Shadow Princess (Zodiac Academy, #4)

by Caroline Peckham

“You’re not just Tory’s enemy, Darius, you’re your own. It’s like every time you punish her, you’re trying to punish yourself too.”

“But you’ll still protect them because you’re a good man, Darius. And there is more to the world than power, no matter what society teaches us.” He swallowed, looking away. “I’m not a good man,” he said thickly. He glanced at me as shadows curtained his eyes and he blinked to draw them back. “And you’re not either. We’re just two fuck-ups who keep fucking up.”

“Who the fuck is that?” Darius balked and I rose from my seat in shock as I found Gabriel motherfucking Nox perched outside on the windowsill staring in at us. His huge black, feathered wings were folded behind him, revealing the artwork of tattoos covering his broad chest.

IM SORRY WHO

“Thought I’d drop in on this conversation, Orio. The stars told me to come.” He pulled away and we turned to the others who were all staring at Gabriel like he had two fucking heads.

maybe because he just saud "orio" which isa godawful nickname

“I didn’t hook up with anyone else if that’s what you’re getting at.” “That wasn’t what I asked though,” he pushed. “I asked if you were drawn towards anyone?” I took a deep breath as I turned to look up at him. “Yeah. If you wanna know, it pushed me towards Darius.”

GIR UR JUST ADMITTING THAT??

You don’t want me long term, so why would I commit to you short term? We have fun Caleb but I’m not your girl. If you can’t handle the idea of me meeting other people, maybe even hooking up with them, then we can just call time on this thing between us. Because I’m not ever going to put my life on hold for a man. Especially one who doesn’t think I’m good enough to make the cut long term.”

“Do you wanna hang out later?” he asked, still blocking my way. “If I say maybe, will you let me leave?” “You’re busy later, Roxy,” Darius said from right behind me and I jerked around, scowling up at him and wondering how much of our conversation he’d been eavesdropping on.

darius is so unserious

“That’s obviously not the real reason you don’t want her hooking up with me,” Caleb scoffed, and Darius’s gaze darkened. “I’m just looking out for you, Cal. I wouldn’t want to risk her setting my dick alight,” Darius replied tauntingly. “Good thing I’m not offering then,” I snapped.

just have a threesome and get over it already

His eyes whipped to me, an ache building in them like this news was breaking his heart.

“In your little book of black magic?” Tory taunted and he pursed his lips. “Yeah, I keep it with my Ouija board and voodoo dolls,” Orion deadpanned.

sassy man apocalypse

“In Solaria we have a tradition of giving rose quartz to someone we want to be exclusive with.” “You do?” I whispered, my heart pounding madly. “Yeah.” He squeezed my hand. “Look, I don’t know what this thing is between us or where it’s going, Blue, but after everything that’s happened, the one thing that’s clear to me is that I don’t want anyone else. So, this crystal is a promise from me that I’m yours. For now. Forever. Or till it all goes to shit, I don’t know which yet.” He smiled hopefully and my heart could have burst with how much this meant to me.

i love them

“Don’t be an idiot, Roxy. You need to learn how to keep control of the shadows, or they’ll end up destroying you,” Darius snarled. “Well at least then I’d make you happy for once,” I threw back. His gaze darkened as he looked at me. “You can’t seriously think that?” I shrugged and looked away from him because I didn’t even know anymore. All I did know was that every time I let him get close to me, I got hurt, so it wouldn’t be happening again.

so infuriating im sorry like

The overriding emotions I felt whenever Darius got close to me was betrayal. And I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why. But for some reason I felt so strongly about it that I couldn’t stand to be around him and face those feelings at all.

He patted his thigh, and I grinned as I moved to sit in his lap, wrapping my arms around his neck. He placed a kiss on my jaw that sent a rush of tingles along my skin.

i dont have daddy issues but reading this is making me think otherwise

“Is this my fault, Professor?” I teased, circling my finger around his naval and feeling his cock harden between my thighs. “Yes,” he breathed, sucking on his lower lip as I rocked my hips. “No Lance…” I leaned over him, my hair spilling around us in a veil of glittering blue. I dropped my mouth to his chest, trailing lower until he groaned with need. “I think this is all your fault and it’s time you learned your lesson.”

jaw is on the floor

He was a monster. And sometimes I was too.

I looked over at the raised area on the other side of the room where people were dancing to Billie Eilish’s Bad Guy and my heart leapt as I spotted Roxy Vega dancing with her sister like she didn’t have a care in the star damned world.

THIS IS SO CORNY IM SORRY

I rolled my eyes at her before leaping straight into a backflip and landing it perfectly.

this book is so damn corny i'm fucking crying

“Why?” I demanded. “Why not just go after someone else?” “Because we don’t get to choose our obsessions. And you’re mine.”

“If you hurt her, I’ll kill you.

“From now until tomorrow we can just pretend to like each other. Or at least not hate each other.” The moment stretched and I grew a little self-conscious as my hand hung in the space between us. “Maybe I’m always pretending to hate you,”

I turned and stormed from the room before she could respond, my heart breaking into a thousand pieces. And not because of the lies the Heirs had told about us. But because for the first time in my life, I truly felt alone.

