Restless Stars (Zodiac Academy, #9)

by Caroline Peckham

This book is dedicated to all the readers who have come with us on this journey into Solaria. The end is on the horizon, and we are so excited to lead you back into our world of starlight and undying love. We hope the finale is all you wished for.

“The goons have finally accepted their goonishness.

“Oh, but my dear salmon, don’t you see? You have taken off your too-large boots and placed your toe beans into slippers that fit your goonish feet at long last,” Geraldine said, batting her eyelashes at him. “It is most becoming.”

“Azriel asked me to tell you that he is forever with you. That he loves you and wants you to know you are worthy of the position you’re yet to rise to. He said he’ll be watching you through every moment and that he couldn’t hold more pride in his heart for you if he tried.”

A vision spilled through my mind, not of the beauteous faces of my queens as it should have been, but of a dark-eyed scoundrel with the soul of a salmon and the body of a god.

“Fuck our moms,” I replied, and his brows rose at that statement, which was a little less than ideal taken out of context. “Not literally, but, you know, fuck what they said.” “Really?”

“That’s not my fucking wife.”

“Fuck you, Clyde!” Tory yelled, launching a rock at the wall, the thing hitting it so hard that a spark ignited.

Lance, Darius, Geraldine, Seth, Max, Caleb, Sofia, Xavier, and Tyler, they had become family to me as deeply as Tory and Gabriel were. Each of them had become a part of me that I was so damn grateful for. And I couldn’t let them down, rotting here in some dusty cave to become a pile of useless bones.

“Does Orion know you adopted the giant furball?” Tory asked in amusement. “Yep.” “And did he try to stop you?” “Obviously.” “But you adopted him anyway.” “Duh.”

“Fucking Clyde,” Tory hissed. “Who’s Clyde?” Darius growled. “The Imperial Star,” I said, and they all looked at me in confusion. “Well, sort of.”

“Your soft belly is understandable, my cuttlefish,” she soothed.

“Ballcakes on a barge,” she cursed, hands raised as she backed up. “Th-that thing nearly sent me into the nether world. It’s a beast of the bog, a bandit of the blaggerhole!” She shuddered.

“Well, I love him. He’s got all the best qualities,” Seth decided. “Fluffy? Check. Deadly? Check. Cute in a murderous kind of way? Check. What’s not to like?”

Oh chocolate, you tempting bitch, how can I ever resist you?

“Let’s forget living at your place. Let’s live here,” I said, reaching for the cake despite my stomach saying no more.

What had I ever done to deserve his kind of love? It was as gentle as it could be wild. The perfect balance of sweet and rough.

“They would be bereft without a task at hand to keep them as busy as barn owls in a mouse field.

“So who’s been fucking who while I’ve been gone?” Darius asked frankly, and Seth suddenly became intensely busy making coffee.

There was a group linked to most of them called the Ori-Hoes.

“He was meant for you,” she breathed, her voice low and clearly only intended for me. “But I loved him first. Maybe not like you do, maybe not even like I thought I did once but… He is the one who earned my loyalty. I always aligned myself to him. Never Lionel.”

“How do you know? Did you watch them?” she asked. “Was it hot?” “No, it wasn’t fucking hot, Roxy. It was two of my best friends going at it in my wife’s bed. It was the furthest thing from hot.”

Her wings flexed beneath her, black hair spilling over the gold coins and her eyes on me, drinking me in like she never wanted this to end either.

This creature of mine. This dream I had claimed. The beautiful thief of my heart.

“The stars must be favouring us for once,” I said, glancing up at the shimmering little assholes, wondering if this was what it was like not to be cursed by a vengeful star called Clyde.

“Come on,” Orion goaded. “Get under my arm like a good little purse.”

“Why must you be so reckless?” he sighed, but a smile touched the corner of his lips. “I guess it’s the Savage King’s blood in me,” I said.

Most of all, I was angry because he didn’t love me back, and because I had once felt so unbreakable, but now a single rejection from him could shatter me completely.

Caleb was the Fae who had given me the moon, so I planned on giving him the sky.

Of all the Wolves in all the world, did I really have to get trapped with this one?

“What do they mean?” he questioned. “Maybe they mean you’re breathing in my personal space, Capella.”

“Oh, don’t Capella me. I’m not your student anymore. We’ve had a lot of quality time together since then, moon friend.”

Don’t kill the Wolf. Blue has a fondness for it. A misplaced ...

And me and Darcy? We resolved that shit. We became friends – hell, better friends than I ever could have imagined being. And when you were in prison, I was there for her. Every day. I showed up, because she needed me and she was hurting, and I knew part of me was repenting for all the fucked up shit I did. But I just plain cared about her too. She reminded me of who I was without all the layers of politics and ruthless power claiming I’d been moulded for. And honestly, I’ve never felt more like myself since I let all that shit go. I know Darcy means the world to you because she pulled you from the dark, but she pulled me out too.”

I’m different to who I used to be. And I’m trying to pay for my sins by being better every day.

He blew out a breath, his lips lifting at the corner. “Well, your father’s an asshole.” “He is?” I asked, disappointment falling over me.

“The best kind of asshole.” The wind stirred around us, and Darius raised his brows. “If you heard that, Hail. You misheard it.”

“She’s stubborn, fierce, and smart as all hell. She loves you more than anything in this realm or the next,” he said seriously. “As does Hail. Azriel too. He told me to tell you how grateful he was for all you’d done for Lance and that he’d be celebrating with all the lost souls who adore you when you seize your crown. Your parents are fit to bursting with pride, they’re fucking dying to see you on the throne. It’s pretty beautiful, if I’m honest.”

I realised we’d come to a halt, and the aged wound in my chest broke apart, the chasm those lost souls should have filled. To learn they were out there somewhere, watching us, cheering us on, loving us even now, it was both painful and comforting.

“Do you want a coffee, moon friend?” Seth asked him. “Moon lover,” Orion corrected with a smirk, and Seth chuckled, squeezing Orion’s knee.

“My fancy fang-dangler…bite me like a wild grouse in a windy meadow.”

No one tried to make me kiss my brother-in-law and got away with it.

“If you’re running then I’m right there at your back,” he swore, and by golly my waters did run riotous at that.

“Take heart,” I told him, “For we fight on the side of what is just and true.”

“Wipe those tears from your eyes, dear Orion, you need sniffle no more. For I have found the stone and saved you like a damsel who had given up all hope before a knight came to your rescue.”

“A circle of fortune gifted choice, a ring of twelve with their own destined voice. Fated paths painted by trusted hands, but the power could fall to savage lands. Protected, coveted, then shattered and gone. Reforged in glory or corrupted by one.”

“Is this the destructive one?” Arnold clipped. “The one who murdered the sacred guardians in the lake then unleashed an ancient race of demons in the belly of our divine library?”

Really, the best thing for both of us was to fuck away this burning tension between us so we could concentrate all the better after. This decision was completely logical, and not in any way clouded by my rock hard dick.

“You’re not leaving. I’m going to look after you Mindy style, bro, and if you don’t like it, you can fight me and see what happens.”

Justin is just the spritely earwig for the job.