Cursed Fates (Zodiac Academy, #5)

by Caroline Peckham

This isn’t it. I won’t let him go. I’ll follow him beyond the veil. I’ll climb into the stars and drag his soul back out of them if I have to. This. Is. Not. It.

I felt Seth’s eyes on me, but when I looked down he was focusing on Orion again. Seth clenched his jaw, magic pouring from him as his brow creased with concentration. “Come on you asshole, wake up and tell me you hate me.”

I won’t let you go. I promised I’d do anything in my power to keep us together and I’ll do it, goddammit. I will do it.

Orion sank his fangs into Darius with a desperate hunger, clinging to his arms and nearly knocking him off of his feet. Darius clutched onto him, pressing his face into his hair as he held him. “I can’t believe I almost lost you after...” he trailed off, pulling him even closer and the sight sent warmth into my frozen limbs.

I wasn’t going anywhere, even if every star in the sky decided to fall down and burn the world tonight.

She was wearing baggy sweatpants and an oversized sweatshirt and her hair was tied in a messy knot on top of her head. But Tory Vega could wear a potato sack and still look like a fucking goddess.

I was staring into her big, green eyes, the black rings surrounding them taking every inch of my attention. It didn’t make sense, I couldn’t understand it...nobody chose to be Star Crossed. If the stars gave you the chance to pick your Elysian Mate you did it. No question. No matter what. Hell, if I found myself standing opposite that fucking hat boy I’d say yes.

“This isn’t on you, Max,” I growled, wrapping my arm around him and pulling him close. He drew me into an embrace so tight it was bruising and I could feel his agony trickling into me as his skin was pressed to mine and the contact enhanced the power of his gifts. “It’s not on you, either,” he replied roughly. “The fucking stars…a Vega. Shit, who could have come up with something so fucked up? It’s like they wanted this to happen to him. I’m starting to think he’s fucking cursed. He’s had to deal with so much shit in his life and then he’s finally offered something good and pure and light and it has to be with the one person he could never offer the world to.”

“Sorry to burst your bubble, princess, but it wasn’t some declaration of love. It was the two of us giving in to the heat that burns between us when it flared too hot to resist. But she made it clear enough that that was all it was to her.”

“What do we do?” Seth asked with a soft whimper as I closed the door behind us. “I don’t know,” I admitted as I dropped down onto the edge of the bed, gazing out at the view. Seth sat beside me, nuzzling against my shoulder affectionately. “I really fucked up tonight,” I breathed, thinking back on the moment I’d seen the black rings around Tory’s eyes. I should have realised who it had been right away. But it was like my thoughts hadn’t been in order and all I’d wanted was to lose myself in her. “You didn’t know,” Seth murmured, taking my hand and squeezing it. “The stars are going to use anything and anyone they can to keep them apart now. You were just the first of many things they’ll use to drive the wedge between them…” “It’s not right.” “I know. But what can we do?” “Something. Anything. I don’t even know what yet. But I’m going to make up for this,” I swore. “I’m going to find some way to fix it.”

“Tory,” he sighed, the first time I’d ever heard him call her anything other than Roxy. “She fucking said no, Lance.” He fell against me and I wrapped my arms around him, gripping him tightly as the world seemed to fall apart all over again.

Darius would have spent the rest of his life making up for all he’d done to her, he would have watched over her more fiercely than the moon did the Earth. He’d have given her the world.

Darius pushed me back onto the bed and fell down beside me, winding his arms tighter around my waist. Our bond flared like it never had before, because there was nothing I could do to help him. This was beyond my control. But I was still forced to act, to do something to make this right even though there was nothing I could offer. Thankfully, having him this close started to ease the ache and the bond hummed with need as it drew us closer until my hand was knotted in his hair. It took everything I had not to fucking kiss him, or drag him into the shower and soothe him like I had Darcy. It was totally messed up. Fuck you Lionel. Fuck you right up the fucking ass for all you’ve done. “Don’t say it’ll be alright,” Darius growled. “I won’t,” I sighed.

