The Reckoning (Zodiac Academy, #3)
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Read between February 26 - February 27, 2025
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★ AWMTA
but darius remembered
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“I mean, your little Vega chose to go up there without him needing to use any power on her at all,” Max said with a smirk. “Maybe she’s more likely to break your heart than the other way around.” I swore at him as I shot forward to stop that Siren asshole from touching her but Darius had made it there first.
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Tory gave me a full laugh for that one and I turned towards her, capturing her lips with mine before she could stop me. She didn’t resist much, her lips moulding to mine as she gave in to the heat between us and I pressed her back against the hook-a-duck stand. Her lips parted for me and I wrapped my hands around her waist beneath her leather jacket, the soft skin of her stomach warm against my palms.
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I glanced over my shoulder and found Darius scowling at us - no surprises there - Max had folded his arms while he watched us and Seth mimed striking a whip at me.
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“I just want someone to make my heart beat faster,” she said in a low voice that had me drawing closer to her as I looked into her dark eyes. “To challenge me and make me laugh and push back against my bullshit. I want to be forced out of my comfort zone and I want to feel excited, exhilarated, afraid. But not just because you’re an asshole. Because I want to feel alive.”
★ AWMTA
coughs
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I was a Celestial Heir; I didn’t queue. Tory gave me a look that said I was an entitled prick and I smirked, letting her know I agreed.
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Tory fell on top of me and she laughed, leaning down and pressing her lips to mine way too briefly. I tried to catch her hand as she pushed away from me but she danced aside, skipping ahead as she started climbing the next set of stairs.
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We hung suspended for a moment, hearts racing as we looked at each other, grinning like a couple of kids. The magic released us, flipping us around so that our feet hit the ground and Tory leapt on me a second later. I laughed as I caught her and she wrapped her arms and legs around me, kissing me so hard it was almost punishing. Her hands fisted in my hair and her ankles locked tight behind my back as her tongue brushed against mine in a way that made me hard almost instantly. “Fuck, Tory, I can’t get enough of you,” I murmured against her lips and she laughed just as I shoved her back ...more
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“Everything,” she replied with a grin. “I want to do it all.” “I’ll do whatever makes you happy,” I replied, throwing my arm over her shoulders as I led her towards the next ride. And the strangest thing was, I was pretty sure that was the truth.
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Lance: I’ll make it worth your while if you pass The Reckoning today. #motivation #seemeafterclass   Darcy: I can’t believe you just hashtagged me!   Lance: I can’t believe you’re not in my bed right now. #missyourpeach   Darcy: I also can’t believe you just admitted you want me to pass The Reckoning.   Lance: It’s complicated.
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“Gemini of air, fire, water, earth, daughter of a king, twin soul and Fae born of ash and fire...it’s time to face The Reckoning.” 
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“And what will a Fae do to claim their rightful place in Solaria?” The answer slid onto my tongue as easily as breathing. It was instinct. Something I’d known about Fae this whole time, but had failed to truly acknowledge. It was why the Heirs hurt us, why Orion helped them, why Lionel controlled them all. “Anything.”
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What will a Fae do to claim their rightful place in Solaria? Anything.
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Tory: Thanks for the invite but I’m not sure I’ve got anything appropriate to wear. What’s the dress code?
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Darius: I’m sure you’ll look good enough in anything you wear. Just turn up as you are.
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Tory: No, I think that would be wildly inappropriate actually.   Darius: Why?
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Darius: Send me a photo and I’ll give you an honest opinion.
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Darius: I dare you...
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“Holy mother of crap! Are you sexting Darius Acrux?” Darcy gasped and I spun back around to find her holding up my Atlas which I realised too late I’d left open on the bed with the messages right there for her to see.
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“Hate sex is hot,” I said and Darcy groaned. “I see where this is going,” she stated. “You don’t. It’s not. I’m just saying...” Darcy laughed and I joined in. “It’s the moon,” I added. “Sure it is,” she agreed.
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“Doesn’t she look nice?” Darcy pressed. “Holy shit, Darcy. No one wants to look nice,” I muttered. “Nice girls do,” she hissed back pointedly. Darius laughed and the sound rolled right down my spine and into my soul. “Roxy’s not a nice girl,” he said, his gaze fixed on mine, his pupils larger than normal in his endlessly dark eyes. “No matter how pretty she looks in that dress.”
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I made it to the common room before I stopped walking. My Atlas was burning a hole in my pocket, but at this point if I looked at that picture she’d sent me one more time I was actually going to self combust.
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Or maybe to ask her who the moon was pushing her towards tonight. Because I’d known before the sun rose this morning exactly where it would be pushing me. I just couldn’t tell if she’d fall under its spell for me too.
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Not tonight though. I only had my eyes set on one girl tonight and the joke of it all was that I knew she wouldn’t be looking back. Or at least I had known that until she’d sent me that photo.
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I needed to see Lance. I couldn’t get distracted by a girl. Even the girl.