A gasp of pain parted my lips and his mouth collided with mine a moment later as my heart leapt at the unexpected turn of this argument.

He was still all the things I hated about him, but he was also my own personal brand of hell. And I’d been sinning for a long time, waiting for him to punish me.

It was like he needed more of me despite the fact that he was taking it all already and I was giving it willingly.

“Do you have any idea how much I want her? How much it feels like I need her sometimes? It’s like she’s burrowed her way beneath my flesh and taken root in the depths of my soul.

“I’m calling my lawyers and getting them to take every fucking photo of her dressed like that off of the internet,” Darius growled.

darius entirely missing the point bc of his jealousy is killing me

“Just go,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Being alone is kinda my thing now anyway.”

cringing

“The next time you want to drown in them, tell me about it.” “Why?” “Because if you’re going to drown then I’m going to drown with you.”

What could I say to her about it anyway? Don’t be with him because we were together once. For one, too brief, earth-shattering moment, you were mine. And I never should have let you go.

He’d clearly decided that I’d acted unfairly which was about as bad as shitting on his doorstep when it came to a Libra.

true as fuckkkk - a libra

The door flew open just before I reached it, and Lance’s eyes were wide with excitement as he held his arms out to me. I crashed into him, and we wrapped our arms around each other and damn near fell over with the force of our collision. “I’m sorry,” I growled as I locked him in my arms and a part of me wished I’d never have to let go. “I’m sorry too,” he agreed, his beard scratching my cheek in the best way.

“Sorry today was a disaster.” “It wasn’t,” I said honestly, drawing him closer by tugging on his shirt. “I loved it.” “I love you,” he countered, and the world paused as the weight of his words slowed time itself. “Lance,” I inhaled, a feeling of raw happiness threading itself into my heart.

“I don’t know how long we have, Blue, but my heart will be yours whether we’re together or not.”

He loved me. Lance Orion loved me. And I loved him back with every corner of my heart and all the spaces in between.

Because my life was empty before I loved her. And parting us won’t change the way I feel for her.”

We were the most powerful Order of Fae that had been seen in a thousand years. We were the first Fae to possess all four Elements in living memory. So maybe it was time we stopped denying our birthright. Because the Vegas had been born to rule. And I was sick of being forced to bow.

Caleb shifted his hand higher, and my heart leapt as his knuckles knocked against Darius’s.

LMAO

“Because you’re in my head all the time. You pulse through my blood with each beat of my heart. I live for every scrap of attention you offer me and suffer through every moment you spend ignoring me,” he said darkly, holding my eye the entire time.

“But when I see you, all I want is to lay claim to you. I want you to be mine and I know you never will be and it’s making me even more fucked up than I was to begin with. That’s why I hate you. Not because I’m supposed to or because my father wants me to, but because you represent every freedom I’ve never been given. It’s like you were designed entirely to taunt me and toy with me and crack me open and I won’t let it stand.”

I may have been the one on my knees, but he was the one who was submitting.

ik thats right!

“I want everything from you,” he replied fiercely and in that moment, I was willing to let him have it.

“I don’t want you on your knees. I want you fighting me and hating me and fucking me like you mean it. You’re Roxanya Vega and you weren’t built to bow to anyone,” he growled passionately. “You want me to hate you?” I asked in surprise. “I want you to feel for me. And I’ll take hate if that’s all you’re offering.”

i'll take hate if that's all you're offering omfg sobbing

His arms wrapped around me, and he drew me into a kiss unlike the others we’d shared. His tongue pushed into my mouth almost slowly and his hands slid up my spine as I gave in and it didn’t just feel like lust anymore. It felt like the sky was falling in and the earth was splitting apart and the only two things left in the world were the two of us.

“You’re going to be the ruin of me,” Darius growled in my ear, and I pushed myself back just enough to look down at him. “Not if you destroy me first,” I breathed as I painted the lines of his jaw with my fingertips.

Or maybe it just had to do with the triple D she’d gotten last night (Darius’s Dragon Dick).

goodbyeeee this damn book is unreal

“You can deny it as much as you like, Roxy, but you and me are going to happen over and over,” he promised, the scent of him wrapping around me and the heat of his flesh blazing so fiercely I could feel it despite the inch of space dividing us. “So no matter how much you hate me or despise me or wish you didn’t want me in any way at all, there’s no stopping it. You don’t feel fire like that and just let it burn out.”

Because from this day on, I’d be hers and she’d be mine. And I’d do everything and anything it took to prove to her that I could be worthy of her love.

It was time for us to choose our fate. And I didn’t think I’d ever had such an easy decision to make in my entire life. I’d wanted her to be mine for so long that I couldn’t remember a time when the idea of it hadn’t consumed me.

I want you. And I don’t care if you’re a Vega or not. I don’t care if your name is Roxy or Tory or anything else. I just want you.”