Never Keep (Sins of the Zodiac, #1)

by Caroline Peckham

Ransom cried out in pain and Father wheeled towards him. The little blue lizard I had followed into the passages beneath the Keep was on Ransom’s shoulder, biting into his neck.

he acts like Ransom is the only Fae he ever sired. I can be more – he doesn’t let me be more. He won’t even try to see more. I’m more, Galomp. I’m more.”

“Oh yes, I can see that now. He has wings. Dragons are not around anymore though. My uncle said they are all gone.”

“He is blue so we could call him Blue.”

“Blue means you, small dragon. I do hope you remember that. Yes, oh boy. I think he likes it.”

Then it was back in the fire before cooling again, repeating this process until the blade was ready for sanding. It was hard work, but it was one of my favourite parts, the rhythmic movement of the sandpaper against the metal smoothing out all the imperfections in the blade. It was so satisfying to be a part of. My magic rose in my skin and my heart beat to a melodic rhythm, my body never as calm as it was when doing this.

Mavus’s words out of mind while I worked, of how all the elements were at play here as I crafted the metal. I had always felt at home with fire despite it being the exact opposite of my element, but perhaps there was a balance in that. And now I was Awakened, I could coat my fingers in ice, keeping my skin from burning while being able to work the metal with even more precision.

“I just never suspected you’d lose your shit quite so spectacularly over that pretentious asshole. We probably could have gotten to this point sooner if I’d just realised how deluded you were being and had enlightened you before now. Of course, I didn’t expect the great Sky Witch to be quite so…gullible.”

Besides, I’ve decided I’m done with you hating me so I’m ready to make you fall for me instead.”

“I know how to move in the shadows and how to get the answers I need. You might have been trying to hide yourself away but a face like yours draws attention even from under a hood. And Fae such as the ones living here have loose tongues in the face of gold.”

“And honestly, I hate you too, though not for all the reasons you cling to. I couldn’t give a fuck if your birth was the product of a rooster from Pyros sticking its cock into a rat from Avanis and you hatched from an egg as a result wearing a crown of ice. You put too much weight on that shit. You think it’s all everyone sees when they look at you.”

“You want them to see the cruelty, the carnage, the bloodshed, the face – and yeah, sweetheart, I’ve noticed the face and the body and every fucking inch of you so don’t go glaring at me like you weren’t perfectly aware of it. You wear what you are like a shield and you trap the hearts of Fae in your grasp like they’re toys to place in a glass jar and shake whenever the mood strikes you.”

“You don’t even know how perfect you are,”

“But the more I watch you, the more I see it. You are precisely what I’ve been looking for, Vesper.”

“The point is that I have come to realise your weakness, Vesper…”

Venus at sunset – the name of the planet most associated with love offered out to me like a joke because if there was one thing I had never been, it was loved.

“He doesn’t deserve your pain, Vesper. He certainly doesn’t deserve your loyalty,”

“I’m just asking if you’re his property? I want to know if I’m crossing a line you don’t want crossed – or if it’s one Prince Dragor scrawled around you regardless of your own desires. Because I’m willing to defy that command if the award is your heart, Vesper. I think that would be a prize well worth claiming for my own.”

He wanted me, just as I was, broken edges and shattered pieces included. I didn’t know why and truthfully, I didn’t care either. Because I needed to be wanted more than I cared to admit to myself and if the cost of that want was treason, then perhaps the taste of him would be my death sentence. But I was okay with that. I

“Tell me it’s me, Vesper. Spill your pretty heart and tell me that I’m the one you want bringing you to ruin. I want to hear you say it, I want you to remember the words whenever you think of this and know that your destruction was entirely what you desired.”

“You’re the damnation I choose for myself and if the stars will see me ruined for it then make sure it’s fucking worth it.”

“By the love of Taurus, you’re so fucking tight,” he hissed through his teeth. “Don’t be soft with me now, Cayde,”

This was it. I had broken my vow to my prince. Committed treason against him for all intents and purposes. And yet the only thing I felt with Cayde’s cock deep inside me was the overriding sense of freedom that came with claiming some part of my fate for my own.

“If that is what destruction tastes like, I’ll gladly become a glutton for your poison.”

I smiled to myself, letting my eyes fall closed with thoughts of Cayde running circles in my mind, the regret or guilt never surfacing because that hadn’t felt like treason to me. It had felt like claiming my own destiny and I refused to be sorry for it. Maybe that meant I was damned, but as I let sleep have me, I had to admit that damnation didn’t feel so very bad.

