Zodiac Academy: Ruthless Fae

“His scent coiled around me, smoke and cedar and danger, or simply put, temptation of my particular variety.”

Brief Synopsis:

Tory and Darcy are some strong badasses, alright? But there seems to be only so much that they can take. After the absolute torment that the Heirs put the girls through the night of the dance, they’re ready to concede and actually leave the Zodiac Academy. Their hearts are broken, because they finally felt like they belonged somewhere, but they don’t think they’ll live if they stay. They decide to bow out secretly, while everyone is at a mandatory assembly covering the death of Professor Astrum, the tarot teacher. Since Darius had burned all the money they’d had in the mortal world, they decide that they’re going to steal some of his gold before they head out. They also need some of the star dust that Orion had used to transfer them to the academy in the first place, so the girls split off, with Tory going to Darius’s room and Darcy searching for some of the star dust in Orion’s hopefully-vacant office. It’s foolproof, right?

Meh, maybe not so much. You see, when Tory ends up in the room, she gets a little out of hand and ends up starting a fire. She also ends up deciding, what the hell? And begins torching his entire room, gold and all. She finds a silver dagger amid all the gold, a weird dagger, and she decides to take that along with some of the gold. She flees the scene unnoticed, but Darcy has a little more trouble. She breaks into Orion’s room, sure, and locates some of the star dust, sure. But she literally wrecks his office in the process since she hasn’t harnessed her magic yet, and he also catches her in the act. They fight it out, Fae-style, and end up in the Aer tower again. He pins her against a wall and steals the star dust back, while also calling her out about leaving and pretty much convincing her that she and Tory actually have what it takes to succeed. She goes back to Tory with this idea in her head, and they decide what the hell? It’s time to stand their damn ground.

What’s even better is that news definitely gets back to Darius about his room, and he’s so enraged that he loses control of his Order and turns into a huge dragon. It’s also conveniently cited as an accident, which I don’t really get. I figured the Vega twins would be the biggest suspects considering that the Heirs literally tortured them both, but whatevs. They stay, and Caleb continues to try to woo Tory, going so far as to tell her that not only did he not know what the other Heirs were planning that night, but that he’s unable to hurt his Source under the Vampire code, or whatever you wanna call it. She’s not totally buying his BS, but she’s not immune to him either. Meanwhile, Seth’s being his douchy self, livid that they didn’t leave, and even makes a gross bracelet to wear around his wrist of Darcy’s hair. Oh, there’s some disturbances in the force with the Heir boys, too. It seems like they don’t always get along, and Caleb has it out with both Max and Darius in their secret Keebler-elf treehouse that they keep sequestered from others.

The torture continues, but some things happen to make it easier. The twins decide they’re going to get their own revenge on the Heirs, but subtly, and start doing little things to lessen their god-status in everyone else’s eyes. Also, one night Tory’s woken up by a Siren call, and through some weird Siren magic she just HAS to kiss Max. He underestimates how powerful she is, though, and she taps into some of his memories, including the fact that he’s an illegitimate bastard and only has half of the claim to the throne that the other Heirs do. Nothing like some sweet ammo against one of the Heirs to make a gal’s day. Darius is forced to go back home to get some more gold, and we find out that Lance (Orion) is bound to Darius because of a spell that Darius’s father had performed a while ago. Orion has to protect Darius if he’s hurt, and they have some weird draw to one another as well. While they are Darius’s, you get to see what a piece of work his father really is, including the fact that he wants to kill Darius’s littler brother just because his Order isn’t a dragon, but a Pegasus.

During the trip, Darius’s father says that he insists on meeting the Vega twins, and maybe blind hatred isn’t the way to conquer them after all. Darius has no choice but to extend the invitation, and Tory promptly tells him to kiss her ass. He makes a bargain with her to train her on her fire magic if she and Darcy will go through with this dinner, and lemme tell you, this training gets HEATED (get it? Fire? Sorry). She also one-ups Darius by walking away and leaving him hot and bothered, and it’s just so dang satisfying. Darcy also has to serve a detention with all four of the Heirs and is totally caught off guard when both Darius and Caleb aren’t totally awful to her.

During all of this, the Academy students are also being schooled on Nymphs, since Astrum’s death is blamed on one of them. Orion begins reluctantly teaching the students all about them, including the fact that they can mask themselves as a Fae. Meaning it could literally be ANY of them. The FIB have been climbing all over campus trying to find connections to the Nymph, and Tory and Darcy are forced to bury some of the gold that they stole from Darius, and the mysterious dagger, before they’re found to be the culprits of the fire. Darius is definitely missing that knife, and it’s clear that he and Orion are up to SOMETHING. The girls continue to plan their subtle revenge on the Heirs, with schemes aimed at them to hit them where it hurts the most: their ego.

Caleb makes it pretty well-known that he would never stoop to hooking up with a Pegasus, so the girls start spreading rumors that he’s actually really into them. Then, once the seed is really planted, they sneak a giant blow up Pegasus sex doll into his room, which he tries to shove out of his room after a shower, and everyone gets video footage of him naked and seemingly thrusting this doll. For Darius, Tory digs up some of the gold that they had stolen from him, and that damn knife. She plants some of the gold in Darius’s newly-rebuilt room and the rest in the room of one of his lackeys, and they wait for the drama to unfold. She keeps the knife, and it does its weird pull thing to her. Seth’s is… something else. That scene, y’all. They want to give him fleas, but they need some of his hair. Darcy hears that he’s going out for the night and waits in the common room.

