Chapter 6

Iflew over the battle on Tyler's back, one hand knotted in his mane while the other cast magic down at our enemies, blasting Nymphs with spears of wood, ice, and fire. Tyler had a camera strapped to his chest, recording the battle as we swooped overhead. He had vowed to expose Lionel's raw nature, following in his mother's footsteps as he took up her legacy of The Daily Solaria, and I would assist him in any way I could.

Sofia rode behind me on Tyler, shooting fire at the Nymphs while we stayed high enough to keep out of the range of their disabling rattles. The battle was in full swing, the ripe scent of blood and the merciless roars of victory clashing with the bloody screams of their victims. It was barbaric yet necessary, the blood spilled here this night buying the freedom of the innocent, crushing the monsters among my father's ranks who had committed atrocities throughout our kingdom. This was our land, and tonight would set in motion the rolling stone that would crash and tumble down the mountainside of this war towards its inevitable end.

My eyes locked on Hadley racing across the square beneath us, Athena and Grayson howling in their Wolf forms as they followed him into battle, the three of them a deadly force which cut into our enemies with fierce brutality.

A rogue fireball blasted our way, and I lost sight of them as Tyler veered hard to avoid it, climbing up beside the Court of Solaria, my thigh grazing the onyx stone wall. We passed an arching window and my gaze locked on a red-haired man racing up the stairs beyond it. He glanced back in fright, and my teeth bared as I recognised Gus Vulpecula, mentally painting an X upon his brow. He was my target now.

Tyler flew higher so I lost sight of the fleeing Fox shifter, but I pulled his mane to grab his attention.

"Lower!" I yelled, my heart thundering with the thrill of the coming hunt. "Vulpecula is inside."

Tyler wheeled around in the air with perfect grace, his wings tucking as he circled back toward the window. I shoved to my feet on his back, balancing precariously and casting a hard cannonball of ice in my grip, holding my breath as I prepared to do something wild.

Sofia rose at my back without a word, and I shot her a look, seeing her determination to come with me, and I wouldn't deny her that.

"Follow my lead," I said, my knees bending a little and adrenaline bursting through my veins. This was it. No chance for failure. No backing out. It was my moment, and I was claiming it with both hands, refusing to let it slip from my grasp.

Tyler swept forward, his glimmering wings outstretched as he sailed toward the window, keeping as steady as possible. I blasted the cannonball away from me with a yell of determination, shattering the glass so a thousand shards went raining down into the stairwell beyond. Gus was no longer in sight, but he couldn't be far.

Tyler dipped down, giving us a chance to jump and I leapt forward with a cry of effort, casting a net of vines across the stairs below us. One second passed as we sailed through the air like two birds taking flight, then we were falling through the shattered window, each moment stretching as all my senses came to life. We tumbled into my net, rolling together into the middle, and Sofia let her fire burn through it so we thumped onto the steps below.

"Holy fuck," I laughed, and her hand landed on mine.

"Never thought I'd fly without wings," Sofia said breathlessly.

"I think that's called falling elegantly." I leapt upright, pulling her with me.

I stalked up the stairs, rising to a balcony that ran all the way around a large atrium below, the golden floors glimmering in the low light. All was eerily quiet, the battle outside muffled and no sign of any Fae lurking within these walls. Only a coward would hide from a fight, and Gus Vulpecula had just proved himself one.

Sofia cast a silencing bubble around us, keeping our movements quiet, though Gus had no doubt heard the smashing of that window. Perhaps he'd put it down to a rogue blast from the battle. Either way, I didn't think he'd be hanging around long enough to find out.

"Why didn't he make a run for it?" I muttered, treading a quick passage to the right, pushing open the nearest door to check if he was inside.

Empty.

"Maybe there's something here he wants," Sofia guessed, and hell, I'd say she was onto something there. That slimy bastard seemed just the type to pilfer valuable goods into his pockets while the whole world descended into bloody chaos.

