Heartless Sky: Chapter 42

“Don’t you wanna stay and hang out with your new friend?” I asked Orion as he walked beside me out of the dining hall, pointing at Seth with my coffee mug who was chatting with Rosalie Oscura.

He glanced back at him then gave me a dry look. “He’s not my friend, Noxy.”

“Right,” I said knowingly, seeing a whole different kind of future for them in my mind. “And I’m not your Nebula Ally.”

He groaned. “Please tell me the mutt isn’t destined to win me over?”

I laughed. “Not necessarily, but there’s definitely a chance.”

“I’ll work harder to crush that chance,” he said with a smirk. “Apparently I don’t do friends unless they’re forced on me like you and Darius, and now Caleb too.”

“I wasn’t forced on you,” I said.

“I could argue the stars forced you on me,” he tossed back.

“I could argue they forced you on me.” I gave him a look as I remembered the night he’d been slipped a lust potion back when I’d met him at Zodiac Academy, and he’d fallen for me hard until I could get him an antidote.

He barked a laugh. “Yeah, well we’re taking that night to the grave, aren’t we?”

“So long as we take the proballs incident to the grave too,” I muttered and he nodded seriously at me. I never wanted to think about that again. It still gave me nightmares. My dick had PTSD.

“For someone who has no friends, you seem to have an awful lot of them,” I taunted and he shoved his shoulder against mine.

“No I don’t.”

“I think you’ve gone well over your quota of wanting ‘no more friends than you have fingers’, if I remember correctly.”

“Whatever. Seth Capella isn’t joining the ranks,” he said firmly.

“Then why did I have a vision of you cuddling him all night long while Darcy was away?”

“Oh fuck off,” he muttered. “I said he could have one hug and we both fell asleep, that’s all. Anyway, what are you, the friend police now?”

“I’m actually quite enjoying watching you fall in love with all the Heirs,” I teased and he growled in warning.

“Watch it, Noxy. Cal and Darius are the only ones I have time for.”

“You laughed for five whole minutes after Max told you about the Vampire who went to the mortal realm and made everyone believe he was the real Edward Cullen by covering himself in Pegasus glitter.”

“That shit was funny,” he said defensively. “It’s not him I like, I liked the story.”

“Then why do you always laugh at his jokes?”

“Jokes are funny, Gabriel,” he growled. “That’s why they’re called jokes.”

“Orio, I was just like you once, unable to let people in and working so hard to pretend I didn’t care about anyone who tried to get under my defences,” I said seriously and he looked to me with a frown. “I just don’t want you to lose out on the best friendships of your life because you’re a stubborn asshole, or worse, something awful happens and you lose the chance to form them forever.”

“I’ve got Darcy, her sister, you and your family, Darius, Xavier, Cal, isn’t that enough?” he asked, proving his stubbornness.

“Yeah, it’s enough,” I admitted. “But there can always be more.” He shrugged and I clapped a hand to his back. “Anyway, tell me about you and my sister. Are you treating her well, because you know I’ll destroy your life if you’re not,” I said through a dark smile.

When Darcy had gotten back, I’d checked her over for signs of the curse with Orion, and found no definitive trace of Lavinia’s grip on her. She claimed her power felt restored and though my Sight wouldn’t offer me much in the way of an answer to confirm she was truly free of the curse, I was hopeful that my sisters’ Phoenix fire could fight it off.

“Of course I am,” he said firmly. “And you can hardly destroy my life, Noxy, what are you gonna do? Take away my status and make everyone repulsed by me? Oh wait, too late.”

I dug my fingers into his back, my wicked smile growing. “I’ll burn every book you love for starters.”

He inhaled sharply, looking to me in horror. “You wouldn’t.”

“I would. I’d rip those pages right out and make those hardbacks scream.”

“You’re a monster,” he cursed.

“So, she’s happy with you?” I pushed and a crease formed on his brow.

“Well, yeah. Mostly, I guess.”

“What do you mean?” I frowned.

“I mean…” He looked to me. “And don’t go after my fucking books for this, but I know she’s not exactly happy with my stance on our current situation.”

“Meaning?” I pressed and he sighed, looking pained as his dark eyes bored into mine.

“She doesn’t care about my Power Shaming because she hasn’t grown up in this world. She doesn’t understand how deeply this will affect us. Always. I’m never going to be accepted in society again. When this war is over, and pray to the fucking stars, the Vegas ascend to the throne, what then? I can’t stand at her side, she’ll lose the support of her people. She’ll be ridiculed. What if she resents me for that? She deserves an easy life, a partner she can openly be with without the judgement of the whole fucking world.”

