Shadow Princess (Zodiac Academy, #4)

by Caroline Peckham

I swallowed thickly, feeling the shadows beneath my skin too. They were a part of me now and the most terrifying thing about that was how easily they sat there. Like I’d always had space for such darkness in me and they were just coming to claim their place.

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.

“This is Gabriel Nox, your new Tarot teacher,” I explained then frowned as his words registered with me.

“I imagine so, yeah. I don’t know what it is with me and him, but we just keep ending up in these situations where it’s like the tension between us is unbearable. So yeah, I’m drawn to him, but I can only think I’m insane for feeling that way because all he ever does is piss me off or hurt me.”

“Well…I will admit he knows how to water the lawn,” she said. “Fuck me, how is that a description?”

“He pulled out the old buckaroo and whirl.” “What the hell is that?” Darcy demanded. Geraldine smirked and I could tell that whatever the fuck it was had been pretty damn good. “Are you going to see him again?” Sofia asked with a grin. For a moment, Geraldine’s gaze darkened with the memory of the banana drama she’d shared with the Water Heir, but she shook her head dismissively. “I wrangled that cheeky chappy,” she said slowly. “And I’ve put Lady Petunia back in her cage. She doesn’t need another bite of that apple.”

“Yes. I’m afraid the scallywag will just have to accept I hit it and quit it. No need to go riding the same horse again, there are plenty more fillies to break in.”

“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.”

“I want to feel you when you come for me,” he teased. “I want to be buried deep inside you when you shatter beneath me.”

“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.”

“So I won’t let you ignore me, Roxy,” he snarled. “I’ll have your attention even if I have to take it without your permission.” “Why?” I demanded. “Why not just go after someone else?” “Because we don’t get to choose our obsessions. And you’re mine.”

There was something about the way that she looked at me sometimes that made me feel like she could see through every wall I put up, spot every lie and piece of armour I wore and look straight upon the creature which hid in the depths of my soul.

“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.”

I glared at him, raising my chin defiantly, daring him to do his worst as he reached out and snatched a handful of my hair into his grasp, tugging on it hard enough to tilt my head back. 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.

“Stop right fucking there Noxy. I’m not in love. I’m just…in trouble.”

“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.

“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. 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 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.”

mean, like the way I lie awake at night, remembering what it felt like to hold you in my arms. How still the world felt, how pure that moment was between us. How I imagine I can still smell your perfume as my eyes fall closed and how I reach across my bed in the night wishing you were really there. Or like the way my heart beats harder when you walk into a room and my throat thickens when I try to think of the right things to say to you. How I fight to get your attention

“I don’t call you Roxy because I’m trying to hurt you. I use that name so that I don’t forget who you are or what you are. You’re a Vega Princess. You could shatter everything I’ve worked for my whole life. And if I didn’t force myself to remember that fact, then I knew it would be too easy for me to forget about.

Forget about challenging you and knocking you down and just…let myself

imagine you could be something else. Something that I’ve wished you could be in the darkest corners of my heart for so long that I can’t deny it anymore. I want you. And I don’t care if you’re a Vega or not. I don’t care if y...