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This book is dedicated to all those who thrive in bookish chaos. Your time has come…
“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 were like magnets, destined to gravitate towards each other or repel each other, but nothing in between.
“At least one good thing came out of this. We’ve got our Order forms,” Tory said with a half-hearted smile. I returned it, trying to draw on the positives, though it was hard after everything we’d witnessed. “Yeah and now we have to hide it.” I rolled my eyes and Tory snorted a laugh. “I know, right? When are we ever gonna get a break around here? I wanna go flying and knock Darius out of the clouds.”
And sometimes the look in his eyes seemed so much more impassioned, like it wasn’t just fury he felt toward her.
I moved toward him, my arm brushing his as he passed me my coffee and I took a sip of the life-giving nectar.
“Sweet noodle balls, Max, don’t start all that hoo-ha again now,” she said, reaching down to grip my hair and pull me off of her. “What?” I asked with a frown. “I need to get to The Orb for breakfast before the buttery bagels are all snaffled up!”
“Why in Solaria would you be embarrassed?” she asked, widening those big blue eyes at me, and capturing me in them. “I’m the one who’s got to play the shame game. Whatever would anyone think if they realised I’d bumped bottoms with an Heir?” She said the word like it was dirty.
“Yes, yes, you were perfectly adequate,” she said as she moved to look in the mirror, standing by my closet and fixing her damn hair. “Adequate??” “Well, I can’t stand around here gossiping with you all day, I need to check in with the A.S.S. and see who else fell for the moon crazies. I doubt anyone else had quite such a slip of sanity as me though.” She chuckled again.
Because now I’d had a taste of Grus, I wasn’t going back. That girl was going to be mine.
I needed to offer something useful to Blue. I felt like I’d failed her so completely last night that I didn’t know how I was going to ever make it up to her.
“Phoenixes are endowed with the capacity to exhibit high levels of resilience pertaining to the Divisus Orders and the subliminal Cardinal Magics.” “What the shit does that mean?” Tory asked. “It means, you’re easily able to fight off psychological magic. Like Coercion.” I gave Darius a pointed look and he sat up straighter.
“Who the fuck is that?” Darius balked and I rose from my seat in shock as I found Gabriel motherfucking Nox perched outside on the windowsill staring in at us.
!!!!!!!!!
Gabriel embraced me with a bark of laughter. “Thought I’d drop in on this conversation, Orio. The stars told me to come.”
“This is Gabriel Nox, your new Tarot teacher,”
before,” I growled. “Besides, he’s my Ally. The stars chose him as my soul friend, so he won’t betray my trust.”
“If you take us flying, you’ll be my new best friend, dude,” Tory said with a grin.
“You’re busy later, Roxy,” Darius said from right behind me and I jerked around, scowling up at him and wondering how much of our conversation he’d been eavesdropping on. “No, I’m not,” I replied, wondering what he was going on about.
“Is there a reason you’ve come to ruin a perfectly adequate breakfast or are you just looking to take some more of my buttery bagels?” Geraldine demanded.
“Alas I did. And she’s a real predator when she sets her gaze on a tempting piece of banana drama,” Geraldine admitted.
“I happen to like obnoxiously coloured hair,” Nox replied dryly.
“And I’m aware which Vega arrived late. I was taking five points from Aer because I can’t stand a snitch.”
But also, ooh what kind of gift??
“I damn well can help you. And I will when I get over the shock of this. But here’s a quick pop quiz first: are you two conspiring to give me a fucking heart attack?”
“In Solaria we have a tradition of giving rose quartz to someone we want to be exclusive with.”
“Look, I don’t know what this thing is between us or where it’s going, Blue, but after everything that’s happened, the one thing that’s clear to me is that I don’t want anyone else. So, this crystal is a promise from me that I’m yours. For now. Forever. Or till it all goes to shit, I don’t know which yet.”
“You’re powerful. Once you’re trained, you could be a fucking legend on the pitch.”
that. But I hoped one day he’d tell me. Because then maybe I could try to find a way to reignite the fire that no longer burned in his heart.
“Take it in turns. Does one of you want to go first?” “I will,” I said quickly. Darcy frowned at me, but I held her gaze, not backing down. “If this is dangerous then I’m not risking you doing it first,” I said simply. “You’re the only thing I’ve got that matters to me in this world. If I lost you, I might as well be dead anyway so I’m not arguing.”
The worst thing of all wasn’t the way the shadows had made me feel or what they’d wanted me to do. It was how much a twisted part of me had liked it. And the aching temptation I felt to wield them again.
“All I can gauge is that this Shadow Princess is drawing closer.”
If I see no improvement, I will ensure both you and Lance regret not working harder.”
This thing between us was all-consuming; I’d fallen down the rabbit hole and I didn’t want to ever leave Wonderland, but it wouldn’t be my choice if we were ever caught.
“Do you want to know a secret?”
“You’re what I latch onto to bring me back from the shadows.”
“Besides,” he breathed. “I could always just challenge Orion and take your sister’s blood instead.” I laughed. “Good to know you’ve got a back-up plan.” “Every good politician always does,” he admitted.
How come you call him Gabriel?” “Oh, he’s family,” Caleb explained with a shrug.
“Oh…yeah. Well, I kinda got jumped by Caleb half way through it but I guess exercise is exercise right?”
“I think he’s just trying to help.” “I know he is,” I agreed. “But I also think he’s probably helping Darius more. Making sure he learns how to wield the shadows better than us so that he can be sure he’s still the strongest. And I’m sick of always being on the back foot with him and the other Heirs. We’re more powerful than them, Darcy. And I’m ready to start proving it.”
I eyed his huge, feathered black wings as we walked, remembering the weight of my own wings on my back and a line of heat shivered along my shoulder blades like they were aching to be set free.
“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.”
Gabriel carried on as if he hadn’t even noticed her reaction. “Besides, I’ve found my Elysian Mate, so you’re safe with me. My eyes never stray from my love, and they certainly wouldn’t settle on either of you.”
And once the bond was sealed between us…I feel like my whole fucking world begins and ends with her. I’ll never get enough, the ache in me will never be satisfied. It’s the best feeling in the world.”
Gabriel hardly even spoke unless he had to and certainly not to me. And Lance’s reputation as an asshole was well earned. But together they were like Bert and fucking Ernie. Nebula Allies my ass. The other Heirs were all my Nebula Allies, but I didn’t start jumping up and down like a little girl at a princess party every time I hung out with them.
“That stuff is fucking awful,” she said. “But it’s still less painful than fulfilling that dare would have been.”
If I got drunk, my willpower was going to take a battering and I’d start plotting ways to get Blue alone.
I was drunk. So fuuuucking drunk. And horny. Plan of dreams: Step one…get Blue naked. Oh, shit wait, I need more steps.
“I love you,” I told Darius, slinging my arm around him. “You’re so lucky, man. You could just go and be with Tory Vega. Just go and be with her.”
“Blue.” I smiled dreamily, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. She is so…everything. Does she know how everything she is?