I tried to see more of that future he spoke of, but the fate was too weak, barely plausible at all while Lionel sat on the throne.

“So what are you planning? Because I swear to the moon, Orio, if you leave her-”

“I won’t leave her,” he promised. “But I’m happy to remain in the background, let the world believe we’re not together.”

“Like you’re attempting to do here in The Burrows?” I scoffed and he nodded. “You should be proud to claim her as yours.”

“I am,” he snarled. “But you can’t deny this situation is putting me in a difficult position. What would you do?”

I thought on that, thinking of my wife and imagining what it would be like for us to face this kind of trial. And dammit, Orion was right. I wouldn’t allow her to be dragged down by the weight of my shaming, but still…there had to be some better answer than this.

I looked to the stars for guidance once more and saw such a mixture of fates that I winced away from them. There was so much death in my visions these days. I’d seen my family and friends die countless times in countless ways and sometimes I wished I could just switch off my mind and live in the now. It must have been such fucking peace during this war to at least have the hope that everything would be alright. But for so many people in this place, it seemed it might not be.

“I guess I would do what you’re doing and my wife would give me hell for it,” I admitted and Orion snorted a laugh.

“Yeah, well welcome to my world,” he said and I guided my Sight towards this situation specifically, trying not to see too far so that I didn’t get caught up in the chaotic visions of war.

A small pocket of possibility opened up before me as I watched Orion claiming Darcy as his publicly before the rebels and the outrage that caused in response, but my sister was smiling like it was the happiest moment of her life and my heart tugged, knowing their whole relationship had been lived between secrets. She deserved better. She deserved the whole damn world. Just like Tory did, but holy fuck had Darius gone and made a shit show out of their fate. I could only put out so many fires, and his was a raging inferno I couldn’t control.

As the vision continued, I watched the rebels withdrawing from Darcy, only following Tory’s command as more and more of them turned their back on her twin. I saw Orion begin to hate himself for what he’d done, his self-blame driving him to drink away the guilt of ruining her claim to the throne.

I came back out of that possible future and smiled sadly at my friend. “Just love her with all your heart, Orio,” I sighed, knowing I couldn’t interfere with their fate. They had to make their own decisions, overcome their own obstacles. But it left me with fear clutching my heart for them.

Were both of my sisters going to end up broken because of the men they’d chosen to love? It didn’t bear thinking about, but the stars probably wouldn’t let me avoid it.

“Always,” he promised.

We made it to the long passages where the classrooms were located and I headed into the one assigned to me while Orion followed.

“What’s the word on Justin Masters?” he asked.

“Still nothing yet,” I said gravely. “The Cyclopses won’t stop trying to get some hard evidence or a confession though.”

“If Hamish would just let me inside his cell, I’d get it out of him in minutes,” he said with a glimmer of malice in his eyes.

“Yeah, and you’d add another crime to your collection. Are you sure you wanna be a murderer?” I asked.

“What’s one more little crime? I’m on the run anyway,” Orion said with a shrug and I laughed.

“Do you wanna stick around for today’s lesson?” I asked him. “I could use a hand teaching them ceromancy.”

“Sure,” he agreed and I headed over to my desk, a flash of a vision tearing through my head a beat before my chair burst into flames.

“What the fuck?” I cursed, placing my coffee mug down on the desk and rushing around to put the fire out. But the moment I got that one under control, my whole chalkboard went up in flames.

“Orio!” I barked for help as small fires burst to life all around the room and a flash of who was responsible filled my head. “Xavier – what the hell?!” We finally got the flames under control, and I turned, finding Xavier standing by my desk with his cheeks flushed and an awkward smile on his face.

“Just a little joke,” he said innocently and I noticed Tyler and Sofia stepping into the classroom. They weren’t really supposed to have joined this class, but Xavier had asked for Sofia to join and after my agreement, Tyler had shown up too and refused to leave. The Sight told me it wasn’t a fight worth having, so I hadn’t bothered to send him away since.

“Hilarious,” Orion deadpanned, moving to perch on one of the desks and fold his arms.

