Unbroken (Loxley Academy #3)

Chapter 1

~Vaxan~

“Sylas is dead.”

Those devastating words—the confirmation that none of us had wanted to register, let alone reconcile—had first come from Kai, shortly after Ariana had arrived on the scene, and been unable to save Sylas in spite of her True Celestial might.

It had been too late.

Sylas Morgrave was gone.

I couldn’t chase away the devastating imagery of his loved ones breaking down around his prone form. Lazriel cradling him on the grass with Cassius shocking Sylas repeatedly with his power, Velra stroking Sylas’ hair off his sweat-drenched brow, Kai compressing the wound.

Ryker had been pacing on the phone with the Guardian Movement and reinforcing the illusion Velra had cast over the area, ensuring the campus didn’t discover what had happened.

Remnant had arrived back on the scene, and he had been alternating between trying to comfort his son, and making call after call, mobilizing his whisper network of The Shadowed to keep this under wraps.

The world discovering the Last Necromancer was dead would be deeply damaging.

Remnant had brought Evira back with him when he’d arrived and the two of us had left the Loxley Academy campus after Sylas’ body had been taken home by his family.

Ryker had transported equipment from the medical wing at the Guardian Compound into one of the guest rooms at Glacialis Arx, and Kai had told me that Sylas’ body was being contained within a Restoration Chamber.

They were cylindrical vessels of stone and reinforced glass with restorative magical properties.

Although he was dead, he was still being treated.

They were still trying to rouse him. It was… brutal, as Evira had termed it.

I shifted my weight and tightened my hold around Evira.

I was actually trembling. Barely holding myself together—absolutely unheard of for me. I could weather anything.

But this wasn’t just anything.

We’d failed to stop Ruxnoth.

Sylas had perished.

And Winter…

Our beautiful love had been taken by that monstrosity of a True Celestial.

And now, here Evira and I were preparing ourselves for a very similar reaction from Zayn that would no doubt be forthcoming.

We stood outside the Requital building. Zayn had just returned from his field operation and was currently being debriefed by his mentor, Charles Petrone.

“He told me he loved me.”

I started at Evira’s quiet confession that whispered on the wind.

She angled her head to look up at me. “Just before that monster arrived, Winter spoke those amazing words to me. I told him I loved him too, but I was in dragon form and Winter doesn’t speak Draconic Tongue. So maybe he didn’t realize that I—”

“He knew, beauty. Winter knew.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“The look in your eyes. Even in dragon form, they read the same. Winter being so very perceptive and attuned to others, especially those he cares deeply for, would also have conveyed your heartfelt truth to him.”

She smiled and sank against me. “Thank you.”

“Of course,” I breathed into her hair.

I stared at the Requital building, studying its striking exterior for the umpteenth time since we’d arrived, something that was somewhat helping to keep my mind… contained. A grounding point of fixation.

The building was an angular fortress, roughly hexagonal, forged of charcoal stone and dark metal.

The slab-like walls were broken up by vertical slots of dark glass.

The corners were sharply beveled, giving the whole thing a unique and powerful air.

Crimson veins glowed along its seams and I smiled sadly, knowing it was the mark of Sylas’ magic.

I blinked as Zayn emerged from the building.

Internally, I grimaced at the spring in his step, the joyful swagger, and the brightness in his espresso eyes. He was so content, so jubilant, so free and open… and that was… it was all about to be destroyed.

Evira tensed against me, then eased from my hold and straightened as he bounded over to us.

Zayn tugged at his neon-pink jacket as he walked, a black tee beneath, and he swayed his hips in a pair of black jeans that were covered with gold and white patches.

He caught me looking and held up his hand. “Don’t worry, Vax, I didn’t wear this sexy attention-drawing outfit out on mission. They gave me this gear that’s kinda like tactical gear and imbued with Charlie’s magic for extra protection. Apparently all newbies get to wear it. Cool, huh?”

“That is very ‘cool’,” I somehow managed to answer through the lump in my throat.

Evira brushed her hand nervously over her snowy white tank, then tugged her coat closed over it. “It’s a really inspired idea,” she also responded, almost steadily.

“Shit, guys! Tonight was awesome!” Zayn went on, clearly in one of his beloved hyperactive states.

“The deep cover mission was… fuck, it was everything I’d hoped it would be, and even beyond!

I really kicked ass, really did a great job.

Charlie was seriously impressed. The way I used my Ifrit flame to sort shit tonight…

damn.” He threw his arms up in the air. “Whoop!”

