Fated Throne (Zodiac Academy, #6)

by Caroline Peckham

He placed a mug of coffee down in front of me and I eyed it like it was a bomb set to detonate, though it just sat there innocently. “I know you’re still in there, Roxy,” he said in a low voice that made the hairs along the back of my neck stand on end. “And sooner or later, I’ll figure out how to save you from this.”

But aside from my birthday, I hadn’t seen her once over the summer. Even though I knew she was being kept somewhere in the manor and I’d searched every fucking brick in the place, used every spell possible to try and reveal the concealment. But there was nothing. The only clues I had gotten at all were the times I’d woken in the night, certain I’d heard her screaming, calling for me, begging me to find her. But once I was awake, there was never anything but silence again.

And I seriously hoped I was about to become the biggest Dragon in Solaria, even if it was just so that I could watch Father’s head explode when he realised his own son had knocked him off of the top spot.

She was stunningly beautiful as always, but there was hardly anything of the girl I’d fallen for showing in the mannequin model version of her standing before me. There was no scorn in her eyes, no wit on her tongue, even her posture was just so fucking rigid, it didn’t seem natural. She was like a painting of herself, all done in perfect proportions but with no life inside her, nothing to say she was anything more than a beautiful decoration designed to be admired and little else. I missed her quick tongue and insults; I wanted her calling me out on having a gold plated bed and a fucking jacuzzi tub. Hell, I’d take her hating me over this...nothing creature that stood in her place.

“Take it easy, remember we’ve got a plan,” Max murmured, placing a hand on my arm as he pushed his Siren gifts at me, offering me a measure of calm as I watched the girl who should have been my mate wrap her arms around my father’s neck and embrace him in front of everyone here.

Fortunately for him, he released her before I lost my fucking mind and launched myself at him. I wanted his death more keenly than anything I’d ever desired and the way he was watching me said he was well aware of the fact. But it didn’t matter because he’d placed the only woman I’d ever loved between us and he knew my hatred for him would never outweigh my love for her. She was a shield unlike any other he could have constructed against me, and I was tamed by his control over her just as surely as she was by the shadows that had corrupted her.

“Hands off, Lion. I already called dibs.” “Didn’t realise I was building a harem,” I said dryly, returning to my breakfast.

I’d have to pay for that in blood later, but I’d rather that than lose my dignity in this place. It was pretty much all I had left and if I was being honest, it wasn’t really intact when everyone in the world believed I’d Dark Coerced a Vega princess into fucking me. I was just some depraved pervert in most people’s eyes. But at least I’d done it for the best reason on earth. Her.

The Guardian bond tethering me to Darius was always begging me to be with him, and I’d once thought the pain of being parted from him would be unequalled by anything else. But since meeting Darcy and now being parted from her, it paled by comparison. There wasn’t a moment that went by that she wasn’t on my mind, my memories of her playing on repeat in my head. At least there were distractions in the day, but at night it took everything I had to fight off the shadows beneath my flesh, offering me the sweet bliss of a high that could help me escape from the brutality of heartache. It was a wound that lived on the inside and consumed all the colour in the world until everything seemed grey. She was gone. I’d made her go. And there was nothing I could ever do to fix it.

At least one good thing had come of it all. Blue - fuck no, don’t call her that - had broken free of the shadows and she was no longer plagued by them. She was so fucking strong. So fucking everything. By the stars, I couldn’t believe I’d ever tried to claim her for myself. She was so far out of my league it was unreal.

I rushed toward him, using my good arm to pull him against me and wincing through the pain, the Guardian bond purring happily inside me as I released a heavy sigh. Better.

She was becoming the queen she was always meant to be. It was just hard to accept that I was never going to be her king.

He was in his uniform, and I guessed he’d been up for a while, but you could never tell with a Vampire considering they could do things at ten times the speed of a normal Fae. If they were ever a second late to anything it was absolutely intentional. And a Vampire-who-would-not-be-named was the kind of asshole who used to like intentionally doing shit like that. Damn, why do I miss that?

“Pinching my ass, Gwen?” I snorted. “Gross. And don’t call me Gwen.” “Why’s that gross?” Seth asked as he woke, yawning broadly as he sat up and nuzzled into my neck in his Wolfish way. He did that shit so often these days, I didn’t even notice it half the time. “Darius has a lovely peachy ass.” “Because he’s in love with my sister which makes him about as appealing to me as a three-day-old tuna sandwich – no offence,” I tossed at Darius and he smirked. “You’re an old tuna sandwich to me too, Gwen,” he agreed, and I punched him over the name, but couldn’t fight a smirk.

