Blackthorne Academy, Year Two

Chapter 1 Bechora

The thud of our shoes landing on marble echoed off the high vaulted ceiling of the cavernous space.

My stomach threatened to revolt, and I forced myself to take a deep breath to steady it as my eyes scanned our new surroundings.

Large, stone columns were interspersed throughout, allowing for what would have been a breathtaking view under other circumstances, of golden fields that seemed to shimmer as they swayed under the soft breeze.

The scent of citrus and lavender tickled my nose, offering peace, but my chest was a warzone.

Gabriel’s hand slid into mine and gave a gentle squeeze.

“Welcome to my home, Dilectus,” Zypher’s words came softly from my other side.

I pulled free of Gabriel and moved to stand in front of my demon mate. Tilting my head back to look him in the eyes, I jabbed a finger into his chest.

“Take us back. Take us back, right now!” I demanded, my finger jabbing in time with my words.

Zypher didn’t move, didn’t breathe, just stood there looking down at me with his face twisted in unspoken apology.

“You promised me I’d always have a choice.

This isn’t my choice! I have to get back to them. ”

“Dilectus…”

“No! I don’t want to hear your excuses. I have to get back to my friends, to Caulder. You had no right to take me away from them like that. There’s something seriously wrong happening, and I need to be there with them to figure it out. I have to make sure they’re safe.”

“Dilectus, please–”

“Stop! I’m not some fragile little thing you can just tuck away whenever you feel the need. I learned how to survive on my own before I ever met you!”

Zypher’s jaw clenched, his shoulders going rigid at my words, and the expression on his face was almost enough to break my heart. He looked at me as if he were standing in front of something precious he’d already lost. My heart thundered in my chest, a pounding war drum that demanded satisfaction.

“Say something! You wanted to talk before, so say it now!” I demanded.

His head tilted away from me, eyes falling closed, and he stayed silent.

I pulled strength into my body the way he and Gabriel had taught me and shoved against his chest hard enough to make him rock back a step.

“You should have asked me!” I shoved him again, and again.

Zypher took the blows in stride, holding his ground as best he could against my copied vampiric strength.

“You don’t get to make my choices, not after promising I’d always have one.

I trusted you! I loved you! Why did you have to ruin it? ”

“Bechora,” Gabriel’s voice was low, careful like he was approaching a wounded animal.

My eyes flicked to him as a sob wrenched free from my throat.

His arms were around me before the sound had a chance to fade, pulling me close to his chest and murmuring words of comfort in a soft whisper.

My body trembled, fury and grief warring for a way out.

I pressed my face against Gabriel’s chest, not wanting to see the matching devastation on Zypher’s face.

He didn’t get to be hurt or angry, not when he was the one who’d broken his promises.

“This was not Zypher’s doing,” Lucifer spoke, reminding me that he was there.

I pulled free of Gabriel’s hold, wiping angrily at my cheeks, and glared at the so-called demon king.

“This has nothing to do with you. This is between me and my mate! ” I practically spat the last word.

“He’s the one who asked you to do this. He’s the one who didn’t bother asking me what I wanted before he did. ”

Lucifer’s head tilted to the side. “My progeny asked me to enact Aegis Maleficarum . He didn’t ask me to use a portal spell to bring all of you to our home.”

“What?” I asked, not understanding what he was telling me.

“ Aegis Maleficarum can’t teleport you anywhere. It’s simply a claiming of you as one of our kind through your mate bond. Under normal circumstances, it would have been enough to place you under our rule rather than Evarian’s.”

My mouth flapped open and shut as my mind worked to process his words. “I don’t–”

“I acted under the counsel of the Oracles.” Lucifer continued, taking a step toward me.

“They foresaw that Aegis Maleficarum wouldn’t be enough to allow you to leave the Academy and that you needed to be brought here so that you would be able to access Abel’s archives.

Geordalis is a gifted seer, but he is young.

He’s not yet learned the full extent of his power or what he can, or should, share from his visions. ”

My hands fisted at my sides so tightly my nails bit into my palms as I stared at Lucifer. The corner of his mouth ticked up in a smirk as if he knew the words I was holding back.

