Zodiac Academy: The Awakening(74)
“I think this little Vega needs reminding who she’s up against,” Seth purred, running his hand down Caleb’s back.
Caleb’s deep blue eyes sparkled with excitement and I half considered yelling for help. Geraldine and the others were still out there with Darcy and the Heirs had waited for me to isolate myself from them before they’d pounced. Perhaps The A.S.S would be able to help me escape this situation but I hesitated before I could form the word. Screaming for help like a damsel in distress was just so not me. I wanted to face off against these assholes and come out on top, I just couldn’t figure out how.
Before I could decide on how much my pride meant to me, Caleb shot forward and wrenched me off of my feet. He tossed me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and raced further into the tunnel as if I didn’t weigh a thing.
I cursed and hit him, trying to make him put me down as he shot along with the unnatural speed of his Order.
We made it into a wide space that glowed with blue and silver light and Caleb came to a halt. I could hear Seth howling with excitement back in the tunnel we’d left behind but Caleb’s speed had separated us from him.
Caleb set me on my feet with a boyish grin that almost could have made me believe he wasn’t a total bastard. Ignore the dimples, Tory, he’s an award winning dickasaurus.
“You’re stupidly strong,” I grumbled as I pushed myself out of his grip and glanced at the cave he’d brought me to. We were standing on a ledge high above a sea of sparkling stalagmites which looked sharp enough to impale anyone unlucky enough to fall the ten meters down onto them. I shifted away from the edge uneasily.
“I am,” Caleb agreed, smirking like that was meant to be a compliment. “And that’s only my second best attribute.”
“What’s your best?” I asked automatically, wondering why I was even bothering to get into a conversation with him.
“That would involve us ditching our clothes,” he said, his voice dipping in pitch suggestively and making my traitorous blood flare with heat for a moment.
I glanced at his broad shoulders and mischievous eyes for all of half a second before I turned away, refusing to be blinded to his asshole nature by the pretty shell which housed it. Why do I have such terrible taste in men?
“Well I won’t be putting that claim to the test,” I assured him dismissively. “Why have you brought me here?”
“I thought you might like a look at the view,” he said, prowling towards me with purpose in his gaze.
I glanced at the dizzying drop of doom beside me and shifted further from it again. “Er, yeah. It’s great, thanks. But I really should be getting back to my lesson.”
“Don’t you want a closer look?” Caleb pressed, closing the distance between us once more.
“I can see it just fine from here,” I insisted, trying to keep my tone level.
Running footsteps approached and Seth burst from the tunnel behind us with a howl which echoed off of the cave walls so loudly that I glanced up at the stalactites which hung from the roof with concern.
“Like the view, little Vega?” he asked, shaking his long hair around his head like a dog driving water from its fur.
I looked between the two Heirs for any hint that they might be about to back off but the excitement which danced between them gave me my answer.
“I think she needs a closer look,” Seth said, stepping forward.
“Yeah, you can’t really appreciate it from way back here,” Caleb agreed.
Holy shit on a starfish.
My mind whirled with some way out of this but before I could think of a single thing, Caleb shot towards me, shoving my chest so that I was thrown towards the edge.
I fell backwards, a scream escaping me as the sea of razor sharp rocks winked at me with promises of my death.
Two hands caught mine before I could tumble to my doom and my heart leapt as my sneakers scrambled for purchase on the crumbling lip of the ledge. They didn’t pull me up but laughed as I hung at their mercy, my back to the terrifying drop below.
“Pull me up,” I demanded but my voice came out like more of a plea as fear sped through me.
They grinned at me with twin smiles of beautiful devils and I clung to their hands with all of my strength as they held me in limbo.
“Solaria has been much better off since the Vegas left the throne to the Celestial Families,” Seth growled. “Since our parents took up the throne that yours left cold, our world has been a better place. We don’t need you to come back here and claim it for yourselves. We don’t want you to.”
“We didn’t ask for this,” I breathed, my heart pounding at the thought of the drop beneath me. “We don’t want it. You can keep your stupid throne and your power!”
“That’s a beautiful offer, sweetheart, but it doesn’t change the facts,” Caleb said, his tone suggesting we were having a casual chat and no one was in imminent danger of death. “Your blood-right means the throne belongs to you so long as you prove yourself capable of taking it. And there are enough people who would support your claim to cause a civil war over it.”
“But we don’t want it!” I spluttered, trying and failing to keep my cool. “How can anyone seriously expect us to rule over a nation we know nothing about? It’s insane!”
It could have been the dim light in the chamber but for a moment I could have sworn that Caleb’s features softened a little. I hurried to continue while there was a glimmer of hope that he was listening to me.