Fated Throne (Zodiac Academy, #6)

by Caroline Peckham

“Darius may have forgone the butt plug, but the stick is most likely still pretty firmly up there. But the stars won’t let me get him naked to check.” “I’ll be sure to tell him you want to get him naked when he crawls into my bed tonight,” Orion said.

“Lionel just told that big motherfucker that he could have Catalina for the night,” he growled urgently. “And then he Dark Coerced her to go with him and do whatever he wanted.”

Oh my godd

“You shouldn’t have done that,” she breathed, wrapping her arms around herself and Orion shrugged out of his jacket before handing it to her so that she could cover herself up. “We weren’t going to just let him abuse you like that,” Orion snarled in disgust. “It wouldn’t have been the first time,”

Oh my god

A knock at the door almost made me jump out of my skin and fire blazed to life in my palm as I whirled around, finding Gabriel standing there with a grin on his face. “Oh good, I wasn’t certain if I’d get here now or after the roof caves in and I would have been a lot more pushed for time if it was after,” he said like him just casually appearing right now was no big deal and there wasn’t a half dead Dragon on the floor while fires burned all around the room.

“Lionel will think Christopher accidentally killed her in the throes of passion and he’ll be sent to Darkmore for her murder. I’m gonna fly her out of here and he’ll be none the wiser.” “Where are you taking me?” Catalina asked anxiously as she pulled the clothes on automatically before handing Orion his jacket back. “I can’t leave my boys. They need me, I-” “Hamish Grus will take you in,” Gabriel promised, moving towards her with a small knife in his hand. “Darius and Xavier will be able to come see you in time. But we have five minutes to get out of here or this path changes again and you need to add some blood to the bed for evidence before we can go.”

Damn i love him

“I’m sorry, Catalina,” Orion rumbled, stepping closer to her with his eyes full of pain. “If I’d known what Lionel was doing to you, I would have-” “Shhh,” she breathed, reaching out to cup his jaw in her hand and soothing him like he was her child. “I want you to know I’m sorry too. For flirting with you and making you so uncomfortable. I’ve never seen you that way, Lance. You’re like one of my boys.” A tear slid from her eye as she pulled him close and wrapped her arms around him. “I was just trying to warn you about Lionel but the spells he put on me made it almost impossible, and now it’s too late-” “It’s not your fault,” Orion growled, holding her tightly. “I’m sorry I didn’t see it, but I swear we’ll make him pay one day. You’re free now. That’s all that matters.”

My heart. lionel is SIC

Orion caught my arm suddenly, his eyes full of anguish as he looked at me. “She was trying to tell me,” he said roughly, his fingers digging in. “Tell you what?” I asked in confusion. “Whenever she came pawing at me or flirting with me, she always used to say the same things over and over. Always the same words in the same order and I was so caught up in being horrified that my friend’s mother was trying it on with me that I never really thought about what she was really saying.” “What words?” I asked. “Handsome, enamouring, lovely, powerful. And sometimes she’d add unbelievable and sexy too.” “So...” “The first letter of each of those words spells out the message she was trying to give me. ‘Help us.’” My throat tightened and tears pricked the backs of my eyes as I realised, he was right. How long had she been suffering under her husband’s control?

OH MY FUCCKING GD

“He’s a fucking monster,” I hissed, throwing my arms around Orion as I saw the devastation on his features so clearly that it made me hurt even more. “If I’d understood sooner-” he began in a horrified whisper, but I shook my head violently.

And with hours alone with just myself for company, I started to run over all the decisions I’d made and started questioning everything. Every one of them but her. I couldn’t regret her.

I should have helped the Vegas from day one.

I was fast slipping back into old habits, but whereas alcohol had once given me some relief from my demons, nothing could rid me of the loss of my girl. I’d considered calling her a hundred times during this evening alone, but I always ended up talking myself out of it.

My Atlas buzzed and I tugged it out of my pocket, my mind going to Darcy. I’d hoped she might ask for my help with her magic, but since I’d last seen her, I hadn’t heard anything from her.

My mood took a bigger dive as I found a message waiting for me from Seth fucking Capella. It was a photo of Darcy standing on the edge of Aqua Lake in a fitted white swimming costume that emphasised her breasts. Her hair was dripping wet and shining in the sunlight, so I guessed it had been taken earlier today. There were other students around her in the water and from the looks of it, this was Physical Enhancement. Underneath the photo was a caption from Seth. Boner status: 10/10. My fangs snapped out and it took every ounce of self-control I had not to break the Atlas in my palms as my fingers crushed it. It was my only line of communication outside of this place, but fuck. Fucking fuck. Another message arrived and I snarled like a tiger as I took in the next image. Seth was standing behind Darcy, her body wrapped in a towel as he hugged her and snapped the shot of them, his head resting on top of hers. She was pressing a finger to her lips, a wild mischief in her expression that made me want to rip my own eyes out. The caption below it said: No law can keep me from my girl.

