Zodiac Academy: The Awakening(45)

I shook my head. “Honestly? No. But I'm asking you not to and I'm telling you I'll try to fight you if you do.” My voice barely quavered and I gave myself a mental pat on the back considering the night I'd had. Small victories and all.

Orion stepped away, a thoughtful glint in his eyes. I tried to move around him but he snatched my arm and sliced his fangs into my skin. I gasped in horror, bringing up my other hand as I tried to will magic into my fingers. But I couldn't focus and the second my hand got close, he slammed it against the door behind me. The hard plain of his chest flattened me to the wood and I winced as his bite deepened, my heart hammering like a rabbit's.

A draining feeling tugged at my insides and power flowed in a channel toward my wrist. My magic was being taken from me, swallowed by this ruthless creature.

His hands on me were unyielding and as hard as I concentrated, I couldn't conjure so much as a gentle breeze against him. Now he was drinking from me, he seemed to have my power in his grasp and it was all moving toward him, the well inside me emptying out.

He released me at last and my head spun, darkness momentarily curtaining my vision. A stream of the vilest swear words in my vocabulary swarmed through my head as I clutched the two bloody pinpricks on my wrist.

Orion gave me an even stare. “Everything in Solaria is about power, Miss Vega. Don't forget that. Everyone takes what they want. It's our way. And if you don't start taking it yourself, you're going to fail at this Academy before you've even attempted to pass The Reckoning.”

My heart pounded out of rhythm as his words sank in.

I am Fae. And I need to embrace the darkest part of me if I’m ever going to survive here.

Orion sailed away from me, dropping into his chair with a satisfied sigh. “Sit down.” He gestured to the seat opposite him.

My heart crumpled with frustration as I moved to take the chair, refusing to show him how rattled I was. Part of me wanted to run back to my room and hide under a blanket, but that wasn't exactly constructive...or dignified.

I eyed the ends of my hair, the blue tips feathery and smooth since Orion had essentially put me through a car wash with his Elements of air and water. I supposed I had something to thank him for. Though he'd taken plenty in return for it.

He poured himself another glass of bourbon and I frowned. “Isn't this supposed to be a lesson?”

“Nope. I'm supposed to be providing guidance for you. But I'm doing so on my time. And on my time, I like to have a drink. So here we are.”

“Right,” I said through tight lips. “So what exactly am I going to learn here while you're enjoying yourself?”

“Trust me, I'm not enjoying myself.” He planted his glass down, giving me a hard stare. “Hand,” he commanded and both of my hands curled up in refusal.

He half rolled his eyes. “Don't make me Coerce you. It's rather draining and I just added a nice chunk to my own power.”

“You mean you sucked out my magic like a mosquito.”

“Sure.” He shrugged. “Whatever colourful analogy soothes you.” He grinned, sipping his drink slower this time. “Hand, come on, we've only got forty more minutes of my life to waste.”

I pressed my lips together, thrusting my right hand at him.

“Flat on the desk, palm up,” he instructed and I did so. “Is this your dominant hand?”

I nodded.

“Good, I'm going to do an assessment.”

“What kind of assessment?” I asked.

“Of your power.”

“Okay...”

“Don't move. And don't giggle – for the love of the sun I hate the gigglers.” He took my hand and heat stroked my veins as he brushed his fingertips over my palm. It tickled like hell and laughter bit at my throat.

He glanced up at me as if judging whether I was going to be one of his hated gigglers. I gave him a straight face, refusing to let it out.

He traced his thumb across the line at the centre of my palm and my skin tingled with sensitivity. Heat dug a needy pit at the base of my stomach and I tried my absolute best to ignore it.

Why are the hot ones always jerks?

“In palmistry mortals usually have four lines on their palms.” Orion pointed them out from top to bottom. “Heart, head, life and fate. Fae, however, have a fifth line. A power line.” He pressed his thumb to the middle of my palm again and I shifted in my seat as my body reacted much too keenly toward Professor Asshole.

Curiosity got the better of me and I leaned in closer to see the line he was pointing out. It stretched right across my palm and had little prongs running off of it.

“Most Fae have shorter lines here.” He rolled his own hand over, showing me his palm and I noticed that on his wrist he had the triangular symbol of air tattooed there. “Mine extends two thirds of the way. Yours, however, is a complete line.” He gave me a once over and I sensed he was somehow angry about that, but I couldn't understand why.

“The strength of each particular Element is defined by these intersecting lines.” He plucked a small ruler off of his desk and laid it on my palm.

He fell into a rhythm as he noted down the length of each line, working across my palm. The brush of his rough fingers and the repetitive movements were making me heady and I tried to focus on anything else in the room besides his touch.