Fated Throne (Zodiac Academy, #6)

by Caroline Peckham

I hadn’t known Diego all that well, but I’d been starting to like him. At least he’d died valiantly, and in the arms of a girl who adored him. I couldn’t imagine a better way to go myself. And I’d come pretty close to doing it once too. Maybe barring the valiant part.

I hated seeing that grief in her eyes, it awoke a monster in me that wanted to fight her demons and lay them dead at her feet. This girl didn’t deserve to have so many wounds on her heart. She deserved peace and happiness and a life without pain. If I could have one wish from the stars, I’d wish for that.

The two of them were laughing and my skin prickled as I watched them, hungering for the chance to make her smile like that more often. The only other person I’d ever seen her truly let her barriers down like that for was Darcy and though I knew Gabriel was her brother, it still rankled at me to know there were walls she wasn’t letting down for me yet.

I eyed the casual contact with a hint of jealousy. I was jealous of anyone who could be close to my girl without repercussions. Which meant I was basically a hot mess of envy at all times which was threatening to burn into rage at the slightest provocation.

Roxy glanced back over her shoulder at me with a small smile that made my gut lurch and I found myself smiling back like some happy little elf at Christmas.

“She was almost as beautiful as you,” I murmured as I came to stand behind her, gazing up at Queen Merissa, Roxy’s mother and the last great Seer known to roam the world. “Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like to know her,” Roxy said softly, her voice laced with regrets. “To have grown up loved by parents who wanted us and cared for us.” “We would have been raised together,” I murmured, because I knew it was true. “You and Darcy would have been with the four of us from the start, night and day, Awakened early, trained to lead.” She looked up at me then, arching

Even though it’s our birth right. Even though we are more powerful than you. Even though we had to lose everything to get to where we are.”

“I deal with much more irritating men than you on a frequent basis, Darius, you won’t rile me into a fight just because your pride is wounded. We came here for a reason, and we need to see it through.”

HAHHAAH

The sooner she accepted she was going to have to bow to us the better.

SIX BOOKS LATERANDDE STILL WNT G

“Two phoenixes, born of fire, rising from the ashes of the past.

The wheel of fate is turning, and the Dragon is poised to strike.

“Yeah. But I wanted a word with you alone about Tory,” Gabriel said, rolling his shoulders back as he straightened up. “Oh?” “Just don’t fuck this up,” he warned, fixing me with a death glare. “Because I see a series of scenarios playing out for the two of you and in at least half of them you act like a fucking ass. If you break her heart a second time, she’ll never give you the chance to claim it again. Do you hear me?”

“I know. But if the two of you are determined to go up against the will of the heavens over this then I think you should know that you’ll be making plenty of enemies among them along the way.” “She’s more than worth it,” I assured him, and his pissy mask broke into a smile. “Good. That’s all I needed to hear. Now fuck off back to the party before your father misses you.” Gabriel used his ring to open the hidden door and I clapped a hand on his shoulder, feeling like we actually saw eye to eye on something for once.

My lungs burned for air and my nails dug into his hand as magic tingled my fingertips, begging me to use it against him. But I wouldn’t. There was no force in this world which could make me risk his life.

I could bear the pain so long as she didn’t hurt Orion, but I needed to get us out of here before she decided to kill us both regardless.

Regardless of the pain, the fear, I wasn’t giving up. I refused this fate.

But my knees were buckling and suddenly Orion was falling down on top of me, drawing the blade out and ramming into my side once more as he released a strangled noise of anguish.

The knife slammed into my side once more and Phoenix fire twisted out from me in furious, billowing blaze, all of it rushing into his body at once. I felt my Phoenix connect to some deep source of power within him and the blade clattered from his hand as he groaned. My fire combined with that piece of him and rushed through his body, his eyes glinting with it as it spread like wildfire and drove out every shadow it found. Please be safe. Please be free.

Shes dyibg and shes saving himm. Oh howw i love this girl

It didn’t matter though. Because he was okay. The shadows no longer had hold of him, and they never would again.

It would have been so easy to take its hand and let it guide me away, but somewhere in my mind, I felt a tug on my soul, binding me to a girl who was the other half of me. I couldn’t leave this world without her. Or the man who was calling my name. Light shifted across my vision, red, orange, gold- “Blue!”

Oh mygod

“She’s coming back!” Miguel shouted from the doorway; one side of his face burned as he stared in at us. It was the most emotion I’d ever seen on his face, panic, desperation, and a glint of a soul that had been absent from his eyes up until now. I didn’t understand it and there was no time to either.

HE WAS ACTING TO

Clara fell back to avoid them, but I could hear her chasing us still. “Lance!” she cried, her voice throaty and more real than it had sounded before. “Get away! Run!” she begged. “I can’t hold her off much longer.”

Omg

Orion’s feet hit solid ground, still holding me tight against him and as I tried to get down, he refused to let go. “It’s okay, I can walk,” I said, but his jaw was locked shut and he didn’t look at me as he walked through

I knew where we were. It was a place of happiness, family and peace. It was Gabriel’s home.

