Beyond the Veil (Zodiac Academy, #8.5)

by Caroline Peckham

“Never think that you are not enough,” Hamish growled, his grip on me tightening, and he took my jaw in his hand, locking his gaze with mine as he seemed to peer directly into my soul. “You fought with all you had, unflinchingly and without fear, giving yourself entirely to a fight that could have righted the world. You fought for love and justice, and you should have won. I am endlessly proud of you, dear boy. Endlessly, utterly proud of the man you proved yourself to be.” Words abandoned me at that declaration, something inside the hardened steel of my chest caving at the pure honesty he was offering me with those words. The man who had sired me had never once been proud of me like that.

YALL IT'S BEEN 3 MINUTES WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME ALREADY??

Lionel Acrux had never cared what kind of man I was, nor what kind of honour I claimed, he only ever saw me as an extension of his own achievements, a puppet he could trot out to bolster his own self-worth. And even if he had been proud of me in my own merit, it was all too clear now that I never would have felt anything like the emotion I was experiencing from Hamish Grus’s declaration. He made me feel like I was a man worth knowing, worth following, worth something far more important than my name or any title I might claim.

“Roxanya Vega was right to deny your bond when it was offered,” my mom added. “Because it was the push you needed to find yourself, to become the man I had always known you could be. You set out to prove yourself worthy of her love, but in finding what was needed to do so, you became so much more. I have been proud of you from the first moment I held you in my arms, but I am honoured to have been there to watch you step into your destiny as fully as you did.”

If there was any way for us to reunite our souls once more, then I would give all I had to do so. There was only her. My one, my only, my wife.

That girl had been born with a wall of iron surrounding her heart, gilding her spine, and edging her tongue, but I watched as that iron turned to steel before me, her walls becoming impenetrable, her pain sinking deep within her until she was using it as a foundation for her very soul. She wasn’t going to break. She was rallying herself for the fight of her life, and I was right there beside her, urging her on.

“You can do this. You were born to wear the crown, and you can bear the weight of it no matter how heavy it becomes,” I swore to her.

DARIUS IS FINALLY ON TEAM VEGA HELL YEAH

In all honesty, I had no further interest in my Acrux heritage. I was happy to leave all claims to it behind in the taking of my wife’s name. I was a Vega now.

“The one where I swore to love and protect your daughter with all that I was for all the time I had in that world and the next. The one that I joined her in when she vowed to change our fate at the cost of the stars if that was what it required. She has sworn to defy destiny in the matter of my death, and I have sworn to do all I can to defy it too. So will you help me, or would you rather allow your distaste for me to leave her grieving and alone for the rest of her life?” I demanded. Hail sighed heavily. “I preferred the blonde one,” he grunted.

Hail listening to this speech then going 'meh, Caleb was better' has me on the floor

Her hand found mine in the dark. Always and forever, we found each other this way. No matter if all light was lost, our souls would unite across the boundaries of the universe, never to part.

“You are always so content, my little love,” I said. “Except when you are cold or sleepy or hungry.”

mood

“He’ll become a remnant,” I muttered. “Probably time to go then, Marcel. You had a good run.” I clapped him on the shoulder, steering him towards the door. “Yes…time to go, I suppose,” Marcel said, hanging his head and looking about as heartbroken as one could get. He’d probably feel better when he was beyond that door.

HAIL IS SO FUNNY

“Is this even going anywhere?” I demanded. “So far, all you have shared is some bullshit origin story.”

Same

Darius Acrux was not all bad, I supposed. And if there was one thing we had in common that neither of us could deny, it was that we were both pining for more time with a girl who had been lost to us. My little love, who was not so little anymore.

“Mine,” I growled, moving closer to her. But the word was no claim on the trinket she’d stolen to place upon her brow. My claim was for her. The true treasure in that room. The only thing I ever needed to claim anymore.

“Damn right I would,” I agreed, no element of doubt in my tone. “Besides, a hero is never going to be what it takes to bring my father down. He moulded me into a villain and so that’s what I am. For her. For him. Damnation isn’t good enough for that piece of shit. And heroics aren’t good enough for her. So hand me the fuse, oh Savage King, because I’m ready to burn it all.”

“Lionel likes to spread the Acrux name like butter dripping across all who come close enough to touch it,” Hail scoffed. “As if applying such a thing means anything at all in the face of true power. My parents only managed to carry one child to full term – me. After their death I was the only Vega left, but there was no part of me which wished to start tracking down old family relations and calling them Vega just to up the numbers. A name with power like ours shouldn’t just be handed out at will. It is earned.”

I glanced at him, noting the way he’d called the name ours and wondering if he’d intended to include me in that statement or not. I was a Vega now after all.

OH I'M GOING TO CRY

He wanted vengeance for all Jenkins had done, I could see it plain and clear, and for a fleeting moment I imagined what it might have been like to know Hail Vega as Roxanya’s father. He had not been given nearly long enough with his children, and it felt strange to be on the receiving end of his protectiveness when he’d had few opportunities to bestow it on those he truly cared for.

The power snapped shut around him, securing his fate once and for all. And as I turned from him with my wife’s father at my side, the two of us grinned like savages.

CHILLS

“Shit, Caleb, I can’t keep holding back,” Seth panted. “And I can’t leave,” I added loudly, pretending not to hear Caleb’s reply. “Then stop holding back,” he commanded, and we all heard him. Me, my mother-in-law and my father-in-law. Brilliant.

💀💀💀💀💀

When I got back to life, I was going to make them pay for keeping this from me and for doing it on Roxy’s bed too. Oh yes, I was going to have a lot of fun with my best friends when I saw them again, and they would rue the day they used unlicensed sex toys with my face on them.

They were good for him after so long kept hidden away from other Fae. They accepted him as he was, and there was no greater gift than that from the people who loved you.

“If the Vega twins had not come to Solaria, I think then he might have ended up with Darius Acrux. The two always seemed so well suited to one another, always tussling and laughing together, bound by their cause against Lionel. But it does not surprise me that each of them fell for a Vega twin. How could they not fall for their power, their passion, their fire? It is rather poetic, I feel, that they would be made family in that way.”

“You’ll be defying the stars’ orders,” Darius reminded me darkly. “I am the Savage King. No one gives me orders.”

“I shed you of the Acrux name,” I repeated louder. “I am proud to call you a Vega.” His next retort died on his lips, and I gave him a tight smile. “Say hello to my daughter from me.”

Whatever Roxanya had done to reach this place, I prayed it had not cost her too much. But I knew The Veil would not get its chance to seize her yet, because Darius Vega would not let it be so.