Sorrow and Starlight (Zodiac Academy, #8)

by Caroline Peckham

“You could follow him into death if you require your reunion so dearly,”

“Not even one of the most powerful Fae in Solaria can do that. There is no doing what you want done. The stars have chosen his fate.” “It won’t be undone,” Audire agreed. “Fuck the stars,” I growled, and the three of them recoiled like hissing snakes.

“The cost of honing ether is higher than you can imagine.” That voice ricocheted within me, and I was struck with the knowledge that it came from not one, but all of them somehow. “If the cost of this is my soul, then I’d gladly pay the price,” I thought back at them,

All three of them laughed at those words, their amusement slipping through me without me needing to hear it. “So easy to promise the world when you don’t hold it in your grasp.”

But I would lose myself in them if I did that, I could feel the weight of that truth pressing in on me.

claim as I took my final breaths. It would be a beautiful death, lost in the arms of the man I loved. But not a real one.

“I’m needed here,” I told them firmly, trying to claw my mind away from that deepest of temptations even as I felt the tears rushing down my cheeks, my grief breaking free of its walls at last.

“Ruiner of Destiny,” they whispered, and I inhaled sharply, my magic sparking within me as they called on that new and untested flame inside of me, beckoning it closer once more.

Grief threatened to consume me, the memory too real, too much to bear,

This was the price they sought. And I wasn’t going to flinch from it, even if I feared the pain I would be left in when the sun finally rose.

“Come for me, Roxanya,” Darius growled. “Come for me so prettily, the way you always do.”

Who'd have thought this would end up beibg so sad

I was his and he was mine. And as the ghost of him wrapped his hand around my wrist and tugged me closer, I gave up any attempt to remember that this was just a memory playing out in my mind.

I had missed this, missed him so incredibly, and somehow, for this stolen moment in time, he was here, the shattered pieces of me gluing themselves back together, tears of pure joy rolling down my cheeks.

Im crying at a sex scene AGAIN. THIS BOOK IS SO BIZARRE

It was a lie, a beautiful, tempting, lie. But I didn’t care. There was only him.

because he was here and he was mine, and if it only lasted one night, then I’d still take it.

I could see what this was now, how this night would play out, me and him over and over and over again until I was aching, fractured, and broken for him even more than I had been. This was torture of the sweetest kind, and I was a glutton for punishment because I was all in. I could never say no to him anyway. Not in any way that lasted.

So the night passed with me in his arms, his body possessing mine, my heart racing to a pace that only he had ever been able to set it to as I fell apart for him time and again.

I really was reliving them. Every pleasure filled moment, every thrust of his hips, every kiss, every ‘I love you’. All of it.

I unfurled it carefully, my heart hurting with the loss of him all over again while I tried not to give too much thought to the hedonistic memory orgy I’d taken part in last night. I’d sworn that I would do whatever it took, and if that meant fucking the ghost of him in my memories until I passed out, then it didn’t seem like the worst thing that could have been asked of me.

This is so strange and whats even more strange is i was sobbing throughout it

“Sorry, man,” the guy breathed, backing up a step and offering a peace sign which instantly froze my blood in my veins. “It’s fine,” Seth replied dismissively, the peace sign he gave him in return making a stone drop into my gut as I fought against any outward reaction.

LMAO THIS FFUCKING PEACE SIGN

My lips parted as I took in the sight of her skin covered in smears of blood, her beautiful black dress torn and filthy, and a haunted look in her eyes as she sagged against Miguel for support.

“Watch out, Max, or people might start to think you care about a Vega,” Tory taunted, and I was glad to see that she was still very much herself despite the state of her.

“I’ll take you to your room,” I said, glancing between the others for the briefest of moments, making sure Seth and Max understood that I needed to get her out of here before shooting off and leaving them all behind.

I love the bond they all have now

I swear to fuck, I almost wish I was gay for the sake of those women alone.”

LMAO

“Fine.” Tory turned to look up at the ceiling, expelled a harsh breath, and said, “I may have spent an entire day and night engaging in what could objectively be called a memory orgy where the three of them all lived through a hell of a lot of mine and Darius’s sex life by bringing my memories to life and watching me fuck him repeatedly until I blacked out.” “What the fuck?” I spluttered, and she groaned, throwing an arm over her eyes so she didn’t have to look at me.

But it was Darius. I would go to the ends of the earth with her to bring him back if that was what it took, no price would be too steep.

She made him real.” Tory swallowed thickly, and I didn’t need to ask how being with him like that had left her feeling. It must have been like stepping into the past without having any chance to change the future she knew he was going to face. “I’m sorry,” I said, knowing it didn’t do anything to help her, but she gave me a wry smile all the same.