I started pacing, clawing at my hair, and panting heavily. I was going to kill him. Tear his fucking head off slow enough that he felt every bone snap under my hands. I squeezed my eyes shut as I tried to rid myself of images of them together. Hugging, kissing, fucking. “No,” I spat, snatching up a wooden chair and launching it at the wall.

How i likde m mennnnnnn

“Clara,” I croaked. “Don’t you remember me?” Her gaze moved over my face, the anger in her features slipping away until a longing filled them instead. Tears started rolling down her cheeks and she drew in a small and hopeful breath. “Lance,” she breathed, falling forward, and holding onto me. The shadows stopped controlling my body and I gasped, wrapping my arms around her, her slight frame pressing to mine. Her shoulders shuddered and her nails dug into my back in desperation. “Help me,” she sobbed. “Don’t let me go. Let it end here. No more, no more, no more.”

Oh my ggod

“Is it really you?” I asked in desperation, and she nodded. “I’m here. I’m always here,” she said with a choked noise. “But she’s here too.”

“Looking for more of this?” Tory taunted. I turned and found an illusion shifting at her side, revealing a bottle of bourbon in her grip. I’d spent some time teaching her what I’d taught Darcy and fuck if the two of them weren’t quick learners. “You and your sister are going to surpass me one of these days.” I smirked and she mirrored my expression as she offered me the bottle. I took it, grabbing another glass for her from the kitchenette and pouring us each one, all in under two seconds. “Why are you feeding my bad habit, Tory Vega?” I asked suspiciously. “Well, I figure you can heal yourself of liver rot whenever you like so it’s hardly that bad of a habit,” she said, sipping from her glass with a smirk.

“So, I actually have another little gift for you,” she said, falling onto the couch and I moved to sit in the chair opposite. “I can’t believe you remembered it’s my birthday,” I said in surprise and her lips popped open. “Yeah…of course I did dude,” she said, trying to play it off. “Hence all the gifts, duh.” “It’s tomorrow.” I grinned tauntingly and she scowled.

So do you want my gift or not?” “Go on then. But unless it’s a key to my freedom, the reinstating of my position of power in society, and your sister wrapped in a bow in a mood to forgive me, it’s probably not gonna be what I want.”

I’d been a total hypocrite anyway, worrying about what the Vega twins might become back then based off of their father. I’d always stood by Darius despite how awful Lionel was. Maybe bad people were born not bred.

“Ah, shit, you’re gonna cry, aren’t you?” she teased. “Suck it up, dude, I can’t deal with you getting all emotional on me.” “As if,” I scoffed, twisting the ring back and forth as I got used to the feeling of it sitting there. “But Darius might when he realises I’m clearly your favourite.” “Uh huh. You can tell him I got down on one knee when I gave it to you too, give him something to really get worked up over.” “I think I prefer my head attached to my shoulders thanks all the same,”

“So, if you ever need to run, you run like the fucking wind, got it?” She tossed me the pouch and I caught it. “Got it,” I said, grinning and tucking it into my pocket as I shut the hatch. “Where did you get that stardust from anyway?” “Totally stole it from Darius. He’s way too easy to pickpocket for someone who believes he’s all powerful.”

My idea of an ideal day was something I could never have again.

Happy birthday to me. I thought over my last birthday with a longing in my soul, missing those times. I still had one of Darcy’s IOUs tucked into my wallet, and I guessed it would stay there until it rotted now. She didn’t owe me shit. Never had, never would.

It was a picture of the rose quartz I’d given Darcy, sitting in his palm, a symbol of my love for her, my fucking commitment. Seth: Seth: Don’t mind if I engrave this tonight and repurpose it, do you Lancey? I couldn’t get hold of any on short notice, but she just gave me the best blowjob of my life, so I really need to make sure she doesn’t put those pretty lips on anyone else. Another photo came in of him lying in Darcy’s bed, one hand cupped behind the back of his head and the rose quartz held between his teeth as he grinned. “Motherfucker,” I spat, shoving to my feet and stumbling as my head spun. A roar of emotion blinded me, the hot, potent anger in me fogging my thoughts in a black cloud. Fuck no. I wasn’t going to let this stand. That mutt was not going to steal her from me.

Don’t let her be fucking him. I’ll make a deal with you right now. You can have a limb. Any limb. Just pick a limb.

Oh shit. I looked like a deranged yeti with a glittering horn poking out the centre of my face and huge fangs peeking out of my mouth.

A spill of blue hair made my gut clench, and I gazed in at her curled up in bed between the paws of a white Wolf. My heart fractured and my body deflated as I watched them together. My eyes tracked over her face, her expression taut like she was trapped in a painful nightmare, but then Seth nuzzled into her in his sleep and the tension in her features eased.

“Blue…” I rasped, inching forward, pressing my hand to the glass as I prepared to smash my way in there and make the Wolf bleed and hurt and beg for a mercy I was never going to give. But then a moment of clarity gripped me. I couldn’t go in there. I’d lost the right to do that when I’d given her up. When I’d given up everything. And no matter how much I wanted to destroy Seth for this – and I really, really fucking did - I couldn’t. I’d forced her away. Told her to move on. I’d just never been prepared for the fact that she’d actually listen. I hadn’t thought my heart could break any more than it already had, but apparently there was a little left of it still to shatter.