“Drink from me,” Darius demanded, but I shook my head. “Please, it’s the least I can do.” He tilted his head to one side, fisting his hand in my hair as he dragged me nearer. My nose brushed his neck and the pounding of his pulse called to me like a Siren’s song.

“Darius,” I said seriously, fixing him in my gaze. “I vow on everything I am, if there’s a way to change your fate, I’ll find it.” His mouth twitched, but I could see my words gave him no hope at all. So I drew him back into my arms and held him until the birds sang the dawn in and the sun dragged its way into the sky like it weighed a thousand tons.

“Who are you?” I demanded, reaching for the door handle behind me with shaking fingers. I didn’t want to be scared, but holy shit this woman looked like a monster fresh out of Resident Evil. “I’m the princess,” she announced, lowering her head to press her ear to my chest. “And you’re the king’s son,” she breathed. “There’s so much power in you, can you feel them?”

The line went dead and I dropped down to the floor, hugging my knees to my chest. The shadows were close, gnawing at the edges of my emotions, begging I let them take away the hurt. But I’d lived my entire life under a roof where who I was had been rejected and beaten down. I knew how to protect the real me from my father. And if I could keep it from him, keeping it from the shadows was easy. It was just a shame being me right now hurt like hell.

Running away from my problems had never helped me much before, but I didn’t need to deal with that bullshit. What had happened between me and Roxy, that was…ours. It didn’t matter that it was fucked up and raw and bleeding, it was still ours. We’d been marked by it inside and out and no matter how much I might have wished it had gone differently, that didn’t change it.

“What’s this?” he asked, raising his hand to inspect it and I had to say I’d done a damn good job too. “I promised you a friendship bracelet,” I teased. “We can get together for a slumber party another time though.” He snorted a laugh at me as he backed up. “I’ll treasure it always. Goodnight, Tory.” “Goodnight.” He shot away from me and I was left alone, but somehow that didn’t seem so lonely anymore.

“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,” Orion snapped and I suppressed a laugh, sharing a look with Tory as she smirked.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely. It was one of those phrases people tossed around, but didn’t give much thought to. But there was real truth in that. Power was the root of all my problems. Every fucking one of them. And I wasn’t going to watch the people around me abusing theirs anymore.

“Yeah, I get that. I’ve had one or two thoughts like that myself,” I snarled bitterly. “About the Vega who really was destined to be mine. Until she stepped beneath the stars with me and told me she’d rather suffer alone and in misery for the rest of her life than be bound to me in any way.”

“Darius…” Roxy said, her tone suddenly softer and I dropped my gaze back to her instantly, forgetting the clouds and anything else in favour of hearing her speak. “I need to know if you meant it. What you said to me when the stars called us together. If you really did regret the things-”

The fireball slammed into Lance’s shield and washed over it in a tide of crimson flames before stuttering out and leaving me aching for more. “Better,” Lance said, a hungry smile lighting his features. “Now put that desire to fight to good use. And use it to fix this shit between you and Tory.” “How the hell am I supposed to do that?” I demanded. “You’ve seen the way she looks at me. She hates me.” “Hate dances a fine line with love more often than not. Fix it, Darius. Then if I really can find a way to give you another chance at fate, you’ll both be ready to make a different choice.” He strode towards me, shoving me aside as I reeled from his words. By the time I turned to shout after him, he was gone. And I was left alone in the dark with nothing but my own demons to keep me company.

