Sorrow and Starlight (Zodiac Academy, #8)

by Caroline Peckham

“They had a sneakstick up their sleeves,” Geraldine said haughtily. “What was that then?” Melinda asked, folding her arms. “Professor Lance Azriel Orion,” Geraldine thrust her chin into the air. “He taught them as much as he could during our Burrow time. They have learned far more than you can comprehend in your cabooses.” “He’s just one teacher,” Tiberius said dismissively. “Nay, they had the valiant Gabriel Nox and the lechsome yet loyal Brian Washer!”

“Besides, Lance Orion is not just anything, you cantankerous crout! Unless you count that he is just and true. But let me tell you a-something of my Libra fangdangler. His moods may be as dark as a stormy day when he blesses us with his wise and boundless knowledge, but he is the greatest professor I have ever had the privilege of knowing, so I will be damned if I will stand by and let you besmirch his name, and blacken it like it is drenched in tar.

Awww

The Hunter, Orion. Yes, he may be ravishing and virile-” “What’s that got to do with anything?” Max called to her, but she barrelled on without paying him any attention. “And yes, his buttocks are firm enough to draw a wandering eye or two from every direction-” “Gerry,” Max barked.

LMFAOO

Caleb looked tense as the Councillors trailed out of the room and Dante zapped Leon in the ass with a bolt of electricity to wake him up. “Noooo. You had doughnuts?” Leon lamented, his eyes locking on the piece left in Dante’s hand. “You could have had them too if you’d been awake, Leone.” Dante grinned, and Leon lunged for the piece he held.

“Are you going to join me or just stand there until the grass grows high enough to swallow you?’ he called, lifting his head, and turning to me with a wry look that said I’d been busted from the moment I arrived.

lemon. Fuck, what now? “I lost something out here,” I said, not bothering to raise my voice, sure his Vampire ears would pick it up. “Oh yeah?” he called. “What’s that?” My heart. To you. “My…” Think, dammit! “Moon nuts.”

Although neither of us had actually told Max about this place, even though he was definitely sleeping in a muddy crag of a room in the new palace. For some reason, we just vigilantly kept this treehouse secret and returned here late each night like we were hiding it from everyone.

“That coffee smells good,” I commented just to say anything, and in a flash of speed that had my head spinning, he vanished inside and returned a beat later, placing my own coffee into my hands while not having spilled a drop from either mug.

How comes everyone around here kept get fancy bonds and shiny marks? I never got any, and I’d been to the moon. Not even she had given me a little ring in the eye or a moon mate crescent behind my ear. Oh, to be a moon mate. A Wolf could dream.

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.

“Why don’t you run along and find your lover boy?” he sneered. “Are you going to tell him about how you spread your legs for me the other night and moaned my name like it was your favourite star in the sky?” Athena’s face paled and I shot to my feet with a snarl. “You promised you wouldn’t tell,” Athena whispered in horror, looking at him in betrayal and Hadley’s jaw ticked. “Who are you more ashamed of? Me or your secret boyfriend?” he asked nastily. “Because maybe it should be us who are ashamed of our weakness for you.”

Oh hes jelly

“Why don’t you run along and find your lover boy?” he sneered. “Are you going to tell him about how you spread your legs for me the other night and moaned my name like it was your favourite star in the sky?” Athena’s face paled and I shot to my feet with a snarl. “You promised you wouldn’t tell,” Athena whispered in horror, looking at him in betrayal and Hadley’s jaw ticked. “Who are you more ashamed of? Me or your secret boyfriend?” he asked nastily. “Because maybe it should be us who are ashamed of our weakness for you.”

DAMN

looked over his shoulder at me though, shock rooted in his features. “He’s dead?” he rasped. “Yeah,” I confirmed. “And she never got to say goodbye. So, who’s the bitch now?” “Fuck.”

Justin stood close by, his lips parted as his gaze watched the bobbing of Geraldine’s breasts on the water and Max lunged at him with a ferocious snarl and a wave of water riding at his back, taking him down under the waves and disappearing into what was likely a watery end to Justin. I chuckled as Geraldine shook her head and returned to her dance.

