Sorrow and Starlight (Zodiac Academy, #8)

by Caroline Peckham

“Did you ever love me?” I asked quietly,

IN FRONT OF HIS MATE IS FUCKING CRAZYY

“Answer me,” I begged. “Tell me if you ever looked at me and saw a life at my side, a wedding, children. Was it ever me? Even for a fraction of a moment?” His throat bobbed and his brows drew tightly together, guilt marring his features before he voiced the word that fell like an axe against my neck. “No.”

HA TAKE THAT BITCH

“I will never leave Lance behind,” I growled. “You will do as I command,” Darcy barked and I flinched, the power in her words making something wholly Fae within me quake. I saw the Savage King in her eyes and felt his authority ringing through the air, but that authority belonged to her now, this princess whose bloodline once owned the intimidating throne at my back.

everything I was hunting for spilled from the false king into me. Thoughts and memories poured from him in an endless torrent, his mind crumbling to my demand, and more knowledge than I could easily dissect filling me at once. I didn’t attempt to make full sense of any of it, simply channelling every single conniving, deviant, hidden moment from his past into the ring on my finger, recording all of it.

YES GET THE EVIDENCE

I reached for Lance, his eyes locking with mine, and I used the last of my energy to offer him the best memories of us I had. He let them all in, every one of the beautiful moments we’d shared, every day at Zodiac Academy together. And he saw my truth then, seeing himself through my eyes and how he had made my heart pound and love fill me up to the brim until I had barely been able to contain it in my flesh. He may not have loved me as I’d hoped, but he had loved me all the same. His smiles in those memories reminded me of that, his laughs, his light, all the good we’d shared long before darkness had crept into his life and blotted out the brightness in him. And I realised we’d possessed something far more valuable than what I’d been trying to gain from him all along. He was my friend, and I was his. And there was no truer love in my life than that.

IF I WAS DARCY ID B GOIBG MENTQ IDC

“I’m sorry,” Darcy breathed. “I’m so sorry.”

Okay but after francs auacify id lowkey b cherring

Bile rose in my throat, and the loss of my Nebula Ally stamped permanent damage into my heart. Why did she have to come here? Guilt swept over me at the realisation that she had done this for me, and I didn’t know what to do with all those final memories she’d gifted me, the truth of her love for me clear as day. How had I never seen it before? Was I so fucking blind?

YES

“Ahhh!” he screamed. “Kill him,” Darcy growled under her breath, hope lacing those words. “Yes, fucking kill him, you psycho,” I urged.

Lmao this is the state weve got to. Oorting or

“End the motherfucker. Come on,” I hissed.

Me throughiut ths series

Lionel’s eyes fell on Darcy and I, a look of utter shame falling over him as he found us watching his downfall with rapt attention. “Look away,” he commanded in a ferocious growl. I didn’t and Darcy didn’t either, staring at his shame and drinking it all in. “We see you, Lionel Acrux,” Blue said icily. “We see your weakness.”

HA

Darcy said, and I looked at her, finding so much strength in her eyes that it helped ground me in the wake of everything that had happened.

Darcy knelt at my side, laying a hand on my shoulder. “She loved you.” “I know,” I whispered, guilt drowning me. “I never realised. Was I a fucking idiot?”

Id be gong mbtal personalyll

She could change everything in this war if we can get these memories out to the public.”

Darcy took the piece of bread we’d saved him from our last meal,

Aww thehre so cute

the three mostly irrelevant Heirs to nothing, sweet,

LMAOOO

and his family of heathens

Everyone is being humbled lmaoo

“Wait, when did the Dragon and co bend the fucking knee?” Seth huffed, and I sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of my nose. “We were hardly going to bow to lame Lionel, were we doggy dude?” Leon said with a chuckle.

“I figured it was time I got to choose my own monarchs.”

YES DANTE

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.

LMAO

“Maxy boy?” I asked, and that scoundrel of a sea lion looked my way with a frown on his brow. “If I were in mortal peril, would you risk all to save me, throw yourself between me and death, give up everything just to see me survive?” “Of course I would, Gerry,” he said, his eyes softening like the wet kipper I had suspected he was. “Thank you for admitting that most crippling weakness,” I replied. “As such, I shall be in a differing group to you, ensuring that the mission is put before anything else and nothing is risked on account of my worthless existence.” “Wait just a second-” Max tried to interrupt, but I cast a silencing bubble around him so subtle that he didn’t even notice, his nonsensical tirade trapped within, allowing the rest of us to finalise the plan.

