Restless Stars (Zodiac Academy, #9)

by Caroline Peckham

You’ve probably got a couple of years before you need to start caring and by then we might be thinking another three-way would be just the thing to spice up our marriage bed so-” “Whoa, whoa, whoa, what do you mean another three-way?” Seth demanded, stalking into the room.

I gave her a look which said ‘I can’t just bow down to this shit’ and she arched a brow which said ‘hell no you can’t’ before speaking for the whole room to hear. “What’s the problem, Darius? They’re only tits.” “Can we get back to the mention of a threesome,” Seth pushed. “When they were Star Crossed, me, Tory and Darius fucked,” Caleb said, still not bothering to look up from the book in his lap. “It was like a work around on the ‘keeping them apart’ bullshit - you know about this.” “I do not know about this,” Seth growled. “I do not know about this at all.”

“What now?” I taunted, raising a hand coated in bubbles and blowing them straight at him. Darius looked about ready to commit murder and I bit my lip. Violence looked so fucking good on him. “Out!” he barked, the word not for me but for the others. “Unless any of you wants a visual demonstration of who owns my wife’s body because it’s clear to me that she needs a fucking reminder.” My smile widened and Darcy wrinkled her nose.

Within less than a minute, Darius had hauled me from the tub with a fistful of my hair, bent me over it and was ten inches deep inside me before I could even say fuck you.

Ten inches????

“I thought they were extinct,” Orion breathed from behind me, but I couldn’t tear my gaze from the little creatures who were blinking up at Darcy and I as if we were where their world began and ended. “What are they?” I murmured. “Sayer dragons,” Geraldine replied in a hushed voice. “Now imprinted upon the two of you, forever faithful to your will, forever loyal to your wishes.” “Four of them,” Orion gasped in disbelief, and by the awed silence of the others I was willing to bet this was a bigger deal than us just getting four baby lizards in a box as pets.

Omg babies

“Something this small will fight for us?” I asked, the smile on my lips making my appreciation of them undeniable though I couldn’t see how it could make the slightest bit of difference in this war. “They’re so cute,” Darcy breathed. “They’re not cute, Blue. Their powers are vast and unknown, unpredictable and immense,” Orion explained. “Each of them growing into magic unique to its own personality, the power of which is sustained by the connection it holds with its masters.”

“Nice. So we have four baby lizards, clean shadows and the friendlier Nymphs considering their options, an army of rightly pissed off and motivated Fae, the two most powerful Fae in the kingdom plus seven of the second most powerful and you, Geraldine, who is arguably an army all on your own. We have a Shadow Beast, the Nox plant, the greatest Seer of our time, and a powerful glacia diamond. So why do I still have this awful feeling that we don’t have enough to win this war?” I asked.

“Tharix,” Darius said slowly. “I can’t believe I’m saying this but he has let me live twice. He let the twins pass too. He’s…searching for something, kinship or…family perhaps.” His lip peeled back on the word, and I knew he didn’t even want to admit to the blood tie which bound him to that wicked creation, but there was no denying what he said.

My forget-me-not that had bloomed so perfectly in the strangling weeds, reminding me she was mine. Always mine.

“You still don’t regret coming here, do you?” I asked, my voice lowering. “If there was a way you could have stayed safe in the Mortal Realm, away from war and strife, would you have chosen that if you’d known what was coming now?”

Ofc she doesnt regret it

“Then here is my request.” Darcy stepped towards Arcturus with her chin held high. “If a lie passes your lips, the consequences shall be great. And not upon you, daughter of the flames,” Arcturus warned, his gaze turning on me. “I shall let the ocean reap its bounty from the soul of your Elysian Mate.”

Omg omg pmfshzhz

Darcy grabbed my arm, drawing me upright with a look of fear in her eyes. “Are you alright?” “I’m fine,” I said icily, throwing a glower at Arcturus’s Fae-like form. “Did you get what you asked for?” “Yes,” she breathed, and I was so shocked by that it sent a flood of fear right through me. “What did he want in return for it?” “Perhaps it is time I returned you to your earthly world,” Arcturus said. “So that you might lie again.” The world shuddered and I blinked as I found myself kneeling opposite Darcy on the clifftop overlooking Aer Cove. “Asshole,” she growled. “What did he mean by that? Are you going to lie to me, Blue?” “No,” she said fiercely. “He agreed to what I asked. There was no price.”

What did she ask???

“Queens don’t choose easy paths,” I said. “Is that what you’re so afraid of, Lance?” she asked, taking up a fighting stance. “That I’ve chosen the hard path. That I’m going to give up everything to protect you? Hm, sounds familiar.” She lunged, swinging her sword at me with a violent precision that came close to striking my neck. I blocked it with a parry at the last second then shot behind her in a blur, blasting air at her that sent her tumbling to the ground. She gained her feet in an instant, spinning around with a swing of her sword which I ducked back to avoid.

