Chapter 60

The sheer cliffs of Aer Cove swept down below us to the rocky beach, the waves dancing in the wind, foam spraying this way and that. I could taste the salt in the air, the wind trying to drive me back from the cliff's edge, but I leaned into it instead.

Darcy stood at the edge of the precipice, her blue hair fluttering behind her as she looked over her shoulder at me, the silver rings in her eyes glittering brightly. She was sunlight given breath right then, the heat of her beckoning me ever closer. If I didn't know her, I'd still recognise the wildness of her heart, the way she only grew stronger in adversity. My forget-me-not that had bloomed so perfectly in the strangling weeds, reminding me she was mine. Always mine.

I offered her my hand and she let the wind carry her to me like she weighed as much as a feather, wielding it with such skill it had me in awe once again.

"I have nothing left to teach you," I said, pride echoing through me.

She brushed her fingers over the rough stubble on my jaw. "You will always have something to teach me. There's still so much of this world I don't know, and I want to know everything."

"Your thirst for knowledge is as deep as mine," I mused. "I don't know as much as I'd like to know. And much of what I've learned is in books. Someday, perhaps we'll travel to new places and learn about them together."

She smiled the kind of smile that lit me up from the inside, and I mentally struck an X across my heart in keeping of that promise. If fate was so kind as to offer us the chance.

"You still don't regret coming here, do you?" I asked, my voice lowering. "If there was a way you could have stayed safe in the Mortal Realm, away from war and strife, would you have chosen that if you'd known what was coming now?"

Her brow creased, her hand lowering to rest against my heart. "I used to lay dreaming of places like this. I'd read about it in books and hear it in my favourite songs. I'd see it in the storm and feel it in the raindrops against my cheeks. I always belonged elsewhere, in a world full of fantasy and endless possibilities. I just knew I'd been born in the wrong place. My soul lost, forever searching for this. So no, Lance, there's not one part of me that would have chosen to give up this life for the sake of safety. If I die in this war, then hell, at least I will have lived. I've known you, I've found a home, a family. If I can only have that for this short time, then I'll take it over never having had it at all."

I kissed her in a way that told her I would never have chosen any other path either. I had regrets in my life, of course. About Clara most of all. But I was coming to understand that not everything was within my control, even when I tried hard to make it so. Darcy had taught me how to let go, how to find joy between the dark days, and how to find hope in the dead of the coldest nights. I'd met her with a heart full of bitterness, and she'd been sweet enough to restore the balance. I was forever in debt to her in ways I didn't know how to express.

"Shall we dance with the stars, beautiful?" I asked, my mouth slanting in a smile.

"If they'll let us," she said, her eyes alight with excitement.

I reached into my pocket, taking out the Guild Stones and we knelt on the grass, laying them in order in a circle. We glanced at each other a moment before placing the final stone into the circle.

"Are you sure about this?" I asked, her plan as turbulent as the ocean I could hear crashing against the shore. But I'd be damned if I didn't trust her. The information we'd found in the tome Eugene Dipper had brought us from The Library of the Lost the other night had led us to information about the Guild Stones which might just help us with Clydinius. But there were many gaps in the knowledge, and it required something that made my bones quake at the mere thought of it. Darcy's idea to secure this plan was pure insanity, but still…it was a chance. And one we had to attempt if we were ever going to find a way to see the rogue star dealt with.

"No, but it's worth a shot," she said, biting her lip.

"You're insane."

"Certified." She gave me a dark look, then pushed the final stone into place. "Arcturus!" she cried, her voice tinted with magic. "I request your counsel!"

The air shivered then all light was snuffed out, my soul yanked away into the grasp of the stars, measured in the hands of my creators.

Whispers spilled through the atmosphere, their tone angered by my queen's demand, but they wouldn't have answered her at all if they didn't wish to speak with us.

"Daughter of the flames, you wield the stones as if they were made to summon me," Arcturus boomed among them all, his ire as clear as fucking day.

I tried to reach for my mate in the dark, but although I could sense she was close, I couldn't touch her.

"You forged the stones," Darcy called. "They are linked to you and you alone. I only ask for you to speak with us once more, so that we might deal with Clydinius."

The hisses of the stars whipped against my ears, their fury striking at me through the nothingness surrounding us.

Arcturus took an age to reply, so long that I thought he might not speak at all. But at last his voice dripped over me like burning wax. "I do not assist the beings of the realms. To do so is to thwart all laws set in place by the Origin, upheld by the Vetus stars of old. Defying those laws is to act as the Novus stars once did. Do not dare to ask such an atrocity of me twice."

