Sorrow and Starlight (Zodiac Academy, #8)

by Caroline Peckham

My soul was wounded by seeing my mate do that with another woman, and not just any woman, her. This creature born of darkness who held our fates so tightly in her grip. “I’ll kill you, I’ll fucking kill you!” I swore on every entity who cared to listen, marking this monster’s death as mine.

I hope she tears her apart

“I must willingly give her my body in any way she wants it.” A chill swept through me that made me fall still, my blood freezing over in my veins. “Lance, please tell me you haven’t- that she hasn’t-” I couldn’t even finish that sentence, the way she’d kissed him making me think of how much worse this could have already been. Had she raped him? Taken his body under the terms of this fucking deal?

IM SICK

“What did she whisper to you before she left?” I asked through shaking lips, though I wasn’t sure if it was fear or anger that was making me tremble most. “Blue,” he begged. “Tell me,” I demanded, my body thawing as a fiery rage was stoked in me instead. “She said…” His throat bobbed and his eyes moved to the wall beyond me, resignation falling over him. “That perhaps there are deeper ways to make you suffer than making me bleed.”

I hate her more than anything

A scream of anger left me, and I yanked more fiercely on my restraints, murder calling my name. I would rip her head from her shoulders, I’d spill every drop of her blood and wipe her from existence.

I hope she does it slowly

“Stop,” she hissed, the command ringing through me, but I managed to resist it as I thought of Orion bleeding for her, of this witch’s mouth on his, and I charged forward in a bid for death.

Yes baby

but I saw the moment of doubt in her. The fear that she couldn’t stop me, and it fed my vengeful hunger.

MY POWERFUL LOVING GIRL

“Keep your hands off of my mate,” I warned, my palms pressed to the floor either side of her as I fought to move.

My fingers skimmed along the floor, and I swear I heard the palace groaning around me, the walls seeming to quiver in anguish of the fallen Vega within them.

I was vaguely aware of Orion shouting my name from somewhere nearby and I cracked my eyes, finding two Nymphs corralling him into the night iron cage in the throne room.

The clang of the cage door shutting filled my ears the same moment Orion pulled me into his arms, turning me over and seeking out life in me.

“Look at me.” He hesitated a beat longer before doing as I asked, and my muscles relaxed as those familiar dark eyes met mine. “I’m sorry I failed,” I whispered.

“I only know of two fates,” he said quietly. “Gabriel is here. Lionel captured him.” “Oh god,”

Im glad theyre all finding out whats happened

“And the other fate?” I asked, but Orion didn’t look at me, pain splintering through his eyes. “Lance?” I whispered, sensing he was about to tell me something awful, something that would shatter my heart into even more pieces, but I needed to know all the same.

He hesitated for several more heartbeats, like voicing his next words would cause him immeasurable pain. “Darius didn’t make it.”

Oh go

“No,” I gasped, sitting bolt upright, refusing that fact with every fibre of my being. Because Darius Acrux was one of the strongest people I knew, he was a warrior, a creature as powerful as a deity. And more than that, he was my friend, and my sister’s star-bound mate, her husband. “No, no, please. It can’t be true.”

Those words undid me, and I came apart in his arms, the two of us clinging to each other as if nothing else existed but our grief.

I couldn’t contain the hurt I felt over losing the man I’d come to love as deeply as a brother, and it was only stoked by the pain I knew my twin was feeling out there somewhere. I should have been with her through this. I couldn’t stand the thought of her facing this alone. I yearned to be with Tory more strongly than I ever had in my life, and the torment that caused me was unimaginable. She might as well have been an entire universe away for how impossible it was to reach her now.

My dad never acted like he noticed though. But that was because my dad was a badass. I followed Darius through a door, and he shot me a mischievous look back over his shoulder that spelled trouble. And that was our favourite thing in the world.

“You sure you’re gonna Emerge as a Dragon?” I teased and Darius frowned, looking like the sky might fall if he didn’t.

He might have been younger than me by a few years, but our friendship had always been encouraged since we were kids. I’d seen him take his first steps, had caught him when he’d fallen, and he’d always been one of the best friends I’d ever had.

MY BROKEN HEART

couldn’t explain it, but it was like we were meant to be friends, and it made me think of something Aunt Catalina had told me once – back when she’d seemed a bit nicer.

WHEN SHED BEEN NICER OMG IM SICK

That was before she’d gone all weird, sort of cold and distant. I didn’t really like her anymore; she gave me the creeps. I hated the way she looked at me vacantly, yet always wanted to be close to me and my family, like she wanted to say something interesting, but she didn’t have the brain power to manage it.

OUCH OUCH OUCH

I knew the weight of what he was offering, and wondered if we really might be Nebular Allies, because his trust in me right now was limitless.