“So, if Caleb makes you happy…” He didn’t finish that sentence and it looked like it cost him physical pain to let it pass his lips. He locked his jaw and his fingers curled into a fist. “Why are you saying that to me?” I demanded. “Because…” Darius blew out a breath and took me captive in his gaze. “Maybe I don’t want to live with the fact that you’ll never be happy now because of this.” “You want me to be happy?” A faint hissing noise started up and I looked around in surprise as a wet drip fell onto my cheek. The icicles decorating the ceiling of The Orb started rattling

“What’s the matter, Darius? Afraid I’ll kick your ass and make you look like a little bitch in front of everyone?” I taunted, turning to look up into his black-ringed eyes. His gaze slid over me slowly and heat followed the path of his eyes over every inch of my flesh that they caressed. “Hardly.” “Then what’s the problem?” I demanded. He hesitated for a long moment then shrugged. “I don’t want to hurt you.” My lips parted at that declaration and the sincerity of those words echoed deep down into me with a truth I couldn’t deny. For a long moment we just looked at each other before I remembered we had an audience and I quickly rolled my eyes. “You’re so cocky for an asshole who’s

“Fuck me, are you really going to make me beg?” I pouted as I looked up at him and the barest hint of a smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

“You know, one day, I’ll be able to get past your defences,” I warned him as I stood upright and looked right into his eyes. “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,” he said in a low growl as he moved so close to me that our chests were almost touching. A cold wind whipped around us savagely, tossing my hair about and I realised that almost everyone else had gone. The stars were about to force us apart if we didn’t separate willingly. “After all, I clearly deserve it.” “I didn’t think you were capable of admitting when you were in the wrong,” I breathed. “Neither did I. But if you want to keep punishing me by straddling me in the dirt, I’m not going to complain about it.”

In this one instance, I may have been full of shit. We both know you won. I hope you enjoy your prize Lot J, top floor, in the parking lot. Beneath it was a layer of silver tissue paper and my heart pounded to an unfamiliar rhythm as I slowly teased it open, my fingers tingling once more with the touch of Darius’s magic. I pulled it apart and found a black bike key nestled in the paper, a silver Yamaharpie logo standing out on it and making my breath catch. “Holy shit,” I breathed. “Is he for real?” “He bought you a bike?” Darcy gasped. “I can’t believe he’s actually admitting I beat him at something,” I said slowly. That just seemed so unDarius. “How romantic!” Geraldine gushed. “It doesn’t change anything,” I muttered as I ran my thumb over the key. But if I was really being honest with myself, maybe it did. Just a little.

Not that we were currently making any use of the extra space; I was making Orion into my very own mattress. But instead of springs it had abs.

“I’m okay with you being my weakness, Blue. Because that means my weakness is a badass, hot as fuck Phoenix with enough fire in her veins to rival the sun. So come at me stars, I’m invincible!” He pointed at the ceiling and I laughed, tucking myself against his chest again and wondering if I was ever going to get this smile off my face. “Don’t goad the stars.” I jabbed him in the shoulder. “They’ll take it as a challenge.”

“It’s Darcy,” I corrected. “I won’t respond to Gwen. So if a Nymph starts sucking the magic right out of your ass, then you might wanna use the right name when you’re calling for help.”

“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,” Orion mused and the two of them sniggered. I shook my head at them, trying to stop the smile that was fighting its way onto my lips. “Should I expect a lesson in bone magic soon then?” “I reckon Lance has been giving you plenty of bone lessons already, hasn’t he?” Darius quipped and a laugh tumbled from my throat. It was pretty weird to be standing here in this creepy ass house laughing, with him of all people.

“You two are…well, fuck the law for saying you can’t be together,” Darius said, folding his arms. My heart squeezed at his words and I saw so much pain in his eyes that I strode forward and wrapped my arms around him. It wasn’t that I’d forgiven him, or even that I was remotely convinced he was good enough for my sister. But maybe he could have been. Maybe if they’d made better choices, followed their hearts instead of their pride. “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.”

I wanted to tear him apart for everything he’d done. To Darius, to Mother, to me. He was a plague on this world and I despised every drop of his blood that ran in my veins. “I hate you!” I roared, throwing my fist at him. He was so caught by surprise that he forgot to shield and my knuckles cracked against his jaw, sending him stumbling backwards.

