Preorder Edition Bonus Chapters from Zodiac Academy #2
My gaze tracked over the place their arms were locked together, and my heart hammered out a painful beat. Violence coated my tongue and possessiveness sent my mind into a furious mania. So that was it, was it? We were done and now she was dating fucking Polaris?
It hurt, like a knife driving under my ribs and finding the beating muscle that lay beneath, carving it up real good.
Darcy pressed her lips together, her persisting anger with me clear as she turned away just like that, returning her focus to him .
No one even knew about Darcy and I, so if she didn’t speak to me again from this moment forward, that was it. We were done, and no one would ever even know we’d been something. Like a flash of fire in a too-hot pan, burned out before we’d found enough fuel to sustain us.
I had the tormenting feeling that I’d fucked up, that this was entirely my fault and I had played my cards all wrong.
I scored a hand over my face as I continued walking, and the moment I was out of her sight, I took out my Atlas and scrolled my way to Francesca’s name, hitting call. She answered on the second ring, and I hoped she was up for a night out as surely as I suddenly was.
“Hey,” I clipped. “You wanna go to the Fairy Fair?”
“That is so crazy. I just got a call from my friend saying she can’t go with me, so I’ve got a spare ticket.”
“You ready to leave soon then?”
“I can be there in five.”
“Perfect.”
I hung up, then ran forward with a burst of energy, speeding my way back to the Asteroid Place and leaving the gate swinging shut behind me as I made it to my front door.
My fist slammed into the wall beside it before I could stop myself, a crack splintering out across the masonry that was going to serve me a scalding from Elaine.
I shoved the door open and prowled inside, a roaring noise going off in my head. I needed to get to that fair. I could use the fresh air and time with Francesca. It’d do me good. And in no way was I going there to keep an eye on Darcy and her little date.
If he touches her, I’ll slice him open and bake all his innards into a pie. I don’t even bake, but for him, I’ll don a little pink apron, make the pastry from scratch, and cook up a pie so damn good that I win first prize in a local baking contest.
The door swung open, and I turned, finding Francesca there in a fitted red dress and a long jacket, frowning at me in concern. “I fixed your wall. Why was it cracked?”
“You were quick,” I said, glancing down at my knuckles which I realised were shredded and dripping blood onto the floor.
“Lance,” she gasped, grabbing my hand and healing it in an instant, looking up at me in concern with dark, familiar eyes.
“That wall’s had it coming for a while,” I muttered dryly, pulling away from her and heading to the kitchen, tossing cupboards open in search of a bottle. What was I staying sober for anyway? Bourbon had always been my answer, so why would I change that?
“What are you looking for?” Francesca asked, but I didn’t answer, continuing to hunt the backs of understocked cupboards and cursing every time I came up short. I’d cleared out every bottle and now I was paying the price of that idiocy.
“Lance.” Francesca caught my arm, turning me to her. “Talk to me.”
I sighed, my hair falling forward into my eyes as I dropped my head. “It’s nothing.” Or everything, depending on which way you look at it.
“Do you ever feel like the stars are against you?” I asked her, and her eyes widened at my sharp tone. “Because I’m starting to think they have my name on the top of their shit list, Francesca, because they take away every good thing I set my sights on.”
She reached up, cupping my cheek, and I took a breath to centre to myself, feeling myself slipping into that dark place I was so accustomed to.
At least, I had been before Darcy had cast a few drops of sunlight into the pool of desolation I’d been lost at the bottom of.
I’d finally found a direction to swim, and no matter how wrong it had been to follow her light, I’d let myself chase it, knowing I might eventually find myself in an even deeper abyss when I lost her.
Because of course, I’d always been going to lose her, I just hadn’t expected the light to fade so fast.
“Not everything,” Francesca said gently. “What’s happened?”
My gaze fell from hers and I shook my head marginally, this secret too deep to share.
She may have been my Nebula Ally, but she worked for the Fae Investigation Bureau, and she was the last person in the world I could share this with.
I didn’t think she’d rat me out, but I could put her job in jeopardy if this secret was ever exposed by other means and I was put under interrogation. I couldn’t do that to her.
