Cursed Fates (Zodiac Academy, #5)

by Caroline Peckham

No girl had ever driven me this wild. I only had to scent her on the wind, and I was ready to fucking pounce.

I’d let her destroy me brick by brick because if I had to fall, I was more than happy for it to be by her hands.

She blushed and I wished I could bottle that colour. I’d paint it on my walls and wear it on my damn skin. She was too divine a creature and I was utterly captivated by her when she looked at me like that.

Everything in my life was brighter with her. It was good and sweet and perfect. I didn’t know what I’d done for the stars to gift me this girl. I could never have offered them enough to earn this good fortune. And I wasn’t going to squander it. I knew what I had. And I’d protect her until my dying breath. And even then, I’d still fight to keep her safe beyond the veil. Whatever it took. Always.

He’d carried me back to my room just before sunrise. Exhausted, shattered, whole.

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.

You’re so caught up in proving how strong you can be and improving your magic that you’re forgetting that true strength comes from facing down the things you’re most afraid of. So Fae up, Tory. And go face your problems.”

“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.

“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.”

Maybe I was worse because I’d hurt him too while placing all of the blame on him.

He kissed me like he’d die if he didn’t, like the only reason his heart was beating at all was so that it could be mine, and I kissed him like the world could cave in around us and I wouldn’t even care so long as I was still in his arms when it ended.

I would have given anything for the stars to choose me and Lance as Elysian Mates. But it wasn’t to be. The stars had been laughing at us all along.

But I couldn’t stop staring down at Seth as I melted the ice from his body, and he rose to his feet. It felt good to beat him. But it wasn’t enough. It didn’t bring Orion back. It didn’t fix anything.

“I was aware enough of all the reasons she had to refuse me to know that it wasn’t worth actually asking.”

Terrifying was not fighting; it was accepting this fucking hell as our fate. It was giving in and letting the stars and my father, and some fucked up version of fate choose my life for me.

And the worst thing of all, was the slicing, ripping, endlessly agonising possibility that I was never going to hold her in my arms again.

She’d always been a good friend, but if she couldn’t back me on this, I couldn’t see how we were going to get past it.

My heart beat differently than it used to. Ever since they’d taken Orion away, it was like it couldn’t keep pace with my breaths, like it was coping with too much pain to work properly.

I could have said a thousand bad things about Darius Acrux, but the best ones shone brighter, outweighing them so they were all I could see.

And though I hated to be so exposed, I would bleed for Orion. I’d cut myself open to win this case for him if it was asked of me.

Because no one would ever compare to him. No one would ever own my heart but that man. It was a truth cast in iron, impossible to undo. And if I had to wait months or years or an eternity for him, I would.

Darius whirled around, his face painted with emotion as he looked at me like I was the most precious thing in the world to him.

He leaned forward slowly until his forehead was pressed to mine and I could feel a slight tremor in his body which betrayed just how much he cared, how frightened he’d been, how concerned. “I’d take death over life without you,” he breathed, his voice rough and broken by fear.

Seth inhaled deeply as he bared his throat to me and for a moment, I was struck with the realisation of just how much he must have trusted me to show such vulnerability to me like that. Especially for a Wolf. They only ever bared their throat as a sign of submission and though I knew he wasn’t submitting to me in any way other than this, the knowledge that I had such a powerful Alpha at my mercy willingly made my heart race.

“I don’t,” he snapped. “When I look at you, I promise you I see it all. The good and the bad, the light and the dark. And you’re still the best person I know.” My heart twisted at his words, and I reached out to pull him into a hug. “You’re the best person I know, too,” I murmured.

“Seth…” I breathed, not really knowing how I was going to finish that sentence. His eyes widened then darkened and for a moment I was sure I found pain in them before he locked it away again.

Sometimes I got so angry at Lance that I punched myself just so he’d feel it wherever the fuck he was.

