Zodiac Academy 3: The Reckoning
The Reckoning: Chapter 21

I RACED THROUGH THE sky, flying hard and fast with Lance on my back. I bellowed flames all around us for a good half an hour before my rage finally started to simmer down enough for me to consider landing. We’d flown well beyond the confines of the school and out to sea but I didn’t head back, scouring the dark waves beneath us until I found what I was looking for.

I banked hard as I spotted the little island we sometimes came to, circling as the sea breeze fought against my movements. Lance cast his power over the air around us to make it easier for me. I tucked my wings as we dove towards the sandy cove on the south side of the island which was the only place open enough for me to land.

My claws dug into the sand as I brought myself to a halt and I sank a little with the weight of my Dragon form pressing me down.

Lance leapt from my back in well practiced movements and a shudder ran down my spine from the tip of my snout to the end of my tail as I shook off the scales and fire of my Dragon form and retreated back into my Fae flesh. It was harder to do than usual as my rage fought with the desire to stay in my Order form but I forced it back, needing to vent about this situation to Lance while we were able to talk in private.

The second my bones had realigned I turned to him and started on a rant which I wasn’t sure would ever end.

“Can you believe the balls of that fucking girl?” I snarled, scraping my hands through my hair so hard that I was fairly sure I’d drawn blood along my scalp.

“Put some pants on before you kick off, will you?” Lance muttered, tossing my clothes at me as he turned away and began pacing along the shore.

I bit my tongue as I forced my legs into my pants and he set to work casting the familiar spells of silence and repulsion just in case anyone was trying to spy on us. Though out here that seemed more than unlikely. But he never let his guard down, even when we could be sure of privacy. His movements were tense but the rage I was still feeling seemed to have burned out of him a little during our flight here.

I didn’t have the patience to do any more than pull on my sweatpants before I started up again.

“How did she even get into my room? It was still locked when I went to put that fire out. And I followed her back to Ignis House right before we found it too. She was right ahead of me in the crowd so I don’t even see how she could have managed to-”

“The Vegas never made it to the assembly on Astrum’s death,” Lance interrupted. “Darcy broke into my office while she should have been there and tried to steal some stardust so that they could go home. I’m guessing Tory went to your room to get some gold. I don’t know how much I told you about how they were living in the mortal world?”

“Why would I give a shit about that?” I snapped.

“Because it might help you understand Tory’s motivations. It’s obvious that you’re more than just pissed off about this because she got one up on you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I demanded, prowling towards my friend while he looked back at me like I wasn’t a goddamn Dragon capable of biting his head off if he pushed me the wrong way.

“It just seems like you’re taking it a bit personally,” he replied with a shrug. A fucking shrug.

“Of course I’m taking it personally – she stole from me and set my whole room alight!” I yelled.

Lance snorted a laugh and I snarled as I ran at him, fully intending to punch that stupid look off of his face. He shot away from me using his Vampire speed and I spun around, replaceing him behind me and out of reach again.

“My point is,” he continued like I hadn’t just tried to attack him. “That the two of them were living in this shitty apartment which was really just one tiny room with mold on the walls and a broken window which made the whole place cold and fucking miserable. I’m pretty sure they were sharing a beat up couch for a bed and they could barely even afford to pay the rent. Tory was stealing motorbikes for money and they were both the kind of skinny which spoke more of a lack of food than a dietary choice.”

“Do you expect me to feel sorry for them?” I asked incredulously, though I couldn’t quite fight off the mental picture he was painting for me. I couldn’t even imagine living like that. Money had never been something I’d even thought about. I took it for granted, it was the least important thing in my life because we had way too much of it. To think of the Solarian Princesses living in squalor like that was absurd but I knew Lance wouldn’t lie to me either.

“No. I don’t expect you to feel sorry for them, but it makes sense for you to try and understand them. The only real reason they came to Zodiac Academy in the first place was to claim their inheritance. And then you and the other Heirs did everything in your power to drive them out. But without graduating from the Academy, they can’t claim their inheritance and they’d be back to having nothing. So when you all did what you did to them on the night of the party and they wanted to run, they needed two things. A way to leave. And money.” He sounded so fucking reasonable in his argument that I felt some of my anger melting away.

“So, what? I’m just supposed to give them a free pass because they were desperate?” I asked incredulously.

