Cursed Fates (Zodiac Academy, #5)

by Caroline Peckham

“Stop – don’t hurt her!”

But I didn’t want power. I never had. Not like that. What I craved was love. Family. The kinds of things you couldn’t just take and had to earn.

There was no doubt in my mind that the rage which had driven him to this was fuelled by his feelings for me. And knowing that he would risk it all for me made the pain in my body fade away as I watched him. Darius was savage, brutal, vicious, broken and mine. And in that moment, I had no desire for the darkness in him to ever let up. I wanted him. Every damaged, depraved, dirty piece of his soul was made to fit with all the twisted, ruined parts of my own. And if the stars didn’t like it then I’d happily climb up into the sky and tear them all down for him. Right after I watched him kill his father.

The Nymph took a step away from me, bowing its head submissively and my heart trembled in my chest as I stared at it, fire swarming around my hands as I tried to figure out what it was doing.

He can’t die. I couldn’t bear it if he died.

“Fae magic can’t heal me,”

“I’m not your enemy,”

do. “I’ve done bad things,”

“You’ll see…you need to…take my hat.”

just wanted to be useful. Did I do okay? Was I good friend?”

“You’re the best friend, Diego,”

“You always felt like…home,”

There was only one enemy that mattered, and it was time we defeated him. Together.

“The world means nothing to me without her,”

“What would it take for you to kill this girl, Darius?”

“Nothing,” I replied instantly. “I’d die first.”

“Roxanya Vega,” Father growled, looking down at her as a dark smile pulled at his lips. “You will guard my life at the detriment of your own life. Nothing will ever be more important to you than that-”

“I can’t let you hurt him, Darius,”

“I’m his Guardian now. You’d have to kill me first.”

“You want me, don’t you? You want me to give in to the shadows and give you my blood? I’ll do it. All of it. Whatever you want. Just let my sister go. Let them all go.”

“I need you to get Darcy out of here,” I demanded. “If you meant all the things you said to me, if you feel any of it at all, you’ll make sure she’s safe.”

I couldn’t count the amount of times I’d been tempted by the promise of oblivion the shadows offered me in the past few months, but she’d always been the reason I’d fought them off. It was a cruel twist of fate that she was now the reason I was giving in to them too.

It was a relief to give in at last. No more pain or regret or anguish. Just power. And I was more than ready to claim my share of that.

Please come back. I can’t bear to be without you.

I ached for Orion with every part of my being, needing to crawl into his arms and seek the comfort of his words. He would have known what to do. He would have found a way to fix this. But he was gone. He’d cut me from his life and now Tory was gone too, and I didn’t think I could handle the loss of them both. It was too much to bear.

“We won’t,” Darius agreed fiercely. “I’ll tear the world down for her, but we can’t win tonight.”

“I vow on the stars that we’ll find the Imperial Star before Lionel does,” I breathed. “No matter what it takes.”

“A girl with blue hair,” I breathed as the echoes of memories stirred within my heart. “And a man with a dark soul.”