“These are unusual times, Starcaller. Your half-brother is powerful, yes, and you should heed his counsel, but the Oracles are older and wiser. We do not question when they tell us to act, because they have seen the outcome if we don’t.

Angry as you may be, we are not the enemy.

Leaving you at the Academy wasn’t an option, not if you’re to walk the right path. ”

“The right path?” I snapped, incredulously. “I was just fine at Blackthorne. I had things handled. My friends were helping me figure all of this out just fine.”

Lucifer shook his head. “No, little Starcaller. You were wandering blindly through threads spun long before your birth.”

Before I could snap back, the sound of doors opening rang out from behind me.

The click of heels on the stone caused me to pull my gaze from Lucifer and look over my shoulder.

A woman strolled toward us. Molten-gold hair spilled over her shoulders in waves, shifting against the fabric that draped over her body, and seemed to dance with each step.

Her eyes were the same impossible-blue as Zypher’s, telling me exactly who she was. His mother, Lilith.

“Mother,” Zypher said with a slight nod of his head.

She smiled at him, maternal love radiating from her in waves. “Welcome home, my son,” she said before gliding to a stop in front of me. Taking both of my hands in hers, she turned her brilliant smile on me. “You look so much like your mother.”

Shock zipped through my system, causing my anger to be momentarily forgotten. “You knew my mother?”

Lilith’s smile softened, a flicker of warmth passing over her features as sunlight breaking through the clouds. “She was my friend. The sister of my heart in all the ways that mattered. I helped hide her and your father here in Gehenna.”

The air seemed to shift around me, growing heavy with something I couldn’t name. My eyes flicked to Lucifer to find his expression darkened, flames flickering in his eyes. Lilith ignored him completely, stepping closer to me as she shifted to tuck my arm in hers.

“Seraphine was radiant,” she said softly, almost to herself.

“Oscoercy Evarian wanted her power for himself even though she wasn’t a Starcaller.

He knew the power that lived in her veins could only be passed down through her bloodline.

That one day, his corruption would reawaken those gifts.

In his mind, the only way to stop the Starcaller from rising against him was to control it for himself.

” She paused, shaking her head. “Your mother wouldn’t be swayed; she’d already found her true mate in your father, so Evarian murdered every living relative, no matter how distant, and promised to come for your father’s head next if she didn’t willingly go to him. ”

Lilith’s voice took on a distant, almost reverent cadence.

“They were good people, your parents. Brave, stubborn, impossibly in love. They wanted nothing to do with crowns and prophecies; all they wanted was peace, but your mother knew that Evarian wouldn’t stop until he had what he desired, so she came to me, and I hid them in these lands.

” Her expression faltered, pain flickering behind her eyes. “It wasn’t enough.”

Gabriel’s arm brushed mine, where he’d moved to my other side at some point without me noticing. “He hunted them.”

Lilith nodded. “Evarian has ruled longer than most recall. His paranoia festered centuries ago, long before anyone noticed the darkness consuming his soul. Whatever goodness may have existed within him vanished before he learned of the prophecy that set him on his path to claim your mother for his own. I was foolish to think that I could keep them safe.” I could practically feel the shame and grief rolling off her.

“It’s not your fault, darling,” Lucifer murmured, moving to pull her into his arms. “How could we know that one of our own would betray them?”

She pulled back, her eyes glittering with unshed tears.

“It never should have happened.” She heaved out a breath, her entire body shuddering with the motion before she pulled away from him and looked back to me.

“We had no warning. Evarian knew exactly where we’d hidden your family away.

After years of searching, one of our own told him of your birth.

That Seraphine had a child, born under the same celestial convergence that heralded the Starcaller Queen herself.

You were barely two when the warding around the valley of Emberfell was destroyed, and the Usurper King marched his armies through the streets, murdering anyone who stood in their path.

I felt them shatter, but I was too late.

When I arrived with my legions, I found your parents slaughtered, and you and Geordalis were just gone.

Evarian ended an entire bloodline to avoid a prophecy that spelled his downfall. ”

“Prophecy?” I choked out, emotion clogging my throat over the loss of parents I’d never known.