Fated Throne (Zodiac Academy, #6)

by Caroline Peckham

I lost it, pushing out of my seat and tossing my Atlas away from me before I did anything stupid with it. 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.

“I’m here. I’m always here,” she said with a choked noise. “But she’s here too.”

I reached for the ring, and she handed it over, the brush of her magic humming from the metal as I slid it onto my thumb and making me feel weirdly close to her as I looked up and gave her a smile. “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.”

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,”

“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.”

“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.

What if she’s fucking him right now? I’m absolutely going to break stuff. The window. Seth’s neck. Any semblance of respect Darcy still has for me.

Come on, I’ve suffered enough, haven’t I? 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.

“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.

“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.

“Seth is with Darcy. The two of them-” I pressed my lips tightly together, unable to finish that sentence as rage and possessiveness clogged up my throat. Jealousy didn’t come close to describing how I was feeling. I was being eaten alive by the need to lay my claim on her and snap the neck of the motherfucker who dared lay his filthy hands on her.

“I told her to move on, but I can’t let go, Darius,” I gritted out, my eyes fixed on the wooden canopy over his four-poster bed. “I made this happen. I pushed her away. 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.

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.”

“Then don’t let her go.”

It is time for you to resurrect the Guild. You will take Ling Astrum’s position as Guild Master and initiate your most trusted, loyal friends to its cause. The Imperial Star awaits you in my tomb at The Everhill Graveyard.

“You’d better not be opening your eyes,” I hissed, and his fingers squeezed mine. “Someone’s got to look, might as well be the Power Shamed nobody,” he said under his breath and my nails dug into his flesh. “You’re not nobody,” I growled seriously. You’re one of the most important somebodies I know.

I threw my hands up, controlling the Element with my own power and keeping it away from me but I’d lost track of Seth and as he howled in agony, my heart damn near ripped right out of my chest. I released a roar of rage as I threw all of my power into forcing the flames into my grasp, seeking out the shape of Seth’s body among the corpses and drawing the fire away from him as fast as I could. Then I made the fire burn hotter and hotter as I used it to rip through every single skeletal body around us, the heat of the flames almost unbearable as it pressed in on me. But I didn’t stop, raising them higher and higher as fury tore through my flesh that was so potent, it stole all thoughts and focus from me. And the sole desire left to me was to protect Seth from any more harm that could be aimed his way.

My magic connected to his as easily as breathing, the power of a tornado crashing through my veins and the heavy weight of his earth magic merging with mine like they were one and the same and had always been destined to join this way.

The moment he was healed, I released his hand, gripping his face between my palms and kissing his forehead before pulling him against me. “Fucking hell, Seth, don’t ever do that to me again,” I growled as my heart beat out of rhythm and I had to blink repeatedly to force the image of his burned body from my mind. “So long as you don’t do it to me, we have a deal,” he laughed, and I could have fucking kissed him to hear his teasing tone again.

He reached out to grip the front of my shirt and tugged me towards him forcefully and I smirked as I lunged for his neck. The groan that escaped his lips as I bit him had my hands locking around his waist. I pushed him back against the smoke-stained wall of the mausoleum and the taste of his power on my lips sent a shiver of pleasure tracking down my spine.

I drank deeply as my fingers dug into his flesh and I clung onto the fact that he was here, solid and present with me just like he should be.

“Cal,” Seth rasped, his mouth so close to mine that I felt the movement of my name on his lips. “Yeah?” “I...” He still held my shirt tightly like he thought I might run if he let go and I hadn’t released my grip on his waist, my thumbs shifting over the hard curves of his abs as I adjusted my hold on him. My heart was pounding to this deep and rhythmic beat that seemed to want me to stay right where I was and for a moment, I had the insane idea to just lean forward and-

“I’m never not going to catch you,” he growled,

“I knew I could never keep you, Blue. I knew it from the first time we kissed, I just fooled myself into believing it for a while. So, when it came to us or you, I chose you. Because I woke up to reality. And real life isn’t nice or easy, it’s fucking quicksand that tries to drag you down the more you fight it. Love doesn’t conquer all this time, because we’re on two different paths. You’re heading to the stars, beautiful, and I’m staying down here in the dirt. That’s just the way it is.”

“That you’re together. He likes to send me the updates to rub my face in it,” he spat, and the heat slid away from my hands as I saw the hurt in his eyes. “To be honest, you being with anyone else would have broken me, but did you really have to choose the one guy who tried to rip us apart?”

He grabbed a fistful of my shirt, yanking me forward and suddenly pressed a demanding kiss to my lips. He surrounded me, consumed me. My heart was fit to burst as I tasted the man I’d pined for for so long and I was frozen in shock, torn between wanting him and needing to pull away. But I gave in, falling into temptation as I took a bite of the juiciest apple ever presented to me. I clawed at him as he pinned me back against the wall, a low groan of desperation in his throat making an earthquake roll through to the centre of my being. He tasted like broken promises, but of purest sunlight too. The shattered pieces of my heart sat like broken glass against my tongue, and the longer I kissed him, the more those pieces seemed to draw back together. But it was too late for that. We’d had our shot. He’d hurt me. And he hadn’t once even apologised for it.

“Close your eyes, Roxy,” Darius commanded as the baying howls of the Reaper Hounds signalled them taking up the scent again. “You close your eyes,” I bit back as he moved to stand in front of me with his axe raised. “I can use air and earth magic to sense where they are and flames clearly don’t bother them that much, so maybe you should just stand behind me.” “Not a fucking chance, gorgeous,” he said, smirking at me tauntingly before turning his back on me and hefting the axe in his hands.

