Heartless Sky (Zodiac Academy, #7)

by Caroline Peckham

Seeing how our lives could have been without Lionel plaguing every move we made left me with a crushing weight in my chest over all he had taken from us. From the twins. They hadn’t deserved to suffer the life they had. They hadn’t deserved the shitty foster homes and no stability, they hadn’t deserved the poverty, the nights going hungry, the lack of any kind of parental love to surround them.

Fuck, if I could go back and do it all different I would. I’d walk into their place, sit them down and fucking hug them for one. And for two, I’d bring the Heirs there with me, and I wouldn’t let them leave until the lot of them had bonded. Everyone could have saved themselves a whole ocean of heartache if we’d figured all of our shit out sooner.

It had been strange to see myself in a world where my life had never been ripped away from me though, coming home from a Pitball tournament only to meet Blue and find ourselves enthralled with each other. How much easier it would have been for us if that had been our fate…

This version of me was hard and cold at times, but she was the one who broke through all of that. She was my sunshine after an eternal winter, and I didn’t know whether to grieve the life we’d missed out on or be thankful that we had still found our way to each other regardless.

I wanted my Blue. The one who had come to this world ignorant and who I had watched blossom into a Fae queen. Our story wasn’t pretty, and it certainly wasn’t easy. There was struggle and divide, arguments and pain. But it was ours, down to every gritty detail, and I found I wouldn’t have exchanged it for that pretty, simple life I’d just seen. I was possessive of my Blue, and maybe it was selfish of me to think that way after all she had been through, but there wasn’t a single thing I’d have changed about her, and to become who she was today, she’d had to be broken, put under pressure so she could emerge like coal into a diamond.

you frallycake.

bothersome bandicoot.

“The greasy-haired codswallop rests his scar-shamed face upon a lagaluffin.” “What the hell’s a lagaluffin?” I whispered, moving forward to peer over her head into the dark room. “I think she means a pillow,” Darius said as he knocked the door wider so he could see too.

Vard screamed against the eggplant, thrashing like mad as Geraldine pressed a lever on the scoop and a snap sounded as the thing closed around his shadow eye. I stared on with my mouth agape as she ripped the whole thing from his face in a stream of blood and held it up victoriously while he screamed around the vegetable gag in his mouth.

“Bleed for the pleasure of the Grus line, devil man!” she wailed. “I declare this eye a possession of the true queens!”

“What the fuck was it though, and why did it look like you?” I grimaced and Darius shuddered. “Don’t know, don’t care, frankly, brother. Let’s get the fuck out of here,” he said,

“Into the night we go!” Geraldine cried as we ran along in the dark. “With a shadow eye in our pocket, and another slap delivered to the false king. Oh-ho!”

“Long live the rebellion!” Seth yelled, a laugh tumbling from his throat as Lionel roared so loudly the earth rumbled beneath our feet.

“Oh my stars,” Seth breathed. “We just scared them away.”

“I’m also here,” Seth growled, drawing their attention for a moment but they all quickly looked back to me. “Don’t take offence, buddy. It’s a Vampire thing,” I teased him and he growled like a Wolf,

“Seems like everything’s a Vampire thing these days,” he muttered. “What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked with a frown. “You know what I mean. Me and Lance were supposed to be building a BFF moon friends bond and you and me already had our special only for us bond, but then you two had to go getting cosy in that temple and now I’m the odd Wolf out while you giggle about blood and biting and…fangs all the damn time.” I arched a brow at him. “Are you jealous?” I asked and he huffed out a breath. “No. What gave you that impression?”

It was weird how much I accepted his Wolfy ways really, enjoying the feeling of him brushing against me as we walked instead of distancing myself from him like I would have done with pretty much any other Fae. But with Seth it was different. I liked

“There was some fucked up shadow creature in the palace,” Darius said as he scrubbed at the black ichor which seemed to be clinging to his skin like oil and Orion was struggling with the same problem. “Really?” Seth asked curiously. “Like a big hairy shadow beast that likes to prey on the souls of the irritating? Killing Karens everywhere and bringing an end to their reign of boring fucker nonsense?” “That might have been less creepy,” Orion replied dryly.