Well that was that, the door to our plan firmly slamming shut in our face.

"You spoke of balance before," Darcy said, her voice a sea of calm. "I know how it can be restored. But you have to help us. Clydinius has already tipped the scales, all I'm asking is that you tip them back."

There she goes, my girl asking an all-powerful star to do as she bids, despite his warnings.

"Blue," I hissed, my heart pounding frantically as we awaited Arcturus's reply. "This is madness. I will not see you killed for goading a star."

"Just wait," she urged, and for the love of the sun, I could not deny her that plea.

So I placed my faith in her and we hung in the balance of the heavens, waiting for our answer to come.

The darkness suddenly lifted, and I was certain we were about to be ejected from this ethereal existence, returned to our rightful place on earth, but instead we appeared on an island surrounded by a perfectly calm sea. So calm the water barely stirred at all, mirror-like in its beauty, giving a view to gold and silver fish zipping through a coral reef beneath the surface.

The sandy island we were on was perfectly circular, no more than ten feet in diameter. Darcy stood before me, her skin glowing with starlight, silver armour cladding her body that glittered with the purest kind of magic. I wore a broader version of the same armour, but it was so light it could have been made of leaves.

Arcturus appeared, wearing those very same white robes as before, his face unmoving as his voice carried to us inside our minds.

"No untruths can be spoken here."

"I don't plan on lying, and I'm sure you'd see through it if I did," Darcy said.

"You do not know how it was,"Arcturus said. "It was just a moment ago in the great expanse of time. When the Novus stars colluded with Fae in your realm, many of their tongues were gifted with the ability to lie to the Vetus stars. To shroud themselves from our gaze too. Perhaps Clydinius has struck a deal with the daughters of the flames, but if that is so, you cannot fool me here on the shore of the Veritas Ocean."

"Then here is my request." Darcy stepped towards Arcturus with her chin held high.

"If a lie passes your lips, the consequences shall be great. And not upon you, daughter of the flames,"Arcturus warned, his gaze turning on me. "I shall let the ocean reap its bounty from the soul of your Elysian Mate."

His arm flew out, a furious power slamming into the centre of my chest and launching me backwards into the water. It was as though a giant hand was pressed to my chest, forcing me deeper and deeper under the ocean until my back impacted with the sandy seabed. I thrashed against the hold it had on me, bubbles streaming from my lips and panic rising in my blood.

In the back of my mind, I knew I wasn't truly here. But then again, my soul was. I may not have been real in any sense of the word I knew back in the Fae world, but that didn't mean I was untouchable. In fact, my soul was truer to who I was than my body, and as that terrible power pressed me down, I became certain I could suffer here in ways that went beyond all bodily pain.

My lungs were choking for air, my ears popping from the pressure. But how could that be possible when I had no body? I didn't need air, but the illusion of needing it wouldn't pass. I fought harder to get free, one minute ticking into two then three, five, ten. But no matter how long I drowned, I didn't die. Because death wasn't possible for my soul, at least not in any physical way I might die on earth.

Finally, that giant, invisible hand on my chest scooped me up, dragging me from the seabed and tossing me onto the island. I slammed onto my front, shoving myself to my knees and gulping down air, but in an instant, I was no longer desperate for it. I was just as I had been before.

Darcy grabbed my arm, drawing me upright with a look of fear in her eyes. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," I said icily, throwing a glower at Arcturus's Fae-like form. "Did you get what you asked for?"

"Yes," she breathed, and I was so shocked by that it sent a flood of fear right through me. "What did he want in return for it?"

"Perhaps it is time I returned you to your earthly world,"Arcturus said. "So that you might lie again."

The world shuddered and I blinked as I found myself kneeling opposite Darcy on the clifftop overlooking Aer Cove.

"Asshole," she growled.

"What did he mean by that? Are you going to lie to me, Blue?"

"No," she said fiercely. "He agreed to what I asked. There was no price."

I frowned, trying to consider if she really might lie to me. To protect me from some awful truth.

"You wouldn't leave me, would you?" I asked, my voice low and all too fucking vulnerable for my liking. But a part of me doubted the words she was telling me. Because she was too damn noble, too self-sacrificing. She'd give anything to protect those she loved.

"No, Lance." She lunged across the Guild Stones, knocking the circle so it split apart and kissing me with all the passion of a pious Fae serving the stars.

I sank into that kiss, dragging her against me and trying to taste the truth on her lips.

"Don't lie to me," I said as our mouths parted. "If you're keeping anything from me, say it now."

