Shadow Princess (Zodiac Academy, #4)

by Caroline Peckham

“Why?” I breathed, turning just enough to catch his gaze in mine. The space between our mouths barely existed at all as I kept my eyes locked on his. “Are you going to punish me for being bad?”

I dropped my fork with a clatter and practically leapt out of my seat as a low, possessive growl left the back of Darius’s throat. Caleb’s lips fell open in surprise like he didn’t know what the hell to think and I absolutely wasn’t going to have that conversation.

it. All I’d wanted was a day with my sister, not this freak show of falsehood.

Just what every girl wants to hear on Christmas. You’ll do for now, sweetheart, you’re just not the girl I want to end up with. Be still my beating heart.

I wanted to hate him so badly it hurt. But in moments like this I felt like I was just lying to myself.

“I couldn’t watch you dancing with Caleb,” he said, holding my eye and just owning how he felt for once. “Why?” I asked, still not moving despite the fact that a smarter girl would have run by now. He shifted in his position on the throne and I looked up at him as he moved to lean his elbows on his knees as he gazed down at me. “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. “I thought you hated me?” I asked. “I do,” he agreed. “Because you represent everything I want and everything I can’t have.” “You want me?” I asked slowly, taking a step towards him despite the dark energy which coiled around him. “You know I do,” he replied simply as if anything about us was simple.

“You hurt me every time you ignore me. You hurt me every time you spend time with Milton or that douchebag with the hat or Cal or any other fucker who catches your eye.”

He stared at me for a long moment. “I had that model fired.” “What?” I asked with a frown. “The one in that photo shoot with you. The one it looked like you really did screw.” “Wow. You’re insane,” I said harshly. “That poor guy probably really needed that job.” “He didn’t need to take his work so fucking seriously,” Darius growled.

“Neither do I,” he growled. “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.

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” I asked in concern. “He hurt you, Tor…” Like drowned you in a swimming pool!

“Yeah, so I lip read that whole thing,” he stated. “I’m glad you’re making him happy.” He smirked.

“You just made it so easy when your tongue lolled out as you said Dariuuus,” Orion taunted and she shoved him in the arm.

he describes a single freckle on my body, I’ll cut his balls off.” “What is it with you and cutting people’s balls off?” Orion’s brows pulled together. “Just go for the jugular, you savage.” Tory cracked a smile and the two of them beamed at each other like good friends. It felt freaking amazing to see them looking at each other like that.

“Sure, right after I do a few of those sordid things to your sister,” Orion called and she clamped her hands over her ears as she ran out the door, her laughter calling back to us. I wasn’t sure I’d seen her this happy in a long time. But give my sister an opportunity to thrash the Heirs with snow and that equalled one smiley Tory. Or maybe it just had to do with the triple D she’d gotten last night (Darius’s Dragon Dick). “How sordid?” I turned to Orion with a playful smile. “So fucking sordid.”

“Alright, I pick you Professor,” I said, looking to Tory with a challenging grin and she shot me one right back. Orion flashed to my side with a burst of Vampire speed, scooping up a snowball and freezing it in his palm to a solid lump of ice. “Woah, psycho pants. Are we aiming to kill?” I asked and he smiled lazily, the hardened ball rising above his palm on a perfect tornado of

“Caleb,” she said lightly and Darius’s usually carefree expression evaporated. His eyes narrowed on Caleb as he joined Tory’s side and flung an arm over her shoulders.

“Didn’t realise you were so competitive, Blue,” Orion murmured as an icy wind gusted around us, his tone telling me exactly how much he liked finding that out about me. I glanced at him with a smirk. “When it comes to snowball fights, I’m merciless.”

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but this is my home, Xavier. And if you want to shift, then you shift.”

He was sharing an in joke with me. A freaking in joke.

“Okay, Lance buy us time to get away with your water magic then run like there’s a fire up your ass – which there probably will be,” I said, realising I’d used his first name but it didn’t look like the other two had noticed. “As you wish, Captain.” He pushed a hand into his hair as his eyes dragged over me. He was definitely getting off on this.

Orion dropped down beside me and I fought the urge to rest my head against his shoulder, sharing a smile with him instead.

“Implant it with your greatness?” Orion murmured as he leaned over my shoulder.

“Fuck,” Orion breathed, his eyes whipping to me, filled with a swirling terror. “What is it?” Tory demanded. A blood-curdling scream sounded from far away, chilling me right through to my core.

Our Phoenixes were wide awake and ready to burn the world down. “Get ready!” Orion barked and I raised my free hand higher as red and blue flames chased each other in my palm.

But it couldn’t touch my Order powers. And I knew the strength of our fire could destroy it.

Tory squeezed my hand and we released our power at the same time, the chaotic whirl of flames spearing towards our enemy. The energy we created between us merged into an ice blue jet which ripped straight into the Nymph’s body. It exploded into a shower of ash and I gasped at the devastation we’d caused united.

