Shadow Princess (Zodiac Academy, #4)

by Caroline Peckham

“I think the stars picked you for me, Blue. I think you’re my Elysian Mate.”

“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.”

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.

“Don’t you understand? We’ll be Star Crossed. Bound to be alone forever. We’ll never find love with another. We’re meant to be together - it’s fate.”

“I don’t want it. If it’s bound me to you then it’s a cruel and twisted thing. I don’t need destiny to choose my life for me. I’ll make my own fate and it won’t be with you!”

“Please. Think about what you’re saying. If I’m right, then this is the moment that our stars have aligned. This is the moment when our souls are due to meet and connect with each other. I know you feel the same pull to me that I feel to you. You’re all I think about. All I dream about. You’re under my skin and in every thought and I know that I’ve done a thousand unforgivable things, but I swear I’ll never hurt you again. You’re meant for me. I’ll protect you with my life-”

“I know,” he said, his voice breaking on that word. “All the awful things I’ve done to you will haunt me forever. But please, please just give me forever to fix them. Let this bond form between us and I’ll prove to you how good our lives could be together. I won’t force you to do anything or be with me if you don’t want to, but at least give us a chance. Kiss me again with the stars overhead and let our story begin anew here.”

“So, you’ve realised that all the time you spent torturing me, you should have been falling in love with me?” I asked bitterly. “Well, it’s too late, you can’t undo what you’ve done-” “I was falling in love with you,” Darius replied, his voice cracking. “Everything else wasn’t real. That’s not who I really am! I-” “Yes it is,” I said fiercely. “It is who you are. You can tell me you hated doing it or felt obligated for whatever reason you want, but you are still the one who did all of those things to me. You’re the one who put us on this path. I never wanted a war with you. But you didn’t give me a choice in that. And now I’m not giving you a choice in this.” My voice was strong, but my heart was breaking. I could feel a great fissure tearing open right through the centre of my chest, but it didn’t matter. If the only true love I was ever destined to have was to be built on a foundation of hate then I didn’t want it. “Please,” Darius asked again. “I’m giving you my heart. If you give me yours in return, I’ll spend every moment of our lives proving to you that I can be worthy of it.” “It’s too late,” I growled, finding some strength somewhere and throwing all of it into my words while the rest of me shattered and died, broken into a thousand pieces I knew would never mend. “If fate is so cruel as to only offer me true love with a man who could hurt me as much as you have, then I’ll go without love,” I swore. “You want my heart? I’d sooner cut it out than give it to you.”