Solaria is governed by the four Celestial families — Acrux, Rigel, Altair, Capella — whose heirs attend Zodiac Academy. The school sorts students by elemental House, and Order rankings and elemental power determine standing in Fae society. The Nymph war, declared at the end of first term, is ongoing; attacks are escalating and the FIB maintains a presence on campus.
Darcy and Tory’s Phoenix Orders emerged at the shadow ritual, but Lionel’s Dark Coercion failed to erase the twins’ memories of it. Both carry shadow magic, as do Darius and Orion. On New Year’s Eve, Tory rejected her Divine Moment with Darius, closing the door on their Elysian Mate bond and marking both their eyes with the black ring of the Star Crossed. The same night, Orion and Darcy entered the Shadow Realm and retrieved Clara, but Clara — shadow-corrupted after four years inside — attacked Orion with the draining dagger and fled into the storm.
Books in Series
Book 0.5: Origins of an Academy Bully
Book 1: The Awakening
Book 1.5: The Awakening As Told By The Boys
Book 2: Ruthless Fae
Book 3: The Reckoning
Book 4: Shadow Princess
Book 5: Cursed Fates
Book 5.5: The Big A.S.S. Party
Book 6: Fated Throne
Book 7: Heartless Sky
Book 8: Sorrow and Starlight
Book 8.5: Beyond the Veil
Book 9: Restless Stars
Bonus Companion: Live and Let Lionel
Main Characters:
Darcy (Gwendalina) Vega: Joint heir to the Solarian throne; House Aer; in a relationship with Orion; carries shadow magic.
Tory (Roxanya) Vega: Darcy’s twin; House Ignis; Star-Crossed with Darius Acrux; carries shadow magic.
Supporting Characters:
Professor Lance Orion: Darcy’s Liaison; Vampire, Libra; Guardian-bonded to Darius.
Darius Acrux: Celestial Heir, Dragon Order; son of Lionel; Guardian-bonded to Orion; Star Crossed with Tory; carries shadow magic.
Seth Capella: Celestial Heir, Werewolf Order and Alpha; currently blackmailing Darcy and Orion.
Caleb Altair: Celestial Heir, Vampire Order; claims Tory as his Source.
Max Rigel: Celestial Heir, Siren Order.
Geraldine Grus: First-year; A.S.S. founder.
Diego Polaris: First-year; Darcy’s friend; his family uses dark soul magic and is bonded to the Shadow Realm.
Gabriel Nox: Prophet; the twins’ half-brother.
Clara Orion: Orion’s sister; Vampire; returned from the Shadow Realm carrying shadow magic; fled into the storm after stabbing Orion.
Lionel Acrux: High Lord of the Celestial Council; Darius’s father.
Xavier Acrux: Darius’s younger brother; Pegasus Order.
Catalina Acrux: Darius’s mother; lives at Acrux Manor.
Recap Summary
Seth answers Darcy’s call and begins healing Orion in the sea cave, but their combined power isn’t enough until Darius arrives; all three close the wound together. Orion wakes in blood frenzy and attacks Seth; Darius offers his own throat, and Orion feeds before losing consciousness again. They return to King’s Hollow. In the morning, Orion tells Darius about the relationship; Darius gives his blessing and promises that Seth will stop the blackmail.
Caleb had been with Tory when the Star Crossed marks appeared; Max had already worked out it was Darius and hits Caleb when he arrives at King’s Hollow. The Heirs sit with Darius through the night. He refuses Max’s help and leaves before dawn for Acrux Manor.
Clara arrives at the manor the same morning with matching Guardian bond marks to Lionel. When Darius arrives to confront the situation, Clara uses the shadows to immobilise him, and Lionel chokes Orion and throws him to the ground. Orion gives Clara her childhood charm bracelet; she recognises him for a moment before the shadows take her back.
At a family gathering, Lionel publicly dismisses the twins’ claim and announces Darius’s wedding to Mildred Canopus will take place two days after graduation, and launches Mildred’s pro-Heirs club at the Academy. In private, Clara tells Lionel that the twins carry shadow magic, and Lionel states he will move for the throne soon.
Tory and Darius fall into a daily routine — morning runs, coffee she doesn’t ask for. Throughout the term, she uses the shadows alone at night, going deeper each time. Tory takes stardust from Darius’s room and travels to Acrux Manor to meet Catalina and Xavier. She burns the Dark Coercion from Xavier’s mind, freeing him to speak about his Pegasus Order, but she cannot remove Gravebone’s psychological conditioning.
When she texts Darius “I miss you” one evening, he reads it and doesn’t reply, but appears to run the next morning. In The Wailing Wood, Tory asks why he never apologised; he does, and tells her he loves her. The stars drive a falling tree between them.