She gripped my hair hard enough to hurt, her eyes blazing with fire. "We don't need an ocean of truth to have trust between us. I'm telling you; he asked nothing of me. And you're damn well going to believe me, Lance Orion."

She was practically on top of me, and I growled at the challenge in her voice, flipping her over onto the back and bearing down on her. "You can command me in any way you like in this war, but you can't order away my doubts, Blue."

"How can you doubt us after everything?" she accused, rearing up, but I shoved a hand down on her chest to push her down again.

I bared my fangs at her. "I don't doubt us, I doubt that you would turn from a noble path. If Arcturus made a demand of you, I know you'd agree to it."

"Oh you know that, do you?" she snapped, casting a vine that wrenched my hand off of her chest. "You think I'd sacrifice myself or some part of me after I've fought with everything I have in this war?"

"You would if it protected Tory, or me, or any of the others," I barked, heat tearing through my chest at the thought of her making some fucking vow she couldn't get out of.

"If it came down to it, yes. But I'm not looking to sacrifice myself," she hissed, trying to get up again, but I forced her down, grabbing her wrists and pinning them to the dirt.

"You've been flying with Gabriel. I know you're worried. I know you're trying to protect us, just like he does. But it's not your duty to save everyone, in fact, it's your duty to survive this damn war so you can be there to lead the kingdom when it's over."

"You don't get to decide what my duty is like you're my mentor in this, you're not my teacher anymore, Lance," she snarled, casting a wind that gripped hold of me and tore me off of her.

I shoved to my feet and she did the same, glaring at me with the ferocity of a warrior. And I glared right back, hating how little control I felt in this situation.

"This is exactly what he wanted," she cursed, glancing up at the sky then back at me. "He's testing us."

"For what purpose?" I demanded, prowling toward her again.

"I don't know, that's what stars do, isn't it? They test us and push us and try to make us stronger. Maybe that's what this is."

"Convenient," I growled.

She glared icily then turned her back on me, offering me the biggest insult she could, before stalking away across the grass.

"And where are you going?" I called.

"To train," she clipped, pulling off her sweater and setting her wings free. She took off before I could stop her, and I growled in anger, scooping up the Guild Stones and placing them in my jacket pocket.

My eyes tracked her through the sky, and I shot after her, beating her to the Pitball stadium and heading inside. I ran to the locker room, tossing my jacket in a locker and changing into the black sweatpants and grey shirt I'd left there for training. By the time I was on the pitch, Darcy was still descending from the sky and I swung two training swords in my grip, waiting for her to land.

"Here." I tossed her the wooden sword, and she caught it as her feet touched down.

"I planned on training alone," she said, her lips pursing.

"Well you know what they say about plans, beautiful," I purred. "Fate doesn't care for them."

She swung the sword in her grip, rage pouring from her eyes and I was more than happy to give her an outlet for it.

"No magic," I laid out the rules. "Let's pretend you're fresh out, and someone has injected you with Order Suppressant."

"And what about you?" she accused.

"I'm your enemy." I shrugged. "I still have both my magic and my Order."

She tsked. "Funny how the rules play right into your favour. Do you miss having power over me, Lance?" she asked sweetly.

"It's just a training exercise," I said coolly. "Or would you rather we play on level easy, little princess?"

"Queen," she corrected sharply and that fire in her riled me right up.

"Queens don't choose easy paths," I said.

"Is that what you're so afraid of, Lance?" she asked, taking up a fighting stance. "That I've chosen the hard path. That I'm going to give up everything to protect you? Hm, sounds familiar." She lunged, swinging her sword at me with a violent precision that came close to striking my neck. I blocked it with a parry at the last second then shot behind her in a blur, blasting air at her that sent her tumbling to the ground. She gained her feet in an instant, spinning around with a swing of her sword which I ducked back to avoid.

"We've well established that I'm a hypocrite," I said dryly. "I can live with that, so long as you keep breathing."

"How do you think I felt when I discovered what you'd done?" she growled, lunging at me again with a deadly strike aimed at my heart.

My sword met with hers, my superior strength knocking it away with ease. "Terrible, I'd imagine."

"God, you're an ass," she hissed, coming at me again and this time I froze her feet with a flick of my finger, sending her crashing to her knees beneath me. I gripped her chin, making her look up at me, reminding her who held the winning cards right now.

"There is such a thing as a truth serum, you know?" I ran my thumb over her lips, and she bit me like a wildcat, yanking her feet out of the ice, using the wooden sword to shatter it.

She got up and threw her shoulder into my gut, forcing me back a step as she jammed her sword into my side hard enough to bruise. I caught her waist, flipping her up in my arms and tossing her onto the ground on her ass.