“I can’t even be alone with her, so how would that work?” I grumbled. “Try texting, idiot,” he shot back, and I frowned at him as the others sniggered like that was so fucking obvious. And maybe it was. “Or calling,” Caleb added. “You’re not together if you’re just talking on the phone.” “Video chat,” Seth added with a dirty grin. “You could totally have video sex.” “Shut up,” I growled, but I couldn’t entirely hide the grin on my face either. Maybe I was fucking dumb.

“There is no ounce of my being which would ever question the word of the true queens. If you say it is so, then it is so.”

“I’d rather not talk about it any more than that, okay?” “You hear that?” Geraldine called to the whole table. “Not a word is to be uttered about the recent events our Queen Darcy has faced or by the glowing backside of the moon, I will smite you!”

But Miss Vega pointed them towards her P.A. for comment who, unfortunately for their efforts, turned out to be a raven.

This ongoing joke is so funny

They were all so determinedly on my side about this and it made my heart thaw out. They didn’t doubt my story. They just blindly believed it. And I couldn’t thank them enough for that.

Don’t break alone. I know you have your sister, but I’m always here if you need to talk about him. The weight of my heart lessened at his words, and I offered him the only thing I could in return. Darcy: You too, Darius. Thank you for everything you’ve done for him.

“But after a while, I saw how Orion coveted you. How he hadn’t made you bad at all, you’d made him good. And I realised it wasn’t just some fling. The way you two looked at each other it was like…like an unbreakable thread was binding you together. Nothing anyone said or did would ever change it.

Seth’s eyes bored into me. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forgive myself for what I did to you, and I’d never ask you for your forgiveness because I don’t deserve a drop of it. But for what it’s worth, I am so fucking sorry, Darcy.”

Seth moved forward, closing the distance between us and capturing my chin between his finger and thumb as he tilted my head to look up at him. “There’s one more thing I should have realised. You could never be my mate, Darcy Vega. Because we’re not equals. You’re far better than me in every way imaginable.”

He was one of the few people who had witnessed the truth about me and Orion. He’d seen it first hand and hearing him admit that what we’d had was undeniable soothed a piece of my fractured, suffering soul.

She was going to suffer alone and pay for what she’d done. Invisible, ignored, nothing.

We were beginning to piece together more and more about our birth parents and had even faced reading some articles about the reasons for the Savage King earning his reputation. He was a monster alright. He’d been a ruthless and vicious leader, creating laws that were impossible to follow and punishing Fae who broke them with death. But we’d also found a box filled with love letters he’d written to our mother hidden in their things and the tender way he spoke of her and even of his joy over her pregnancy made my heart ache.

But I supposed what I did know about them for sure was that they loved each other and us. And maybe that was enough for me to make peace with some of my demons.

It’s a bloody, brutal game where members of prestigious families put their children forward to survive two weeks in the wilderness, fighting to the death for the supplies necessary to survive. It takes place before their magic is Awakened and there are all kinds of perils in it from the monsters lurking in the woods to the other contenders who will all fight tooth and nail to survive.

Kinda sounds like the hunger games

“His life will be hard,” our mother breathed against his lips as she pulled him down on top of her and a tear slid along her cheek. “For a time,” he agreed. “But he will know all the best kinds of love in the end. Even if he never knows ours.”

We watched as she introduced a four-year-old Gabriel to the Savage King and the man who had made our entire kingdom tremble in fear smiled with all the warmth of the sun. He took him in without question, played with him, taught him to ride a horse and took him flying in the sky on his back when he shifted into his Hydra form.

I remember holding the two of you on the day you were born and promising to love and protect you until the day I died.”

#allofthemgetmehot #cantheheirsshare #whychoose

The stars had turned against us so thoroughly, I wondered if they’d ever been rooting for us.

The most beautiful, pure love I’d ever known had been taken away from me just like that. And I didn’t know how I’d ever recover.

Darius was smirking at me in that way that used to get my blood boiling with rage but now, to my utter devastation, was making a motherfucking blush crawl over my cheeks.

“Nobody fucks with my girl and gets away with it,” he growled,

I think if I was allowed a single cheat against this curse that keeps us apart, I’d just want to be able to hold you in my arms,” he replied. “Just to wake up with you there, knowing you were safe.”