Cursed Fates (Zodiac Academy, #5)

by Caroline Peckham

Jenkins was my father’s man through and through, he’d earned me a beating more than once as I grew up, always ratting me out if I did even the slightest thing out of line. And he knew exactly what he was condemning me to with his tales too. He’d seen my mother patch me up plenty of times. Never said a word, just pursed his lips and cleaned the blood off of the hardwood floors like I’d offended him by bleeding on them. There was definitely no love lost between me and the family butler, though he continued to simper and bow at my feet as if he worshipped the ground I walked on.

Second read - theory... Jenkins is so locked down on Dark coercion that he doesn't have his own anything. I think his will has been taken away completely and he is more trapped than anyone.

“You may find it hard to believe, but a true lady won’t just roll over and accept a merciless cad for a suitor just because he manages to water her lawn satisfactorily. I am more than attuned to your personal moral standards and I have no desire to lower myself to them. So call it what you will, foolhardiness, stubbornness or just a pure and true desire to tangle my web with a real gentleman but when it comes down to it, Maxy boy, you have been measured and you have been found wanting. Now please refrain from touching me with your slippery flippers and let us return to our lesson.”

I always felt like I was waiting for something to happen. Like I was passing time until the inevitable moment where my cage door was opened and I found myself walking into freedom. But maybe that was just something I’d convinced myself of to make life more bearable.

“They might be able to put rings in your eyes, but they don’t get to force you to be miserable.” “Don’t they?” “No. So take a deep breath and suck it up, sweetheart. Because the girl who came back swinging at us after she nearly drowned in that pool doesn’t let anyone tell her what to do. Not even destiny.”

“Wars have hinged on less. Fate is a fickle and temperamental beast.”

I felt like I was so preprogrammed to go on the defensive all the time that I almost couldn’t stop the shit that poured from my lips sometimes.

The desire to return to my bed consumed me for a moment and I almost turned away before my Phoenix fire flared beneath my skin and burned all thoughts but my own from my mind. I was done listening to the stars.

This is how they will be the stars!

getting to my feet and she beamed as I picked up a stick and wielded it like a sword. I charged out between the willow fronds but Dad was ready, whipping me off my feet on a tendril of air magic so I hung upside down in front of him. “Yah!” I jabbed him with the stick and he barked a laugh, reaching out and tickling my sides until I couldn’t breathe with laughter.

“You know what’s a shame? Tory loves those little chocolate wafers in the dessert section at lunchtime. She especially likes them with her coffee, but they don’t provide them at breakfast.” His eyes brightened and his lips hooked up into a grin. “That is a shame.” “Imagine if you were a big ass Dragon who everyone listened to all the time? Even the kitchen staff...” “Imagine,” he agreed with a snort of laughter.

And yet, all of them had to do with politics and one scaly green Dragon daddy who was trying to take over the world Pinky and the Brain style.

A death of his absolute control over me. Ha. R.I.P.

“Their un-royal un-holinesses Maxy boy, king of the trouts and Sir Seth, ruler of mutts, formally request your attendance at their birthday party. There will be unsavoury characters around every corner and the chance of having your drink spiked with unmentionable potions. Not to mention amorous dongles galore, ready to invade any unwitting lady garden they can find. Please don’t forget to bring a toothbrush and spare pair of panties just in case you fall for any of their baloney under the light of that tricksome minx Venus and end up on your back beneath one of them before waking up filled with morning after shame.”

“You can’t tell me you don’t feel that when we’re together. The way my heart pounds, my soul burns, my whole body aches…I know you feel it too,”

“But I am yours. No matter what. I don’t care where we end up or who we’re with, I’ll always be yours. And I’m going to fix the damage I did to us even if the stars don’t care. I’m going to prove to you that I could have been worthy of you if I’d just listened to my heart sooner.”

“That’s what love is, Tor,” Darcy said in exasperation. “It’s taking a leap of faith. It’s opening yourself up and letting your walls down and allowing someone to see every dark and broken corner of your soul. It’s truth and honesty with yourself and them. It’s raw and brutal and terrifying and real. You can’t just claim to want it, but refuse to allow yourself to be vulnerable to it. That’s not how it works. If you love someone, truly love them, you’ll bear your soul to them and let them be the keeper of your heart no matter how fragile or damaged it might be. And if they love you then they’ll do everything in their power to keep it safe, to nurture and protect it and heal over all the old wounds. So when you said no to him in that snow storm, you weren’t even hurting him. You were hurting yourself. And that’s what kills me the most about all of it.”

“I love you, Roxy,” he said in a rough, dark voice which held no room for lies or falsehood, no space for tricks of cruelty.

“And I know it doesn’t change anything. That it can’t change anything,” he growled. “But I’m going to prove it to you. I’m going to do everything I can to make it up to you, for the rest of my life if that’s what it takes. I’ll never forgive myself for bringing this curse on us. And I’m never going to stop loving you either.”

“Because that’s what love is,” I said in a low voice, running my finger over a bare patch of skin on my right forearm thoughtfully. “It’s giving everything without expecting anything in return. It’s sacrificing your heart and happiness for someone else and it’s owning all of your mistakes and trying to make them right. Not because you expect to get something in return for it. But because the person you love needs to know how you feel.”

“I’d take death over life without you,” he breathed, his voice rough and broken by fear.

I really hope this isnt foreshadowing

She pulled a large, gold bangle from her wrist which looked like a pair of Phoenix wings gilded in flame and spread wide to create a semi circle. The Dragon in me rose to the surface of my skin as I instantly recognised the value of it and I had to work damn hard not to snatch it and growl mine at the whole room.

I just love how Dragons are so possessive over their gold! it's may favorite reactions and I wish we had more!