Mom and dad are fighting

“Is this how you plan to win your fights in battle?” I growled. “The enemy won’t care for your peachy ass.” “Peachy, you say?” She turned around so said ass was pointed right at me, glancing over her shoulder to try and look at it herself, acting like a ditzy fool. I shot up behind her, grabbing a fistful of her ass and squeezing hard and speaking in her ear. “Focus, Blue.” “I’m not the one who’s lost focus.” She jabbed her sword into my ribs as she reached behind her, and a grin twisted my lips at the stab of pain.

She ran at me, and I waited until the last second to move, lurching out the way of her strike and racing around behind her, clapping my hand hard against her ass cheek which was turning good and red. She spun around with her sword swinging, but I was gone, out of reach once more. We went on like that time and again, her fury sparking hotter and hotter as she failed to get a single blow on me while her right ass cheek blazed.

What is this training exercise?

“No,” I admitted. “I see the truth now as clearly as I see a queen above me. I doubted you because I judged you by my own standards. I’m the bastard who would lie to protect you, the brute who would commit every sin in the book to safeguard you.” I gripped the back of her calf, leaning up to kiss her ankle and giving her a dark look. “Punish me however you see fit.” She flexed her toes against my chest, pressing her weight down more firmly. “Beg,” she commanded. “Forgive me,” I growled, kissing her ankle again then grazing my fangs against the flesh of her calf. “Try harder,” she urged, and I reared up, my hand sliding up to grasp the back of her thigh, my mouth dragging up the inside of her leg, kissing, nipping.

Oh

She clawed at my back, drawing me even closer until we felt like one being with no beginning or end, our bodies falling still and moulding perfectly to one another’s.

The poor pitball field

I grinned as I rode, glancing over at my girl who took the corners like a pro, leaning low on her own motorcycle, the diamond constellation which was inlaid over the engine catching in the midday sunlight and casting rainbows across the slick paintwork.

Shes finally ridin it

Roxy glanced over her shoulder at me then changed gear and increased her speed. “Last one to that big lumpy rock thing has to sub tonight,” she called over the speaker. “That lumpy rock thing is a stone column from the long-forgotten city of Torbella which was destroyed in the Blood Ages, you know,” I called after her, but she just lifted a hand to flip me off over her shoulder and shot away at full speed. I cursed her then concentrated on catching and beating her. I leaned forward, my bike’s engine roaring as I pushed it to its limit, the plush green landscape racing by in a blur. Roxy stayed dead ahead of me, not letting up for a second as her bike tore up the road and before I knew it, we were shooting past the stone column and her whoop of triumph filled my ears. “Cheat,” I taunted. “Bad loser,” she replied.

So many men subbing

CHAPTER SIXTY TWO

Tharix??? Hey Baby! How are you??

They were afraid of me. I sighed, moving between them into the deeper layers of the castle. Everyone was afraid of me. None of them understood what I was and so they feared it. But none understood less than me.

Youre just a little bAll of tainted sins born of a demon vagina my dear

I had heard many Fae screaming for their mothers in those camps Father had shown me, the ones he said were full of lesser Fae, and yet they had seemed the same as all others to me. More than that, they had held that gleam in their eyes, that…something which I was missing.

He wants to be a real boy

I felt my power rising at her call as she pressed harder, but since that star had shattered, since its light had washed across the world, the weight of my shadows hadn’t been so thick. Their colour was no longer stained so darkly either and I was fairly certain I preferred them as such. I didn’t want her taint on them.

Hes a good boy

“It will be yours one day,” she breathed, her words silken. “One day soon, perhaps.” “The chair?” I asked, uncertain why I would care about such a thing.

Lmao hes got a point

“The throne,” she corrected sharply. “And the crown which goes alongside it.” I stepped forward abruptly, dropping into my father’s seat and leaning against the carved back, the Dragon scales which adorned it digging into my spine. “I don’t think it fits,” I decided, rising again just as swiftly. “That’s because you are still growing into it. It will fit perfectly when your time comes,” she assured me. I thought on that, wondering if perhaps that was what I was looking for, but then I remembered my brothers laughing together on that mountaintop and something in my chest twisted sharply. “No,” I said simply because I knew that no chair or headwear would offer what I sought.

He best boy!!!

A hand lunged from the puddle at my feet, making me cry out in surprise as it grasped my ankle and wrenched me off balance, sending me sprawling to the floor. I rolled onto my hands and knees, panting as I came face to face with the murky water and a rotten skull peering out at me from within the folds of a tattered hood.

Omf the ferryman??

“You are in possession of items which belong to me, Shadowborn,” the skull sneered, its rancid breath washing over my face even through the water surrounding me. “I have come to claim them.”

Omg Tharix?!

CHAPTER SIXTY THREE

Girl... I dont wann hear from you

They heaved me upright again, more vines snaking out from several directions to restrain me, and I bucked and thrashed against their control. But all the while, a hot trickle of power began to rise beneath my skin as the gold worked to restore my magic.