King Lionel just took over and the press haven’t printed a SINGLE WORD about floaty McGee over here who ‘disappeared’ years ago and miraculously reappeared like she just popped out of Lionel’s buttcrack – and frankly, that would explain the translucence a bit but not enough for me to back the theory a hundred percent. I’m not entirely ruling it out though, because Big L has buns of steel, and I wouldn’t put it past him to have shrunk her down to the size of Thumbelina and wedged her between them as punishment for drinking his favourite tropical punch Kool-Aid or some shit – but what was she living on up his ass all these years – butt dust???

“He’s going to eat his heart out,” he murmured, and I rolled my eyes. “I hope he does by the way. I’m still pissed he hurt my little sister. Kick him in the dick for me, okay?”

“Can you see a dick kick in his future?” I asked with a grin. “Definitely,” he said with a smirk.

He released a low laugh. “Maybe I’m hungry.” “Well maybe you should have brought a snack.” “Maybe I did.” He gnashed his teeth at me, and I snorted. “I’d cook your ass if you tried it.” “Hmm, that’s a point. How will I fry you up if you don’t burn?” he mused, and I laughed. “Sucks to suck, Darius,” I said lightly. “I’m un-cookable.”

“I know, but you haven’t given up on me and Roxy. So, I have the same sentiment when it comes to you and my best friend.” I pulled away from him with a sad look. “The difference is, you two actually want each other.” “That’s not a difference, shrew.” “Don’t call me shrew, Asscrux.”

“We don’t lose,” I promised her. “But if you’d like to take a ride on the Zodiac star player...” “Oh, is Seth offering?” she asked, looking around for him and making me growl as her attention wandered. “I can make you come better than him,”

“Damn that scoundrel and his preposterous laws,” Geraldine growled, the Cerberus in her showing as she bared her teeth. “I have a mind to spend the night dallying with a different Order just to defy him!” “Is that so?” Max asked with a hopeful smile that made me laugh. He was so fucking into her that it was untrue. No doubt he was going to spend the rest of the night trying his hardest to get into her panties again and she’d make him run circles around her while she tossed fish-based insults his way. I’d be able to tell if he’d lucked out in the morning either by the irritating as fuck grin on his face or the petulant strop he’d throw. My guess was it was about a fifty/fifty chance either way.

“Are you looking for a pack orgy, babe?” he asked, smirking at her as he pushed a hand through his long hair, but his gaze shifted to me and there seemed to be some reluctance in him that I didn’t understand. “No. Pack orgies don’t really get me going,” she replied. “I’m an Alpha kind of girl, so unless you have another one of those in your pack?” “Not likely,” Seth barked a laugh before slinging an arm around my shoulders. “But Cal here is all Alpha. So, if you don’t mind breaking the law...” He left that suggestion hanging in the air between us and though I was fairly certain it was supposed to be a joke, the idea of it was actually pretty appealing.

“Are you gonna kiss me again if we have a three way with her, Cal?” he teased, knocking his shoulder against mine and grinning wolfishly. “Please. You fucking wish I’d kiss you,” I teased him. “You bring that shit up so often that I just know you’ve been fantasising about it.” Seth glanced away from me, half coughing and half laughing as he shrugged. “Yeah, well, I guess my tits aren’t big enough for you, so there goes that plan.” “I’m really more of an ass man,” I replied, knocking my elbow against his and smirking as he chuckled. “Well, I’ve got a damn nice ass,” he pointed out. “So maybe my luck is in with you after all. What do you say then? Wanna take my key and shoot up to my room to wait for us? Let’s see if the pretty Alpha Wolf really can handle two Heirs.”

“So, you’re gonna sneak me in there like your dirty little secret?” I teased. “Yeah. Imagine the shame it would bring on my family if they knew I’d philandered with a dirty Vampire,” he said with an exaggerated shudder. “Well, I can’t argue against the dirty part,” I muttered, glancing at him with a smirk. “By the stars, don’t bullshit me right now, Cal, because the idea of this actually happening is getting me all kinds of hard and if you’re just winding me up, I don’t think I can take it,” Seth groaned and I chuckled as my gaze instantly tracked down to his crotch. Sure enough I could see his cock bulging through his pants and my pulse spiked as I let my gaze linger there. When I looked back up at him, I found his gaze had fallen to the swell in my pants too and I snorted a laugh. “Did we just check each other’s dicks out?”

“Like Athena?” Hadley suggested, his eyes sparkling as he spoke about Seth’s younger sister, and I laughed. “Yeah. Capella blood tastes seriously good. But if she’s anything like her brother, you’re gonna have a fight on your hands to get your teeth into her. Of course, that’s half the fun.” He grinned way too widely at that and I had to wonder if my little brother was crushing on Seth’s sister. Probably best not to mention that to Seth though or he might go all protective Alpha over his baby sister and ruin Hadley’s chances.

He pushed his fingers inside her alongside mine and there was something so fucking hot about the feeling of his hand against mine while we pleasured her as she moaned and panted for us.

