Chapter 2 #2
It was a perfect fucking idea.
By the time we hit the Aquarius common room, the whole place was buzzing with conversation and music.
The whole common room was full of blue light.
In the middle of the room, there was a water hearth, where magic compelled the water to behave like fire, even giving off waves of heat throughout the room.
I poured myself a double from the makeshift bar and tossed it back immediately, groaning at the much-needed burn. The room was full of familiar faces, but I couldn’t give a shite, not right now. Not when we’d be leaving this place behind in less than a week.
Jupiter’s best friend Tye was slouched in an armchair by the window wall.
There was a human woman in his lap. She had bright blue in her long hair, a kind smile, and very clearly besotted with him.
She was laughing at something he’d just whispered in her ear, and I could see Tye’s hand proudly splayed across her thigh.
Good for him. Even better for her, considering the rumors I’d heard this morning.
Apparently, the Assembly had cleared her to stay at Dominion, provided she signed enough NDAs to rival a blood oath.
And she’d done it. For Tye, of all people. Brave as fuck for a human girl. I respected the hell out of that. He wanted her, so he took her. He didn’t care if the Assembly or the entire Zodiac world thought it was inappropriate. All I wanted was what he’d found. That kind of certainty.
Lydia was on the opposite side of the room, dancing with Rafe.
Her hair swung behind her as she moved, wild and free, and Rafe kept his hands on her hips like he’d never let anyone close enough to take her away.
For all her supposed antipathy, she kept glancing our way, to the four of us sprawled across a cluster of low couches by the water hearth.
If I had to guess, I’d say she was waiting to see if we’d follow Jupiter all the way to England and actually behave ourselves, or if this was some elaborate scheme and we’d hurt her all over again. So far, she hadn’t thrown anything at us… a marked improvement over the last several weeks.
Aiden dropped onto the couch at my left, looking like he wanted to put his fist through a wall as per usual. Percy slouched at the opposite end. Neither of them even bothered to scan the room for threats, which told you everything you needed to know about how much energy we had left.
Draco sat nearest to the water, elbows braced on his knees, glass in hand. There were shadows under his eyes so deep you’d think he’d been dead for a week. He just sat there, drinking, saying nothing.
I raised my second glass and drained half of it in one go.
A couple of women, probably axis candidates, immediately made a beeline for our little slice of Hell. “Are you guys the Nightfall Shield?” The blonde did that giggle thing, fiddling with her hair. “I just transferred this week. You’re, like, actual legends here.”
Percy didn’t even look at her. “Not interested.”
She blinked, caught off guard. “Sorry, I just thought if you needed a friend tonight, or something—”
“I’d rather chew on broken glass,” Aiden spat.
The second girl turned her attention to Draco, giving him her best come-fuck-me smile. Her hand brushed his shoulder, lingering too long and setting my teeth on edge. “You look like you could use some fun. Your friends are real assholes.”
Draco didn’t look at her, just downed his drink and set the glass aside and glared into the flickering hearth, blue light dancing across his eyes.
I cleared my throat, drawing their attention to me.
For a second, there was a flicker of interest in the brunette’s eyes, but I shut it down fast. “I don’t mean to be rude, lass, but kindly fuck off.
We’re not interested in whatever this is.
If you indeed know who we are, then I’d wager you know we have an axis already.
” I leaned forward, internally revelling at the uncomfortable way they began shifting on their feet.
“Poaching shields is generally frowned upon, you know.”
The women scurried away, muttering under their breath, and no doubt poised to gossip.
I was tired of the bullshit politics of this place.
Every day that passed, Imperium was sounding like a breath of fresh air.
It didn’t hurt that after several long years in the states, I’d finally be close enough to visit my mum in Scotland.
I missed her fiercely, but Dominion was the right place for me, for a while.
It’s where my father trained, and his father and so on.
Mum was Gemini from the Isle of Skye, working in Aelari relocation and assistance programs for troubled youth.
She never wanted to settle in the US permanently, and I didn’t blame her, honestly. Assembly politics was suffocating here.
I let my magic stretch a little, lazily, just to see who else was paying too much attention.
The room was crowded enough that nobody gave a damn if my eyes went a little coppery in the dark.
Using our magic on others outside of training was slightly taboo, but something told me nobody would call me on it.
As a Gemini, I could not only duplicate myself physically, but I could expand my senses in multiple directions at one time. I could be having a private conversation with one half of my brain, while surveying the area with the other half, and neither would interfere with the other.
Lydia noticed, watching from the dance floor.
I held her gaze, not blinking until she realized what I was doing.
She raised her chin, a challenge, but didn’t look away.
I respected that. She’d always been fierce as fuck.
Jupiter would have hated her having to pick sides, but Lydia only played for one team.
She twirled away, laughing into Rafe’s mouth.
Fuck, this week was crawling to a standstill.
I didn’t even bother with the lights when I got back to my room. Just let the door slam behind me, boots off with a dull thud, jacket tossed over the chair. The ache in my head had settled deeper, right at the base of my skull, throbbing in time with my pulse.
My phone screen lit the darkness, bright blue-white slicing through the gloom, muscle memory driving me to the same place I ended up every fucking night. Jupiter’s social media.
She hadn’t actually posted since arriving at either academy.
If you scrolled back, though, she was everywhere.
Candid shots from diners at two in the morning, half-lit, always laughing or ducking Lydia’s attempt to get her in a selfie.
A couple with Tye, the two of them feeding slices of pizza to Noodle.
She used to post the dumbest shit.
Like how on March 24th, 3:40 a.m. she posted a selfie with a bag of marshmallows. The caption read, “Dinner of Champions. Noodle is judging me too much for someone who eats rodents.”
Or on May 10th, where she posted a thirty-second video of her walking down a stairwell way too fast and tripping over her own feet, cursing as she bounced off the wall and landed on her ass as Lydia howled with laughter in the background.
Why she posted it, I couldn’t even begin to guess.
But the video made me laugh, and laughing felt… strange.
I found a video from several months before she came to the academy.
Her hair was pulled back in a knot, and she wore a sleeveless top with the city lights behind her.
She’s got that look in her eyes I always found so fucking enticing.
It was the challenge, the fuck-you confidence, that always made people underestimate her.
The caption said, “Late patrol. Banes: 0. Jupe: 5. Needing a nap soon.”
Humans wouldn’t know what she meant by ‘banes 0,’ but I knew this must have come from a hunt that the Assembly sent her on when she was working for them in NYC. It still freaked me out to imagine her fighting them without a shield to back her up.
I’d watched that one stupid video maybe a hundred times.
Pathetic, I know.
I scrolled further and found a selfie. She was in some kind of trendy pub, and had a bourbon in one hand, black polish chipped, the other arm slung across the back of the booth.
Skin bare at the collar, the freckle above her left breast just barely visible.
Smile crooked as hell, eyes gone almost silver from the flash.
Not a trace of makeup, not a single fuck given.
The photo was perfect. I zoomed in until she filled the entire screen. The column of her throat, the dark braid falling over one shoulder, collarbones catching the light.