He grabbed Evira’s hand and then mine. “And then you messaged saying you’d come to pick me up after.

I mean, thank you, it’s perfect! It’s been the greatest ever!

” He squeezed our hands, his eyes hooding.

“You’re thinking we’re gonna go all feral now, too, huh?

Get really down and dirty?” He looked around.

“We’re gonna need Win for that. Nobody’s got a better filthy mouth than him.

So, he’s late doing some training with Sylas?

It’s run long, is that it? It’s okay, we’ll get some dinner.

I’ll make the truffles Win’s become a major fan of, give him a treat after a long, hard day.

” His gaze darted to Evira. “I can’t wait to hear about Exalt stuff.

We’ll get into it during dinner.” He looked at me.

“And you’re gonna be in on the next meeting, right? ”

Evira gave his hand a squeeze. “Zayn, there’s… something.”

“Something?” he asked, bouncing.

I swept my hand around us, enveloping us with my citrine magic, both casting an auditory reduction spell and erecting a glamor, so we couldn’t be heard or seen.

While Charles Petrone would be informed of Sylas’… situation shortly—Remnant had confirmed he’d see to it—that hadn’t yet been conveyed, so we couldn’t be overheard now.

I grasped Zayn’s shoulder. “Something has happened, beauty.”

He jolted at my tone.

As I’d intended.

To ease him into this.

Well, as much easing as was possible with this sort of thing.

He started scanning the area erratically.

“Win? He’s not with Sylas training? Did he get hurt during it?

Is he… is that what’s happened? Something to do with his wellbeing?

” He looked us up and down. “You two are well. It’s not that.

Unless… Evira, did something go down with the Dracoryn Realm?

” He swung his head at me. “Or with your parents? Are they coming at you after all?”

Oh, no.

His exuberant state from earlier was not transferring well to this.

If he’d been in a calm, unstimulated state, it would have likely been a little more toned down.

Evira and I exchanged a wretched look.

We just had to say it.

He just… needed to know.

I tightened my grip on his shoulder, my voice rough, the words like acid as they spilled from me. “Something has happened to both Winter and Sylas.”

And then, between us, Evira and I proceeded to explain it all.

Winter being outed to the entire supernatural world.

Temperance mobilizing.

The battle at Loxley Academy as a result.

Sylas being murdered by Ruxnoth.

Winter being abducted and taken to Sanctus.

When we were done, Zayn stared for several moments.

Then his lip wobbled.

Tears welled in his eyes.

He tried to blink them away.

But it became too late, and it all crashed into him, a violent wave of emotion and grief.

He let out an agonized cry that cut at Evira and me both.

Then he collapsed to his knees, sobbing his heart out.

We sank down beside him and wrapped ourselves around him in comfort, holding him as he broke down.

“I love you. I love you. I love you.”

“I’ll be here. I’ll always be here with you. You have my solemn vow, little death. I love you dearly also.”

I squeezed my eyes shut as my exchange with Winter played on my mind and threatened to shatter me also.

“W-what is this place?” Zayn asked shakily as Evira and I held him between us, her arm over his shoulders, mine securing his waist.

“A quiet little retreat I fashioned,” I told him.

We’d informed Zayn that Loxley Academy had been the site of that awful battle and as such us returning there currently wasn’t advisable.

There would be so many questions abounding. Questions we couldn’t—and shouldn’t—answer. About where Winter was. About Sylas. About Ruxnoth, Temperance… all of it. Too much of it.

I’d been instructed by Remnant and Cassius to remain tight-lipped about it all and to ensure Evira and Zayn did the same.

Of course I hadn’t needed that instruction, because the need for that was undoubtedly obvious to me.

It had been to Evira as well, she was politically astute like me.

And in complex situations, I certainly appreciated that about her.

I appreciated a great deal about all of them.

No. So much more than that—I relished and adored a great deal about my three loves.

Zayn and Evira both frowned as they took in the two-story log home with the wraparound balcony before us situated in lesser-known former farmland.

Our little Ifrit looked up at me. “This is your place? Really?”

“Indeed.”

“It doesn’t exactly mesh with your… princely ways.” He gestured at my luxurious leather blazer and tailored dress pants, even my ornate ebony crown.

“It’s a refuge away from all of that. The expectations, the loftiness, the—”

“Duties of a life forced on you?” Evira cut in.

“Yes.”

A forced life that I had been working well, though, to make my own.

Soon.