Chapter 12 #3
“There doesn’t need to be a conversation at all. I was dancing. That’s it.”
“That wasn’t dancing,” Aiden said, his golden eyes flashing. “That was foreplay with an audience.”
I felt my cheeks burn, both from anger and the uncomfortable truth in his words. I had been putting on a show, deliberately trying to provoke them.
“Fine,” I finally said. “Two minutes. Outside.”
I stormed past them, pushing through the crowd toward the terrace doors. Cool night air hit my flushed skin as I stepped outside, the music immediately muffling behind me. The terrace was mercifully empty, everyone else too busy enjoying the party to bother with fresh air.
I heard the door open and close behind me as all four of them followed. I turned to face them, arms still crossed defensively.
“Well?” I demanded. “Say whatever it is you need to say so I can get back to my night.”
Percy stepped forward first, his dark eyes glimmering with red magic. “What were you thinking? Do you have any idea what you’re doing to the bond?”
“What I’m doing to the bond?” I laughed incredulously. “That’s rich coming from you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Aiden asked.
“You don’t get to judge me for dancing with someone when one of you is literally fucking someone else,” I said, my eyes landing on Eris.
Eris at least had the decency to look uncomfortable. “That was before—”
“Let’s not pretend any of you want this.”
“That’s not fair,” Draco said quietly, moving closer. “The circumstances weren’t ideal, but—“
“But now you’re stuck with me, so I should just fall in line? Become the perfect little axis who doesn’t talk to other men? Should I climb you and ride your dicks right now? Beg for you to want me?”
Percy ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “That’s not what this is about. The bond is still forming, still fragile. What you were doing in there was destabilizing it.”
I hesitated. “So what, I’m just supposed to never interact with anyone else ever again?”
“No one’s saying that,” Draco said. “But there’s a difference between interaction and whatever that was. With the bond this fragile and new, we’re likely to put someone in the hospital for even thinking of you, much less putting their hands on you.”
“And what about you four?” I demanded. “Are you planning to become celibate? No more Lyssas or whoever else you’ve been sleeping with?”
The silence that followed was telling. I laughed bitterly.
“That’s what I thought. Double standards are fun, aren’t they?”
“None of us would do what you were doing in there. Not with the bond forming.”
“Because you’ve all had each other for years!
” I exploded, the frustration of the past weeks finally boiling over.
“You chose each other! You built something together willingly! I didn’t get a choice.
I was dying, and now I’m tied to four men who see me as an inconvenience at best and a threat at worst. You don’t fucking want me, so why should I want you? ”
My voice cracked, tears threatening despite my best efforts to hold them back. I felt their shock at my outburst.
“Is that really what you think?” Eris asked with a deep frown. “That we see you as a threat?”
“What else am I supposed to think? When the bond happened, you all looked like you’d been sentenced to life imprisonment.
I know being magically chained to me isn’t ideal, but maybe extend me the same fucking respect you give each other for once.
” I yawned suddenly, the several drinks I’d chugged catching up with me. “I’m going back to my room. Alone.”
I moved to walk past them, but Percy stepped into my path. “We need to figure this out. All of us. The bond isn’t going away.”
“I know that,” I said quietly. “But tonight, I just wanted to feel normal. To forget for a few hours that my life isn’t my own anymore.”
His eyes shuttered slightly. “I understand that better than you might think.”
Before I could respond, the terrace doors burst open. Lydia stumbled out, her face flushed and eyes wide.
“Jupiter! Thank god,” she grabbed my arm. “You need to come. Now.”
“What’s wrong?” I asked, immediately alert.
“It’s Noodle. He’s in the hall, and he’s not happy.”
“Shit! How did he even get out?”
I felt the Nightfall Shield’s collective concern spike. They’d all grown surprisingly fond of my familiar over the past week. I followed Lydia back through the party and out into the hallway. As we hurried toward the main hall, I could already hear the commotion.
“What happened?” I asked as we ran.
“I don’t know exactly. Someone said he appeared in the middle of the dance floor, started hissing at everyone. Security tried to capture him, but...”
