Fated Throne (Zodiac Academy, #6)

by Caroline Peckham

“We won’t die,” he said with a shrug. “We’re the Heirs and the Savage Princess. Darcy and the dudebros. Wolfman, Bitey C, Fish Fury, Dragzilla, and the Phoen Dream.”

I watched her as she looked at the tattoo, tracing the words with her fingertips and breathing them into the silence. “There is only her.” She continued to paint the marks that made up the Gemini and Leo constellations followed by the lines of the geometric design that charted the pattern of the moon and stars the night she’d said no to me.

Having Orion’s new number was a treat in itself. I sent him daily photographs of me and Darcy together with captions like #sheaintblueoveryounomore and #teamDeth. He’d blocked my number after threatening to rip my intestines out and strangle me with them – among other murderous threats - but then I got a magical app which sent my texts from anonymous numbers so he couldn’t keep me away. It was hilarious. And very intentional. Because I was officially kickstarting Mission: Get Darion Back Together.

“You’d love being dominated by me, Roxy,” he promised. “I’d pin you down and make you scream so good you’d forget all about trying to stop me as I marked you as mine so thoroughly that you’d never doubt that it was true ever again.”

“You’ve passed the test. A new Master of the Zodiac Guild is born,” an ethereal voice filled my head and Darcy stiffened as she heard it too. “Protector of the royal line, safe keeper of the heart.”

The new Master of the Guild? Holy fuck. “Vega princess, half of one whole. Seek the palace in the deep. Where the last of them lie,” the voice spoke once more.

“Son of my last keeper,” it whispered to me. “Do what the King could not.”

The elixir of the royals is laid out on the following page. It will take six weeks to brew, and during this time, you have the sole responsibility of ensuring the Imperial Star is protected. Merissa informs me that with the help of a dear friend, you will see the way to keep it safe until the Guild can be reformed and your allies can help protect its location.

Your final task is the greatest of all. You must ensure the Vega twins are crowned. They must become true Queens so that they are able to wield the Imperial Star. Meanwhile, you must safeguard the knowledge in this diary. Each spell the star can cast is accessed by a powerful word. Words which are contained within these pages. You must memorise each one, ensure the Vegas know them by heart and never, ever forget them. You must not try to use them on the Imperial Star yourself or allow the Vegas to attempt it before they are crowned, for only a reigning sovereign can wield the Imperial Star. All others will perish if they attempt it.

Immunisia Immunity. This spell grants lifelong immunity to all illnesses.

“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. But blood of the deceiver may change the course of destiny. Beware the man with the painted smile who lingers close to your side. Turn the scorned. Free the enslaved. Fear the bonded men. Many will fall for one to ascend. Suffer the curse. The hunter will pay the price. Do not repeat the mistakes of the past. Keep the broken promise. Mend the rift. All that hides in the shadows is not dark. Blood will out. Seal your fate. Choose your destiny.”

“That’s it, Lavinia,” she said, tugging a fur tighter around her shoulders. “You have such a talent for it.” “I still can’t wield them like, Nisar,” I complained, my voice Lavinia’s as I relived the memory from her point of view. I scowled over at the boy who always held everyone’s attention with his gifts and a bitter jealousy filled me. “You’re only fourteen, in time you will wield them better than anyone in our tribe,” the old woman said. “You’re destined for greatness.” “Do you really think so?” I asked. “I know so. It’s written in the stars.” “Don’t tell her stories,” a large, bearded man called over with a scowl. “My daughter is destined to produce babies and take care of her future husband. Just like all the women in our tribe.” “I don’t want that, father,” I growled coldly. “I will be a warrior.” “You will be whatever I tell you to be,” he answered, drinking his ale and an icy hatred ran through me. A hatred I’d felt for a long time for a man who had always favoured my brothers. Always thought of me as nothing.

“For my most glorious majesties!” she cried. “Peril calls my name, and my name is Geraldine Gundellifus Gabolia Gundestria Grus! Hear. Me. Roar!”

“Acrux,”

“The price of knowledge is power. The price of power is great. Every bargain has a cost. What will you trade for a different fate?”

“I love you, Darius,”

“I love you, Roxy,”

“You wish for love with the girl who denied you. But fate has other designs in mind.”

“What would you give for them, Darius Acrux? What would you sacrifice to see them survive?”

“Lavinia, yes, yes, yes. I’d forgotten my name. How pretty it is. La-vin-ia. I love it, I love it. Thank you, little brother.”

Clara stood in the desolate land of the Shadow Realm naked and frozen, her arm still bloody from the sacrifice Lionel had made her offer before the dark stardust had consumed her. “Hush,” Lavinia’s voice filled the air and shadows coiled around her, cloaking her body. “I am here.” They wound tighter and tighter, and Clara gasped in fear as they sank beneath her flesh, taking root in her. “Go quietly, Fae girl, your body is mine.” Clara screamed and thrashed as the shadows possessed her until she was forced to her knees and blood dripped from her mouth as the shadow spirit of Lavinia ate its way into her body. Sickness ran through me, and I was half aware of releasing a shout I couldn’t hear. Wounds opened up across her skin and blood poured out from her in wave after wave, washing across the ground and rushing back through a fissure which was torn into the air. A portal ripped open by Lionel Acrux as a part of the ritual he’d forced us to bear witness to all those years ago, sacrificing my sister just for this. Clara started crawling back toward it in desperation as a horrid scream left her which made my entire being seize up with grief. She fell still before she made it to the portal and the shadows settled inside her, claiming her body, her soul. Lavinia took control of Clara as the wounds across her body healed, her features twisting as they lost the gentleness of my sister and took on the ferociousness of a Nymph Princess. She scrambled to her feet and rushed toward th...

“A fresh start,” the voice confirmed. “Every bond placed upon the two of you by the stars wiped away.” “But all I get is a year?” My heart was thrashing desperately now, adrenaline begging me to do something to save myself, but this wasn’t an enemy I could fight. It was destiny in the making. “A year to live the life you yearn for. A year to find out if you really are the man you wish to be.”

My lips parted on an answer but the air before me shimmered, and I saw myself in a vision of the future. I was standing with Roxy beneath a huge Christmas tree, my lips pressing to hers in one final, desperate kiss before my time ran out one year from now. Her arms curled around my neck, drawing me closer as I held her so tightly that I was certain not even the stars could tear us apart. But as the clock struck midday, my muscles locked, the magic within me stilling. And even as I fought with all I had to stay there with her, my fate was already sealed, and it tore me away all the same. Roxy screamed as I fell to my knees before her, the power of the stars coming to collect the price I’d promised to pay. The sound of her grief cut into me and the idea of causing her so much pain made me ache with a desperate desire to shield her from it. But there was no alternative. She could have a life without me or no life at all. And I couldn’t bear the idea of her being taken from this world before her time no matter what price I had to pay.

“Blood of the oathbreaker,” the voice came again, rich with even more power now as the energy in the cavern made my entire body tingle. “Descendant of the deceiver. Son of the destroyer. Do you offer your life in payment for the breaking of the bonds?”

“I accept your terms,” I growled in a deep voice that echoed with finality. “And I offer my life in payment.”

Lionel screamed as his hand was engulfed in the flames where he held me, and a blast of air magic slammed into my chest so hard that I was thrown clean out of the royal box and down to the pit far below us.

I cursed as I scrambled to my feet, and a charred, blackened hand fell from my wrist where his fingers had still been curled around me, thumping down onto the sand. A wild and savage smile filled my lips as I looked up at Lionel where he stood screaming down at me from the royal box, a blistered stump where his right hand should have been, and his face filled with utter panic as he spotted the charred lump of flesh before me.