“It’s not fair!” Clara shrieked from somewhere in the house and Father’s face turned to thunder.
“Excuse me,” he said curtly and Portia waved him off, but shared a brief look with the photographer that said she was curious as shit.
“Go grab your coat, Xavier,” Mom encouraged, her eyes anxious. “We’d better head off soon.”
“Yes, of course, I won’t keep you any longer,” Portia said apologetically, starting to pack up her things.
I slipped back inside the house while Mom started making small talk with her slightly louder than was necessary and I shut the door behind me. Clara was on the stairs with a cloak of shadows spinning around her, her hands planted on her hips. Tory stood beside my father in a red satin dress, gazing at him with a doe-eyed look that made my skin crawl. I couldn’t even express how angry I was about what my father had done to Tory. I hadn’t seen her since Darius’s birthday and had no idea where he was keeping her. Now, he brought her out like a dog on a leash. It was fucking sick.
“I was your Guardian first, Daddy, how come she gets to go with you?” Clara pouted, her eyes a swirling storm of darkness. I probably should have been used to her calling him Daddy by now, but fuck no I wasn’t. It still made me wanna vom. Every. Damn. Time.
“Now, Clara, I explained this to you,” Father said in a purr that made me equally sick. “Roxanya needs to be seen as allied to me out in public. And you still don’t have full control of your power, you cannot pass as Fae yet.”
I drifted across the hall to the coat closet, grabbing a smart black one and pulling it on, never taking my eyes off of the circus of horrors playing out before me.
Clara’s face twisted in fury and the storm cloud of darkness around her built in size, the strength of her power tugging on the shadows living in me.
“I can control myself!” she bellowed and Father snarled, lunging at her and grasping her throat.
“Silence,” he hissed. “Or I’ll have you banished from my quarters for a week. Is that what you want?”
“No,” Clara whimpered and the shadows died around her while my nose wrinkled.
I tried to catch Tory’s eye, but she just gazed at Father with the same intensity Clara was giving him. It was sickening to watch.
“Good girl,” Lionel growled. “Now go back upstairs and when I get home, I’ll reward you for behaving.”
She leaned in for a kiss, but he moved away before she could claim it, placing a possessive hand on Tory’s back and guiding her toward the door. He jerked his chin at me in a command and I fell in to step behind them as they exited the house again.
Portia was still there chatting with my mom, but her eyes practically leapt out of her head as she spotted Tory at my father’s side. It wasn’t like it was fresh news that Tory was aligned with Lionel now, but the press still couldn’t lap it up quick enough.
“Oh, good evening, Miss Vega, I wasn’t expecting to see you tonight,” Portia said in surprise as Father took his hand from Tory’s spine.
“Yes, well here I am,” Tory said blandly, smiling at Father again before giving Portia a flat look.
“Could I get a few words while I’m here?” Portia asked hopefully, glancing at my father then back to Tory.
“Of course, but make it quick, we need to leave,” Father said politely and Portia nodded, hurrying up the steps to Tory with her dictaphone in hand so she could record her.
“Have you spoken with your sister lately? She has been running quite an extensive campaign with The Daily Solaria insisting that you are still planning to claim the throne together. Care to comment?” Portia asked hopefully and I wished I could scream at her and tell her the truth, that my father was a monster, that he was using the shadows to control Tory, that he used dark magic daily, that he was allied with the Nymphs, that he planned on taking over the kingdom and destroying anyone who stood in his way. But I just stood there, my features schooled, my heart pounding out of rhythm.
“Oh, I’m not running for the throne anymore,” Tory said simply and my heart scrunched up in my chest. She reached out to run her hand up and down Father’s arm. “I’ve found my true place now.”
Portia blinked furiously and Mom carefully kept her serene expression in place, but there was a dark horror behind her eyes.
“By the stars, so you are officially renouncing your claim to the throne of Solaria?” Portia asked, dollar signs flashing in her eyes at being the first to get the scoop on this. Hell no. Don’t do this, Tory.
“Absolutely,” Tory said with a weirdly empty smile.
“That’s all for tonight, I’m afraid we don’t want to be late,” Father stepped in as Portia looked fit to burst with questions. “Jenkins will see you out. Good evening, Portia.”
He steered Tory past her and me and Mom hurried to follow, sharing a worried look. She took my hand, squeezing quickly before releasing it and my heart swelled a little knowing I had her secretly on my side, even if she couldn’t say it. I just wished I could take her with me tonight and keep her away from Father forever.
The porter was waiting at the end of the drive with my bag and as we crossed out of the gates together through the wards, Father tossed stardust into the air and the world spun in a haze of stars.
My feet hit solid ground and I found myself gazing up at the immense gates of Zodiac Academy; the zodiac circle was engraved at the centre of it, featuring all of the star sign symbols around it. Nerves and excitement warred inside me as Father huffed out a breath.
“They couldn’t even lift the wards for one night? This school is forgetting who funds it,” he muttered.
“Well at least our Xavier will be safe here,” Mom said in a flat tone, but I knew her words were for me.
I’d be safe here from Father. Once I was inside these gates, he couldn’t easily get to me. Sure, he could summon the living hell out of me, but that was nowhere near as bad as being hauled out of my bedroom by the scruff of my neck whenever he was in a bad mood. No, here I would have more freedom than I’d ever known in my lifetime. I felt a whinny building in my throat and fought the urge to shift, take off into the sky, circle my new home and let glitter tumble from my flesh. Later, dude. Me and the sky can get real intimate.
A few students were already gathered by the gates, most arriving by cars. They were hugging their families, saying goodbye and I realised a little bitterly that my father wasn’t going to go anywhere until the stars awoke my Elements.
“Good evening, Lionel,” a deep voice called and I turned as Tiberius Rigel strode toward us with his wife on his arm and their daughter following at their heels.
Ellis’s hair was dark and thick, framing her strong features which had a hint of her brother Max in them. I’d spent more than a few dinner parties with her, but we never got to spend much time together outside of our parents’ watchful eyes. Unlike the way the Councillors had encouraged the four Heirs to spend time together and bond, they’d never bothered to encourage a similar relationship between the younger children in the families. Even if there was technically a chance that any one of us could challenge our older siblings for their positions one day.
No, despite how the system was meant to be fair and we were all supposed to have an equal shot at claiming the role of Councillor one day, it was more than clear to all of us that the eldest siblings were never going to be unseated. They’d been Awakened young and given advanced training in every kind of skill and magic years before even coming to Zodiac Academy. So even if our power levels were a match to theirs, there was no way any of us spares would be able to pose a real threat and everyone knew it. Not that I had the slightest desire to take Darius’s place from him, but the injustice of the system still annoyed me.