I quickened my pace along the balcony, my thoughts arrowing onto the one room in this building I'd visited before. A particular day flitted through my mind of when Lionel and the other Councillors had won an award for dealing with some dangerous criminal in Alestria. I'd been forced to wear my best clothes, stitch a smile onto my face and come here for a family photo in my father's office. Darius had stood at my side and Mom had stood with Lionel, all of us grouping around him to tell the most destructive lie we had ever told. That we were happy.

"If I was a cunning, shady little Fox shifter trying to make sure I made a decent buck from this war…I know exactly where I'd go," I said darkly, hurrying along until we arrived outside my father's office.

Memories of the last time I'd stood in this very spot made a shudder track down my spine, how my father's eyes had slid over my clothes, seeking out fault in me. I always came up short. A failure through and through.

I fought off the feeling of being a young boy under the scrutiny of his ruthless father; the weight of his expectations and the sting of rejection from his constant disappointment in me. I was his failed creation, and there was a time when I would have felt shame over that. But not anymore. I was proud to have escaped the grip of his dominion, and to have become the Fae I wanted instead of the one he wanted me to be.

It was liberating to let go of all that pressure, like an anchor had been tethered to my neck all those years and I'd finally found my way free of it.

Now, I stood in the footsteps of a boy who had been sure there was no way out from under his father's rule, and I wished I could reach into the past to tell him that he was wrong. That salvation was coming if only he'd hang on. Maybe then I wouldn't have spent so many years afraid, despairing over a future I could never claim.

"Xavier?" Sofia nudged me, and I realised I was hesitating, my mind fixed on the past. But it was time I left those thoughts where they belonged.

"This is Lionel's office," I told her, her eyes widening as I opened the door to reveal the huge room beyond and my father's giant golden desk which was positioned before an imposing window.

The silencing bubble kept our entry silent, and my gaze fell on Gus across the room, tearing out drawers in an antique cabinet, rifling through the contents as he did so. Every so often, he seized some hard drive or piece of paper and stuffed it into a bag hanging from his arm.

Sofia let the silencing bubble fall and I sent a whip of a vine flying out to snap around him, his arms latching tight to his body.

He yelped in alarm, looking to me as ice slid over his fingertips, but it cracked as he came face to face with me. And I was satisfied to see a glimmer of true fear in his eyes.

"Do you really think my father is stupid enough to leave anything condemning in his own office?" I scoffed.

"Condemning?" Gus exhaled. "Why would I want anything condemning against the King? I am his loyal servant."

"No, you're vermin feeding on the scraps of whoever holds the most power," Sofia said icily. "And you're wondering if that will still be Lionel soon, hedging your bets."

"Yeah, I reckon you're looking for something that might save your neck if the True Queens win this war and come hunting down his subjects," I said in agreement, cocking my head to one side. "Oh, what they would do with you, I wonder."

He shuddered, bowing his head. "I'm just a reporter. I haven't hurt anyone."

"Your lies hurt everybody," I barked, my voice cutting through the air and making him flinch. "You're responsible for twisting the minds of the masses, making them believe the bullshit you spew in your rag of a newspaper."

"It's just politics," Gus implored, and I felt the subtle push of his Fox charm trying to make me see his side. "I've not killed anyone."

"Your words have," I said darkly, taking a step closer as his fingers flexed, and I wondered if he would dare fight me. I'd take pleasure in making him kneel to my power.

"Lies kill, Gustav," I growled, tightening up my mental walls against his Order gifts. "And there are consequences for that."

"Who are you to dish out punishments?" he scoffed, giving up on trying to sway me to his cause. "You're the spare Heir the King discarded. You're of a lesser Order, lesser status than your dead brother, and the only worth you once had was your blood. But you betrayed that, didn't you?"

"Shut your mouth," Sofia snarled, fire flaring in her palms, and my heart swelled with the protectiveness shining from her.

Gus's words didn't leave a single mark on my soul as they once might have. Because I'd found my true path in life. I knew who I was, and I knew where I belonged.

"If you really think I'm going to weep at that assessment of me, you're a damn fool," I said. I didn't mention the fact that Darius was alive and well, knowing he'd want to make some grand declaration of that to the kingdom when the time was right. "My father is dirt to me. Just like this office is dirt." I let my earth Element seep from my skin along with some water magic to make the room start to decay.