“If I die, don’t let my mom clear out my room,” Seth muttered. “There’s like soooo much porn beneath my bed.”

I lunged at Darius, dropping the axe by my feet and slamming into him hard enough to knock him back onto his ass as I landed in his lap. “Is it you?” I demanded, looking into his dark eyes and grabbing his face between my hands as I held him still, searching for the man the stars had chosen for my mate. “Are you still you?” “It’s me, Roxy,” he said roughly, his hands moving to grasp my waist as he looked at me like I was the answer to every question he’d ever asked of the world.

“You fucking idiot,” I snapped, punching him in the chest as I realised he was okay. “Why the fuck were your eyes open?” “Because I wasn’t going to risk them getting past me to you,” he snarled like that was the most obvious thing in the world and I punched him again. “And what would I do without you?” I demanded, making his eyes widen with surprise before I even realised what I’d said, but fuck it.

She was the sweetest thing. Honey and sugar and all things good. She reminded me of a fairground, a school, a secret. Another growl raked against my throat as the beast in me begged me to bite, but a different part of my soul was holding me back.

A word that meant everything to me. Because it meant her. My girl. My queen. “Blue,” I groaned, releasing her chin so she turned her head to look at me with fear in her deep green eyes.

You’ve found the final card. The stars have aligned, my duty is done. When all hope fails, Vega Princesses, find courage in the light.

Geraldine threw herself at me next, taking me even more by surprise. “Oh, you loyal Master of the Guild, you’re a true royalist, you have always done what is right for my queens. I see that now,” she sobbed, earning me harsh glares from the Heirs. Ah shit.

“Can’t you fix things with my lady Darcy?” she whisper-shouted completely unsubtly. By the fucking stars.

“You and me need to talk,” I growled as he yanked himself free of my grip and folded his arms. “What about? Me following Darcy back to Aer Tower and fucking her blind?” he asked casually, and my fist snapped out, clocking him in the jaw and making him stumble backwards with a doggish yelp.

Nope, I was distracted by how damn good your body feels against mine and wanting to lick your tattoos.

“You want me to show you again?” he offered, pressing closer so that my ass drove against his crotch, and I bit my lip to hold back a gasp.

I took a step towards Darcy, but Darius caught my arm and tugged me down on the couch instead, placing me carefully in between his legs as he hung one over the arm and spread them as wide as possible in that my-dick-is-too-big-to-function way of his. It meant we weren’t actually touching but I was practically in his lap at the same time.

Seth flopped back, dropping his head into Caleb’s lap, and whimpering as he gave him the puppy dog eyes. Caleb began stroking his fingers through his long hair while shaking his head like he didn’t really want to. But he could have just said no, so I was gonna call bullshit on that.

We all fell silent as we watched her, and I flinched in surprise as Darius’s hand landed on my shoulder blade before he scored a line down the exact spot where my wings emerged when I shifted. A breathy moan slid from my lips which I hurriedly covered with a cough as the others looked our way and Darius chuckled before doing it again. Ho-ly fuck, why did that feel so incredible? He needed to stop. And never stop. And oh shit, he was doing it again…

“Oh my, I’ll never know why I didn’t suspect your royal blood before the truth was revealed, dear Gabriel,” Geraldine said, fanning her face with her hand. “The cut of your physique is clearly that of a true, blue-blooded specimen. The broadness of your chest alone-” “Put a shirt on dude, you look cold,” Max snapped, using air magic to whip a shirt out of the chest at the side of the room and tossing it into Gabriel’s face.

I got to my feet and moved over to him, taking his hand in mine and meeting his dark gaze as I slowly peeled his fingers out of his fist one by one. “Bad Dragon,” I chastised, and he almost smirked at me until the moment when I actually tugged the chain out of his hand.

“You shouldn’t have done that, Roxy,” he growled, and a shiver of fear tracked through my core at his words which both made me want to run for the hills and move even closer to the danger in his eyes. I forced myself to push through the fear, tiptoeing up and placing a kiss against the rough stubble lining his jaw, my lips just brushing the corner of his mouth as my heart galloped in my chest. “You’ll forgive me,” I teased, and his eyes flared with liquid heat as he slowly relaxed his grip on my arm and let me go.

I ducked into Darius’s room as Darcy moved into mine and I looked around for a moment before snagging one of his hoodies from the end of his bed and taking it with me. I wasn’t going to let myself overthink the fact that I slept better when I was wrapped up in his clothes than I did without them. They were just warmer than mine. And comfier. And smelled all kinds of nice.

“Hey Xavier, wanna fly beside me today?” She batted her lashes, and I looked over her head to Sofia. “Yeah, sure,” I muttered as she ran her finger up between my abs. Sofia snorted indignantly and my heart lifted as she glared at Liselle. Was she…jealous?

“You’d look good with a long mane, have you ever thought about growing it out fully?” She was suddenly ripped away from me by the hair, and I found Sofia there, knocking her to the ground and turning around to kick dirt over her. Holy shit.

“You classless hinny!” Liselle shrieked, diving at Sofia, but my girl was ready, kicking her hard in the gut and sending her flying back onto the ground. Sofia did a victory trot around her, and my gaze followed her ass as more of the males drew closer.

Nerves warred inside me as I kicked off my shoes and dropped my pants and boxers, stepping out of them and pressing my shoulders back as I looked to Sofia. She’d moved back to Tyler’s side, but her eyes were firmly fixed on me, widening as they fell to my flashy dick.