Sorrow and Starlight (Zodiac Academy, #8)

by Caroline Peckham

“She can’t have anything more from me than pain. I’m all yours. She can’t touch my soul; it’ll be whole and waiting for you when this is over. So let me bleed for you, my Queen. It would be a fucking honour.”

A roar left me, and Darcy’s gaze locked on Lavinia, a promise of vengeance within her eyes that made her look like a fierce, transcendent creature of destruction. And I knew that somehow, someday, she would deliver our captor her end. I’d make damn sure of it.

Stella nodded, more tears spilling from her eyes as if this was all so fucking hard for her to bear witness to. Poor little Stella and her lost dreams. Boo fucking hoo.

Her words wrapped around me, reminding me that the stars had chosen me for this girl, and as unworthy as I felt of her love, I couldn’t deny that I was made for her. So it had to be true that I could be enough for her, even if it took me the rest of my life to prove it. However long that may be.

“Twelve days, eighteen hours and seven minutes from this very moment,” Geraldine cried. Fuck knew how she knew that so accurately, but I damn well trusted her when it came to nonsense royal traditions.

“Well, my lady, I think this Lion is cunning indeed, smarter perhaps than any faithful feline I have met afore!” she hollered, and Leon sat up straighter in his seat, looking smug as fuck while Dante snorted under his breath.

I yelled for Seth to grab it even as the thing made it over his cheek bone and the wild flailing of his arms did nothing to knock it off. “Hold still!” Caleb roared and Seth did so, half a second before Caleb punched him with a fist coated in stone. Seth howled in agony as something definitely broke in his face and he fell to the ground before Caleb shot closer and yanked him upright again.

“Then I think we should get back to planning our next move,” Melinda said calmly, not even seeming to have been ruffled by the chaos of the shadow eye being splattered across Seth’s face and I had to admit, I quite liked her.

There were other Wolves who’d come to me, offering to form a group with me, but I’d rejected them all because I’d already had the best pack I could imagine. I’d had the Heirs, Darcy, Tory, Orion, even crazy-ass Geraldine Grus.

“You don’t even have to win, I just wanna thrash Hadley so I can make him my bitch boy again.” “I can hear you, Athena,” Hadley growled.

Geraldine sighed like she was some long-suffering wife, pinching the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger, then casting a silencing bubble to block out Max’s shouts. She gave me a rueful smile and patted my arm before tugging me further inside.

“Oh,” Caleb said, exchanging a look with me where we both silently admitted we may have fucked up a little there. “Whoops.” “They did try to eat us,” I explained with half a shrug. “So, this situation is kinda on them. If they were as well trained as you claim, then-”

“Good to know you aren’t all as dumb as you look then. Because I just so happen to be one of those so-called monsters, so I guess the question is whether or not you’ll be offering me that invitation, because option B involves me burning my way inside with Phoenix fire.” “You make a wonderful politician,” Caleb drawled as the librarians all recoiled in horror at my words.

I tossed it into the bag, cringing a little at how roughly I was handling it and knowing that somewhere in the world, Orion had just shuddered in horror.

I clamped my teeth down on the tip of her fluffy tail with a surge of triumph. I’ve got you now, Rosalie. I bit down harder, and a yelp left me as I realised it was my own tail I had hold of, and I quickly released it before anyone noticed.

I revelled in the way it melted some of my anxiety, but hated the way it reminded me of my moon friend. Where was he? Was he still alive, still protecting Darcy with every breath he took? Had to be. That was his thing. He wouldn’t leave her ever, and as much as I missed them, I had to keep believing they were going to find their way back to us one day soon. Just make it really, really soon, guys.

Darius sat up next, slinging an arm around my shoulders even though he wasn’t often very touchy. “Forget the mountain,” he said, like he knew. He always knew. I smiled, looking at him and nuzzling his face. “You’re not ever gonna be alone again,” he swore, and my smile reached as high as the moon.

“Were you looking for me?” Tory asked innocently, and if I hadn’t been with her the entire time, I swear I would have believed she’d had no idea. No wonder that girl had never been charged with anything in the mortal realm.

By the time we made it to the squat wooden building, I’d been hit over the head with a bagel, called at least eighteen different types of fish-based insults, and was pretty certain I would be getting laid tonight too. It was all fucking confusing, and I was still grumbling about being hungry

“Fehu for luck and Dagaz for awareness,” Geraldine cooed mysteriously, and I reached for Seth as he whimpered in protest, offering him some reassuring energy to help combat Geraldine’s insistence on dramatics.

“Oh, my dear, angelic anchovy, I forget sometimes what a delicate daisy you are.”

“I’m not delicate,” he growled

“For a grumpy ass professor who was sent to prison, power-shamed, and is now stuck here in hell, you sure have a lot of optimism these days,” I said, a ghost of a taunt in my voice

“That’s a Heart of Memoriae crystal. It holds memories.” “How do I access them?” I asked excitedly. “If they’re for you, you can access them with blood, but-” “Fang please.” I lifted my thumb to his mouth, pushing it between his lips as his expression got angry again. “Blue,” he warned.

And there it was, her power deep and hidden away but still burning. My queen’s fight wasn’t over yet.