The refectory was still full of discussions about Stormfell’s Prince Dragor now looking even likelier to claim the throne with heirs no doubt soon to follow, but it didn’t matter much to me which rulers we fought against, so long as Cascada won. I’d

North had grown the biggest pack in Never Keep and it hadn’t gone without notice.

“Yeah, but I helped you with at least five of those,” North insisted. “Oh, remember that time we were in Cascada and I set fire to those wheat fields? Bet those Raincarvers went hungry for weeks after that.”

“You’re not as irresistible as you like to think, sweetheart,” Cayde replied.

But pay it we did, every element, time and again, hurling our efforts into destroying one another so that one nation might finally come out victorious and achieve some semblance of peace.

One day. One fucking divine day, I would know the taste of prestige and adoration, and no one would ever take it from me.

“A friend. He was Awakened with two elements and the Reapers took him away to become an acolyte.”

We have always protected each other and I’m not going to abandon him, no matter what this costs me. I will find him. You think asking for your help is easy? You think I want to turn to my enemies for this? None of this is what I want, but for him, I would climb into the stars if that’s where they’ve taken him.”

Finally, we made it to the cliff, taking the winding animal track down to the beach where I slid my pack from my shoulders and took out the two bathing suits. One was newly made, black with pink embroidery across the chest, the letters SW written into the fabric with a twisting vortex of air curling around it and a gleaming silver sword I’d stitched within it all. The arms and legs were long like mine and it shimmered like a rainbow from the blaze oil I’d glazed it with. I’d added plenty of the oil and had soaked mine in it again too, making sure it would truly keep us warm out there this time.

“That’s Blue. He’s a…thing. I don’t know what he is actually, but he stays.” “That better not be some asshole hiding in shifted form,” she hissed, down to her undergarments now but she still looked just as fearsome. “He’s not,” I insisted.

War of the four, divided and torn asunder. Flame, sky, rock and sea collide, While the stars bless the valiant souls of heart and light. Seek the Void, for it shall guide the chosen ones to their glorious path, A weapon of purity, and the gift of null. In a web of lies and cruelty, fate will favour the peacemakers of destiny, And a bountiful empire shall be reborn under one united rule, Garnering the fortune and favour of the almighty sky.

Why would they have a different version hidden away down here?” Everest frowned, stepping closer to the epitaph. “And why would our own nations declare their victory in the prophecies we’ve been told? Is it our leaders who decided that, or was it fed to them by the Reapers?”

“Either our leaders lied to us or the Reapers did and judging by what I’ve seen of our oh so pious prophets lately, my bet is on them. But why?”

“Do you have tales of the lost Dragon shifters where you come from?”

“Some say the sea devoured them to punish them for their love of flames. Or I once heard a legend that they chose a life of unity on some hidden island, deciding to abandon the war to the rest of the Fae not unlike the Vampires,” Everest said.

“I heard they had a way to travel through starlight,” I breathed. “That they could disappear in the blink of an eye and reappear somewhere miles away instantly. The stars grew jealous of their power and the way they toyed with the magic of the heavens, so one day the starlight swallowed them and they were never seen again.”

These were the markings of Stormfell. I had travelled all across the waning continent while playing spy and assassin and I knew the feel of each nation well. There was no doubt in me as I took in the impossibility of our new location – I was home. I drew in a breath of

We were somehow, impossibly, right in the heart of Stormfell without any fanfare or notice of our arrival.

beast of myth and legend towered over us, its body larger than a fucking building, each taloned foot bigger than either of us and its beastly, silver eyes glaring down at us from a height of at least fifty feet over a row of deadly fangs. Its scales were dull and cracked, great scars rent through them and four of those glowing green crystals puncturing them in a mimicry of a collar surrounding its neck. “That’s a…Dragon,”

“What the fuck was that place?” Everest asked. “I mean, it wasn’t in the Keep. And that Dragon was being held-”

“What are they doing with a Dragon anyway?” I growled, my throat thickening as I thought of the beast trapped and alone down there, the mention of its mutilated wings opening a searing burn within me.

It couldn’t be a coincidence that there were no Dragons left in the world and yet one was being chained below ground.

“I’m afraid for you, Vesper. If we keep going in this direction then the prince will find out. I don’t care what he might do to me but I need you. I can’t lose you.”

“I love having you like this, bending you to my will, watching you fall for me with every touch, every word. Tell me, Vesper, are you mine?” “I’m yours in the shadows,” I panted, his fingers driving in and out of me, his thumb sweeping over my clit. “The only place that counts.”

Cayde had made me claim something entirely for myself for the first time in far too long. I didn’t do anything for the pure pleasure of it. Every choice had a purpose until him, but this was pure, carnal, want and I hungered for more of it. I