Restless Stars (Zodiac Academy, #9)

by Caroline Peckham

“Tell me, brother, how many stars did you have to fuck to be given another chance at life?” Orion asked. Darius turned to him with a smirk creeping across his face. “No stars, Lance. But your dad took it like a pro.” “You motherfucker,” Orion said through a wide smile, eyes burning bright with relief, confusion, and love for this man before him. “Fatherfucker,” Darius corrected through an even bigger smile, and the two of them strode forward, grasping each other in a furious embrace and laughing loudly.

“I popped back to the academy to pick up Gabe’s favourite Tarot deck, and you went on a heist without me?” he said in anger. “I’m the greatest thief in Solaria. How dare you!” “I guess that makes you the second greatest thief in Solaria now,” I teased, and he gasped in offence. “You realise I’m going to have to do a heist now that tops your heist. You can’t go stealing my glory,” Leon growled. “It’s my glory.” “Leon,” Xavier snapped. “You’re getting Cheeto dust on my keyboard.” “What are you gonna do about it, pony boy?” The sound of Leon aggressively eating a Cheeto carried to me, and I took my earpiece out, shoving it in my pocket.

Doubts were kicking in, and I was one negative thought away from cancelling this whole idea and never revisiting it again. But then the moon winked at me in the sky, and I knew she had my back. She was in her waxing gibbous phase tonight, almost full but not quite, teasing the world with that little shadowy part she kept hidden. It was like she’d dressed up for the occasion, wearing a dress with a slit up the leg, showing just enough skin but not giving away the whole bakery with the muffin. You dirty little gibbous.

My heart beat steadier than it had in a long time. Together, here in the clouds, nothing could touch us. And long may we fucking reign.

I AM SO HAPPY WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

“This can’t be it,” I rasped, and her fingers tightened on mine. “At least we’re together.” Her eyes blazed at me, and injustice seeped into every corner of my being.

NO

“You can’t wait to get back to those three Nymphs you had a weird sex night with, can you?” I taunted. “Who told you about that?” she gasped. “Seth. He heard it from Caleb. Max was there too when Seth blurted it out. Oh, and Justin.” “Great.” She pursed her lips. “So long as Washer didn’t get a whiff of it too.” “I did just now, queenie love!” Washer stepped out of the gate in leather pants and a leopard print shirt that had way too many buttons open. “What a riveting tale, you will share it with me soon, won’t you? It sounds like a tryst to remember, and if I’m not wrong, I sense a little grief radiating off of you around the subject. I can delve into the crannies of your mind and free you from any sufferings, you know? Don’t ever hesitate to-”

“Did you carry a picnic hamper all the way across campus for me like Little Red Riding Hood?” she laughed while I balanced the thing on the chair beside the tub and opened it up. I snorted. “Yeah, baby, I did. And what big eyes you’ve got, grandmama.” She laughed again, batting her lashes at me. “All the better to see your bullshit with, my dear.”

“Sparkle dick?” Seth perked up even more, glancing between everyone in the room, though all he got from me was a cold glare. “Who’s going to tell me then? You can’t go dropping the words ‘sparkle dick’ and not expect me to hound you to the ends of the earth for an explanation.”

“You really are mine, aren’t you?” he whispered, his words like a prayer and I could only nod. “All yours,” I agreed. “From now until the end.”

IM GONNA CRY

“Mates,” I finished for him. “We’re Moon Mated.”

SCREAMS!!!!!!

“It’s the time for goodbyes now, isn’t it?” she whispered.

no!!!

My family. All of them. They were here in this gruesome, bloody fight, and the odds were, we wouldn’t make it out of this alive.

PLS DONT DO THIS

“There are never too many enemies in this world for good to overcome,”

But I was no mere lettuce leaf. I was a main course all of my own.

“I had a vision about you and what they will call you after this day has passed.” Lionel shook the bars and bellowed at me but I didn’t even flinch, the weight of his hold over me falling away at last. “The Dragon who burned.”

It was too perfect, all of this. The life we’d forged together and made our own. This was where living really happened. Between the layers of havoc and sweetness of all the love we shared. And I couldn’t have imagined up any better dream for myself, than this. Simply, purely, this.