“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.” “So, what do you expect me to do? Look up at the stars and yell fuck you while flipping them off and burning their bullshit to the ground?” I joked, although my blood tingled with the idea of that, because it was exactly what I wanted to do. I’d never been the kind of girl to let anyone tell me my own mind. I’d never been the kind to bow down to destiny or any shit like that. I made my own fate. And I had no desire to spend the rest of my life pining for Darius Acrux. “Yeah. That’s exactly what I expect.” Caleb offered me a real smile and I couldn’t help but return it. I had to admit, that sounded pretty fucking good to me.

“Well, it’s time the stars gave me something good for once,” I said. “Rather than just fucking me over all the damn time.”

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

“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.”

“Enough!” I shouted as the tears finally broke past my defences and spilled down my cheeks. “That’s enough. I don’t care whose fault it was or how many chances we had not to end up here. We are here. That’s the end of it. So fuck fate. Fuck the stars. Fuck destiny. Fuck Darius Acrux. And fuck you.”

All of a sudden, the flames met with a wall of darkness which stood before them like an endless sea of nothing, barring their way on. There was something so alien about it, so wrong that my instincts pushed at me to destroy it immediately. My Phoenix flames roared as they tore through the wall in Catalina’s mind and she cried out as the darkness within her was devoured. The moment my fire had destroyed the wall, it raced on, soon finding another and another as Catalina’s grip on my arm tightened. A tear slid down her cheek then a second as my Phoenix flames swept beneath her skin and burned away every dark and corrupt thing they found lurking there. Once it was all gone, the flames returned to me and I was left panting, shaking with fatigue as my wings sagged low on my back.

“Me and Darcy are getting stronger every day,” I said as the two of us prepared to part ways. “One day we’ll come for Lionel and show him exactly who the most powerful Fae in Solaria are.” Shadows licked keenly beneath my skin at those words and Catalina’s eyes shone with hope for a moment. “Your choice with Darius was your own, wasn’t it?” she breathed in a sad voice. “Lionel’s Dark Coercion couldn’t take root in you, could it?” “It was my own,” I agreed, a rough edge to my voice.

She sighed in disappointment, stepping back as she pulled a pouch of stardust from her pocket. “I wish he could have done enough to win your love, Roxanya.” She tossed the stardust over her head and disappeared before I could reply. I swallowed against the thick lump in my throat and spread my wings wide before taking off too, beating a path through the sky towards the academy, wondering if things had really just changed as profoundly as it felt like they had.

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

“No, it’s a solid plan. But if I happen to end up with Grus in my bed again as a part of it, I definitely won’t be complaining.”

The others laughed as we stepped out into the sun beyond Jupiter Hall and I felt a lightness in my chest at the thought of executing this plan. Sure, it was probably one in a million that it would work. But we had to try. I couldn’t just watch Darius suffer for the rest of his life without doing everything I could to fix it. So now all I needed was to get Geraldine alone.

“I’m afraid I have matters to attend to that don’t require a tricksome tuna-” “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.

Geraldine pursed her lips like she sensed a trap and I had to force myself not to groan with frustration. “I have told you, I have no intention to twist with the fishes for a second round and-” “It’s about Tory and Darius. But it’s nice to know your mind goes straight to my dick whenever you see me.” She sighed dramatically. “Speak the words of my lady if you have anything useful to say. I have a date with the spangly stars tonight and must make it up to the observatory by midnight.”

“Orion’s working on the actual star bond shit. Me and the boys, we’re looking at it from a more personal point of view. Meaning, we intend to help the two of them to work past their issues one way or another. But I’ve got about as much chance of convincing Tory Vega to start up a country and western band while wearing a clown’s outfit as I do of getting her to listen to me about this. Which is why I need your help.” “You mean…that for no reason other than the pursuit of true and honest love, you wish to fix what cannot be fixed and defy the stars themselves?” she breathed, her eyes widening as she looked at me in a way that I couldn’t quite describe. It was like, she was seeing something in me that she hadn’t thought was there before and I kinda liked the way her deep blue eyes were shining.

“So you propose a truce? You and I coming together in the pursuit of true love? Fighting against the heavens for what is right and just?” she breathed, making the whole thing sound like a mission for one of King Arthur’s knights instead of me just trying to look after my friend.