I moved closer to him still, refusing to leave and releasing a wave of healing magic into his body to steal away those awful wounds on his chest. Was she worth all this pain? Even a mate offered from the stars wasn’t worth suffering like this for, was it?

the three mostly irrelevant Heirs to nothing,

“When?” Max demanded, my poor, floatsome sea trout still believing that he should be privy to all war councils despite his low position on the outskirts of the royal court. “Bend the knee, dear salamander, and perhaps you will be invited to the next meet of highest security personnel,” I said with a shrug, and Tory pressed her lips together to hide her amusement at his glower.

“Enough!” I barked, my Cerberus form punching though on the word, making many of them flinch in their flans.

I nodded sympathetically, growing a little bushel of carrots beneath my hand, and leaving them on the table for him in offering. Xavier frowned at them like he knew I was just trying to placate him with the treat, but he snatched them up and started angrily munching all the same.

“Are you all quite done posturing like a bunch of peacocks at a tea party?” Geraldine snapped, looking between us Heirs with narrowed eyes. Xavier and Tory shared a smirk at our expense, and I scoffed.

“You are still posing like the last daisy in the meadow before a merciless winter, you heinous hound.” Geraldine darted forward, clapping me around the ear, and I yelped like a scolded pup before barking at her. She barked right back, and I straightened up to my full height, ready for a brawl, but Caleb pulled me back by the shoulder.

“Darcy,” I barked, like I was scolding a naughty pet. “You know me, you hairy asshole.”

“I don’t think insulting her is helping,” Orion called unhelpfully from his position in the cage where he was still chained to the wall by the shadows,

“Argh, Seth,” Athena growled, trying to wriggle free, but Grayson barked a laugh and nuzzled into me. I swear Athena had the least Wolfy nature in my family, you had to force cuddles on her half the time, but she always got squishy in the end. She fought her need for snuggles, but everyone needed snuggles. I nuzzled both of their heads, holding them down and reminding them that I was their big brother and Alpha, so if I wanted a hug, I was getting one.

I was his in that moment, utterly, undeniably, his.

my ears twitching with the familiarity of that noise. My heart lurched and a glint of gold made me fly that way, seeking out my brother in the clouds, breathing in the scent of smoke on the air, certain he was here. Maybe not in any corporeal way, but the ghost of him was present, I could sense him everywhere. I released a neigh, calling out to him, and I could have sworn a Dragon’s roar sounded somewhere far, far away, in another realm

“Darius didn’t ask your permission to marry Tory,” Orion said. “I know. And I’ll be taking it up with him beyond the Veil, but as we’re currently on two different planes, and I don’t plan on dying anytime soon, he’ll have to wait for the ass kicking I plan on presenting him with in the afterlife. You, however, don’t get to escape me via death, so you’d better be nice as pie to me if you’re determined to marry my sister.”

This was goodbye. And the song was ending. “I love you, Roxanya Vega, and I wish I could have been worthy of you.”

We landed on mossy ground, and I managed to keep my feet, but still bumped headfirst into Orion’s chest, a laugh rumbling through him. He gripped my arm to steady me, eyes glittering as we shared this moment which was so similar to the first time I’d travelled by stardust.

When he released me, I found Caleb hugging Gabriel and Orion tried to escape as Seth sprinted for him with his arms outstretched. “My moon friend!” he cried, and Orion tried to bat him off as Seth collided with him and licked him straight on the forehead.

They stared at us with utter awe staining their features, Geraldine’s jaw hanging slack as the silence stretched. Until footsteps broke it. Heavy boots strode between the gathered crowd, making my pulse thunder with recognition as he appeared between the bodies, as gasps of fear, disbelief and utter confusion spilled out around him. “All hail the true Queens,” Darius growled in a low and powerful voice which rang with a clap of magic that seemed to break the spell that had fallen over everyone who was still staring at us in awe. Darcy inhaled sharply, incredulous at the sight of his return and in the next second, Geraldine screamed, her voice sailing out among the masses. Then the Heirs and Orion all cried out to Darius at once in shock, delight and disbelief.

I met my husband’s eyes as he dropped to one knee before us, placing the head of his axe against the ground and bowing his head low before us. “I pledge my life to your service.” His words were like a summoning and suddenly they were all there, Caleb falling to his knees at Darius’s side, his navy eyes wide with amazement as he looked first to his lost brother, then to Darcy and I who stood shell shocked, hand in hand, in the wake of that terrible power we had just summoned to save us all. “I pledge my life in your service,” Caleb said loudly,

“I pledge my life in your service,” Max echoed, falling to his knees on Darius’s other side, his head lowering, and the overwhelming feeling of love and respect that flooded from him almost floored me. Darcy’s hand tightened around mine, the two of us too stunned to do more than just stare at the final Heir as he stepped forward, looking between the two of us and the impossibility of Darius’s return before he fell to his knees on Caleb’s other side. “I pledge my life in your service,” Seth breathed almost reverently,

The stars flared in defiance overhead as the feeling of that power grew, Geraldine dropping to her knees with a cry of her devotion, followed by Orion who smirked knowingly. Then Gabriel, Xavier, Tyler, Sofia, and the entire school beyond them, every one of them falling to their knees before us.