Nymphs break into the home of Kraveen Dire, a deceased black market dealer, and Darcy, Orion, and Darius investigate. They find a note: Kraveen possessed a dangerous artefact he could not destroy and sent it to a trusted Fae before his death. They also find the fifth Astrum Tarot card — The Tower: A fallen star, an empty grave, an eternal vow. Seek he who broke it. Xavier reports from the manor that Lionel, Clara, and the Polarises are all hunting the same object.
During a Vampire chase game, Caleb — drained and out of control — knocks Tory from a rooftop and breaks her spine. Darius heals her, then attacks Caleb and forbids him from ever hunting Tory again.
Darcy gives Orion a Phoenix-forged sword — indestructible, made with Gabriel — and the next morning her Atlas is missing. Kylie Major had taken it and filmed them together; FIB agents arrive in The Orb to arrest Orion in front of the entire school. Darcy burns an agent trying to stop them; Orion headbutts the one who tasers her before being cuffed and taken. Darius calls his lawyers but cannot stop the arrest. Highspell, a new pro-Lionel professor, cuts Darcy’s neck in the commotion.
At trial, Orion changes his plea to guilty, claims he used Dark Coercion on Darcy to manufacture the relationship, and is sentenced to twenty-five years in Darkmore Penitentiary. Darius’s legal team finds no loophole.
In Elemental Combat, Darcy publicly accuses Seth and fights him. On the roof of Aer Tower afterwards, Seth apologises for what he has done to her and tells her Kylie was the one who filmed them and reported to the FIB, and that Orion pleaded guilty deliberately to protect Darcy’s royal claim. The two of them go to The Orb together with all four Heirs and publicly confront Kylie.
Later in the term, Tory and Darius exchange gifts at a group outing in the parking lot. He reveals a custom motorcycle he has had built for her; she gives him something Phoenix-forged in return.
Over the term break, silver footprints in the palace grounds lead all three of them into a chamber at the centre of the royal maze. Visions there reveal their mother’s history: as a teenager in a Voldrakian competition, she met Marcel, a Seer who foresaw that he would die the following day. He did, saving her life, and Gabriel is their son — the twins’ half-brother. Further visions confirm that Lionel orchestrated the Nymph attack that killed the Vega King and Queen.
Gabriel has a vision: Lionel wielding the Imperial Star — an artefact that bends the stars’ favour to its user, operable only with royal blood — to seize the throne. He estimates Lionel is three weeks from finding it, and Darcy, Tory, and the four Heirs begin searching.
Darius arranges a single prison visit for Darcy. Orion is cold, refuses to explain his choice, tells her it is over; she tells him she loves him, and he turns his back on her. Darius also fails to get Orion to sign the appeal papers and advises Darcy to back off and give him time.
On the last night of term, Darcy is grabbed in The Wailing Wood and taken to the Orion family home, where Lionel tortures her for information on the Imperial Star while Clara uses shadow pain. Diego sees it through the Polaris soul web and calls Tory; she takes stardust from Darius’s room and reaches the house with Diego. The Heirs arrive separately.
Darius fights Lionel in the dining room, breaks through his father’s Dark Coercion using Tory’s Phoenix gift, and has his hands around Lionel’s throat. Clara intervenes with the shadows, trapping Darius, and Lionel recovers. Outside, Clara uses the shadow connection to direct Darcy against the Heirs; Max, Seth, and Caleb work to contain her. Clara presses a knife into Darcy’s hand, and as Darcy’s arm swings toward Max, Seth steps into the blade. His throat is cut. Max and Caleb keep him alive, and Darcy’s Phoenix breaks free when Seth is close to death. She drives Clara off with Phoenix fire.
Diego, fatally stabbed by Clara during the fight, shifts into Nymph form — he has been a Nymph all along. Fae healing cannot reach him. He dies and turns to ash. A lone Nymph emerges from the trees, attacks Clara from behind, then bows its head to Darcy; Clara kills it and flees.
A host of Nymphs arrives at the perimeter. Tory makes a deal: she will surrender to the shadows if Lionel takes her and leaves everyone else. Lionel agrees. She tells Darius she loves him, then steps into the shadows. Lionel takes Tory and Clara and flies.
Darcy and the four Heirs make a star-bound vow to find the Imperial Star before Lionel does. Darcy grips Darius’s jaw: he will not give up on Tory.
Tory is in a stone chamber below Acrux Manor, strapped to a chair. Lionel asks who she loves. She finds the echo of Darcy and of Darius inside herself, but Lionel drives the shadows into her until they are gone. She looks up at him and says she loves only him.
Next in Series
Tory is at Acrux Manor under the shadows, answering to Lionel. Darcy and the four Heirs are star-bound to find the Imperial Star before him, with no lead on its location and Orion still in Darkmore Penitentiary, his appeal unsigned.
∫∫∫