Page 28 of Fortune Academy: Year Three
The air around me felt suddenly heavy and hot and I choked, unable to draw in breath anymore. Yelling sounded from my back and two strong hands took hold around my waist, ripping me away from the suffocating heat. I couldn’t retract my fingers from the stone, so after a moment of struggling my captor dragged me away with the stone burned into my grip.
Stars sparked behind my eyes, then I realized Orion was the one dragging me out. “Stay with me, little star,” he hissed as he fought his way through the brilliance. Blisters and cuts spread out across his face and his body, marring the beautiful freckles that I loved on his skin.
We tumbled out onto the ground and the weight pressing down on me vanished in an instant. My entire body shook with violent tremors as I coughed up a sticky substance and golden light spilled onto the ground.
“Daughter, are you all right?” my mother asked. She tried to reach out and touch me but Luke joined us. His wings vanished in a puff of ash as he grabbed her wrist. “Don’t,” he said, his tone stern. “She’s just going to have to endure the cleansing. You didn’t tell me she broke one of the commandments.”
“What the fuck is going on here?” Hendrik shouted, his wild black eyes a reprieve against the terrible brilliance I’d just endured.
All my other mates started talking all at once, including Logan who barked and I groaned as I eased further into Orion’s embrace.
“Shut it,” Dante growled, sending everyone else into silence. “Orion. Is she okay?”
I couldn’t understand why everyone seemed so concerned with me when Orion’s skin ran slick with blood. “You’re hurt,” I whispered. I couldn’t release the stone still burning a hole in my palm, so I took my free hand to run my touch over his wounds. I tapped into my power reserves and his freckles lit up with a red aura as he began to heal.
Orion hissed as the worst of the damage rejuvenated and he drew my fingers to his lips. “I’m fine, little star. Save your strength.”
“Which commandment did she break?” Kaito ask, his voice stern.
“All sins are equal, however, the stone will react stronger to acts of violence.” Luke gave me a once-over. “Given the reaction I just saw… it was a bad one.”
“I’m so sorry, dear. If I had known I would have thought of something else.” Sonya looked at me with such pity and sorrow that I wanted to slap her.
So I was a sinner. I’d broken one of the worst commandments, even if I couldn’t remember it.
Maybe that’s why I’d destroyed my memories in the first place. It wasn’t some vile act of Calamity. It had been my own denial and fear.
I was a murderer.
The reality of it made total sense to me, and in a way it was actually a relief. I’d tried to hide from my fear of being a monster, but that was the truth, wasn’t it? I’d committed a terrible sin and now I was going to have to pay for it.
I reached around to Hendrik and drew him in closer. “There’s always a price, isn’t that right?”
He frowned. “Yes, pet. But I think you could have told us you had murdered someone before you walked onto holy ground.”
“Fuck, Hendrik,” I said with a weak laugh. “You don’t bat an eye at this, do you?” He didn’t care that I’d committed murder. He took sin in stride.
Kaito rested a hand on my shoulder. “We bear our suffering together,” he reminded me. That had been our promise to one another when I’d helped him accept his origins. He was a lower level Japanese demon who had once only cared about ultimate power and was willing to do anything to get it.
Just like him, he had a past worth regretting.
Now, I had to accept my past as well, one where I had taken a life.
The pain in my hand eased to a dull, aching throb and I whimpered when Dante took my fingers. He pried them away, one by one, and flesh stuck to the stone as he worked it free.
I ground my teeth together and buried my face into Orion’s chest as the Hunter continued his delicate work. The stone had scourged its powers of purification through me, but the deed was done. The price paid.
Dante pried my final finger free and took the diamond stone blackened with my blood. Hendrik murmured a spell over my fingers, helping the skin to stitch back together. The pain eased as the healing effect worked, however the wound left behind long, jagged scars running over my palm that I feared would never go away.
Sonya gave me a weak smile. “I apologize for the difficult attunement to the stone, but you can now use it to capture the Conduit of Calamity. Angelstone does not permit a user who has unresolved transgressions. Even so, keep in mind the stone won’t contain her for long, but it will be enough time to bring her back to Hell if that is still your plan.”
“It is,” I said, my voice hoarse from all the screaming I’d done. I rubbed at my throat, wondering what kind of strange substance was in that room that I’d nearly drowned in.
“You’re sure?” Sonya asked. “Because once you do this, there is no going back.”
“Only Hell can contain something as powerful as Calamity.” I knew that to be true in my bones. It was a solid plan, one we had to execute before the Dean decimated Fortune Academy entirely.
Before she killed Olivia… if she hadn’t already.