“I just had a rough day,” I said, hating having to avoid the truth when it came to her.
We used to tell each other everything, but really, I’d been a pretty shitty friend since Clara had died.
Losing her had made me cold, distant. Smiles weren’t easy anymore, not like they used to be for the man I’d been when we’d known each other at the academy.
I’d changed, and for some reason she’d stuck by me, even though I forgot to call or cancelled plans with little notice.
And when she tried to talk to me about it, I just shut down, because the last thing I wanted to do was bring up Clara and feel the loss of her all over again.
So instead, I just sort of drifted along, fulfilling my duties here at Zodiac with the minimum effort I could get away with and finding meaning in pretty much nothing except helping Darius train to take on his father.
It was the only thing that kept me getting up in the morning, the knowledge that one day soon, I would see Lionel fall, and maybe then I would gain some peace in retribution.
At least, that had been the only thing getting me up in the morning until Darcy.
She had no fucking idea how much I looked forward to seeing her in Cardinal Magic, watching the way her eyes lit up with the knowledge I gave her about this world or the way she got that little crease between her brows when she was contemplating the vastness of her capabilities.
And it had become so much more than that, each look we shared holding a secret that set my heart pounding and my fangs prickling with want.
I craved her in a way that held all of my attention, made me forget all the dark shit that plagued me until there was just the hopeless possibility of us.
I felt Francesca’s eyes on me, sure she wanted to press me further on my vague reply, but when she spoke, thankfully, she let it go.
“Well then, you’re in luck.” She waved something under my nose, and I took in the silver tickets to the Fairy Fair with a sparkly Faerris wheel embossed on it.
“Because we’re going out. And we’re going to forget all about the shit eating at us. ”
“What’s eating you?” I frowned.
She sighed heavily. “My boss is riding my ass for the latest Nymph report, and he wants me to discount the nest we raided last week because it was half a mile beyond the border of our hunting parameters. He’s trying to play down the threat in the area so the public don’t lose their minds.
But shouldn’t we be out there exposing the truth? People need to be prepared.”
“That’s bullshit,” I agreed, and she nodded.
“Anyway, forget work. Forget everything, in fact. Let’s just have a good time where you don’t have a fight with any more walls that have pissed you off. Pretty please.” She fluttered her eyelashes at me.
“Alright, let me get changed,” I said, then shot away from her into the bedroom, putting on jeans and a black shirt before tossing on my leather jacket.
I returned to the lounge, and Francesca’s eyes dipped down to take in my outfit before she moved forward and grabbed my arm. “Ready?”
“Uhuh,” I said, letting her tow me towards the exit.
“I’ve got stardust,” she suggested, but I hadn’t driven my car in a week, and I was really in the mood for it. Maybe a drive might release some of this potent energy in me too.
“Let’s take the Faerarri.” I grabbed my keys and whipped her off her feet, shooting out of Asteroid Place with her laughter rising around me.
I ran as fast as I could, the air whirling madly around us and my heart thumping furiously, almost powerfully enough that I couldn’t feel the knife Darcy had slid into it earlier. Ha, who was I kidding?
I only stopped when we were standing right beside my beautiful red car in the parking lot, swiftly opening the passenger door for Francesca as I placed her down. She combed her fingers through her windswept hair as she dropped into the car, a bright smile lighting her features.
I shot around and slid into the driver’s seat, pressing the button to start up the engine, and the car purred deeply.
I backed up and drove us out of the lot and away across campus, soon sailing through the gates onto the open road and turning down a lane to take the more interesting route to the fair.
I pressed my foot to the gas and used my heightened hearing to sense if anything was ahead of us on the road, but it was all clear.
I let her fly, driving with wild abandon around horseshoe bends, carving through the woodland and climbing over the hillside.
“What’s got into you?” Francesca called, her laughter turning to a whoop as I took another hairpin turn at high speed, my knuckles turning white around the wheel.
“Nothing.” Just a blue-haired princess who’s an heir to the throne of our entire kingdom, and my student, who I am entirely forbidden from laying a hand on.