Chapter 7 #3
Jupiter didn’t press. She didn’t offer apologies or sympathetic murmurs. She just sat there, waiting to see if I would retreat behind my walls or let her in.
I swallowed the ash in my throat, forcing the words past the blockade of my trauma.
“My mother was able to dream-walk. She was a Pisces. But my father was a Scorpio.” I kept my eyes fixed on the horizon, unable to look at her.
“They didn’t know which one I would manifest, but I ended up taking after my mum. ”
“She must have been incredible, if she was anything like you.”
I didn’t say anything else. I couldn’t. If I opened my mouth, the raw, bleeding grief I fought every single day to conceal would spill out and drown us both.
Suddenly, the dreamscape shuddered.
The ground beneath our feet vibrated with a deep, roaring hum. The sky above began to crack, jagged lines of crimson bleeding through the illusion.
Jupiter gasped, clutching her chest as she doubled over. “They’re here,” she choked out, breathing heavily. “They’re pushing into my thoughts.”
The Nightfall Shield. They were in the village, just beyond the academy wards, and their proximity was turning the axis bond into a battering ram against Jupiter’s subconscious. One of them or maybe all of them, was trying very hard to get her attention.
“Jupiter, look at me,” I commanded, dropping to one knee beside her. I didn’t touch her—she was already overwhelmed by the invasive presence of four men trying to force their way into her mind.
“I can’t—it’s too loud,” she whispered, her fingers sinking into her hair. The dream-forest began to dissolve, replaced by the dark, suffocating stone of her Dominion dorm room. The nightmare was trying to reclaim her.
“You control this space,” I told her, channeling my magic, pushing a wave of absolute, glacial calm toward her. I didn’t manipulate her emotions, but I offered her a reservoir of tranquility to draw from. “Build the wall, Jupiter. Ice and steel. Shut them out.”
She squeezed her eyes shut, her breathing ragged. I watched the physical manifestation of her willpower as a massive, shimmering barrier of starlight erupted around us, violently repelling the crimson cracks in the sky. The pressure equalized. The suffocating weight lifted.
She opened her eyes, panting, her gaze locking onto mine. “Holy shit it worked… Thank you, Jamie, that was incredible.”
“You did the heavy lifting,” I said, doing everything in my physical power to keep myself from sweeping this girl into my arms and keeping her here with me. “The dream is destabilizing. You’re waking up.”
“Will you...” She hesitated, a vulnerability in her eyes that made my heart hammer against my ribs. “Will I see you at training?”
“I’ll be there,” I promised.
The dream shattered into a million pieces of light, and I was thrown backward into the void.
I woke up, my body jerking violently on the mattress. The cold air of my quarters in the Stardust dorm hit my sweat-dampened skin. I sat up, dragging a hand down my face, my fingers tracing the raised, jagged ridges of the scars that ruined my left cheek.
Gretchen let out a soft caw from her perch near the window, ruffling her iridescent feathers.
“I know,” I muttered to the bird, throwing my legs over the side of the bed. “I’m fucked.”
I walked into the adjoining bathroom and turned the shower on full blast, as cold as it would go. I stepped beneath the freezing spray, letting it shock my system, letting it wash away the lingering phantom warmth of the dream. I leaned my hands against the black tile, hanging my head.
I was falling for her. It was a terrifying, undeniable fact.
I, who’d spent two years perfecting the art of absolute emotional isolation after Eliza’s betrayal, was unraveling for a woman bonded to another shield.
A woman who was currently being hunted by four men who’d destroyed her and likely had no interest in someone like me.
I turned off the water and dried off, avoiding the mirror out of habit.
I dressed in my training gear—a sleeveless black shirt that left a network of silver scars on my arms and shoulders visible, and dark trousers.
I strapped my weapons on, the familiar weight of them the only thing that calmed my racing pulse.
When I entered the common room, the others were already awake. The tension in the air was thick enough to cut with a blade.
Lucas was pacing in front of the hearth, his phone gripped tightly in his hand. Rowan sat on the leather sofa, his jaw clenched so hard a muscle ticked visibly beneath his beard. Theo and Phoenix were standing by the window, looking out toward the main gates.
“Morning,” I said, my voice a flat drawl as I moved to the kitchenette to pour a cup of tea.
“Winters just updated me,” Lucas said, not stopping his pacing.
“The Nightfall Shield is currently occupying the entirety of the local inn. They’ve refused to speak to Assembly liaisons, and Percy Callahan explicitly threatened to burn the whole thing down if anyone tried to force them onto a plane back to New York. ”
“Arrogant prick,” Rowan spat. “They think they can terrorize their way back into her life.”
“They’re desperate,” I noted, leaning against the counter and taking a sip of the bitter tea. “The bond is a physical tether. Being denied access to their axis when she’s literally walking distance away is likely driving them feral.”
Theo turned from the window, gaze narrowing on me. “You sound remarkably calm about four highly lethal, emotionally unstable warriors camping on our doorstep.”
“Panic serves no purpose.” I didn’t mention the dream.
I didn’t mention that I had felt their desperation firsthand, pressing against Jupiter’s mind like a physical assault.
That secret belonged to me and her. “Jupiter has barred them from campus. The wards will hold them unless they decide to declare open war on Imperium, which even Callahan isn’t stupid enough to do. ”
“Don’t underestimate a wounded Aries,” Phoenix rumbled, crossing his massive arms. “If they decide to breach the gates, we need to be ready.”
“If they breach the gates, I’ll put them in the ground myself,” Lucas said, his icy blue eyes flashing with lethal promise. He stopped pacing and looked at each of us. “Jupiter trains with us. She eats with us. She is under our protection. Is that understood?”
“Crystal,” Rowan said, his voice a low growl.
“We don’t push her,” I said, setting my mug down. “She’s suffocating under the weight of their betrayal. If we swarm her, we’re no better than they are. We give her space, we give her a shield, but we let her set the pace.”
Lucas studied me for a long moment, and I held his gaze firmly. He might be our leader, but I wasn’t easily moved. Finally, he nodded. “Agreed.”
Four hours later, we left the dorms together, moving as a unit across the misty grounds toward the combat hall. The morning air was biting, but the cold felt good. It kept me sharp. When we pushed through the heavy wooden doors of the training facility, Jupiter was already there.
She was stretching on the mats, wearing dark leggings and a sports bra that left her sexy as fuck tattoos fully exposed. Her black hair was pulled back into a tight braid, and her skin held a healthy flush. But it was her eyes I looked at first. Always those damn eyes.