For you, my dearest friend and lifelong companion. Our blood was made to spill on each other’s battlefields. I closed the book a little unwillingly and offered it back to Darius. He folded his arms with a serious look. “It’s yours. Keep it.” I shook my head, trying to make him take it back. “If your dad found out-” “He won’t. That book’s been sitting there untouched for years,” Darius said. “Besides, it’s meant for a friend. And that’s what you are.” I sensed the magnitude of what he was offering me and couldn’t help but give in. It was a token of our friendship to each other, and it felt wrong to refuse it. And I decided there and then that we were Nebular Allies, whether the stars agreed or not, I didn’t really care. I was gonna look out for him, and he would look out for me. And that was all there was to it.

OH I CANNOT DO THIS RIGHT NOW

He jogged to them, immediately falling into their game and my heart urged me to join them, but my feet remained in place. “Hey, Lance,” Seth said, waving at me and I waved back, stepping forward as Max smiled at me too and Caleb looked me over with intrigue.

Darius and I were friends regardless of what relationships he had with the Heirs. It was me and him, and nothing and no one would ever come between us.

Now that my mind was sharp again, it came with so much fear for the girl who lay in my lap. No matter how good it felt to have her close again, I needed her as far away from here as possible.

unless I could find a way to get her out. I tucked a lock of inky, shadow-bound hair behind her ear and at my touch, the shadows receded from it, the lock of hair becoming blue all over once again and making my heart jolt. “Darcy.” I shook her lightly, hope sparking in me.

WAIT OMG HOPE

I got to my feet, towering over her and she finally looked at me, seeming so damn small that it was like she was a ghost of her former self.

I knew who she was down to her roots, and I needed to remind her of it so that she’d come back to me.

“You are everything,” I said firmly, and she tried to push past me, but I slammed my palms to the wall either side of her, not letting her go. “And you will not run from me.”

“Listen to me, Blue. I loved you when your soul shone with all the starlight in the night sky, and I’ll love you now when your soul is the blackest you’ve ever known. I will love you whole and I’ll love you in pieces. It

Sobbing my little broken heart out

Darius was your best friend-” “And he loved you like a sister.

HE DID IM ILL

A sharp knife was stabbing itself repeatedly into my chest as I spoke about my friend, the knowledge that I would never see him in this life again too agonising to truly accept.

I hated to think that Geraldine Grus was gone. That girl was one of a kind. I respected her and her unwavering loyalty to the Vegas, even if we hadn’t always seen eye to eye in the past.

My spine straightened and I turned to Darcy with a vow in my eyes that I wouldn’t let that happen, and she gave me the same look right back.

Panic darted through me, and I looked to Darcy in alarm. I had to get her out of here.

Darcy caught my arm, looking up at me through pitch black eyes. “I’ll fight.”

I twisted around, planting myself in front of Darcy, my fangs bared and a promise of death in my eyes as Lionel Acrux prowled towards us with intent. “Stay back,” I warned.

Darcy growled, stepping to my side and facing him head on, darkness swirling around her.

He was a huge man, at least three times my size when you accounted for all that muscle, but the real danger in him didn’t lie in his bulk, it was the power in his veins and the merciless cruelty he ruled with.

“Don’t you dare speak about my mother like that,” I snapped.

“All they’ll see is a coward who can’t face me with my true power intact,” I spat as I swallowed back my screams. “I’m cursed by your queen; she’s the one who has made it even possible for you to face me!”

YOU CAN SURVIVE THIS DARCY

My heart broke for him, and I wished I could have one last, peaceful moment with him in this life,

Oh ny babies

“Have Lavinia release me from the beast,” I demanded once again. “Then we will find out who is truly more powerful.”

Bone cracked under the sheer strength of his strikes, and I bit down on my tongue, trying not to give him the satisfaction of knowing how much pain I was in.

Brave girl

With every kick, something shifted in me, power crackling in the deepest regions of my bones. It was there for a fleeting second, and I grabbed onto it, trying to pull it from the grip of the Shadow Beast, clenching my teeth with the effort. Give it back to me! With a furious, determined wrench inside me, something gave way and magic tore into my veins. I sent it spiralling out of me before the Shadow Beast could get close to it again, casting every drop of it from my body in an explosion of power.

YES DARC I LOVE YOU

I had to get a grip. This was my chance to finish the monsters in this room, and I couldn’t let it pass me by. Please stars, give me one more fucking chance, if nothing else.

Come on my girl

My fingers fell on cold, engraved metal and I turned it over in my palm, realising it was a small knife, hidden there for who knew how long by some stranger whose choice may just have become my salvation.

“I’d rather be a powerless girl than a lonely man in an empty palace. I fought this war for a future I could share with everyone I loved. If you win, you’ll have nothing and no one. Even if I die, there’ll be people waiting for me in the afterlife, but who do you have?”

END HIM BABY