LMAO GERRRY

“Oh sure, let’s just go with Tory’s plan. She’s so pretty and has such perfect hair and has magical tits that can-” “Dude, are you in love with your dead best friend’s widow?” Leon hissed in a whisper so loud even the clams in the distant sea could surely hear him. “’Cause that’s fucked up.” “No,” Seth blurted, looking horrified while Tory wrinkled her queenly nose at the suggestion.

LMAO

My fingers twitched with need as I finally gave in to my favoured vice, sliding the small dressing table drawer open and revealing the premium Faeroids I had awaiting me inside.

LMAO

and an arrogant slant to his lips that could have melted panties from fifty feet away. I

Ew

“It’s not our fault we’re naturally radiant,” I said. “Naturally arrogant, you mean,” Tory corrected, arching a brow at me. She was wearing leather pants, plus a scowl deep enough to cause real bodily damage, and was looking all kinds of badass herself – she just needed to work on her signature pose and she’d be good to go. I could see it now on the front of a magazine. Bitchy Flame Eyes in beast mode. “That too,” I agreed with a sideways grin, and she almost cracked one in response.

Twinkle Stud.

LMAO NO WAY

“That’s the spirit, Twinkle Stud.” “What did you just call me?” I just smiled, knowing he’d heard and that he definitely loved it. You’re welcome, Twinkle Stud.

I dont thnj hh dii

But I was a willing sacrifice, walking into the shrine of unrequited love and handing him a knife so he could cut out the pounding muscle in my chest and devour it whole. I could think of no better end for my heart than one delivered by him anyway.

“Wait,” Stella gasped, her fangs winking at me from her mouth. “I can help you.”

YAY

“You two have danced the four-legged mongo long enough! It is as clear as a summer’s day on a Tuesday morn that each of you are twitterpated with the other like bucktoothed rabbits gazing into the lambent glow of a thousand Faeflies. My eyes may be open, but if they were welded shut with the solder of sun steel, I would still perceive it as plainly as an unbuttered bagel. Seth Capella, you resemble a bloated cagafrog when you gaze upon this toothsome behemoth before you, and Caleb Altair, it appears as though your jaw might fall from the corners of your face and shatter against the flagstones every time you glance yonder at your merry mutt. So stop this unendurable foxtrot and lay your truths upon the chantry of each other’s fervour this instant!”

LMAOOO

the beauty of her so similar to that of her daughters.

We can’t all be in two places at once, and I’m not walking out of this palace without my twin. I’ll die here before I abandon her.

Xavier didn’t look like he trusted me one bit, and to be fair, I wouldn’t have either. I was beyond the point of limiting myself in what I would do to protect the people I loved, and I knew that I was likely to stain my soul in all kinds of sin in my effort to release my sister tonight.

“Tory,” Xavier began, but I cut him off by throwing my arms around him. “I love you for wanting to stay,” I breathed, crushing him in my hold. “But I need you to accept this and go.” I pushed him back and he gave me a heart-wrenching look before nodding and following Max into the passageway. “Stay safe, little Vega,” Max growled,

“Tory,” Darcy choked out, and it was like I hadn’t been able to breathe until that moment, like my heart had been frozen for weeks and weeks since the last time our gazes had locked and our souls had been in the same place.

Oh thank g

I forced myself to release her and moved my attention to the lock on the cage door, my eyes flicking to Orion as our grief over Darius passed between us and my heart twisted in agony for a moment. “I missed you too, asshole,”

“You fucking idiot,” I barked at Orion as those words sank in, my fist snapping out and punching him straight in the balls. Orion doubled over with a curse, stumbling away from the bars and wheezing out a breathy, “Why?” but I just glared at him. “What is it with the self-sacrificing bullshit you men keep throwing at us? We’re fucking princesses born to the most powerful bloodline in the whole of Solaria, the first Phoenixes born in a thousand years, and we claimed all four motherfucking Elements just to put the icing on the cake. We aren’t damsels in distress, we didn’t ask you to do any of this shit, and I’m so fucking sick of having to clean up the mess your knight-in-shining-armour routines keep causing!”

