Ruthless Fae (Zodiac Academy, #2)

by Caroline Peckham

If you can love the other Heirs like brothers then your life will be all the easier for it, but either way, you are stuck together. Through the good and the bad you are united. Your individual feelings do not matter when it comes to the actions of the group. You are one. And you must never show even the slightest form of weakness to the outside world. The actions of each of you are the actions of all of you. You stand together. If you falter, the whole of Solaria will fall.

It broke my heart to say it; this school had felt more like a home to me than any other place I'd ever rested my head. It was innate. I was Fae. I felt that in the deepest regions of my body. But I'd also never been as unwelcome as I was here.

Hydra. Kraken. Phoenix. Arian Dolphin. Empusa. Ophiotaurus. “Can anyone tell me what links these Orders?” Orion asked, gazing around the room as if he expected crickets. “They're extinct, sir,” Sofia said, her voice a little high. Orion nodded firmly. “Five points to Ignis. And can anyone tell me why?” He turned back to the board, circling the Hydra Order in red. “Because of impure blood lines?” a raven-haired girl called from the back. “Precisely, Miss Abdul, five points to Aqua,” Orion said. “The Hydra Order is the most recent to become extinct after King Vega died twenty years ago.”

“Iron is made stronger in the hottest part of the fire, Seth. You didn't break me, you forged me.”

“Yes, I still have my Heir but I’ve lost the spare. Did he tell you exactly what Order he is?”

I couldn’t say we’d ever really done anything to earn such unwavering loyalty from the A.S.S. but in that moment, I swore never to take them for granted ever again.

“Because you're beautiful and every time you're in a room he stares at you. And when you're not there he can't stop looking at that disgusting bracelet of hair he made. He wants you to bow to him, but given half a chance he'd have it both ways and have you under his arm too,”

The muscles in my legs twitched as I prepared to move but Orion's hand suddenly sailed around my waist and stopped me from stepping forward. My heart beat a forbidden tune and I stilled entirely, frozen in place.

A blur in my periphery alerted me one second too late as Orion swept me off my feet and tossed me over his shoulder. I yelled in alarm, smashing my hand into his back on instinct. “Let me down! Are you insane?!”

Orion's mouth tugged up at one corner and his dimple punctured his cheek. “I was hoping you'd do that,” he said in a low voice.

message from Orion. Lance: Maybe green this time? Although 'Green' as a nickname isn't quite so catchy. The suspense is killing me.

“In effect, magic is used to fuse the two of them together by linking their souls. Its purpose is to protect the life of an important person AKA the ward - in this case, Darius - by making sure that the guardian - Orion - will always place themselves between him and danger. So in effect, if Darius were to come under attack, Orion would feel it and be duty bound to come to his aid. It was said that guardians could even feel the pain of their wards if they were injured and would give every last drop of their magic to protect and heal them.”

“Can I have a word, sweetheart?” he asked casually, like I hadn’t just gone head to head with one of his friends and come out on top. “Why?” I asked, my tone unfriendly. “You’re breaking my heart with this ice queen act,” he teased, stepping into my personal space. “If you’re going to bite me then just get on with it. Toying with your food is so unattractive.” “No biting. Just come and talk to me,” he said, turning puppy dog eyes on me and damn if Caleb Altair didn’t look cute as hell when he was begging.

“Don’t stop dancing on my account,” Darius urged, his eyes dripping over my shorts in a way that made my blood heat. “What do you want?” I demanded. “I had no idea you were such a huge Taylor Swift fan,” he said, leaning against the doorframe like he owned the damn place. Which I guessed he thought he did as the almighty House Captain. Taylor belted out another chorus and I tilted my head as I regarded him. “She makes some very good points which I happen to agree with.” “It suits you,” he said. “What does?” I asked. “Smiling.”

His endlessly dark eyes found mine and for a moment no words passed between us, just heat and need and aching desire. “Darius?” I breathed, biting down on my bottom lip. His eyes dropped to my mouth and he pulled me against him even more firmly. I could feel every inch of his desire for me pressing against my ass and I couldn’t deny the fact that certain parts of my body wanted to do more than just indulge in this fantasy.