We rounded the corner and I stopped. Noodle was coiled, his body raised in a defensive posture. Around him, a circle of security personnel stood with containment poles, trying to figure out how to subdue him without getting bitten.
“Don’t touch him!” I shouted, pushing through the gathered crowd.
One of the security guards turned to me. “Ms. Black, stay back. This creature is dangerous.”
“He’s my familiar. He won’t hurt anyone unless he feels threatened.”
‘Jupe!’ Noodle’s voice filled my mind, agitated and strangely urgent. ‘Danger! Smell danger!’
“What kind of danger?” I asked aloud, confusing the security personnel who couldn’t hear his side of the conversation.
‘Bad magic. Wrong magic. In our room.’
I felt the blood drain from my face. “Someone was in our room?”
‘Yes. Left smell. Bad smell. Came to find you.’
The Nightfall Shield had caught up to us, and I felt their alarm through the bond as they picked up on my fear.
“What is it?” Draco asked, moving to my side.
“Someone was in my room. Noodle came to warn me.”
Percy’s expression turned thunderous. “We need to check it out. Now.”
I nodded, then turned back to Noodle. “It’s okay, buddy. I’m here now.” I held out my arm, and he immediately slithered up it, coiling around my shoulders in his preferred position.
The security guards looked relieved to have the situation defused, though they eyed Noodle warily. “Ms. Black, your familiar cannot be allowed to roam freely,” one of them said. “Academy regulations clearly state—”
“I’d like to see you try to stop Noodle from doing as he pleases.”
We fled the hall and ran for the elevators, filing in as a collective group. As we approached my door, I felt a strange prickling sensation on my skin. Magic, and not the friendly kind.
“Wait,” I said, holding up a hand. “Something’s not right.”
Draco stepped forward, his Scorpio magic manifesting as he scanned the door. “There’s a ward on it.”
“What kind?” Aiden asked, his own magic flaring golden around his hands.
“Looks like a trigger ward,” Draco replied. “Set to activate when the door opens.”
‘Bad magic,’ Noodle confirmed, his body tightening around my shoulders.
“Can you disarm it?” I asked, looking at Draco.
He nodded, his fingers already tracing complex patterns in the air. “Stand back.”
We all moved away as Draco worked, his purple magic weaving around the invisible ward. After a minute of careful manipulation, there was a soft hissing sound, like air escaping a balloon.
“Done,” he said. “But we should still be careful.”
Percy moved to the front, his Aries magic forming a protective red shield around his body. “I’ll go first.”
He pushed the door open slowly, bracing for whatever might happen. When nothing did, he stepped inside, scanning the room before signaling for us to follow.
My room appeared untouched at first glance. Everything was where I’d left it—books stacked on the desk, clothes in the wardrobe, bed neatly made. But there was a strange smell in the air, a bit acrid and chemical.
‘There,’ Noodle directed, his head swiveling toward my pillow.
I approached cautiously, and that’s when I saw it, a small, folded piece of paper on my pillow. With trembling fingers, I picked it up and unfolded it.
Written in flowing script were five words: ‘Myths should stay in the past.’
Beneath the words was a crude drawing of a snake with its head cut off.
“Lovely,” I said, trying to sound nonchalant despite the chill running down my spine. I passed the note to Percy, whose expression darkened as he read it.
“This isn’t a prank.”
Eris took the note from him, examining it closely. “The magic on your door was designed to do more than just scare you. If Draco hadn’t disarmed it…” He trailed off, but I could fill in the blanks. Someone had wanted to hurt me, or worse.
“Who would do this?” I asked, sinking onto the edge of my bed.
“Someone who doesn’t want the thirteenth zodiac to exist,” Aiden said grimly. “There are plenty who think your designation upsets the natural order of things.”
Draco was still scanning the room, his magic probing for any other traps. Tendrils of purple like fanned out from his fingertips, traveling throughout the room, over surfaces, under furniture and even around the seam of my window glass. “We need to report this to Director Waverly.”
“And then what?” I asked. “Hide in my room? Let them win?”
“No,” Percy said. “Then you move into the shield quarters. Tonight.”