“Well I’d give you detention, but I’d rather gouge my eyes out than spend an hour of my evening watching you do some menial task,” I muttered, picking up my coffee and swallowing down the last of it. A strange taste lingered on my tongue for a second and I smacked my lips together before my eyes shot up to Xavier, his cheeks, ears and neck now bright red. “Go and sit down.” I wafted him away and he trotted to his seat beside Sofia near the front of the class.

Tory, Darcy and the Heirs arrived followed closely by Geraldine as she sung a loud ditty about the moon coming down to a royal ball and I waited for them all to drop into their seats before picking up a bunch of candles from my desk.

Orion snagged them from me, handing them out to everyone a little aggressively as he tossed them down on everyone’s desks. But as he approached Darcy and she held out a hand to take one, he moved it out of reach and tapped his lips, smirking at her. She stood from her seat, kissing him as she reached around his back to snatch the candle from his hand.

“You might be free to kiss in class now, but that doesn’t mean you should,” Max called to them and Orion stood upright, locking him in his sights like prey.

“I’ll do whatever the fuck I please, and if you want me to continue teaching you so that you don’t miss out on your final year of studies, then I suggest you keep your opinions to yourself,” he said through a deadly smile and Max rolled his eyes, but didn’t say another word.

“I think it’s romantic!” Geraldine gushed, cupping her chin in her hands. “A shamed, repulsive Fae professor claiming a princess when the whole world would rather he didn’t.”

“Geraldine,” Darcy hissed.

“Forgive me, my lady. Have I spoken out of turn?” she gasped.

“Don’t call him repulsive,” Darcy insisted.

“Oh my holy biscuit box!” Geraldine gasped. “Forgive me, dear Darcy. I shall pick a more fitting word in future. Ghastly perhaps? Or abominable? Maybe the word pugnacious would be more to your tastes?”

“He isn’t those things,” Darcy growled.

“Oh – I -um- apologies – blast my baking goods,” Geraldine seemed to glitch out, caught between the cultural norm to turn on Power Shamed Fae and the desire to please her queen. His shame was something I could handle easily enough. He was my Nebula Ally and I was far too powerful to let something like that get under my skin, which was the same reason the Heirs weren’t bothered by him. Many Fae believed the company of a Power Shamed Fae brought down their own status, but I didn’t give a fuck about any of that. I’d stand by Orion through anything, he’d always done the same for me.

“Let’s begin, shall we?” I suggested, letting Orion off the hook as he stared coolly at Geraldine, but as everyone turned their attention to me, Tyler gasped and pointed at my crotch.

“Oh my stars, sir, are you keeping the beast from the east in there?” He took out his Atlas, snapping a photo and I looked down, finding dark hairs sprouting out from the top of my waistband, my crotch bulging a little.

“What the-”

The button on my jeans suddenly popped off, flying across the room and hitting Seth right in the eye.

“Why?!” he cried as he clutched his face and my zipper flew open.

“Orio,” I gasped, complete panic filling me at the thought of what was happening.

“Dude, have you got a Pomeranian in your pants?” Tory balked.

Orion gaped at me and I forced myself to look down again, a noise of grief leaving me as my jeans burst fully open at the front and hair sprouted thick and fast out the top of my boxers which were barely containing the rapid growth.

The Heirs started roaring with laughter, but this was no fucking joke. My pubes were growing at the speed of light and as I tried to stuff them back down into my boxers, the material split apart, freeing the hair which was sprouting like a wiry black bush.

Tyler fucking Corbin was recording every second with a manic gleam in his eyes and I cursed, turning my back on the class, casting a pair of silver scissors in my hand and starting to slice through the hair so it floated down around my feet.

“Are you okay, Gabriel?” Darcy called in concern.

“Someone slipped me a potion!” I barked and Orion shot to my side in concern.

“What can I do, Noxy?” he asked in earnest.

“Get them all out of here,” I begged and he nodded, turning back to the class.

“OUT!” he bellowed in his best professor tone.

“No way, I wanna see this play out,” Darius said with a smirk in his voice and if that Dragon wasn’t already doomed, I would have killed him right then and there.

“Is he shearing his pubes off?” Sofia whispered to a round of raucous laughter.

I gave up trying to cut them with the scissors, the pubes getting out of hand, growing faster than I could keep them back. They were climbing towards my chin and I shoved them down with a noise of anguish, whipping around as rage burned through my limbs.