“Argh!” Seth roared as Orion stripped the braid of hair from his wrist and applied more pressure to his arm until he whined like a kicked dog. “I'm done with your fucking parading, Capella. This isn't Academy approved school wear.” He swiped the beanie hat from his head while Seth nursed a broken nose.

Warmth spread through my skin and I inhaled sharply as I realised what he'd done. Confusion rattled through me. He'd healed it.

“I just wanted to make sure you understand that Darius is betrothed. It would be a shame if you got any fanciful notions about him.” Lionel watched me as he took a long drink from his glass and I fumbled for something to say that wasn’t a flat out insult. Luckily Darcy had my back. “I’m not sure where you got that idea, but Tory hasn’t got the faintest bit of interest in Darius. He can head off into the sunset with his lovely bride and I can assure you she won’t give it the slightest bit of thought,” she said, her voice saccharine sweet.

“Do you want to dance?” Darius asked, his tone returning to its formal setting. His hand brushed across the bare skin at the base of my spine and butterflies spilled through my stomach before I could stamp them out.

“In that case, I happen to think he’s a vindictive, pretentious twat-waffle who really needs to pull the stick out of his ass and let loose more often,” I said. “I thought we were being nice this evening?” Darius murmured behind me and I stifled a flinch at just how close he was. “You said you’d be nice. I made no such promises,” I pointed out, turning to look up at him as he moved to my side.

“Well you’re making Xavier smile so I’ll forgive you this once,” Darius said.

“Have I told you how exceptionally beautiful you look tonight, Darcy?” Darcy. He'd said my name. For the first time ever. And why did it sound like so much more than a name when he spoke it? It was like he'd fired an arrow and it had punctured a flesh wound in me at the exact same moment.

He glanced above us and his brow furrowed heavily. “Up there are a thousand reasons why we can't be together.” I swallowed thickly, goosebumps rushing along my skin in response to his words. I pressed my back to the cool tiles of the pool and the goosebumps spread deeper, evoking a shiver across my body. “I'm bound by so many rules I could waste the rest of your evening telling you them,” he said. “Skip them then, sir.” A smile played around my mouth as a thrill danced in my chest. He moved closer and rested his hands either side of me on the wall. “I think the time for sirs and professors is over, don't you?”

Anger pulled at my insides and I didn't know if I was angry at him for softening towards a Vega or if I was angry at myself for the exact same thing.

“I never said I hated you,” he murmured, his voice deep as he tugged me around to face him.

“There's ten players on a team, the two Pit Keepers guard the Pit from the opposing team to stop them getting any balls in. The easiest way to remember the other players is that there are two of each Element, one plays defence to keep the other team away from the ball, the other plays offence to get the ball into the pit. For example, there are two Earth players on every team. Our Earthbacker, Geraldine, is defence and Caleb is the offensive Earth player called an Earthraider.”

“Now it's round two. Every round lasts five minutes. After an hour, it'll be half time then they play for a final hour. Just watch, it's about to get seriously intense.” She pointed to the four corners of the pitch. “There's only one ball in play per round, it'll be fired into the pitch randomly from the four Elemental Quarters. A Fireball is scorching hot, an Earthball is seriously heavy, an Airball is light and will be shot far up toward the roof and a Waterball is freezing to touch. If no one gets the ball in the Pit before the five minutes are up – boom!” She mimed an explosion with her hands and my mouth fell open.

But he had cut off Blue's hair and I just couldn't fucking forgive it. End of story.

me. She’d made a dress out of an oversized Pitball shirt which skimmed her thighs and made her look like she'd just crawled out of my bed and pulled it on. The idea of that excited me way more than it should have but as she turned to whisper something to her sister, I saw the name printed across the back of her shirt wasn’t Acrux, it was Grus. Of course it is. Stop thinking with your dick and get your head back in the game!

“Alright then,” Darius said darkly. “If you want it then you’ll have to fight for it.” “And crawl up out of the gutter to claim it,” Max added. “Then strive to keep it every, single, day,” Caleb growled. “So you’d better be ready,” Seth hissed.