“I’m well aware of that,” he said icily, and I wasn’t sure exactly why I was pissing him off, but it always seemed to go this way whenever we hooked up. Then again, maybe it was just because Tory wasn’t here, and he wanted something fast and easy while she was out of sight. Seemed like a dick move, but then again Venus was at work tonight and it wasn’t that simple to resist celestial urges.

Hessodelussional omg

bubble, leaving him behind and not looking back but I made sure to toss a peace sign at the first guy I spotted just in case he was watching me go.

LMFQOO THE FUCKING PACE SIGN

My nose wrinkled and I started to get the ick as he began thrusting to a beat entirely within his own head, the wet slap of his dick hitting the waves carving its way into my brain until it was all I could hear. Nah, I’m out.

LMAO

“It’s not about what he wanted, it’s about where he was getting it. Do you know how much pain a wrist tattoo causes?” he growled, and I frowned at that odd comment. “So you like to tattoo in places that hurt?” I asked.

Does it? And als how we

“Are you…asking me to fuck you out here in the open where everyone can see us?” Max asked and by golly, if the moon had been just a touch brighter, I could have sworn his blush would have been reflected in the waves themselves.

Where the fuck was she then? I moved to the bed as I spotted a note on it, the paper folded over and the words ‘hey asshole’ written in Tory’s no-nonsense script at the top of it. I flipped it open, my frown deepening as I read the message inside. I’ve reached my limit with this shit, so I’ve gone to take my destiny back from the stars. Gerry, I love you – lead the rebels against the Court of Solaria like you suggested. Make that scaley bastard pay. The rest of you, try not to cry too much if I don’t make it back, I was a mean bitch anyway. x

flung open and Rosalie Oscura half threw Seth into the room. “Here’s what you were looking for, cucciolo sciocco,” she growled, flicking her ebony hair back over one shoulder as Seth stumbled against the wall and scowled at her.

That girl was trouble with a capital T, and I was beginning to think that neither Seth nor I had the first clue on how to handle her, let alone figure out her next moves.

“Your boy decided to invite himself to the orgy my pack is indulging in down on the beach,” she said, curling a finger around a lock of ebony hair as she leaned back against the door frame. “He…what?” I asked, my throat tightening on the word as something sharp twisted in my chest. “They needed me,” Seth snapped behind me, but I couldn’t bear to look at him,

Rosalie tutted loudly. “They would have welcomed your involvement, stronzo, but you weren’t offering them your cock, were you?” “What the fuck was he offering them then?” I demanded, my words practically a shout even as I tried to contain myself. “Advice,” Rosalie sneered, her narrowed eyes flicking over my shoulder towards Seth who huffed loudly.

non sono il terzo incomodo.

It was a crescent moon with a wolf perched upon the curve at its base while a bat hung from the curve above,

OMG

The worst possible people to ever walk into this room strode in, and I gaped in horror at my mom and Caleb’s. “Tory Vega, we really must-” Mom started, then her jaw fell slack and Melinda let out a shrill cry as she spotted her son pinned beneath me.

Oh dear

Remember that time there was a Lunar Eclipse when we were studying at Zodiac Academy, and you, me, Tiberius and Radcliff let Hail Vega dom all of us?” “Oh yes,” my mom chuckled. “That was a fun night.”

WHAT

My jaw fell slack as she let that bomb drop on our heads and blow up in our faces. “You fucked Tory and Darcy’s Dad?” I breathed. “And each other?” Caleb gasped, which actually might have been more of the shock here.

“Oh, Max bent that Grus girl over a rock and gave her a jolly good rodgering in front of the entire rebel camp last night,” Mom explained.

LMAO

“It’s nothing,” Caleb cut in. “We were just fucking around.” “Yeah,” I rasped as his words gutted me, slicing through the muscle of my heart and carving it up on a silver platter complete with a sprig of coriander as a garnish. “Nothing.”