Geraldine’s loud recounting of how worried she had been about Tory while she took on the job of washing her hair for her.

Qwww gerry

Seth’s lips parted on the words, the rejection shining in his eyes just like that fucking peace sign, waiting to taunt me tirelessly, but he didn’t speak them.

LMAOO NOT THE PEACE SIGN

“Good. Because I am more than ready to get my fucking twin back.”

Finally

He had been working on Gabriel Nox’s mind day after day now and had produced little of substance, telling me all he could see in the Seer’s head were visions of a giant nest shaped like a falcon and fine sticks inlaid with gemstones.

LMFAOO LEON IS A GENIUS

“The Oliwill is the first of this batch to make it beyond a day.

I have no words for this evil

My hazel hair was pinned back with a silver clip which hid a tourmaline crystal, the magic of which I was going to need tonight if I was ever going to pull this off.

PLEASE KILL HIM

Mom’s voice rang in my head, her words always knowing how to calm me. “Francesca, you are only as strong as you feel you are. Power is nothing without confidence.”

But I was pretty sure she was angling at something else, because towards the end, she’d kept asking about one man. The man who I’d seen a future with once. The man who was the reason I was sitting outside this palace now, about to do the unthinkable for.

Shes doing this for lance? Honestly good on her

I’d coped with Mom’s loss in the end, though it changed me, as all death does.

But of course, it wasn’t really my morals that had me sitting here in a fitted red dress with a slit up one leg and gold jewellery draped around my throat and wrists. It was him. Forever him.

It just shws men hve o idea because lance thought she was on the sams page as himwith it be ing atemporary fling

When I’d seen him, he’d looked desperate, broken, terrified. He’d turned me away, and I wasn’t sure if that was the moment my heart had shattered or if it was the moment when he’d pleaded guilty and been sent to prison. I knew him. And I knew that what he’d spoken on the stand had been a lie the moment it left his lips. He sacrificed himself for a Vega princess,

Finding him under the stars, newly mated to Darcy Vega, watching him kiss her like she was the lifeblood of his soul, like he could no longer see anyone or anything else. Yes, my heart had broken the moment his illegal affair had come to light, but it had been crushed and set on fire the night he had been mated to her.

I do feel bad for her because id go crazy over lance too

So here I was, about to risk my life for him. A fool? Maybe. But I valued him far beyond my own selfish desire to be loved by him.

The girlies are getting the rdemmptionstooo

We were friends, Nebula Allies to be precise, and nothing would change that. I would be here for him whether my heart pined for him or not. And as his Nebula Ally, I was here for his Elysian Mate too.

GOOD ON YOU FRAN

Fake it ‘til you make it. I raised my chin, not letting him see a fraction of fear in me. I was a predator just like he was, and I wasn’t going to let him turn me into prey.

Good girl

And yet the woman I’d seen in the photos accompanying that article on her marriage to Hamish Grus only filled me with admiration. If she had endured a lifetime in the company of this monster without breaking, then I could certainly hope to survive a single night.

though a twinge of satisfaction filled me at the thought of the original having been destroyed by a Vega.

but I saw the truth. She wasn’t Fae. She wasn’t even Nymph. She was a weapon more powerful than anything I had encountered during my time in the FIB. I’d faced plenty of monsters, but she was something wholly else. An entity that defied nature and offered Lionel untold power.

than anything.” I knew how far down this road I might have to go, and I’d made my peace with that. It was the price I’d pay to get an opportunity to reach Lance, but I had a plan to distract the false king yet that might buy me time.

Its givng lysandra and arobynn

“Take me to Lance Orion,” I commanded,

been struggling over ever since the Savage King fell. I gasped as my eyes landed on a cage of night iron beyond it, bolted against the wall where two Fae sat close together within the bars. I ran forward, leaving the butler immobilised by the door as love and pain rose together in my chest at the sight of Lance Orion. “Francesca?” he gasped in shock, rising to his feet and wincing at the half-healed wounds on his bare chest.

YES SAVE THEM

and had no time to ask as I pulled Orion into an embrace through the bars.

She betterfucking av darcy

Darcy moved closer and I looked to her, feeling so many things towards this girl. I had envied her night after night the moment I saw her mated to Lance, but it had become more than that. I’d seen what she and her sister had done in this war, and I idolised them in a way I never could have predicted. My loyalty had always been firmly with the Celestial Council and the Heirs, but I couldn’t deny the Vegas’ power anymore. She had to get free of here alongside Lance, and they had to return to the rebels to fight.