I pointed them out to Tory and we swooped down on them, our hands brushing. As our power collided, we released it down on the Nymphs, turning them to dust before they could take another step toward their

A bellowing roar of pain echoed around the room and Tory glanced over her shoulder in a panic. “Go help Darius,” I urged and she nodded, darting off in the direction the roar had come from.

He caught my eye and a strange sense of camaraderie passed between us for an endless moment.

A groan of pain sounded and I turned to find Geraldine clutching a bloody wound on her arm. Max ran to heal her and relief skittered through me. I gazed around the devastation and I could see the strength in everyone as we fought united. Together, we were unstoppable. Together, we could win.

He brought it to its knees by brute force, taking hold of its head and tearing with all of his might. A crunch sounded and the Nymph exploded into embers, dancing around Orion in the air as he turned to me with a desperate fear in his eyes. He dropped to his knees, pushing his hand beneath me and I gasped as pain splintered through me once more. “It’s okay, I’ve got you,” Orion said gently and I nodded, trusting him to fix this.

A protective growl escaped me as I encouraged Orion to his feet and pushed my hair from my neck. “Drink,” I demanded, yanking him against me. He dug his fangs into my throat and started swallowing my blood as fast as he could.

“Blue,” Orion whispered with a note of fear as two Nymphs turned our way. I gritted my jaw, seeking out my sister across the room. Her eyes locked with mine in understanding and at the exact same moment, our Phoenix forms burst fully from our flesh. Fire scored away my clothes, wrapping around me like satin, draping over my limbs and caressing my body. I stepped in front of Orion and stretched my wings out to shield him from the two Nymphs who wanted us, the flare of my fire reflecting in their lifeless eyes. With a yell of rage, I raised my hands, scoring the air apart as my Phoenix fire blazed, forming wings of its own and destroying two Nymphs without so much as a thought.

My Order form was a dominant being that was matched only by the indestructible force which was my sister.

“Vega Queens, Vega Queens, Vega Queens!”

“Thanks to the Vegas,” a servant girl said, wiping tears from under her eyes. “We can’t thank you enough.” Lionel’s face turned to stone. His eyes scraped over us and my heart pounded out of tune. “Phoenixes,” he snarled, the word slicing the air to ribbons. “You aren’t Fire Harpies at all.” The Heirs looked between us in a mixture of horror and surprise. Oh shit.

“I had to take you, the palace has been compromised,” Orion said in a dark tone. “The only place in the world you’re safe now is within these walls. And not just because of the Nymphs. Lionel knows what you are. It’s only a matter of time before he tries to kill you.” “Shit,” Tory breathed. “We need to fight back,” I gasped.

“I’m on the side that stands against Lionel Acrux,” he said, his jaw tightening and my heart thumped unevenly at the strength in his gaze. “It’s the only side that matters.”

“Roxy!” Fire blazed around me and suddenly I wasn’t alone in the dark anymore. A man stood with me, shrouded in flames with giant golden wings sprouting from his back. His hand took mine and I was dragged from the shadows so fast that my head spun. I drew in a shuddering breath as I found myself lying in my bed with Darius straddling me, his grip tight around my wrists and his flesh hot with the power of his fire Element. Healing energy danced along my arm, closing my wounds. “Are you back?” he asked desperately, his gaze locking with mine as his eyes burned with a wild kind of panic.

it. Do you swear you didn’t intend to cut yourself?” he asked, the asshole portion of him hidden again for a moment.

A huge roar sounded behind me and I turned with a laugh as I spotted Darius taking chase in his stunning golden Dragon form.

“You have a Dragon and a Phoenix fighting on your skin,”

The ttto imma et for oopy war

“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.”

Darcy nodded firmly in agreement and I almost smirked at the sense of déjà vu that gave me. I couldn’t even begin to count the amount of times I’d lied like this to foster parents, teachers, social workers or even cops while Darcy bit her tongue and agreed with a firm nod, knowing she was too much of an open book to front out a bare faced lie if she spoke too much.

When he took his teacher’s hat off completely like this, I could see the two of them working as a couple so much more easily.

Orion gave us both the biggest fucking grin and I almost laughed. I didn’t think I’d ever seen him smile like that before. He pressed a kiss to Darcy’s lips briefly then shot away from us, sending a flurry of snow up around us as he went.

“I’ll look after her,” he swore, his jaw ticking. “I’ll do whatever it takes to protect her. I owe her that and so much more.” “You did everything you could to save her,” I said softly as my heart tugged apart for him. His eyes dropped to the ground and darkness consumed his features. “Not enough.”

“I know you can.” He brushed his knuckles over my cheek. “But I won’t risk you for anything.”

Two constellations weren’t sitting where they were supposed to be. It was as if the heavens had rearranged themselves for this one moment and the stars which made them up glowed even brighter than usual as they came together, so close they were almost touching. Leo and Gemini. I’d recognise those constellations anywhere. And if the sky was rearranging itself to bring them together, then it could only mean one thing.

beat harder and my flesh prickle with desire unlike anyone I’d ever known. She was my mate.