“Who did this?!” I bellowed, trying to see the answer, but all that came to me was a vision of my pubes getting out of control and I gasped, turning to Orion again. “Get something to stop them growing,” I begged and Orion nodded, shooting out of the classroom and leaving me exposed to the whole room of laughing assholes. Even Darcy and Tory were cracking up and I growled at my sisters before striding towards Tyler with the intention to snatch that Atlas and break it. But before I made it there, my pubes went through another huge growth spurt and I cried out as they expanded around me and I spluttered as they grew up to my face and got stuck in my mouth.

I fought them back as I tried to see beyond them, the only sound reaching me the endless laughter in the room and suddenly my pants were splitting down the middle and falling to my ankles as the pubes curled around my back and started extending in every direction throughout the room.

My only saving grace was that the pubes were so thick, my cock was no doubt hidden within them, but as I felt the hairs pressing against my desk and it screeched along the floor from the pressure of them, I knew it was barely a saving grace at all.

“Help me!” I demanded, managing to carve a space in front of my eyes so I could peer out and I saw my sisters coming to my aid while the rest of the class fell apart in their seats.

Tory and Darcy cast shears in their hands, chopping away at the pubes before giving that up, sharing a look and raising their hands.

“Trust us, okay?” Darcy asked and I saw what was about to happen a second too late to stop them.

“No – wait,” I gasped as they used fire to consume the pubes, the hairs swallowed up by the flames in a flash, burning all of my clothes off in the process and stopping just short of my cock.

I stood naked in front of everyone with smoke coiling up around me, the scent of burning pubes hanging in the air while my sisters exchanged a smile of satisfaction, and I exhaled out in relief, sure that had stopped it. Even as Tyler bounced in his seat and angled his Atlas down at my dick, I knew there were worse fates than this.

Xavier was laughing his ass off beside him and as my gaze locked on him, I saw the truth. I saw him placing a potion in my coffee, so I knew it was him. I knew what he’d done. And as his eyes fell on me, his laughter fell away, because he knew I’d realised it too.

“XAVIER”! I roared in anger, taking one step toward him, but then the pubes exploded back into action, seemingly spurred on by the fire that had stolen them away as they grew so fast, I was lost within them in moments, the weight of them pressing me down as I fell on my ass and I heard desks screeching everywhere as the pubes forced them back.

“Ah – run! The pubes are coming for us!” Caleb cried and the sound of footsteps racing for the door carried to me.

“Sorry, Gabriel!” Tory cried as they abandoned me.

“I’m coming!” Orio’s voice reached me and the sound of something swinging and slashing reached me before Orion appeared, cutting his way through the forest of pubes which must have filled the whole room now. His face was strained as he fought to get to me with the sun steel blade in his hand, the pubes driving him back time and again as he gritted his teeth and battled his way towards me. “Hang on, Noxy. I’m almost there.”

I reached for him in desperation, the pubes pushing me down time and again so I kept losing sight of him, but my warrior of a friend kept fighting his way towards me, braving the sea of my pubes which tickled his face and got in his mouth.

He spluttered and powered on, cutting his way towards me until his hand reached for mine and I latched hold of it tightly.

“Don’t let go,” I begged, like Rose trying to cling to Jack at the end of Titanic. But we all knew how that had turned out.

“I won’t. I’ve got you,” he promised, as he tried to pull me from the pubes which were trying to carry him away on a tide, his hand squeezing as he dragged me towards him.

But the tide was too strong and he was being forced backwards as he held out a potion with his other hand, offering it to me. I reached out with my free hand to grab it, but the pubes formed a wall I couldn’t get through.

“Orio!” I cried.

“Noxy!” he called in return as his hand started slipping out of mine.

He fought his way forward once more, the potion now bobbing along on a gust of air he cast, bringing it to my lips.

“Open your mouth,” he commanded and I tipped my head back, doing as he asked. But as Orion flipped it upside down with his air magic, the cursed pubes intervened, knocking it to one side and the potion spilled into my eye instead, the liquid stinging like a motherfucker.

“Ahh!” I wailed, the burning intensifying.

I could feel Orion’s hand slipping further from my grip and I held onto his fingers with all I had.

“Don’t let go,” I growled again, squinting out into the pubes as my eyes burned and I hunted for him.

His face appeared through the pubes once more, his eyes full of apology as he shook his head.

“I’m so sorry, Noxy.” His fingers slipped from my grasp and my friend was swallowed away into the black forest of pubes like a monster had drawn him into its depths.

I shouted after him in desperation as the pubes thickened so much that I was plunged into darkness. And only one thought remained with me there.

Xavier Acrux is going to pay.