Shadow Princess (Zodiac Academy, #4)

by Caroline Peckham

“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.”

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.”

He was a monster. And sometimes I was too.

It takes you by surprise, eats you up, spits you out and keeps you begging for more every single day. And once the bond was sealed between us…I feel like my whole fucking world begins and ends with her. I’ll never get enough, the ache in me will never be satisfied. It’s the best feeling in the world.”

“Let me know how that pans out for you though. Because thinking a girl feels something and knowing it are two different things. They’re a fucking enigma wrapped up in a secret, cloaked in a damn layer of confusing as fuck. So if you figure out the key to them then feel free to share with the group.”

I wasn’t ashamed of the things I’d done to survive.

“Boo to the fucking hoo, I don’t like you either. It’s not really the point though, is it?”

“Because we’re the same you and me. Both fucked up, broken pieces on a game board that’s bigger than we can cope with. Both hoping to find some way of winning despite the odds being stacked against us all the damn time. Both addicted to things that push our boundaries and make us feel alive. Because at the end of the day, even feeling the worst of things is better than feeling nothing at all.”

we don’t get to choose our obsessions. And you’re mine.”

“Just in case they rise up, claim their place and de-throne us?” Darius scoffed. “Don’t worry, Father will kill them before that day ever comes. Why do you think I work so hard to keep them beneath us?”

“Good. Because I’m not a better man,” he said in a low growl, his eyes full of shadows. “I’m the devil and I want you. I want you like I’ve never wanted anything or anyone. And I will fight to make you mine, no matter what it takes. No force in Solaria will rip us apart.”

“You’re nothing, Seth Capella. You’re just a boy kicking his toys out of the pram because I bother you. I get under your skin, and you can’t handle that like a man. This isn’t facing me like Fae, it’s pathetic. And if you think you’ve won, you are so wrong. The stars are on my side because they see you for the worthless creature that you are. And they’ll pay you back through me.”

“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 hunger for her and ache for her and for the briefest moment, it felt like maybe she felt the same. Like all the anger and hatred between us had just been covering up everything else we desired. Like just maybe I could have something good like that, something pure and honest and just…mine.”

Love? I had a physical reaction to that word which felt somewhere between an aneurism and an elbow in the gut. I’d never been in love.

“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.”

He wanted my life to fall apart just like that flower had. And he wanted to be the one who did it. A pretty thing crushed in his fist. But I wasn’t fragile, I was a weapon forged in fire. And it looked like he’d realised that at long last.

We’ve got responsibilities when all I want is freedom.”

Together, we were unstoppable. Together, we could win.

She was my mate.