Seth is weirdly morose after having accidentally elbowed Darcy in the face that day, going so far as to healing her. His pack want to cheer him up, and apparently that’s done with… orgies. One that begins right there in the common room, with Darcy hiding out. She slips away into his room, but before she can get very far, the orgy moves into there. She hides in the closet and has to wait it out while the pack has a bunch of sex. I know. I told you. They go to shower, and she thinks she’s getting away, but Seth knows that she’s in there and he corners her. He tells her that he inadvertently made her part of his pack, and she has to ‘pleasure him or challenge him’ for him to feel better. She refuses, gets some of his hair, gets away, and gives the dude a pretty bad case of fleas.

The night of the party comes, and the girls go with the Heirs and Orion. Darius’s father tries to intimidate them, but they’re not ready to back down. The others are actually fairly nice to them, oddly enough. Who else is there? Geraldine’s father, and he was on one of the tarot cards that Astrum had left behind with a message to find him and ask him a question. So maybe the night won’t be a total loss. This is made clearer when they meet Darius’s betrothed. His cousin. Not only is she not the most sightly of young women, but she’s also a hotheaded dragon to boot. The girls get a chance to talk with Geraldine’s father, and they find out that Clara Orion was Lance Orion’s sister, and she disappeared a handful of years ago in that same big ol mansion they’re in. Now… it’s a party, so things get pretty steamy. Darius takes Tory to the kitchens to eat something other than finger food after she cheers up his little brother, and then he tells her he has something else to show her: his collection of bikes, which she’s instantly enthralled by.

Unfortunately, Daddy Acrux shows up and is a total asshole again, and this time Tory isn’t taking it and talks back to him. He's about to attack Tory for it, and Darius steps in. Of course, this can’t stand, so his dad tells him to leave with him and Tory’s left in the garage by herself. Meanwhile, Darcy’s on a friendly little stroll with Orion after she meets his creepy mother, and they end up by the pool. Orion strips down to his boxers and jumps in, and Darcy grows concerned when he doesn’t surface. She goes to check on him, and he pulls her in fully dressed, and takes her to an air pocket at the bottom of the pool that he created. Nobody can see them, and they’re in a dry spot. He tells her that what they feel for each other can’t happen, not above the surface, but they do steal a really steamy kiss down there. Not to be topped, Caleb finds Tory.

He's going to take some blood from her, but she convinces him to chase her first. She takes off and ends up hiding in Daddy Acrux’s office. Daddy A comes in, and he makes some mysterious phone call that doesn’t really make sense to Tory, but he also doesn’t see her. Caleb finds her and ends up chasing her into the game room. He asks Tory if she wants to play a different kind of game, and they totally have sex on the game table. It’s great. Darius finds them right after the fact, and Tory can tell that he’s seriously pissed off, but can’t figure out why. Hmm. I wonder. They leave the party, and the next day, the subtle fight against the Heirs continues. Darcy, Tory and Geraldine sneak into the boys’ locker room and rub the entire inside of Max’s uniform with shit, after Darcy found out during detention that he has really sensitive skin. To continue with the Pegasus pining story for Caleb, Geraldine also puts glitter all over the crotch of his uniform.

You see, they have a big game today, called Pitball, and the girls are excited to see them all falling apart on the field. That morning, Darius also “discovers” that it was his dear old pal that took his gold, and tells everyone that he’s officially publicly ostracized, and nobody is allowed to talk to this dude anymore. Now, the time of the game arrives and it’s the shitshow that the girls were hoping for. The boys are totally falling apart. Darius is distracted by his fury with his friend, Caleb’s annoyed about the glitter and the other team’s supporters keep taunting him about Pegasi, Seth still has the fleas and now Max is really beginning to break out from the literal shit in uniform. They play on, and the girls feel a tiny bit bad, but you know, not enough because of what the boys have done.

The game ends with Zodiac losing, and the girls are tasked with presenting the other team with their medals. The captain is flirting with the girls, telling them they should take the throne, and they tease that they should, which pisses the Heirs off enough that Tory and Darcy get into a pretty big showdown with Darius and Seth. They end up using magic to lock the twins in the Pit of Pitball, and though they’ve discovered that their magic combined is stronger, they can’t find a way out. That doesn’t really matter, though, because screaming and chaos ensues in the stadium. The girls figure out that some Nymphs broke in and are attacking the students. One comes right down into the Pit, breaking the magic, and they’re just able to get out before it gets them. They throw themselves into the fight and even discover that they can do some pretty cool fire magic that burns them up. We all know that this has something to do with their Order, so I wish it’d show up.

The Vega twins end up kind of saving the day, along with Darius in his dragon form. Darius gets really seriously hurt by the stupid Nymphs, and Tory finds herself frantic to save his life. She’s all crying over him and shit until Orion heals him, and then she’s like “nope, I’m cool”. I’m calling it that they’re Mates and I’m going to be really surprised if it ends up not being true. Poor Caleb. Darius also tells the twins that they’ve proven themselves and their strength, but he's definitely not happy about it. Now, onto the Reckoning!

My Rating:

8/10. I’ve heard so many things about these books and they’re certainly holding up to the hype for me so far. I’m not usually crazy about bully romances, but hey. When in Rome, right?

Devastation Rating:

2/10.. I’m scared for what’s to come.

Favorite Quote(s):

“…and the scent of him surrounded me, smoke, cedar and raw power filling my lungs like a warning.”

“After all, they did believe in fate and destiny so why not a little kismet too?”

“His eyes flickered with shadows that threatened to tear me apart.”

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Until next time <3