Mould crept up the walls, growing onto every gleaming, shining object, encasing my father's gold trinkets and swallowing them up in an ugly black coating. The wallpaper began to peel, turning grey and sallow, then the gleaming floorboards at my feet grew warped and layered with mildew. I willed the office to fester, everything from his enormous desk to the green mural of Lionel's Dragon on the wall to the golden bust of his smug fucking head to his wingback chair and the glittering chandelier that hung above it all. Every piece of it decayed before our eyes.

The papers in the open drawers turned black and withered, and finally, the last thing remaining intact was the photograph in a gilded frame on Lionel's desk. The very photo taken the last time I'd come here, the lie of what my family had been, though maybe now that I was looking through the lens of experience, I could see the darkness touching my mother's eyes, I could see the tenseness in my brother's shoulders and the way my father's hand was gripping his shoulder just a little too hard.

My own smile was bright, and it would have been all too easy to buy it as happiness. But one hand hung at my side, my fist squeezing so tight I could almost feel the way my nails had bitten into the flesh of my palm that day. I let that smile decay along with the rest of them, no part of this moment treasured or worth keeping. It was a photograph of three prisoners and their captor, but I took some relief in knowing those prisoners were now free.

The loss of my mother clutched my heart as I watched her false smile wither to nothing, hoping that wherever her soul was resting, her smiles were true and felt with all the colour of the world behind them. She'd deserved so much more than life had offered her, and the man responsible was the last to decay within the photo, his green eyes swallowed away into the mould.

Gus suddenly flicked a finger and ice bloomed across the floor beneath our feet, making me neigh in surprise. Sofia and I slipped sideways violently, crashing into one another, and Gus grew ice shards along his arms, snapping the vines binding him.

"No!" I barked as he made a run for the door.

I cursed, throwing a blast of fire out to stop him as fast as I could. He shifted, turning into a beautiful red fox, his jaw snapping tight around the strap of his bag before he went sailing through the door and skidding out into the hallway.

"Fuck," I gasped, dispelling the ice with a blast of fire and taking chase after him.

"Hurry!" Sofia cried, racing along with me.

Gus bounded along the balcony and turned onto the stairs, leaping down them three at a time toward the atrium below. Sofia sprinted past me, springing onto the balcony with impossible grace, then casting a dog from fire and sending it hounding after Gus.

I launched myself over the mahogany railing, catching sight of Gus turning sharply down a corridor off of the atrium, the fire dog hot on his heels.

I cast a thick bed of moss to soften my fall, rolling and regaining my feet in seconds, running straight back into the pursuit.

"Xavier!" Sofia yelled, and I glanced back, finding my decaying power pouring out along the walls, spreading deeper and deeper into the Court of Solaria. I could feel the power rooted in the depths of my soul, the hatred I felt for Lionel and his followers seeping out of me and fuelling this destruction.

"Let it rot," I growled, and Sofia nodded, a darkness to her eyes as she ran down the stairs to catch me.

The beautiful atrium fell to ruin around her, the black mould spreading onto everything and eating into the beautiful paintwork, the shining tiles, the ornate cubic clock hanging from the ceiling above, stopping it for good and permanently marking the moment it fell to ruin.

Sofia and I sprinted alongside one another as fast as we could, following Gus through the building, little flames from Sofia's dog shimmering along the path to guide our way. She was damn smart, and I'd be sure to kiss her for it later.

My festering power was gaining momentum, following me as I raced through the polished hallways, chasing Sofia's flames into the beautiful building that had been tainted by Lionel's rule. These halls and offices were the origin of war crimes, decisions passed between the wealthy as they dismissed whole swathes of Fae as nothing, laying plans for cruel imprisonments, ruthless massacres. These walls would never be clean again, so I willed them to decay and stain them with the taint they hid beneath their shine.