“They’re Fae, it’s in their nature to fight back just like it’s in yours. Question is, do you think that what she did to you shows she’s more powerful than you? Especially if you line it up to the various things you’ve done to her…”

“Obviously not,” I spat. “But how am I supposed to just carry on like she didn’t do it?”

“I think she got a good grasp on your rage when you realised what she’d done,” Lance continued in a low voice. “For a moment there I felt like I was looking at Lionel instead of a man who swore never to be like him.”

This time I didn’t give him a chance to escape me as I swung towards him. I slammed my palms against his chest and forced him back a step, glaring right in his eyes in a clear challenge.

“Say that again,” I snarled.

Lance didn’t even fucking flinch which only pissed me off more. “How did it feel when you pinned her to the ground by her neck?” he breathed. “Did that make you feel good? Did you put her in her place?”

I swallowed hard against a lump in my throat as shame prickled up my spine. “I wasn’t going to choke her. I didn’t even tighten my grip. I just…”

“You just wanted her to think you might. Sound familiar?”

I turned away from him suddenly, not wanting to see that accusation in his eyes. I refused to admit I was anything like my father but a small voice in the back of my head was telling me he was right. Roxy had stopped fighting back by the time I put my hand around her throat. My magic had already immobilised her and I’d known that I’d already won. The rest of what I’d done to her hadn’t been about winning it was about rubbing it in. Just like my father always did to me. Driving salt into the wounds.

“Fuck.” I started pacing, scraping my hands through my hair again as I tried to force away the image of her glaring up at me as I pinned her to the ground. “I can’t…she drives me insane, you know that? She challenges me at every goddamn turn. No matter how thoroughly she’s beaten she still gets back up and looks me right in the eye again. Every. Damn. Time. And she hates me, it’s obvious, she says it right to my face but then every now and then she looks at me like…”

“Like what?” Lance asked curiously, drawing a little closer.

I dropped to the sand with a heavy sigh, my anger burning low as all kinds of unnamed emotions swirled to the surface instead.

“I dunno. Like she’s trying to work me out. Or maybe she wants to. But then she goes right back to calling me names or standing in opposition to every little thing I do or screwing Caleb…”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Lance asked, taking a seat beside me.

“Nothing,” I said instantly. “It just pisses me off. It’s like she gives him a free pass for all his bullshit but expects me to grovel at her feet for just being Fae.”

Lance didn’t say anything in response to that and I raised my head to scowl out over the water.

“Enough about the fucking Vegas,” I muttered.

“You were really only talking about one of them,” Lance pointed out.

“Well Roxy is always in my face. She lives in my House, I have to help her with her fire magic, she’s screwing my friend, so-”

“That’s the second time you’ve brought that up.”

“What are you, my fucking critic or my friend?”

“Both most of the time,” he joked.

“Well right now I just want a friend. Stop pointing out my flaws and just agree with me while I rant about the situation.”

“Okay, if you think it’ll make you feel better,” Lance agreed. “Tory Vega is such a bitch. You went way too easy on her and I really hope she’s off somewhere crying right now because she knows how wrong she is.”

A faint smile tugged at my lips and Lance leaned back on his elbows as he went on.

“I also heard that she’s fucking awful in bed and Caleb is only screwing her because he feels sorry for her. Besides, everyone knows she really wishes she could fuck the Fire Heir but he’s way out of her league so she just cries herself to sleep over it every night instead.”

“Fucking Vegas,” I muttered, half a smirk tugging at my lips.

“Fucking Vegas,” he agreed.

We sat in silence, listening to the waves crash against the shore for a few moments and I tried to stop thinking about Roxy Vega and all the things I hated about her. Plus some of the things I didn’t.

I let out a long breath, closing my eyes for a moment as the Dragon finally fell back asleep within my chest. Roxy’s brown eyes found me in the dark, the way they’d widened slightly as my fingers gripped her neck. The flicker of her pulse against my thumb, which gave away exactly what she thought of me in that moment. She thought I might kill her. She’d believed it. I’d wanted her to fear me and succeeded in painting myself as a monster in her eyes.

So why did that suddenly seem like a bad thing?

I swallowed thickly and opened my eyes again, not wanting to look at her in my mind. Which was where she was. Too fucking often.

I shook off the feelings of guilt before they even had a chance to surface. She’d stolen from me. Burned down my room. Looked me in the eye and made it beyond clear she hated me. I didn’t care what her reasons were. I didn’t care if I’d pushed her to it.

She hated me. And I hated her.

Simple.