Cursed Fates (Zodiac Academy, #5)

by Caroline Peckham

Had she really been so stubborn that she would choose a life without love in it?

Yea she did shes too busy playing the victim

“Don’t ever let go of her, Lance. You fucking fight for her until your last breath, you hear me?”

“I don’t care if Tory Vega is starting her own bakery back there and using Polaris as a rolling pin, I’m talking to you, Corbin,”

“Wrong. Ten points from Terra. Libras are about justice. And I decide what that means to me. And if I say that Tory Vega can have a bake sale and employ her sister as a cupcake stand, then I will be the first in line for the grand opening. But you, Corbin. Do not have that right.

“I am rude,” he growled into my mouth.

Orion rose from his seat, apparently boner free

And the stars will curse you for the rest of your miserable days. Which will be a sum total of one, during which the bone-breaking-smoothie fest will commence.”

fucking Caleb with his fucking face and his fucking blonde hair and his fucking fangs which he got way too close to my girl way too often, not to mention what he did with the rest of his fucking body and-

The idea of him with her, Lord and Lady Acrux in their fancy fucking house with their hoard of Dragon babies each with their own fluffy little moustaches just like hers just made me want to… gah.

Maxy boy, you have been measured and you have been found wanting.

“And then you’ll have to decide if you want to fight back before I kick your ass or just take your beating like a good little bitch.” “Maybe I’ll take the beating,”

“Call her Darcy, dipshit, or I’ll start calling you Demelza,” he growled, and Darius shrugged. “Come on let’s move.”

“Well, aren’t you an observant little shrew.” “Less of the shrew,” I said, pursing my lips. “Can’t call you Gwen, can’t call you shrew…”

“You’ve put that dead body in that bag, haven’t you?” I deadpanned. Darius and Orion exchanged a mirthful look then shrugged. “Waste not, want not,” Orion said lightly. “Don’t worry, Darcy, I was gentle about it,” Darius said with a dark smile. “I dried him out like beef jerky then folded him up like origami, didn’t I Lance?” “He did, it was very tasteful actually,”

“I reckon Lance has been giving you plenty of bone lessons already, hasn’t he?” Darius quipped

“You two are…well, fuck the law for saying you can’t be together,” Darius said, folding his arms.

“Fuck the stars too, Darius,” I breathed, and his muscles tightened around me as he held me close. “Fuck every shining, gleaming one of them.”

“What happened to not being reckless?” I panted as the heat of his body called to me, sending a deep throb between my thighs. “What happened to not talking?” he growled in his teacher voice and my pulse skyrocketed.

“That was even better than the collector’s edition of Advanced Numerology, beautiful. And that little slut knows how to make my spine tingle.”

Tyler Corbin: I saw him hiding himself in a grave-shaped hole he’d dug in The Wailing Wood and threatening to off himself for real if you found him.

If the stars have stolen sex from me then is life even worth living??

“The stars might have decided that you can never be mine,” Darius said roughly, refusing to move away from me. “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.”

“If it changes the way you look at me then that’s enough,” he replied, his eyes full of pain as I took a step back.

“Nice work on that tackle, Dari,” she joked back just as Lance leapt on me. “You fucking beauty!” he snarled, grabbing my face between his hands and placing a rough, scratchy kiss on my forehead as he straddled me in the mud.

A soft touch against my hair made me open my eyes and I looked up at her as she pushed the crown onto my head. “Mildred knocked me off of the couch first,” she explained in answer to the question in my eyes. “So, you win. Besides, you need a big head like yours to pull off a crown like this.”

“Look, sometimes we want to see the good in people we care about so much that we pretend it’s there, living under all the layers of cruelty. But the fact is, Diego, some people are toxic. And if you keep them in your life, they’ll poison everything good in your world until you end up being just like them. And that’s a far worse fate than going against the grain and making your own path. Even if that means you’re alone.”

“Has anyone else got any pointless questions they’d like to air? No? Good. Now sit the fuck down!” Ah, today is a good day.

“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. Only the truth. I could feel it just as keenly as I could feel the rush of his magic beneath my skin.

“He’s been more interested in sponge cakes recently, but we are getting off topic,” Kipling deadpanned.

Prove to her that you deserve her and then climb up into the fucking sky and tear the stars right out of it for her if they still don’t agree.”

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

Glad to see you back. Don’t break alone. I know you have your sister, but I’m always here if you need to talk about him.

“Nobody fucks with my girl and gets away with it,” he growled, his lips brushing my ear for a moment and making me shiver.

And that I fantasised about him more than I had about any man in all my life. Even Tom Hardy. Even. Tom. Hardy.

“I don’t grin,” I replied, rolling my eyes at him. “I occasionally smirk. That’s about it.” “Well, what are you occasionally smirking about?” Cal asked, shooting forward and snatching my Atlas out of my hand.

“There you are, you lickable lobster,” Geraldine hiccoughed as she spotted Max, raising the tequila bottle in her hand to point at him. Max grinned like all his dreams had just come true as she sauntered towards him, dancing to the music playing from Seth’s car as if she were in a night club instead of a parking garage.

“I wasn’t worthy of your love then and I’m still not worthy of it now. But if you gave me forever then I’d spend every second of it trying to be.”