"So now you're threatening to drug me?" she scoffed.

I swung my sword lazily, knowing I would never really do such a thing but it was worth saying it to see her infuriated. I was punishing her, the fiend in me knew that, but our fury often collided in ways like this, and I knew exactly where it ended.

"So dramatic," I drawled.

"You're just trying to get a rise out of me," she realised, shoving to her feet again and raising her sword.

"It appears to be working," I said, smirking at her and opening my arms in an offering of a strike. Not that I'd really let her get a hit so easily.

She regarded me, not tempted by my bait. With a calculated look, she kicked off her shoes and socks, then unbuckled her jeans, sliding out of them and tossing them away from her, her top swiftly following. My gaze trailed over the little pink thong and matching bra she wore as she rose onto her tiptoes and sized me up.

"That's better. They were so restrictive," she purred.

"Hm," I grunted, watching as she paraded this way and that, her big green eyes on me the whole time.

The curve of her hips kept drawing my attention, and the toned shape of her stomach was another distraction I couldn't afford.

"Is this how you plan to win your fights in battle?" I growled. "The enemy won't care for your peachy ass."

"Peachy, you say?" She turned around so said ass was pointed right at me, glancing over her shoulder to try and look at it herself, acting like a ditzy fool.

I shot up behind her, grabbing a fistful of her ass and squeezing hard and speaking in her ear. "Focus, Blue."

"I'm not the one who's lost focus." She jabbed her sword into my ribs as she reached behind her, and a grin twisted my lips at the stab of pain.

"So are you going to play war with me in your underwear, or are you going to ask for what you really want?" I grazed my fingers along her panty line and her back arched a little, goosebumps rising across her skin.

"I think you're the one who wants something," she said, then jammed her elbow into my ribs and ducked out of my grip, spinning away and raising her sword again.

I ran my tongue over my fangs, observing her with hunger rising in my throat. She was right. I did want something. I wanted to push her until she showed me what she was capable of. But first, I wanted her ass spanked red and her lustful gasps filling my ears.

She came at me in a battle charge, sword held poised to strike, and I shot away from her, racing around behind her and clapping my hand against her ass, hard enough to make her stumble. She wheeled around with a snarl, and a smirk lifted my lips as I flexed my fingers.

"Do you still want to play?" I goaded her.

"I'll keep going, but you're not playing fair," she growled.

"Battle is never fair."

She bared her teeth, prowling forward once more, swinging her sword with a promise of violence. I let her close the distance between us, and when she swung at me, I brought my sword up to meet hers. She twisted her blade with such skill that she wrenched my sword from my hand, sending it skittering across the grass. But before she could land a strike, I shot around her, spanked her hard enough to make her yelp then sped away again.

"I'll give you a chance. Let's say my sword just tumbled off a cliff and I'm all tapped out of magic. Now it's just you against my Order," I said.

She ran at me, and I waited until the last second to move, lurching out the way of her strike and racing around behind her, clapping my hand hard against her ass cheek which was turning good and red. She spun around with her sword swinging, but I was gone, out of reach once more. We went on like that time and again, her fury sparking hotter and hotter as she failed to get a single blow on me while her right ass cheek blazed.

She dug the tip of her wooden sword into the ground, breathing heavily and glaring at me.

"Do you give up?" I asked.

"Never," she hissed.

"That's my girl." I rushed at her in a blur, speeding past her but she ducked low, spinning the sword and catching my ankles with it. I tripped, slamming hard to the ground on my back and she was there in an instant, her foot pressing to my chest and her sword at my throat.

"Yield," she ordered.

"I yield," I exhaled, and she lifted the sword from my neck.

Her blue hair fluttered around her in the breeze and for a moment I witnessed what her enemies saw in their final moments on this earth. A queen full of fire and wrath. She had been born to rule, born to command, born to fight, and it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.

"Do you really think I lied to you about Arcturus? Do you really doubt me after everything?" she demanded. "After I've clawed my way back to you time and again. After we've fought against all odds to be together, and chosen to become star bound mates? You think I'd taint us with a lie?"

I gritted my jaw, feeling the resounding honesty of her words.

"No," I admitted. "I see the truth now as clearly as I see a queen above me. I doubted you because I judged you by my own standards. I'm the bastard who would lie to protect you, the brute who would commit every sin in the book to safeguard you." I gripped the back of her calf, leaning up to kiss her ankle and giving her a dark look. "Punish me however you see fit."

She flexed her toes against my chest, pressing her weight down more firmly. "Beg," she commanded.

"Forgive me," I growled, kissing her ankle again then grazing my fangs against the flesh of her calf.

