Coercion?” he asked in a low voice. Dark Coercion was totally illegal, if we were right about Lionel using it then it meant he was deep into some really dodgy shit. There had always been rumours about the Acruxes using dark magic, but it had never been confirmed. The Orions were tangled in it with them if you believed half the shit that was whispered about their families or printed in The Daily Solaria. Darius didn’t reply which was something of a response in itself. Of course, if he’d been Coerced not to tell us using dark magic then he wouldn’t be able to anyway. His gaze gave away his frustration but as he looked my way, a glimmer of hope entered his eyes and he suddenly stopped blocking me out. I inhaled sharply at the sudden assault of emotion pouring off of him, realising just how successfully he’d been blocking me out and for how long as I almost drowned in the feeling of it all crashing over me at once. “There are some things I can’t tell you, which is really fucking frustrating,” Darius said, his voice rough. “But maybe you can guess what I’d like to say if you can feel it.”

“So is he using Dark Coercion on you?” I almost whispered, my heart pounding at the implications which weighed heavily on the answer to that question. “No,” Darius replied. But it was a lie. I could feel the dishonesty, the frustration, his guilt compounding it as he was forced to lie to us. “Holy shit,” I breathed. “Did he lie?” Seth asked, his gaze yo-yoing between me and Darius like he wasn’t sure where to hunt for his answers. “He did,” I confirmed. Darius’s shoulders sagged and relief fell from him in a wave. I could only stare at him, my head spinning with all the implications posed by his answer. The next answer we needed to know was how long this had been going on for. And what he’d been forced to lie about. But it was going to be damn near impossible to figure that out if he couldn’t tell us. We’d have to ask the exact r...

“Since I was Awakened. Since he started preparing me to take his place on the Council. Not that I believe he’ll ever really let me take his place while he still lives,” Darius ground out. “So, what does he stop you from telling us?” Seth asked, frowning as he seemed to realise that was a dumb question. “I mean, what kind of thing?” Darius looked between all of us for a long moment then sighed. “The worst kinds of things,” he said eventually, giving an answer that wasn’t an answer at all. “Look, I know you guys want to help and I love you for that. But there is no helping me with my father. You can’t stand against a Councillor, hell, you can’t even expect your parents to. It would disrupt the balance of power, unsettle Solaria while the Nymphs are the strongest they’ve been in a long time. In the grand scheme of things, my misery isn’t relevant.” Darius g...

Seth whimpered and started pacing, his Wolf instincts making him restless. “I don’t like the way he just said ‘my misery’ like that’s some kind of constant state he’s in,” he said. “I mean, it’s not that bad, is it? We haven’t been so blind that we’ve just totally fucking missed the fact that Darius is actually that unhappy... Have we?” I exchanged a loaded look with Caleb and pushed my hands through my mohawk as I expelled a breath. “He’s been blocking me out of his head for a hell of a long time,” I said with a frown. “But he just let the walls down and…fuck, I think we really screwed up. He’s not just miserable, he’s a ball of anxious energy and darkness and pain. I don’t even know how to marry that with the guy who makes me laugh every morning over breakfast and wrestles with me in Water Elemental. He’s been hiding this shit for so long that I don’t even think he knows how to drop the mask anymore.” “So what the hell are we gonna d...

me a minute alone with him so I can see if he’ll keep letting me get a read on his emotions. Maybe it’ll be easier to figure out how to help him if I can get a clearer picture on the issue.” “Okay,” Caleb agreed reluctantly, and Seth whimpered again. “One minute,” Seth said. “Then we’re coming up to deal with this. Together.” “Alright,” I agreed. They both nodded and I headed out of the room, following Darius upstairs. He was sitting on the grey couch as I came up, still not shielding his emotions from me as he looked at something on his Atlas. Whatever it was was confusing him a hell of a lot. There was some lust, longing, anger, irritation, and a hell of a lot of pain. I stepped closer and snatched his Atlas from his hand before he could stop me. I flipped it around to look at it, expecting something from his father or maybe a newspaper article. I did not expect to see a photograph of Tory Vega in her underwear and a pair of filthy walking boots. Darius snatched it back out of my hands with a possessive growl and quickly locked his screen. “What the hell is that about?” I demanded. “Nothing,” he replied angrily. I threw up a silencing bubble so that Caleb wouldn’t hear my resp...

