Shadow Princess (Zodiac Academy, #4)

by Caroline Peckham

She thought I’d taken her somewhere to hurt her again and the idea of that carved a fissure right through the centre of me.

Aw :(

I caught hold of her without thinking about it and dragged her into my arms, crushing her against my chest. My heart leapt as she pressed her cold hands to my skin, and I kissed the top of her head as relief spilled through me. She should have died. What my father had just done to them should have been more than they could take but here she was, wrapped in my arms and-

This is the darius i've been waiting for

“Yeah, you did,” she agreed. “Until you didn’t, and you just let him have us.” “He had Xavier,” I replied desperately,

Yeah like wtf was he supposed to do he fucking tried queen

It had felt like carving into my own heart with a rusty knife and offering up a piece of my soul for him. But the alternative had been Xavier’s life. It was no choice. But I knew she was strong; I’d known she could survive anything and even though it had killed me to watch him do that to her, I hadn’t had any other option that I could choose.

Can the rest be from his perspective pls I'm sick of tory

I sent a message to Xavier, asking if he was alright,

Pls i need to know if my bby is okay

“Over a thousand years,” Lance murmured, still staring at Gwen like the world began and ended with her.

Ugh i love when the men yearn

Roxy glanced at me, and my gut lurched as I realised that the look in her eyes was mistrust. She didn’t think I’d keep their secret.

Holy slow burn seriously but like just bc it's taking so frickin long

We were like magnets, destined to gravitate towards each other or repel each other, but nothing in between. And I didn’t know how to flip it back to how it had been just before my father had shown up.

Aw Darius when did you become such a romantic

So if she wanted us to hate each other then I’d have to play my part in it. Because I couldn’t keep away from her, that much was becoming abundantly clear. So I’d just have to keep being her villain.

so u actually don't have to do that

I’d never felt so helpless either. He and Darius had tried to save us but they’d just…failed.

They still tried yk how could they have tried harder

“No! We can’t tell him. He’ll tell Darius.” “So?” I shook my head at her, and the shadows swirled in her gaze again. She blinked quickly, releasing my arm. “Please,” her tone softened. “I don’t trust him, and what can Orion do anyway? We’ll figure this out on our own, like we do everything else.”

I am SO sick of her lately

We still had to harness that power and maybe in the meantime, these shadows would pass out of our bodies, and we wouldn’t have to live with the oppressive weight of them I could feel growing in my chest. But I had the horrible feeling, it wouldn’t be that simple.

I hope they spend more time working on this stuff instead of doing stupid as shit side quests all the time like lock tf in

“And I’m certainly not talking about things with him anyway.”

Get over it UH

“Great. See ya.” Tory flipped Darius the finger then slipped through the door.

So unnecessary bruh i understand she's guarded but she's also just an asshole

I reached across the bed and ran my hand down Geraldine’s side, a groan of longing escaping me at the feeling of her exposed skin beneath my fingertips.

The real enemies to lovers story here

“Why in Solaria would you be embarrassed?” she asked, widening those big blue eyes at me, and capturing me in them. “I’m the one who’s got to play the shame game. Whatever would anyone think if they realised I’d bumped bottoms with an Heir?” She said the word like it was dirty.

I love her

Because now I’d had a taste of Grus, I wasn’t going back. That girl was going to be mine.

Once you get a taste of the grussy you can't go back

“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.”

CLock it

wrong. I know you care for her. And we have to protect her and her sister from your father. From the Nymphs too.” I lowered my tone to a whisper despite the silencing bubble I’d cast. “You realise how big of a threat they are to you now? To your throne?”

What if we all just worked together...?

“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.”

Guys you're all on the same side

made me realise how fucking precious she was to

lowk tho it's only been what four five months?

as fire Elementals you can self-replenish whenever you need.”

This is so epic actually

“As in, so long as I can cast fire, I’ll never run out of magic. Unlike big fat lizard shifters who have to pop off for a snooze on a heap of gold whenever they’re running low?”

Seriously queen can you just take the high road for once

If he did, it would benefit every Fae in Solaria. Because Darius Acrux might not ever rescind his claim to the throne, and I didn’t want him to. But maybe I could convince him to share it with two more candidates. I just had to ride out the fucking hurricane it would take to persuade him.

This is literally what I’ve been saying since book 1 bro

I woke up in a cold sweat with my heart pounding and darkness coiling around me. Someone had been calling to me in my sleep. Her voice echoed in my memory like she’d really been there with me instead of a figment of my imagination.

I think one of my least favorite story lines is when a mc has problems or nightmares and shit but they don’t tell anyone or ask for help and then it totally backfires

But better that than me ending up knocking on the door of the Dragon upstairs and admitting that Darcy and I had the shadows too and it fucking terrified me.

Just fucking tell him he can help omg

“What if I asked you to be mine. Just mine?” he offered, and I laughed. “And what would your mom think of that?” I asked. “I’m not inviting you to meet my family any time soon,” he countered. “But that’s where this path leads, isn’t it? If you expect me to commit to you then you’re making your own kind of promise. You’re saying you see this becoming something that might last and if you’re saying that, then there’s no expiry date on it. Assuming everything goes well, you’re saying you’d want to be with me long term. So, is that what you’re asking me or not?” Caleb frowned. “You know I’m not,”

Dude she's so right it's all abt ownership to you

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.”

