Sorrow and Starlight (Zodiac Academy, #8)

by Caroline Peckham

my one and only decree would be to seek out the end to all who had crossed me, and make them scream as they were forced to bow at my feet.

Darius was a brother chosen for me by fate. He was one of the only good things in this forsaken world the stars had offered me, and now they’d taken him away without even offering me a chance to say goodbye.

“Darius Vega is the greatest Dragon who ever lived,” I spoke loud and clear, making Lionel fall deathly still.

“He married Tory. She is more powerful than him, so that made him a Vega,”

I couldn’t allow for any other fate. Not for her. She was my everything.

“How are we supposed to get through that?” Seth asked in a hushed voice. “It looks thicker than my cock on a full moon.”

Even if I knew it wasn’t real, that his heart didn’t ache for mine the way mine beat only for his.

“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 doesn’t matter, light or dark, I am here. That is what mates are for. It’s what I’m made to be for you by the stars themselves, so stop trying to shut me out.”

I would love him here and now, tomorrow and always. Wherever I went, wherever the stars took me, that love would never die. Even if I did.

“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.”

“Then I will find a way to tear my own magic from my flesh and join you in the mortal world,” I said, the words falling easily from my tongue. “Where you go, I will follow. Have I not made that clear enough to you yet?”

This princess who owned me down to my bones, and who I would love to the edges of eternity.

“We should act randomly at all times,” Seth said, getting caught up in the plan. “Never let anyone predict our next moves so Gabriel can’t see us at all. We’ll be invisible to the false king.” He stood up, smashing his chair against the wall and Leon whooped, jumping up and starting to do burpees.

But there was no denying the truth that if the moon and stars offered me one, unconditional wish, it would always be him.

I snorted at the word titling, but no one else joined in. Tough crowd.

“We’re being far too predictable.” He picked up a rock, throwing it at an unsuspecting rebel and it bounced off the guy’s head, his cry of pain cutting the air.

I tossed away my makeshift sword, unbuckling my pants. “Fuck it, let’s go.”

“This is crazy,” Caleb breathed, and I rounded on him as I yanked my belt off, whipping him hard across the chest. “Ah, motherfucker!” “Gotta be random, Cal,” I taunted. He lunged at me, but I moved before he could catch me, whipping his ass with the belt.

My brain was so frazzled today. It kept hanging out in the little world I’d made up called Calaria, where Caleb was all smitten with me, kissing me and calling me a good pup while fondling my balls.

I sagged against him, loving him through to my bones.

“You taste like the earth and sky colliding, but it’s more than that. There’s moonlight in you, and it calls to me like a song in the night. You’re my Source and nothing is going to change that. I don’t want to claim anyone else, this is mine and it’s all I crave.”

“Here, give yourself a book boner. It’ll make you think of Orion.”

“You are the most precious thing in this world to me. Stop tempting fate to come and steal you away.

“Not a possession, no. But you are mine. You were mine before we met, and mine the minute we locked eyes. You are mine in this life, and every life we may experience from this point forward. You are mine in every reality you exist, and mine in every reality you don’t. And I am yours in kind, in every way you can imagine. I will gladly be your possession, but I will also be your guardian, your keeper, your protector. And I will do whatever I can to turn you away from danger, because it is impossible for me not to.”

“My eyes are up here,” Seth teased,

“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.”

“Cunt of a caterpillar?” I offered.

“Hey, how come I have to ride in your arms like a baby? I’ll go on your back. Get down Geraldine.”

“Even almonds don’t like almonds. They’re the eggplant of the nut world,” I muttered. “Actually, I don’t think they’re even a true nut. I’m pretty sure they’re a seed posing as a nut. Fucking undercover little seedling bastards.”

he is the greatest professor I have ever had the privilege of knowing,

I made sure to toss a peace sign at the first guy I spotted just in case he was watching me go. The guy in question turned out to be a Nemean Lion shifter who was in the middle of demonstrating the way he was able to lick his own ass, so that was just great.

#hecamebackandhecamehard

Lucy Burfoot: I’m a #mareforAltair and I don’t care! #whipmeandwatchmeneighneigh #getyourspangledangleinmywangle #hotforthetrot Hannah Maye: I’d let you gobble me up if you found me wandering in the woods Seth #bigbadwolf #littleredridingwhore

but by the stars, why couldn’t there be an option D where this all worked out? Haha…option D.

“We’re a bad idea,” I voiced part of my fears, feeling the rising sun gilding my back in gold. “The worst,” he agreed, and a sharp lump rose in my throat. “Now get over here and kiss me, Capella.”

You always did say Professor Orion was – oh what was the word – dashing?” “I didn’t call him dashing,” I balked. “Who the fuck uses that word?”

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

“Do you believe in me, Lance Orion?” I asked and his throat rose and fell. “My belief in you is without bounds,” he said heavily. “But-”

“This really isn’t the time for marital bickering,” he warned. “It’s not marital if we’re not married,” I pointed out. “We will be married,” Orion said in a growl. “Says who?” I balked. “Says me,” he snapped. “I will wed you the moment this war is over.”

“You will marry me.” “You know, people usually ask someone if they want to marry them, not just command it,” I whispered. “You’re already mated to me by the stars, what’s there to ask?” “Just because we’re mated doesn’t mean you get to skip a proposal.”

And don’t act like you’re not dying for a Seth snuggle,” I said with a hint of a smirk around my lips. “Actually, I think I’ll go back to the cage,” he deadpanned.

“Let’s get into the sky so we can see better.” I moved behind him, hooking my arms beneath his and drawing him tight against my chest. “Is this our Titanic moment?”

“I pledge myself and all that I am to you, my Queen,”

“I would be your sword to fight your enemies, your shield to protect your people, your monster to own and to wield. I would be yours in any and all of the ways I could be, and I should have told you that a long, long time ago. I am your creature, your servant…yours.”

“You’re Darius Vega now. And you weren’t built to bow to anyone.”

She didn’t release her hold on my shirt as she pulled me against her, kissing me like everything that made up the entire universe began and ended with the two of us.

My salvation. I would have died a thousand deaths to be gifted this moment in her arms, to look at this perfect creation and see so much love for me burning within her. She had tried to deny death itself for me. There was only her.

“You wouldn’t believe the things some Fae stick their dicks in. Packs of crayons, flower pots, cakes, Pegasex dolls.” He threw a look at Caleb whose expression turned volcanic. “Fuck you.” He shot out the door after Geraldine and Seth swallowed a whimper, fixing his features into something far colder.

When all hope hinges on a promise forged of lies, Beware the threaded minds of blood and chaos. Unlikely friends and broken bonds may shift the tide, Cleave open the walls of the lost in the depths of the unholy night. Unleash the souls tethered in the tainted dark, Unite the rising twelve and toll the bells of fate.