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The filthy shoes were her way of flipping me off and saying this isn’t sexy. Even though she’d failed pretty abysmally if that had been her intention. I’d never stared at a photo that hard in my fucking life before. What was that smile about? Why did she send this? What would she taste like? Fuck. If she wanted me hooked she had me. I just didn’t know if she wanted me.
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I wrapped my arms around him tightly, releasing a breath as I leaned my head on his shoulder and just stood there holding him for a few moments. We were beyond the point where we questioned the way this fucking thing made us feel about each other after all these years and I was just glad it had never progressed any further than occasional spooning. I tried to pull back but Lance didn’t release me, his fangs grazing against my neck as a soft growl escaped him. “For fuck’s sake, Lance,” I muttered, straining against him. “If you bite me on the Eclipse you’ll probably start trying to suck my dick ...more
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Lance’s beard tickled my neck and I drew back, shoving him off of me playfully like I hadn’t just been nuzzled right into his goddamn skin. He smelled of cinnamon. And dammit but I loved that smell.
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I wasn’t sure why but I didn’t really want to start showing it around to anyone else. She’d sent it to me. It was mine.
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“Oh he’d care. He just couldn’t say much about it. Besides, like I said, she’s made it clear she’s not his. It’s her choice to make.” And I want her to be mine.
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She wasn’t just a girl though. Not to me. She was the one girl I shouldn’t want, the one I couldn’t have, the one I didn’t need. And yet I did. And everything in my life could be damaged so badly by that need that I’d fought it tooth and claw up until this point.
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I’d pushed her for her hatred because a moment of her scorn meant more to me than what it cost. I took her attention whatever way I could get it because all the time it was on me it lit me up and made me burn. And I wanted to burn with her more than I think I’d ever wanted anything in my life.
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Roxy Vega, I’m gonna make you mine.
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“Do you always do what you’re told?” He brushed his fangs down my neck and my whole body convulsed. “No…are you going to punish me?” I dragged in the dangerous air emanating from him, turning my head to try and capture his mouth with mine, but he evaded me.
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“Do you want to be punished?”
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“Ohhh that feels so good.” He did it again with a laugh and I arched into his hands, desperate for more. “Wings,” he announced. “You’re gonna have wings. Darius reacts the same way when-” He didn’t finish that sentence. “You caress his shoulder blades?” I finished for him, bursting out laughing. He groaned, releasing my shirt. “This bond I have with him makes us do weird shit sometimes, alright?”
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But I kinda liked the tingly feeling it gave me and the way it made my dick look like I’d fucked a rainbow afterwards. The only problem was, tonight I didn’t really fancy a rainbow. There was only one colour on my mind, in fact. Blue.
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“I love you,” she gasped again. Yep, my boner is officially dead. RIP buddy.
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I jogged down the track, trying to drag my mind away from Orion and Darcy up on the hill. But it was damn impossible. Something kept circling in my mind and I wasn’t sure if it was induced by the rum or not. If he bit her…where was the blood?
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“Because that’s what I do,” he said slowly. “I watch you and hunger for you and ache for you. It torments me like I torment you.”
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“I’d find it easier to carve my eyes out than I would to stop them landing on you.”
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I backed up a step and Darius followed, his gaze capturing mine as I moved again. “Tell me,” he begged, his steps mirroring mine until I found my back against the black cliff wall. Nowhere left to run. And I was glad.
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“There are countless people who would say I’m not allowed to want you,” Darius breathed. “But you make me want to burn the whole world down so that I can claim you for my own.” “Then we should burn it down,” I agreed.
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“Congratulations Darius, you actually managed to do something useful for once,” Lionel Acrux’s voice smashed through our bubble of peace like a bucket of cold water.
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Darius shrugged them on before storming toward his father. “Let him go or I’ll kill you.” Lionel was pressing the blade to his son’s throat so hard it was almost breaking the skin. “An idle threat,” Lionel purred. “Now do as I say or Xavier will die. Do not think I will hesitate even for a moment.”
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“We believe we made an error before in translating The Tenebris Scripturas – the dark scriptures. The word pure is interchangeable with many meanings in the tongues of old. One of which…is royal.” He turned to face us and ice inched into my very soul. “No,” Orion snarled. “You can’t lay a finger on them, Solaria wouldn’t allow it!”
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I was aware of Darcy screaming beyond the ringing in my ears and Darius started shouting too. “Don’t you lay a fucking hand on her again!” he bellowed and I blinked up at him as he pounded his fists against a shield Lionel had created to hold him back.
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I wanted to spit in his mother fucking face but he’d threatened me with the only thing I cared about in this world.
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“You said you only need one of us,” I breathed shakily, unable to tear my gaze from the pit which awaited us. “So just use me. I’ll do anything you want. Everything. Just don’t make Darcy do it too,” I begged.
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“Tory?” Darcy breathed in panic and I looked into her eyes as the earth trembled beneath us. “Don’t let go of me, okay?” I said, not knowing why, only that we were always strongest together.