The flames that guided us on led us to an office with an open window, and I whinnied in anger, running to it and gazing out at the street. The clamour of battle was strong in the air again, and it was clear our side was winning, the sight of it dipping my heart in a pool of hope. The Nymphs and enemy Fae were falling back and many were turning to flee, racing away into the city.

I shoved the window wider, picking up Sofia and tossing her onto the street. She landed smoothly, looking left and right for any sign of Gus as I climbed out after her.

My boots hit the cobblestones and I hunted the crowd for a flash of red fur, but there was no sign of him. No glint of red fur, no white-tipped tail slinking away between the colliding bodies.

"There!" Sofia cried, spotting a line of flames weaving through the masses, and a smile caught my lips.

We ran into the fray and Geraldine's bellowing voice carried across the crowd somewhere close by. "Look yonder! How the Court of Solaria festers before our very eyes!"

I glanced back at the high walls and glittering flagpoles rising up behind me, the mould crawling all over it, swallowing every piece. A groaning sounded before a crack shot up the central wall and a loud crash came from somewhere inside the building. It didn't look like it would be long before the whole structure collapsed, and my chest swelled with the knowledge that I was responsible for its fall.

The rattle of a nearby Nymph latched onto my power, starting to lock it down, but a huge white Wolf sailed over my head and slammed into the beast, taking it to the ground in a blur of teeth and fury.

A sharp snap of Seth's jaws turned the creature to dust, and my magic flooded keenly through my veins once more.

The buzz of victory was in the air, rebels crying out their joy and the agonised roar of more falling Nymphs setting my heart racing excitedly. But I wasn't done yet. Not without my hands on that piece-of-shit Fox shifter.

The crowd parted ahead of me, and my gaze locked on him at last, Gus still carrying his bag in desperation while Sofia's fire dog snapped at the Fox's heels. If he made it beyond the battle and outpaced Sofia's cast, he could slip away down an alley and we'd never find him.

Urgency blazed inside me and I threw out a palm, building a wall of stone in front of him. The Fox leapt up, scrambling to get over it, but the fire dog jumped up to bite Gus's tail. His red fur set alight, and Gus let out a pitchy whine of pain, losing his grip and falling to the ground, rolling desperately to try and put the flames out.

I was on him in the next second, grabbing him by the scruff of the neck and dousing him in water to put out the fire, making him look pathetic and bedraggled as he hung limply in my grip. I bound his legs to his sides with vines and his head hung in defeat, accepting the fight was lost.

Sofia picked up the bag he'd been dragging, hooking it over her shoulder with a triumphant grin. "Mine."

A roar of victory crowed around us, and I whooped in delight, casting a metal cage around Gus and dropping him clunkily to the floor.

Sofia smiled at the fire dog, then let it dissolve in a swirl of fluttering flames, and I swooped toward her, kissing her hard and dipping her low as I did so, making her laugh against my lips. Her skin began to shine and mine did too, our Pegasus Orders glowing with utter joy and making our skin shimmer like raindrops in the sun.

An echoing boom rocked the ground beneath our feet, and we stumbled apart, looking for the source of the noise. I slung my arm over her shoulder in relief, finding the Court of Solaria succumbing to my power, the rot so deep in the structure that it crumbled before our eyes, stone and mortar cracking and shattering.

The rebels cheered and Tyler whinnied above, wheeling over us and sending a shower of silver glitter onto the crowd.

"This day will henceforth be known as the Great Rebel Coming!" Geraldine boomed, amplifying her voice with magic, climbing up onto a car roof and jutting up her chin.

"Awkward name," Sofia muttered.

"Definitely needs some work," I agreed with a snort of amusement, and I reached down to pick up Gus's cage.

"Let us don our victory hats and return to our stronghold to inform our rulers of the Great Coming!" Geraldine cried. "All hail the True Queens!"

Everyone echoed her final words, then tossed a pinch of stardust over their heads, and we raced away into the arms of the stars.

My fingers were locked tight with Sofia's as we twisted away into the space between galaxies, and I felt Tyler swooping after us, our souls connecting and dancing together as we returned to Zodiac Academy. And we damn well lived to fight another day.