Live and Let Lionel (Zodiac Academy, #8.6)

by Caroline Peckham

“Sometimes we must look into the darkest of nights to discover the greatest of treasures.

That child, that boy…I loved him already. I loved him so powerfully that it felt like my heart was breaking in two as I looked up at the man who would father him, only to die before ever having the chance to know him in the flesh.

“For a time,” he agreed. “But he will know all the best kinds of love in the end. Even if he never knows ours.”

He was stunning, his body seeming carved from stone in the firelight that flickered across his flesh, a god come to ruin a mortal and I was nothing but an eager sacrifice to his destruction.

“True, but there is knowledge in them too,” he said. “And I sense something terrible is coming, sire.” I released a short, dismissive breath. “It has arrived. I am the terrible thing. I am the plague which ravages the land. My soul is dipped in blood and there is no knowing what I will do next.

“On the darkest day and longest night, I’ll guide you home with love so bright,” I whispered.

Like Dragons, Hydras were possessive, but there were differences too. My most coveted treasures were few and far between, but when chosen, they were placed upon a pedestal and nourished with all I had to give.

Yeah, the chances of the Vegas rising up from the dead and returning for their throne was as likely as the peace sign making a solid comeback.

“I’m always good when you’re close, Cal,” I said, giving him a sideways smile

“Oh-ho!” she cried. “Speak of the slanderous salamanders and they shall cometh!”

“Who are you calling a salamander, Grus?” Max barked,

“I do not fear the mind games of a petulant patty cake playing at being a ruler,” she sneered. “No tricks of your fancy fins will send me a-splutter, you cantankerous crustation.”

“Remove your fangs from my gizzard you curly haired Lothario or I shall be forced to defend myself!” Geraldine cried,

“You and I both know that I have nothing left to lose which is why I’m also considering murdering you for nothing but the pure thrill of it,” he deadpanned.

Oh glorious queens who were lost for so long, Where have you been all this time you were gone? I wished on a star for a miracle to come, And now you've returned, I know I got one. I missed you more than words can say, And I pledge my devotion to you on this day.

I bristled at the crass comments, pitying him for the inadequate tuna he was, reduced to nothing but nilly nolly insinuations which no doubt reflected his own deflated salmon’s antics.

And I knew that word was meant as an answer to the question I’d asked her. Blue or green. Blue means you like me.

“You're not drinking?” she breathed. “No.” I inched closer, resting my hands on the couch either side of her. You free my mind more than any drink ever has.

She was all my favourite summer delights, sunshine, strawberries and ecstasy.

If he touches her, I’ll slice him open and bake all his innards into a pie. I don’t even bake, but for him, I’ll don a little pink apron, make the pastry from scratch, and cook up a pie so damn good that I win first prize in a local baking contest.

“Nothing.” Just a blue-haired princess who’s an heir to the throne of our entire kingdom, and my student, who I am entirely forbidden from laying a hand on.

She gave me a flirtatious look, and my cock sent an email to my brain written in all caps. DEAR BRAIN, FUCK NO. SINCERELY, COCK

“How could you do that? You nearly gave me a heart attack.” “To be fair, I nearly gave myself a heart attack, Blue, so can we call it even?”

“Technically, you owed the apology to my sister,” she pointed out, and I gave her an incredulous look. “By the stars, am I going to have to electrocute myself again for Tory Vega?”

“This is a nightmare. Her entire existence is a nightmare sent to torment me for all the shit I’ve done in my life and will likely do before my death.”

“So much fuss over a place to rest your fucking ass,”

No doubt she would have a few choice words to hurl my way once she spotted me lounging on her father’s throne, but I welcomed the sharpness of her tongue.

It’s like you were designed entirely to taunt me and toy with me and crack me open,

“I want you to feel for me. And I’ll take hate if that’s all you’re offering.”

She turned and ran from me, leaving me standing in the snow, feeling like every step she took from me was marked with the bloody remnants of my heart.

“What the fuck is that?” He pointed at the banner hanging over the arch I’d just walked through that I’d had specially made for tonight, and I looked up at it innocently, reading the words that were written in blue and silver letters across it. We don’t care you fucked a teacher and got him sent to prison, Darcy!

“And that?” Gabriel pointed to the red and gold banner hanging over the window to my right. Starcrossing yourself with an Acrux is a power move, Tory!

“No chance,” I scoffed. “You’d have to come and kill me eventually though after I took the throne, because with Elise dead, all that power would go to my head and I’d become a supervillain who made it the law for everyone to dye their hair lilac.

“Our little Rydikins used to punish himself for fun. He’s like a sad little stray snake we took in.”

“What does Gabriel’s do?” Tory asked and Gabriel pursed his lips as Leon pressed the button on the black-winged Harpy doll like he had already seen what was coming. “Don’t call me Gabe,” it said irritably. “What’s wrong with being called Gabe, Gabe?” Darcy teased him.

Periwinkle circled Darcy like she was assessing her, round and round until she finally pressed her head into Darcy’s hand.

“That’s premium quality blood. Tuck in, brother.”

Thankfully, my PR team had spun that story beautifully to make me look like I was so in love with the moon that I just wanted to go there on behalf of all Werewolves in Solaria to thank it for its gifts.

If she was a pretty little tease from afar, she was one dirty slut of rock up close.

“You have defiled the moon!” Nakatuki wailed,

Oops. Better get Caleb to explain this. He’d do that thing where he said stuff in a calm and reasonable way, and Darcy would learn that Tory liked to let her soul go off on moonlit strolls without her body these days, and that she had it all under control.

“Great gandergooks in a hollywock,” Geraldine breathed, tears in her eyes as she stared up at the Phoen Dream.

“All hail the true Queens,” Darius’s deep voice cleaved the air in two,

The air was thick with the power of it all, and I had to wonder if the twins had the power over death itself, because there he was. My friend, firmly present in this world despite death having had other plans.

For their magic outshone mine, and their hearts were gilded in starlight. I was no match for them, never had been, but I could be their warrior, a Wolf who would wield the shadows of the moon for them.