Chapter 3
Percy
The glass shattered against the stone wall, the amber liquid inside staining the rug below, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. I stared at my trembling hands, chest heaving as I tried to draw a breath through the suffocating, agonizing pressure in my lungs.
It’d been eighty-six hours since Jupiter boarded that plane to London. Eighty-six fucking hours of feeling the axis bond stretch across thousands of miles of ocean, pulling my soul so taut I thought it might snap and leave me a hollow, mindless husk.
“Throwing another glass isn’t going to bring her back, Percy,” Draco’s voice came from the doorway of our ruined common room. He looked like a corpse. His pale skin was practically gray, dark purple bruises forming deep bags under his eyes. He hadn’t slept since the gala. None of us had.
“Shut the fuck up, Draco,” I snarled, my magic flaring red hot around my fists. “Just... shut up.”
“He’s right,” Aiden said, emerging from the hallway. His knuckles were split and bleeding from whatever he had been punching in the training rooms for the last six hours. “We’re tearing ourselves apart.”
“We deserve to be torn apart!” I roared, whirling on them. “We pushed her away! We believed a manipulative little bitch over our own bonded axis! We broke her, Aiden. Did you feel her when she left? Did you feel how completely empty she was?”
Aiden flinched. He sank onto the ruined sofa, burying his face in his bleeding hands. “I feel her every second. She’s blocking us, but the bond is stretched so far I can’t breathe. I literally can’t catch my breath.”
Eris walked in, carrying a fresh bottle of whiskey. He didn’t bother with a glass, just took a long, desperate pull from the neck. “I went to Waverly. I demanded a transfer to Imperium.”
My head snapped up. “And?”
“Denied,” Eris laughed bitterly. “She said the Assembly won’t allow the Nightfall Shield to abandon Dominion.
We’re their prized weapons, remember? They need us here to look pretty and fight the bane.
She told me to ‘weather the separation’ and that the bond might eventually snap if we stay apart long enough, or if she bonds with another shield. ”
“I’ll kill her for even suggesting it,” I said, and meant every fucking word. “I’ll burn this entire fucking academy to the ground.”
“That won’t get Jupiter back,” Draco said, taking the bottle from Eris. “Violence won’t fix this. We broke her trust. If we want her back, we have to earn it.”
“How?” Aiden looked up, his eyes shining with unshed tears. “She won’t even let us feel her. She’s built a fortress in her mind. And she’s in London, surrounded by the Stardust Shield.”
A fresh wave of possessive fury ripped through me at the mention of those assholes. I remembered the way Lucas Bennett had looked at her. The way Rowan Nightingale had held her on the dance floor. They wanted her. They knew exactly what we’d thrown away, and they were waiting to catch her.
“We’re going to London,” I said, the plan solidifying in my mind with crystal clarity. “Waverly won’t approve a transfer? Fine. We don’t transfer. We just leave.”
“Go rogue?” Draco raised an eyebrow. “The Assembly will hunt us down. We’ll be branded as deserters.”
“Let them try. We’re the Nightfall Shield.
We’ve taken down dozens of Class Five breaches.
You think a few Assembly lapdogs can stop us?
I don’t give a fuck about our standing anymore.
I don’t give a fuck about my father or Dominion.
Imperium would welcome us with open arms if it means we join their ranks.
I’ll crawl on my hands and knees through the streets of London if I have to, but I am not letting her go. She is our axis. She is mine.”
Aiden stood up abruptly. “When do we fucking leave?”
“Tonight,” I said. “Pack nothing but your weapons and your passports. We’re going to get our girl back.”