Cursed Fates (Zodiac Academy, #5)

by Caroline Peckham

I stepped closer, my chest aching with the need to do something about this, to change the stars, fix her fate, any number of impossible things that could alleviate some of the pain I could see consuming her.

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

“You will make a star promise with me and Blue. Then you will do it with Darius and Tory when you see them too. If you break the promise, we’ll feel it. 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.”

“You sure know how to talk your way out of trouble, Professor.” I cocked a brow and he smirked at my expression. “I know how to lick my way out of it too, Miss Vega.” He grinned suggestively

“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.”

“Maybe the stars always wanted this to happen.” I shrugged like that didn’t burn me up inside and Caleb pushed himself to his feet, reaching out to cup my jaw and make me look up at him. “Yeah? Well maybe the stars can get fucked then,” he said fiercely, his navy eyes burning. “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.”

“He was falling in love with you, and you ripped his heart out,” Gabriel said quietly. “There is no greater pain in this world than that. Believe me. I know. I’ve lived it.”

“What was that?” I groaned, the remainder of my air shield shattering as I slumped down onto my knees with exhaustion pressing in on me. “You…I’m free,” Catalina gasped, releasing her grip on me as she backed up, her hands clasping her chest as a radiant smile captured her full lips. “Free of what?” “The Dark Coercion Lionel placed on me…each and every command he ever bound me with is just…gone.”

Darius Acrux: @Margurite Helebor, I wouldn’t fuck you again if you were the last Fae in Solaria and my dick would fall off if I didn’t. Don’t talk shit about my Mate. One more word and I’ll destroy you #trymebitch

There was a reason I liked feeding on pain and sadness which had nothing to do with enjoying the suffering of others and everything to do with that instinctual need in me to help them. And right now, Tory Vega needed that kind of help.

“I’ll wear a buttery bagel as a cock ring for the day if it will make you stop and listen to me for a moment. I’m asking for your help, Gerry, and I don’t do that lightly,” I growled, interrupting her.

Hahahahahaha

“Stand up, you succulent squid,” she commanded breathlessly and I seriously didn’t understand why my dick felt like it might just burst at those words but it did. Apparently, I had a fetish for all of the insane shit this girl said and there wasn’t one part of me that wasn’t into it.

“By the gleam of my shiny waxed lady balls! Who said anything about putting your clothes on?” She laughed, taking hold of the hem of her shirt, and whipping it off, revealing her huge breasts in a delicate blue bra with a seashell clasped at the base of her cleavage. Max’s eyes practically bugged out of his head as she directed him further into the field for a fight. “I challenge you to a duel, you mouth-watering barnacle of a boy.”

“I could have smashed his head in the second Darius told him to back off of us, but I held back. Because you know what’s more satisfying to me than beating the living hell out of him, Blue?” I shook my head, my throat too tight as I absorbed the passion in his expression. “You doing it,” he breathed with a seductive grin. “He’s all yours, beautiful. I want you to make him scream. I’m gonna be right there with a fold-out chair and a bag of freshly popped popcorn to enjoy the show. But I won’t be the one breaking bones – and trust me I really want to be that guy, but not this time. Seth Capella has written his fate in the stars. She’s coming for him like a monster in the night. And her name is Darcy Vega.”

In my opinion, the idea of him stealing her ability to love and care for her children from her was actually the worst of the things he’d done to her.

“I need to grab coffee for Roxy.” He moved to step away, but I caught his arm, wondering if I should do this. But my sister lit up every morning when Darius brought her coffee. I’d watched it a thousand times. To the naked eye, you wouldn’t notice it at all. But I knew her so well, and that look she got around him held a secret only I could read. “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.”

Darius stood by my head, and I nuzzled into his face the moment the cameras flashed. This was going right up there with the top best moments of my life.

“No problem my dearest dandelion. That rapscallion needs a good bish and a bosh. What I wouldn’t give to butter the wrong side of his bagel.”

“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.”

“Cheerleaders sometimes support a certain player on the field,” Darius said as he pushed his hand into his pocket and took out a navy ribbon with the word Fireshield on it. “Will you cheer for me today, Roxy?”

“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.”

“It’s magnificent,” I breathed. “Thank you. Though I’ve got no idea what I’ve done to earn it.” “You’ve done a thousand things to earn it, Lance. You make me so happy, you’ve taught me to trust again, you’ve helped me become a true Fae.”

“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.”

“You might not be able to be together. But you can be honest with each other,” she said forcefully. “And if you want any chance of moving on from this fucking mess you’ve made for yourselves then you’ll be brave enough to do that.”

“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.”

Tears slid down my cheeks as I kissed him harder, my whole body tangling with his and I threw an air shield up over our heads, pouring my magic into it as I fought to buy us just a few more seconds.

And if this was the only way I could get that then I’d make my peace with it somehow and just ignore the parts of my heart which burned with agony at the thought of him touching her too.

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

“I miss you too,” he interrupted. “More than any words could ever convey.”

“This isn’t like craving a sandwich.” “It had better fucking not be,” he said. “I’m no sandwich. I’m like a star damn triple chocolate sundae with sprinkles and syrup and the juiciest damn cherry on top. Don’t compare me to a basic lunch, Cal, you’ll hurt my damn feelings.”

“That girl doesn’t belong to anyone,” I growled. “Least of all some half rent gangster who thinks he shits gold when all he really is is a tiny little tadpole swimming upstream in a river filled with crocodiles.” “So, you think you’re a crocodile?” Zane taunted, grinning at me like he thought he was a predator. “Something like that,” I replied darkly,

“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.”

“I was alone in the world for so long that I gave up on ever uncovering the mysteries of my past,” he breathed. “I found happiness in creating my own family…but now… I remember. The visions broke the block on my memories, and I remember my mother, your father… 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.”

“You and Orion…and me being a dick…and you coming back to the academy last night and being all sad in here on your own and…well it’s my nature to comfort people I care about, and I guess I just…let myself in.” “Seth!” I admonished. “Are you serious? You crept into my room and slept on my bed? Do you realise how weird that is?” He whined again, stepping closer. “Not really. It’s my Order…I can’t help it. I’d have slept with Darius every night since he was Star Crossed, but he’d flay me alive for it.

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

“As much as I ache for the feeling of your body against mine – and I really fucking do – 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.”

“I wasn’t going to let you head back to that house with that fucking monster for the summer and be at his mercy,” she growled fiercely. Protectively. Like I was something she cherished and wanted to protect in the same way I ached to look after her.