“Stop staring at my carotid and sink your fucking fangs into it already,” Seth growled and my heart leapt as I realised he knew exactly what I was aching for and clearly wanted it too. I didn’t need telling twice and I lunged at him, gripping a handful of his dark hair and holding it tight as my fangs sank into his neck.

I growled with desire as I tugged Seth closer and his hands slid down my chest while Rosalie continued to switch her mouth between us, our shafts knocking against each other more than once in the transition and the feeling of that somehow only making me harder.

The taste of him on her lips had me growling possessively, kissing her deeper and harder, wanting to claim her even more.

I sat back on the bed, turning her so her back was to my chest and both of us were looking at him. Then I pulled her down to sit on my lap as I drove my cock inside her in a purposefully slow move that made her moan loudly. Seth pushed a hand into his hair, growling in the back of his throat as he watched me fuck her and I couldn’t help but get off on the way he was looking at us, my eyes finding his again and again.

“What does being a Moon Wolf have to do with you ducking out on us?”

“I see things,” she shrugged. “Like connections between Fae. I saw it with Dante and his wife, and I’ve seen it with others too. And as much as I loved being the filling in your dick sandwich - which I seriously did by the way, I’ll be getting myself off while thinking about this for years - I also don’t wanna be a third wheel.”

“But if you are still horny in the morning, I can suck your dick for you.” A breath of laughter escaped me, but my dick twitched like it didn’t hate that idea and I cleared my throat as I looked away for a moment. “If I stay, are you gonna end up spooning me in the night?” I asked, wondering if I should go too, but kinda hating that thought. “Probably,” Seth admitted with an amused snort. “But I want you to stay anyway.” I looked back at him with his recently fucked hair as he gave me the puppy dog eyes and found myself giving in way too easily.

“Sure. What are friends for?” he asked sleepily, and I watched him in the moonlight as my gut tightened at his use of that word. “Yeah,” I muttered, frowning to myself as I closed my eyes too. Friends.

I carved at the ice in my hand, moulding it and shaping it absentmindedly until it was taking the form of a bird. No, not a bird. A Phoenix. Of course.

I often dwelled on Darcy, how breath-taking she’d looked when she’d visited, how much I’d wanted to drag her into my arms and beg for her forgiveness.

I swear to the stars, Noxy, if this ends with Ethan Shadowbrook taking me back to his lair and trying to have his way with me, I’ll kill you.

I hated being tactile with anyone. Anyone except Darcy. Alright, and Darius. Apparently, I only liked the D.

“I once served Kraveen Dire, a friend of your father’s. I knew Azriel Orion well.”

“I met you once, when you were just a boy. That was long before I ended up in here for breaking my eternal vow,” he went on in a ramble. “What vow?” I asked in confusion. “I had to be here; it was my fate. I was a royal guard, so I stole from the king, breaking my vow to the royals. My betrayal landed me here.”

“Before Kraveen died, your father came to him with a very important message from the Queen to say the wheels of fate were in motion and there was nothing she could do to stop it.”

“We were the last, you see?” “The last of what?” I frowned. He wet his lips, his voice dropping to nothing but a breath. “The Zodiac Guild.”

I frowned as he smeared the drop of blood along the inside of his forearm and my heart stuttered as a sword appeared along the length of it, seeming to shimmer up from beneath his skin, each constellation etched into its surface. I’d seen the symbol before, and the breath was crushed out of me as I realised what this meant. My dad had been one of them. The elite society created to serve and protect the royals.

Queen Vega foresaw a terrible fate, that the world would fall under the rule of a fierce and cruel Acrux and there was no other path, no possible way to change it. Solaria would descend into chaos, the Orders would be divided, those of weaker power eradicated in time. Every Fae would be watched and controlled. Our children and our children’s children would die if they ever fought back.”

“The Vega Twins. If they could be saved and the Imperial Star could be returned to them, there was a chance that they might succeed against the monster who sought to take their throne,” he whispered. “But the price was high,” he half choked out. “The King and Queen would fall, and the last of the Zodiac Guild had to give their lives for a new prophesy to arise.”

“The stars showed us each our true paths, the last steps they wanted us each to take before their debt must be paid. My task led me here to Darkmore to wait for Azriel’s son, to tell him everything so long as he was pure of heart. And now I know that you are, I am left with my final duty to the Guild.”

“The stars whispered a single word to me, a word I have held in me all these years, waiting for you. And now I know why,”

“Ankaa.” My lips parted as I recognised that word. “That’s-” “The brightest star in the Phoenix constellation,”

He pressed a hand to my cheek, his eyes brimming with tears. “You look like him, dear boy. It is good to see one last familiar face.”

Firstly, I want to apologise to you, my boy. I never wanted to leave you and Clara behind. If there was any other choice in it, I would have taken it.