“Yeah. Then I can kill my father and Roxy can get her ass back in my arms where she belongs,” Darius said with a growl. “Shit man, you’re taking this possessive stuff a bit far. I mean, I know you’re missing her and I’m guessing going cold turkey on all the sex you guys had been having has to suck, but you need to hold it together,” I said. “What’s a few months in the grand scheme of things?”

And on top of that, I was worried about my friends here. We were rebels, on the run from a mad man who had already issued each and every one of us with a death sentence if we were caught, and tonight we had come pretty damn close to meeting that fate.

“I love you guys,” Seth said dreamily. “Even you, Lance. I know that your snappy snaps are only ever meant with love.” “They’re not,” Orion mumbled.

“What in tarnation and the name of the solitary sun beam do you think you are doing, you irksome eel?” Geraldine cried. “I need to wash the evidence of battle from my nipoleans and I won’t be ushered away by your flipper dippers!” “Fine,” Max snarled. “The rest of you are done, so fuck off and let Gerry have a bath in peace.” “Seriously?” I grumbled. “I’m not interested in her tits, no matter how nice they might be, dude. Does it really matter?”

“I counted all thirty sparkling gems in order of the rainbow front to back while I was dilly dallying beneath the waves.” “Oh stars no,” Xavier gasped, managing to grasp his towel at last and taking off running out of the room without another word. “Wait a moment, dear boy!” Washer called

“I spoke to dear Gabriel about the shadow eye,” she called after us. “He warns everyone to stay away from it until we can encase it in a night iron spyglass so that we can make use of it. If not, it will crawl right into your face, devour your own eye and take its place just like a wallysnapper in the dew. Be warned.”

“I want you,” I confirmed, my mind wheeling with what that meant because I hadn’t really thought this through, and I was suddenly thinking about how many guys Seth had fucked and realising that I was out of my depth here because I wasn’t even sure where to start. “Fuck, I could come from hearing those words alone,” Seth growled,

“That’s all?” I questioned as my heart crushed to dust in my chest, because that hadn’t felt like it was fucking all. It had felt like waking up after sleeping way too long and finally realising what I’d been aching for. “Yeah. I literally suck all of my friends’ dicks aside from you guys and that’s just because you’re into girls. It was just a BFF BJ. No biggie. In fact, I’m gonna go and offer Darius one.”

“Oh,” I breathed to no one at all because Seth had gotten what he wanted, flipped my entire world upside down and left me with a peace sign and my cock out all alone in my room. “Fuck.”

Caleb’s words spun around and around in my head like a washing machine set on a spin cycle of hell. “I just don’t think-” I knew the end of that sentence, I knew it in my gut, my heart, my dick, my fucking soul. ‘I just don’t think we should have done that.’

I give the peace sign to all my BFF BJs. I’d said I might go offer one to Darius. Like that was an entirely fucking normal thing for me to do and wasn’t completely fucked up. The peace sign? The fucking peace sign??

I’d walk straight out under the moon and ask her to end me, because I was not living in a world where I lost Caleb Altair.

We had learned to create weapons the way Darcy had already figured out, honing that skill and imbuing them with our fire magic in more subtle ways too so that we knew how to provide our army with the means to stand against the Nymphs and win.

we had learned how to gift a smaller amount of our flames to a larger amount of weapons at once, enough to arm the rebels when the time came for them to use them against the Nymphs. It was the kind of advantage we desperately needed to be able to face Lionel’s army on a battlefield and it was so reassuring to know that we were learning things that really would change the way this fight went.