Ouch

“Darius,” I snapped. “It’s me.” “Lance?” he gasped in confusion, and I nodded. “By the fucking sun, what kind of illusion is that?” “Oh right,” I muttered, waving a hand to dissolve it. “How did you get here? Are you running? Do we need to go?” He jumped out of bed, starting to grab his stuff and a smile pulled at my mouth. “No, brother.” I shot toward him, knocking him back onto the bed and winding my arms around him. He pulled me closer with a sigh of relief as our foreheads pressed together.

he said with a shrug like it meant nothing. But it meant everything.

“Well maybe they’re keeping it a secret,” I said, my breathing getting laboured as I thought of that. I was her deepest secret, not him. Not fucking him. At least…I had been.

I didn’t care how irrational it was, I wanted to maim and torture and destroy anyone who dared to try and claim her heart. A heart she’d given to me.

I thought I could handle it, but I can’t. I didn’t think anything could be more painful than losing her, but now seeing her with him…” My heart was slashed open, oozing blood. I’m not going to survive losing her. It’s a long and agonising death, but the end is fucking nigh. “Look, I really don’t think they’re together, but Lance…one day she is going to move on,” Darius reasoned. “I know,” I hissed, venom lacing my words, my veins. “I fucking know. And I’m gonna end up with a life sentence in Darkmore for it instead of twenty-five years because whoever it is is going to fucking die.”

HOW I LIKE NY MMEN

“I’m not switching allegiance,” I said seriously, gripping the back of his head to make him look me in the eye. “I want you in power, Darius. But they’re the rightful queens. My father was a part of the Zodiac Guild, he protected the royals, the queen came to him with a vision that showed him the way.”

I hope I’m not a fuck up in your eyes, Dad. Even if the rest of the world thinks so.

her funeral today made me think about how easily you can lose the people you love. I won’t lose you because I don’t like your opinions on something that hasn’t even come to pass yet.”

I took the memento from my mouth and the memory evaporated around me, so I was stood gazing at my closest friend once more. “We’ll go there again one day,” he promised. “Somehow, we’ll figure out all this bullshit. I just wanted you to have a piece of something good. A time when things were better.”

I gave him a sad sort of smile and he moved forward to embrace me. I clapped him on the back knowing with absolute certainty that, Guardian bond or not, Darius Acrux was a friend made for me by the stars themselves. And nothing would ever change that.

“I die in the name of my queens! I will be remembered as Grus the Great. The most loyal of friends, fiercest of allies-”

The door flew open, and my laugh stuttered out like a car running out of gas as I stared up at Orion in the doorway, gazing down at us all in shock. Ohmagod.

“I’m coming whether you like it or not,” I growled, and a crease formed between his eyes. “Isn’t that what you said to me last night, babe?” Seth joked and I ignored him as Orion bared his fangs but didn’t take his eyes off of me.

I stepped forward, lifting my chin as I gazed up at him. “I’m a Phoenix who can destroy Nymphs, who has four Elements, who’s fought the shadows and won. And I will not be told no by anyone, Lance Orion.” His throat bobbed and a beat of silence passed before he snatched my hand, tugging me forward.

“You can’t boss us around anymore, sir,” Seth mocked. “You’re just a Power Shamed nobody. You’re lucky we’re even acknowledging your existence and you know it.” Orion opened his mouth to snap at him again, but I got there first. “Shut up, Seth. Do as he says. We’re not fucking this up. We need to get the Imperial Star,” I demanded, and Seth growled at my tone, but didn’t bite back. When I turned to Orion again, I swear he was smirking, but it was gone a split second later so I couldn’t be sure.

“What happened to you and me going alone, brother?” Darius’s voice boomed as he stepped into the room with Tory a few steps behind him. I smiled at her, and she grinned, pushing through the Heirs to reach my side. “Seriously?” Orion groaned.

“That reminds me.” I looked to Geraldine in excitement. “Me and Tory made you a weapon.” “Gracious!” she gasped. “What unworldly thing could I have possibly done to deserve such a gift?” “You’re you, Geraldine,” I said with an earnest look. “That’s enough.” “Never change,” Tory added with a smile, grabbing her hand, and towing her out of the room after the Heirs.

“Can I…” He had a long box in his arms, and he placed it down on the bed with an expression of longing. The wood was carved with the Orion constellation which I’d engraved in it myself. My breath snagged in my lungs, and I stepped past him, opening the box and taking out the beautiful sword forged in Phoenix fire. The one I’d made for him as a gift the night before he’d been arrested. I’d tried not to think about that night, but it was written into my soul as clearly as the zodiac was written into the stars. There was no escaping it. No way of hiding how much it had meant to me. But it only made his betrayal sting deeper.

“It’s yours. Always. Just because we’re not…well, just take it, okay?” I

“Lance,” I called to him, jogging over and showing him the message before letting the others see. “Caleb, take Tory,” Orion commanded then scooped me up before I could disagree and shot off down the stairs.

“Happy birthday,” I forced out.