“Is it me or is she scary as fuck when she goes all shadow freak?” Seth muttered and I snorted. “A bit,” I agreed. “But she can be scary as fuck without the shadows too.”

“If anyone is going to be pinning you beneath them tonight, mutt, it’ll be me,” I warned him, flashing my fangs and watching as Seth’s smile widened.

“I’m just saying that beneath it all, you’re actually the best of us. Once you let someone in, you feel their pain like it’s your own. I’ve heard you howling for Darius and Tory, seen you sleeping in with Darcy night after night just because you know she’s sad and all alone without Orion. And you let me hunt you because you know I’m weak and I can’t resist it, and you know what it would do to me if I hurt someone the way I have before-” “Or maybe you were right the

“There’s no shame in being a Tiberian Rat!” the man on the table hissed. “You won’t convince me I’m a fucking Medusa so stop trying.”

There was only one plan we could make. They could never, ever catch him.

then opened the door, putting Diego’s hat and my Atlas in my pocket. Orion immediately pushed off of the wall opposite me, his eyes full of anxiety.

He didn’t stop coming, dropping to his knees in front of me and pressing his mouth to my bare stomach. I gasped in surprise, fisting my hands in his hair as desire spilled through my flesh. He hugged me against him and looked up at me with his brows drawn low. “I’m sorry,” he rasped, a haunted look in his eyes that made my heart squeeze painfully.

His upper lip peeled back, his fangs glinting as hatred shone in his eyes. But I wasn’t sure who it was aimed at, only certain it wasn’t me.

“I’m okay,” I promised, and his Adam’s apple rose and fell. “I’m not,” he replied in a deep growl. “I’m sorry too,” I breathed, pain caving in my chest. “Don’t you dare be.” He looked at me with an intensity in his gaze that made my breath catch. “You freed me from the shadows. You saved us. I was the one who…”

his mouth on my throat where the knife had kissed my flesh and a shiver darted down my spine.

He pushed to his feet, not letting go of my hand as he towed me after him with a harsh and distant expression dawning on his face.

“I’m not hungry,” I said, taking Diego’s hat from my pocket and laying my Atlas on the island. “We need to-” “You’re gonna eat,” he growled in his bossy professor tone and my lips pursed.

“You’re gonna eat first,” he reiterated, placing his hands on my thighs to keep me in my seat, making anger and lust wash together inside me.

“You never should have underestimated me, Father.” I leaned down, holding the tip of the blade of his chest.

Shock ran through me. The tribe weren’t Fae at all, they were Nymphs. And so was Lavinia.

“Blue,” Orion shot in front of me, gripping my crop top in his fist. “What?” I demanded, looking up at him in surprise as my heart juddered. “You’re going to be a queen,” he growled. “Just like your ancestor. I can feel it, I fucking know it.”

kingdom. “I’ve known since I crowned you in my car. Just don’t ever forget you were my queen first.” He yanked me forward and his mouth met mine, his kiss urgent and furious

“I thought you were done with me, Blue, I really did. I hoped it too even though that knowledge would have destroyed me. But then I found out you were sleeping with the dog.” “We’ve been through this-” I started in exasperation, but he spoke over me. “I almost lost all hope for us, beautiful, even though I wasn’t meant to have any in the first place. But I did, I just hid it really fucking deep, denying it to myself that I still dreamed about a future where you were mine, no matter how impossible that seemed. And after you told me you weren’t his and kissed me back in the tomb, fuck, I’ve not thought of anything else since.

heart. I know it and I still can’t accept it. Because tonight I found out what it was like to have you dying in my arms and nothing has ever terrified me more. Nothing, Blue.” “So, what are

“You don’t get to just decide you want me again and expect us to pick up where we left off.” A snarl left my lips as I shoved him in the chest and he pushed back against me, grabbing my hips and yanking me closer.

I knotted my fingers in his hair, leaning up and staring him in the eyes. “You’re the best man I know, the best, fucking stupidest, most frustrating man I know. Whether you’re a professor, a convict, a fugitive, a power shamed Fae or all of the above, there isn’t one thing you could be that wouldn’t make me want you. But I just can’t trust you.” “You still want me?” he asked like that was all he’d heard.

I wanted to fight and claw and scream to get through to him, but I just stood there trapped in the gaze of the man who’d captured my heart so completely that it barely even felt like it belonged to me anymore.

“You can burn the house to the ground if you want, beautiful, I’ll happily rebuild it brick by brick when you’re done with me.”

Santa tended to forget foster kids who no one wanted. We’d always managed to get something for each other though - Darcy usually spent weeks hand making me a gift and because I sucked at stuff like that, I just stole shit she needed like good socks or new underwear.

“Well, I was going to suggest Darcy sneaks into Orion’s summerhouse and the four of us have a mini Christmas celebration, but your offer does have a certain appeal.”

Lionel sneered as he stood over me and I lifted my chin before spitting right in his face. It was over now anyway. He knew. So fuck him and fuck this bullshit half-life I’d been living beneath him.