LITERALLY LIKE STOP GETTTING THEM INTO MESES

“I’m not coming with you, Tory,” Darcy said fiercely, but I could tell with one look at her that she was tapped out, her magic and Phoenix both out of her reach, and that meant she couldn’t do shit to stop me taking her. I’d been too broken without her, and I wasn’t going to leave her in the hands of Lavinia and Lionel to do what they pleased. It was a miracle she was still breathing at all. I looked to Orion, knowing without asking that he’d agree with me on this, and he nodded. “Blue, listen to her. You need to get out of here. It’s only two more months. I can take it. I will gladly take it in payment for your freedom from the-”

Oh god

“Tory needs you with her,” he growled back, the low blow like a punch to my heart as she turned to me with pain in her eyes, knowing the truth of those words even if I was trying to mask how much I was hurting right now. I did need her. I needed her like I needed air in my lungs, and I was breaking more and more every day that I was forced to remain without her. She was my rock, my sanity, the one thing I had always and would always fight to the death and beyond for, and without her, I was nothing but a ruinous shell of the girl she loved in return.

I gave Orion an apologetic look as I grabbed Darcy’s arm, yanking her towards the cage door, but she dug her heels in. “Tory, I can’t!” she yelled when it became clear that I was going to ignore her attempts to shake me off. “Go with her, Blue,” Orion growled,

Oh my heart

“We have to go,” I insisted, closing in on them again, but Darcy whipped towards me, the defiance in her gaze making it clear she had no plans to come with me, and something cracked inside me as I took in that choice, that rejection. I got it, she loved him. But I had never put any love of mine above my love of her and never would have either. It broke something in me as I took in the decision she’d made, the last piece of the girl I’d been shattering as I found myself utterly alone in the world with no one to hold on to at all.

Oh tor

I swallowed against that pain, and I knew she could see it as tears welled in her eyes, but she wasn’t going to change her mind either. She’d picked, and it wasn’t me she chose.

DQRCY GO WITH HEHRR

“Fuck danger,” I snarled, closing in on her. “All I want is you.” I looked to Orion desperately, realising that she wasn’t going to see sense on this as she continued to refuse, and he gave me a slight nod of agreement, both us knowing that we couldn’t accept that answer. She would hate us for it, but that was okay. I could take her hatred so long as she was safe and as far away from Lionel and Lavinia as I could manage. “You need to leave, Tory,” Darcy began again, but as her lips parted on more words which I knew I didn’t want to hear, Orion snapped his hand out and struck her in the temple.

“I’ll keep her safe,” I swore to him, my hand grasping his and squeezing tightly as I felt the pain it had caused him to do that to her. But he’d had no choice. I had no choice.

“I’m sorry,” I breathed, hating myself for abandoning him here, and the thick muscles of his own arms banded tightly around me in return. “Don’t be,” he growled. “Never be sorry for protecting her. That’s something the two of us will always put above everything else.”

Awww ny babiess

Someone needed to take that responsibility away from him, and fast. I didn’t need to start my morning with that disconcerting shit, but Tyler thought they were hilarious and always read them out to me even when I tried to escape them.

It was hard to believe one of my best memories lived within these dark grounds, far out in the gardens where me, the Heirs, and the Vegas had found a moment of peace in a snowball fight. That

Horror pooled into my gut as I took in what he’d done, what he’d just placed between himself and the world like a wall of pure muscle and power. He’d Guardian bonded himself to them. Every last one.

Oh god

“Run!” Gabriel Nox’s voice daggered through my skull, and the ferocity of his tone managed to turn my gaze to him where he was held up in the stands, bound in chains on his knees next to Vard. “Fear the Bonded men! You cannot win! Death is coming! The prophecy has changed!”

SHIT

“Vard took Gabe,” Leon said in anguish, and I grunted mournfully in acknowledgement.

FOR FUCKS SAKE

“Darcy,” I barked, like I was scolding a naughty pet. “You know me, you hairy asshole.” Darcy roared, whirling on me and charging again, forcing me to retreat around the throne, keeping the enormous stone-built chair between us. “I don’t think insulting her is helping,” Orion called unhelpfully

LMAOO