Fuck

My time was up and with a furious bellow, I hurled a twin set of wooden spears from my fist, piercing both guards through their throats and sending blood splattering across the room.

This bitch!!

With a bounding leap, I crashed through the closest window, stone shattering around me as I forced my enormous body through the too-small hole. And in my claws, thrashing and cursing me while her blood ran down the sides of my talons, Geraldine Grus was dragged along with me.

No fuck you!!!!!

And when he had drained all the knowledge of her pathetic rebellion from her head, I would be first in line for her public execution.

Max is going to lose his shit

“Don’t hold back,” I said darkly, magic burning in my palms as my own rage seeped through my chest. No one could take Geraldine Grus away from us. She was the beating heart of our group, and I’d go to hell and back to bring her home.

SamE

“I’ll call her back to us with a Siren lure, but you need to take the wheel,” Max said. “What?” I gasped. “I can’t drive.”

Time to learn baby girl

My focus kept drifting, my eyes falling to him, the need to get closer mounting up in my chest. He was a god among Fae, a creature made to be worshipped, and I wanted to be the first to get down on my knees for him. “Ohmagod,” I hissed, blinking out of it and calling on my Phoenix to block out his Siren power.

Hes so powerful

I doubted Geraldine in all her life had ever wanted a knight in shining armour to come save her, but I’d bet my ass she’d take an Heir in shining scales right now.

Her salmon

I grinned as the fireball came my way, my Order form bursting from my skin, a shield of solid air protecting my bike and clothes before the flames engulfed me.

Yes protect the bike

We stilled in our ascent, hanging there suspended above the clouds for an endless second, the wind whipping the blood from the Dragon’s destroyed wings into my face, the thrill of the bloodshed pounding through my limbs. And then we were falling. I whooped in time with the Dragon’s screams, banishing the blades I’d cast to fight it and throwing my arms wide, leaning back to feel the full force of the wind against my spine as we fell.

shes gonna give me a heart attack

His gaze snapped up to mine, realising his moment of relief had just cost him his life and he gasped. “The true king will cleanse the world of your hera-” I took his head from his shoulders before he could finish that vow and the chaotic thrill of his death poured through me, adding to the payment I was making to The Ferryman and bringing my death count up once more.

Damn Tor

“Release me, you crag!”

Gerry baby!!

My queens ought to leave me to my fate, not chase me into the nevermore like they did now, along with my merry Max, the strapping mutt, the daring Dragoon, and the two fine fang danglers. What a fortune I did possess to have so many valiant knights riding into battle for mere little me.

You are loved babe

Nestled in my forearm was a hidden razor blade, lying just beneath the skin, and I would rip it from my flesh and slash my throat asunder if it came to it. For I, Geraldine Gundellifus Gabolia Gundestria Grus, would not be an asset in the lizard king’s plots. I would never betray my queens as such, but I would not choose death unless it was the very last option left to me.

Jesua Christ...

It was a song that bound me in chains of desire and awoke my Lady Petunia even under such dire circumstances.

NOT the time

He was my songful salmon and I his tuneless tuna.

“I’ll get up in the air,” I told Caleb, but the words didn’t leave my mouth, our minds snapping together all of a sudden and that knowledge passing right to him. “I’ll hunt from below,” his reply came, and our eyes met for the briefest moment before I cast air beneath me, launching myself skyward.

Im worried about them...

He roared to high heaven, careering towards the road at high speed, and I saw Caleb sprinting out onto it, leaping right over Seth’s car while it moved at a hundred miles an hour.

Fast boy

My hearing picked up the beating of wings from behind, and Caleb and I turned as one, finding a green Dragon swooping down over the trees coming right for us. Not as big as Lionel nor as brightly coloured, so I knew it wasn’t him, and something about the shape of its face reminded me of Mildred. A relation perhaps.

Kill her dad!

I moved to follow but a wrenching of metal made me wheel around, and my heart lurched at the sight of a blue Dragon plucking Seth’s car off the road, its talons half crushing the vehicle while it flew out beyond the road before launching the car right over the cliff’s edge. I expected Seth to wield air at any second and save himself, but something was wrong. He wasn’t getting out. “Save him!” Caleb’s words tore through my head, but I didn’t need to be told.

Omg my baby!!?!

I wrenched the crumpled door clean off its hinges, finding Seth deathly still in the driver’s seat with blood pouring from a head wound.

Fuck!!!!

“You don’t get to die here,” I growled, touching the wound on his head and sending a flood of healing magic into his body. The wound stitched slowly over, but Seth’s heart was fading. There were more injuries that I couldn’t see, internal wounds I reached for with everything I had and worked to fix. “Come on, mutt,” I demanded. “Wake up and annoy the fuck out of me.”

I will lose my fucking mind