Hell yeah tory you're chill sometimes

“If I say maybe, will you let me leave?” “You’re busy later, Roxy,” Darius said from right behind me

Yus savior

“I’m not a lamppost to be pissed on. If you try and kiss me here in front of all these people, I’ll launch you across the room.” “That’s a bit dramatic, sweetheart,” he complained. “Yeah, well you’re the one asking me about the Eclipse then trying to stamp your mouth all over me the second Darius shows up. I suggest you go and talk to him if you’ve got some issue going on between you two because I’m not playing piggy in the middle with your insecurities. I just want to eat my breakfast.”

Yesss in this moment I'm team tory

happen to like obnoxiously coloured hair,” Nox replied dryly. “And I’m aware which Vega arrived late. I was taking five points from Aer because I can’t stand a snitch.” “But sir!” Kylie whined indignantly.

Clock it i like this guy

future, he was strong and capable and even better than that, determination shone in his gaze. For some reason he wanted these answers as much as we did. And I was pretty sure that with his help we’d be able to get them.

Are things finally gonna start happening in this book

“No thanks,” Tory said with a tsk. “I wanna join the Ass Club.”

Girl what since when you hate that

hoped I’d covered my tracks and relaxed a bit when Tory didn’t question me further. “Ugh, fine. But I swear, if he starts lecturing us-” “He won’t,” I promised.

God tory is always pissing me tf off

“If you give me a detention for something I do or say while we’re working on this then I won’t be coming back. I’ve never needed anybody to fix my problems for me before and I’ll happily figure this out without the two of you if I have to,” I said in return.

Girl stfu seriously there's a difference between being independent and just being a headstrong asshole

“I know he’s a total dick, Tory, but Darius is a part of this mess. We don’t have anyone else we can ask for help with this, so do you think you can at least try to be civil? Your temper is only going to make this whole thing harder otherwise.” She looked at me sternly and that in itself was enough to make me back off. Darcy hardly ever called me out on my shit, so if she was doing it now then I really must have been acting like an asshat.

Thank god

“You worthless – pointless - embarrassment to our family,” he snarled a word with every kick until I coughed blood onto his expensive shoes.

Noo xavier my bby

Fear licked its way up my spine at the sight of that dark power. The air seemed to get thicker and the lights above us flickered.

Vecna

I’d dreamed about being Awakened my whole life, but everything about this power felt wrong. Twisted. I’d never even experienced Elemental magic pouring from me, so I had nothing to compare it to, but I knew in the depths of my bones that this wasn’t natural.

Oh this is so wrong he's just a baby

But somewhere between the pain and the darkness, I found something to hold onto. A pretty girl with bright eyes and skin that sparkled like rhinestones. And as the image of a Pegasus rode through my mind among a tumbling sea of clouds, I swore on everything that I was, that I’d join her in the sky one day.

sofia is always pulling mad bitches damn

don’t care,” he growled deeply. “Him and his family are bad news. What’s to say this isn’t just some ploy to get close to you again? He fucked up and now he’s trying to cover his ass and get more information.”

He's so right

I wasn’t an idiot; I hadn’t suddenly started to believe that they weren’t all kinds of fucked up. I was just starting to wonder if accepting their magic might not be so bad after all.

Girl what

“What’s it like?” I asked curiously. “Finding your one true love?” Gabriel’s gaze softened as he thought about the woman who owned his heart,

Oh i really thought he was gonna be gay

Who says exponentially? And who the hell gave him permission to bulldoze our fucking night? If it wasn’t for the fact that this whole thing had been my idea and that I wanted to celebrate Lance’s birthday with him, I’d have been sorely tempted to bail. I could only hope that whoever the hell else he’d invited wasn’t as irritating as him.

No yeah this would pmo too

“Oh, yeah, happy birthday,” Roxy said, placing her hands down on the table and leaning forward to kiss Lance too. The red lipstick print she left on his cheek was about as far from his mouth as possible and she drew back the moment she’d delivered it.

Omg holy awkward

I dropped into the seat beside Roxy, and she exhaled irritably as I threw my arm around the back of her chair.

Ugh ngl this is my favorite thing

I was drunk. So fuuuucking drunk. And horny. Plan of dreams: Step one…get Blue naked. Oh, shit wait, I need more steps.

Hahahaha

She tutted. “I despise him.” “You think he’s hot though,” I said airily. “Well, who doesn’t?” she said then cursed herself for saying it. “I wonder if we’ll ever get taught how to transplant personalities, then you’d be all set,” I said as I cast another wave across the pool.

He has a great personality i think

I could shift. But then he’d see what I was up close. I’d risk Lionel finding out if Seth suspected anything. Shit, shit, shit.

Do it seth is too stupid to find out

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. “He’s never done anything like that to me,” I protested. Apart from that time he drove me up a mountain and I half thought he was going to kill me. But he didn’t, so...

Oh my fucking god