Darius looked at me with a weird kind of desperation in his gaze. “I know,” he growled. But with his emotions still wide open to me I could feel how much that thought tore at him. It actually hurt him to think about getting rid of her. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me, Max, I’ve never…I can’t stop thinking about her and wanting her and hating her all at once.” I opened my mouth to respond but the sound of Seth and Caleb approaching up the stairs reached us. They couldn’t hear our conversation from within the bubble, but they’d want to know why we were keeping it private if I didn’t drop it sharpish. “You need to try,” I said firmly. “Try and remember all the massive fucking world and future altering reasons we need the Vegas gone. Promise me you will.” “Fine,” he ground out, sagging back into his chair. My heart lurched as I felt a stab of hurt coming from him directed at me. He’d just tried to open up to me about his feelings for Tory and I’d shot him down. But what else could I say? Even the idea of him liking her was insane. It wasn’t like he could ever have a future with her anyway and if he felt everything he was feeling about her now when they hadn’t so much as kissed th...

He should have wanted us to. The other Heirs were my first port of call whenever I needed anything, and I’d always thought that was the same for all of us. But this revelation made me reassess that. Did he really think he couldn’t ask us for help when he so clearly needed us? Darius held my eye for a long moment, his mental walls flickering in and out of place as he fought against the desire to block me out again. He finally sighed, scrubbing a hand across his jaw as he left them down. “That’s not it,” he replied and the honesty in his words made me relax a little. “I just…didn’t want to drag you guys into this. I can deal with it. Lance is helping me train and soon I’ll be strong enough to challenge my father for his position on the Council. Once I can get rid of him, everything will be better. I’ll be able to make my own choices, live my own life, help Xavier to be… Everything will be better,” he reaffirmed, clearly not plann...

Seth headed to the kitchen, grabbing four bottles of beer, and handing them out before perching on the arm of the couch beside Darius. He reached out to pet Darius’s hair and for once he didn’t try to bat him off. I even felt a tendril of comfort coming from him in response to Seth’s actions. “Why are you so worried about Xavier?” I asked gently, begging him to answer and at least let us help with that much. Darius opened his mouth to respond, but the fear he was feeling sharpened, and he shook his head instead. “Is that something you’ve been Coerced not to say?” Caleb asked. “No…it’s just, if I tell you, you’ll be duty bound to tell your parents. I don’t want to put any of you in that position.” Seth whimpered, looking to me like I might have some magic solution to that problem. I chewed on my bottom lip, wondering what the hell it could be if he thought he couldn’t share it with us for that reason. It made me think of my own secret. The one I’d kept from all of them. The one Tory Vega was holding for me. My pulse hammered as I considered telling them about my lineage. Would they care? Would they support a claim pressed by my younger sister when she came of age just because she...

Darius only hesitated a moment longer before nodding, clapping his hand into mine. We both dropped the barriers on our magic, and I inhaled sharply at the assault of his power as it wound its way beneath my flesh, forming a tide with my own magic so that the two washed back and forth between us. We were evenly matched, but the heat of his fire magic flared beneath my flesh as my air power swept beneath his. Our water magic met and swelled, the power of it blooming as it joined for a little while. Caleb reached out and clasped his hand over ours from the left while Seth gripped us from the right. As they dropped the barriers around their own magic, earth power rumbled through the bond too. I didn’t think we’d ever all power shared together like this before. The four deep wells of our magic swelling and combining into something truly terrifying. We were a force of nature individually, together ou...

each caught up on a tide of power so raw it was intoxicating. I worked on placing the secrecy oath over our power and could feel Darius, Seth and Caleb strengthening the spell as they cast their own magic into it too. I wasn’t sure if Darius would speak right away so I decided to open up first to show him how much I trusted him. “My mother isn’t my mother,” I said, my voice trembling as I spoke those words aloud for the first time in my life. “What?” Darius asked, clearly surprised that my secret had been so heavy. Seth and Caleb both stared at me like they couldn’t quite believe what I’d said, and I barrelled on, wanting to spit it out before I lost my nerve. “My father had to marry the woman you think of as my mother because of an arrangement for power. But he loved my real mother before that was decided. He kept her close and got her pregnant before his wife. They covered it up, pretended I was le...