Queen Avalon had also taught us more about the magic of the Phoenix Kiss, though she warned us not to offer it out unless we had no other choice as it stole an ember of our own flames which could never be returned to us. We’d figured that out too, but the way she spoke about it was like she was afraid of that, hating the ide...

Queen Avalon had clearly been a cold leader who ruled with an iron fist and a heart as unmovable as I’d been warned my father’s was, and as time had passed, the two of us had begun to question some of her lessons. She had been unforgiving and swift to execute anyone who stood in her way or who didn’t fall in with her laws, and she urged us to do the same.

she continued to insinuate that one day the two of us would end up fighting to claim the throne alone. But that day would never come, no matter if all the stars in the sky predicted it.

Kindness wasn’t weakness which my sister had shown me more often than I could count. And neither was knowing when to concede that you were wrong.

I was in a state of constant exhaustion, but I also felt more connected to my Phoenix than ever before and I was revelling in the feeling of getting to know just how powerful I was.

“You have both impressed me with your dedication and the way you handle yourselves. Poise, strength, and unwavering will are what is needed to claim the crown and you both have it in spades.

And she’d been right, having them out so much meant I had gotten used to the weight of them, gotten better at moving them, strengthening them through the hours we’d spent flying and perfecting all kinds of acrobatic skills. I’d even fallen asleep with them still out more than once, enjoying the silken feeling of my bronze feathers as they caressed my skin.

“I already defied you once,” I called out to them, tightening my hold on my half of the crown. “So fuck your idea of fate.” “We’ll make our own destiny,” Darcy agreed

I raised a hand to my throat, relieved to find the ruby necklace Darius had gifted me still hanging there just as the Imperial Star remained around Darcy’s neck and we exchanged a bemused look as we used air magic to dry our skin.

I spotted Geraldine across the room, carrying a tray of buttery bagels. I called out to greet her and her head snapped around so fast I was surprised she didn’t give herself whiplash. She released a full pterodactyl screech which made several other Fae slap their hands over their ears in alarm.

a blur of motion appeared and Orion swept her off of her feet, kissing her so hard that it must have hurt.

“But why did you tell Darius to guard him last night? Didn’t you see us returning?” I asked Gabriel as he plucked his son from my arms and tickled him. “Because I wanted everyone else to get the chance to say hi to you before he steals you away,” he said with a knowing grin.

“You knew they were coming back?” Orion demanded angrily and Gabriel just shrugged. “Maybe.” “Then why didn’t you-” Orion was cut off by the sound of a Dragon’s roar which echoed throughout the entire dining hall and made dust tumble down from the vaulted stone roof. “Move,” Darius barked, his voice so thick with Coercion that almost all of the rebels fell under the sway of it and got the hell out of his way despite their mental shields.

“Leave,” Darius commanded, the Coercion slamming into everyone in the entire room as he threw a hand out and hit them all with a repulsion spell to keep them away too.

“No. I’m not losing a single second more with you, Roxanya. You just earned yourself a Dragon sized stalker and I won’t be going anywhere until death rips me from your arms. Even then I’ll try to stay, I’ll be the air on your cheeks and the light on your skin, never leaving you no matter where you go.” “Don’t talk like that,” I protested,

“Really?” I asked, feeling kinda like a naughty kid about to skip class. “Really,” he said firmly, taking my hand and leading me towards our room. “You’re gonna have to take that crown off though, princess, because where we’re going, you’ll require a helmet.”

Your every desire is my command and I’m making sure they’re all fulfilled today.” Darius tugged on my hand to make me move faster and I bit my lip at the mere thought of that. “Well in that case, I’m all yours.”

“Apparently I don’t do friends unless they’re forced on me like you and Darius, and now Caleb too.” “I wasn’t forced on you,” I said. “I could argue the stars forced you on me,” he tossed back. “I could argue they forced you on me.” I gave him a look as I remembered the night he’d been slipped a lust potion back when I’d met him at Zodiac Academy, and he’d fallen for me hard until I could get him an antidote.