"Try harder," she urged, and I reared up, my hand sliding up to grasp the back of her thigh, my mouth dragging up the inside of her leg, kissing, nipping. I'd been hard as stone the moment she placed her foot on my chest, but now my cock was fucking aching. I wasn't used to playing submissive, but for her, I'd try anything. And it didn't feel so bad being under her control.

"Bite me," she gasped as I reached the top of her thigh and I obliged, sinking my fangs into a vein, hooking her leg over my shoulder to give me better access.

Her fingers knotted in my hair and a heady moan left her that only drove me on, my hunger for her insatiable as that incredible taste of sweet wildfire rolled over my tongue.

"Enough." She yanked my head back, our eyes meeting as I swallowed, my power reserves swelling with the magic I'd taken from her.

Fire flickered over her skin, burning away her panties and bra, baring herself to me fully and making me groan with want. She was everything. My goddess, my life. And she possessed every worthless scrap of my soul.

"You know how I like it," she said, biting her lip and telling me exactly how much she was getting off on this.

I smiled savagely then buried myself between her thighs, feasting on her soaked pussy and licking her clit. She cried out as I circled my tongue fast then slow, driving two fingers into her tight hole and curling them to grind against that spot that drove her wild. She ground her hips in time with the movement of my tongue and fingers, chasing the rhythm I built between her thighs.

The pad of my tongue dragged over her throbbing clit again as I felt her pussy tightening around my fingers, and I quickened my pace, using my Order speed to flick my tongue against her so fast, she screamed. Her legs shuddered, and I gripped her ass to keep her from shattering on top of me, forcing her to endure every drop of pleasure I had to give. Her fingers were so tight in my hair, my scalp burned, but I relished the pain, only spurred on by her need for release.

My fingers pumped as fast as my tongue moved and then she was coming, her pussy clamping on my fingers and her arousal slicking my hand. I slowed my pace to almost nothing, devouring her in achingly slow strokes of my tongue and making her climax last even longer. She shuddered, moaning and rolling her hips, and my cock throbbed to the point of pain. I had to be inside her. Had to feel this soaking heat as I sank into her.

But before I could drag her down onto me to claim what I wanted, vines snatched hold of my wrists and coiled around my chest, yanking me to the ground beneath her and holding me there. My muscles bunched against the restraints and a snarl left my lips as Darcy lowered over me, straddling my hips.

"Don't break free," she commanded, her eyes glittering. "I want to know what you feel when you have me at your mercy."

It took me a second longer to force myself to relax, not liking being so out of control, but it was clear Blue wanted a taste of power. I just wasn't sure I could let her have it.

"I need to touch you," I rasped, lust driving me to the brink of madness.

"Surrender to it. That's what I do," she said, a playful smile on her lips as she rolled down my sweatpants and freed the full length of my cock.

She wasted no time, lining me up to take her and driving her hips down. I growled like an animal as she took me all the way to the hilt, my arms bulged against my restraints as she started to move. It took every ounce of self-control I had not to break through them and grab her. She fucked me slowly, her green eyes hooded as she squeezed her breasts and played with her nipples, making me so fucking hard I could barely hold out. But as our breaths fell into pace with one another's, I found it easier to just enjoy the show. Every moan and gasp falling from her made the tip of my cock twitch and I gritted my teeth against the urge to explode.

Her pace started quickening as she chased her own release and I so desperately wanted to reach out and rub her needy clit for her, but fuck it was hot to just watch her get off over me.

Darcy scraped her nails down my chest, over my abs, moaning at the mere sight of my muscles tightening, and I drove my hips up, forcing my cock deeper just as she found her release. She cried out, tipping her head back and squeezing her tits hard, her hips rocking and her body taking and taking from mine. I couldn't control myself any longer as I thrust up hard, breaking the damn restraints and gripping her ass as I fucked her with furious pumps of my hips, finishing with a deep groan and driving my fangs into her neck as pleasure spilled through me in waves.

She clawed at my back, drawing me even closer until we felt like one being with no beginning or end, our bodies falling still and moulding perfectly to one another's.

I withdrew my fangs from her skin, licking away the line of blood that spilled from the pinpricks and moving my hand to heal them.

"Don't," she panted, knocking my hand aside. "I once told you I'd wear your bite marks if the world ever accepted us. So I'm keeping these."

My mouth found hers, heady bliss taking over me as that kiss seemed to make our very souls merge. I didn't know how I'd gone from being the unluckiest motherfucker in the world to the luckiest, but I was counting my damn stars, and I hoped the tide never turned.