“Oh that sounds lovely,” my mom encouraged, turning to me. “And you could have a threeway with Mr Berrick’s son, Timothy, and his friend, oh what’s his name again, Melinda?” She snapped her fingers as I gaped at them in horror of their efforts to set us up with their friends’ kids. “Egbert?” Melinda said. “That’s the one!” Mom smiled.

LMO THIS IS SO STRANGE

We are the Councillors, and it’s about time everyone remembered that.” Caleb muttered something that sounded a whole lot like ex, but our moms either didn’t hear him or ignored it.

A horrid certainty washed over me that we were never going to hook up again, and I stood in the despairing light of the sunrise which devoured the last of that perfect night. Time didn’t stop, it never did.

It wasn’t just losing my wings, or even Darius or my mom, I’d lost something else out there on that field of destruction. Something intrinsic which had abandoned me, leaving me worthless without it. My confidence perhaps, or something deeper. A piece of me that couldn’t be reforged.

The clouds shifted and the heavy beating of huge wings sounded, making me turn towards it instinctively, 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.

Oh my hearrt

Athena stepped back, patting the soft space between my eyes and smiling widely at me. Hadley shot to her side and she glanced at him, some secret passing between them that didn’t seem like any kind of secret at all, especially as their hands grazed and their fingers didn’t part.

Awww theyre so ccute

Caleb’s mother looking close to tears as she stroked her fingers over my nose. “Your mom would be so proud of you.”

she moved in to embrace me, laying a kiss by my ear. “We’re all here for you, Xavier. Every Altair is your family now. Okay? If you ever need anything, you only have to ask.” She stepped back, and I found Antonia gazing at me with a tinge of sadness in her otherwise proud gaze. “Catalina and Darius are watching you now, I know it,” she said, and I released a soft noise of sadness, sensing she was right.

“Stars, no,” Seth balked. “I’m in love with-” he half choked on those words. “The moon.”

“Behold…a gift from Darion.” “Who’s Darion?” I breathed and Seth stood upright, jerking his fist away from us again with a huff. “By the moon, you don’t even know anything, do you? Darion. As in Darcy and Orion. Dar-ion. It’s their couple name. Like you guys would be…Xavylia. And Tory and Darius are Torius-” His expression grew tight and he barrelled on.

Aww

And well, obviously we’re not a couple and never would be or anything, but just for shits and giggles as we’re the only ones left out, Caleb and I would be Saleb.

LMAO SSETH

“She wasn’t his girlfriend, Xavier. She was his BFF BJ buddy.” He flashed me a peace sign, like that meant anything,

My jaw dropped, realising Seth hadn’t been kidding at all. This was serious. Something that could really change the whole fate of the war. “Oh my stars,” Tyler exhaled, turning the ring over in his hand.

must be mentioned, that the memory loop was able to come into our possession thanks to two brave souls who are currently prisoners of the false king himself. Memories from Sky show both Darcy Vega and her Elysian Mate, Lance Orion, trapped in a cage of night iron in the throne room at the Palace of Souls, the haunted look in their eyes telling of what they have suffered through during their incarceration.

I feel like mentioning them was a bad idea

“The kingdom is in uproar, Your Highness. The people are losing faith in you. They want answers. They cannot easily deny the truth that has been presented to them among Francesca Sky’s memories.”

HA YES

“We saw it. You used Dark Coercion on Hail Vega!” some little fucking whore shouted up at me, pointing an accusing finger.

I hunted for the source and my Dragons pushed into the masses to try and find it too, but then I noticed it was coming from the ground itself, the music rumbling beneath the street and growing louder by the second. I had wards in place all around the Court, but I suddenly realised I had not thought to cover the sewers.

HA

But before I could make it inside, a Griffin shot out of one of the drains with a lilac-haired girl on its back who had a bird-like mask on her face,

Its gabes wife!

“You are such a hypocrite,” she snapped. “You would never leave me if this was the other way around.” “Guilty,” I agreed.