Sorrow and Starlight (Zodiac Academy, #8)

by Caroline Peckham

“A controlled outburst,” I pointed out. “A control which I have never once let slip the way you’re allowing your power to burst from its dam right now. If I had, then there would likely be a lot ...

“My stepmother and sister have sided with Lionel,” Max said in a low voice, seeming to want to excuse his father’s behaviour and I nodded in understanding.

“Is that how you were captured?” I asked curiously. “Did they sell you out?”

“I believe so. We had already come to the decision to publicly denounce Lionel as our king and join the rebellion, we were just working to secure our families’ safety before making our position clear to the citizens of Solaria. We came together with the intention of fleeing his wrath and finding you, but before Melinda could send a message to you to tell you we were coming, we were summoned to Acrux Manor, our families used as bait to draw us there. We suspected a trap, but Lavinia used her shadows to poison our own bodies against us and choke the very air from our lungs the moment we arrived. We awoke with our blood and magic spilling into that fucking thing outside Lionel’s home.”

“The false king captured Gabriel Nox,” he replied. “I was trapped beneath fallen stone, my magic squeezed from every orifice to the point of utter demise. I had to feed on the pain of the dying Fae in the dirt around me, and I managed to create just enough water magic that I could sup upon it day after day. But by the end I was wrung out, my juices spurted free, not even a teeny weeny-”

“Where did Lionel take him?” I growled,

“I don’t know for certain. But he said he needed a new Seer,” Washer breathed,

“Thank you,” I breathed, my grip on his arm turning into a reassuring squeeze. “You don’t know how much I appreciate you telling me this and…I’m glad you survived.”

“I felt them dying all around me,” he breathed into my ear. “They were afraid and in pain, but all of them, each and every one, was proud to be fighting this fight for you and your sister. For a better world.”

“Lionel will put him into the Royal Seer’s chair,” I said, knowing it in my soul. “He’ll force him to have powerful visions whether he wants to or not and he’ll use Vard to pluck the truth of them from his mind.”

“It’s no claim. Gabriel is my brother. My mother’s son. She brought him to the palace with her when she arrived here to marry my father and they hid his identity, claiming he was their ward until after they could produce legitimate heirs. They never got the chance to tell the world the truth of his heritage, and when they were killed, my mother entrusted Ling Astrum to hide him from Lionel’s wrath. Gabriel is the greatest Seer of our generation and I can only assume that Lionel discovered that fact somehow and decided to steal him for his own benefit,”

“Darius became a Vega the morning of the battle,” Xavier murmured in explanation, grief making his voice catch as he spoke. “I’ve never seen him as happy as he was when he took those vows.”

I missed King’s Hollow. I missed when things were simple, but mostly I missed a time that didn’t even exist. A place where all of the people I loved were safe, where we weren’t at war with each other or a false king, and where my best friend was as fiercely in love with me as I was with him. Yeah, I was selfish. I should have wished that none of this had ever happened between Cal and I, that we’d stayed friends and never muddied the water of that friendship. But there was no denying the truth that if the moon and stars offered me one, unconditional wish, it would always be him.

“He saved my life, but then we were surrounded by Nymphs, and I knew I needed to be able to fight without having to worry about accidentally burning him to a crisp. So, I sort of…made a parachute for him, shot him into the air and totally forgot about it until just now. I may be an asshole.”

“I love you, Gabriel. You’re my little star, my guiding light.”

“Look,” I began, picking a lump of tentacle from my arm and tossing it to the floor just in front of the librarians’ feet. “I’ve had one hell of a time recently. I’ve been captured and tortured, brutalised and traumatised. I’ve been married and widowed, fought and defeated. And to top it all off, I have been without the other half of my soul for over a week now. To put it lightly, I’ve reached my limit. So I’ve come a long way in search of this place and the knowledge you hold here. I’ve made that journey – and helped you out with what I would call a considerable monster infestation in your lake by the way – and now I’m standing here before you, covered in fuck knows what, my power depleted and my tether on my temper running dangerously short. I have absolutely no intention of letting you simply shut that door in my motherfucking face. So, I’m posing that you need to think again on the subject of that invitation.”

Two Phoenixes, born of fire, rising from the ashes of the past. The wheel of fate is turning, and the Dragon is poised to strike. But blood of the deceiver may change the course of destiny. Beware the man with the painted smile who lingers close to your side. Turn the scorned. Free the enslaved. Fear the Bonded men. Many will fall for one to ascend. Suffer the curse. The hunter will pay the price. Do not repeat the mistakes of the past. Keep the broken promise. Mend the rift. All that hides in the shadows is not dark. Blood will out. Seal your fate. Choose your destiny.

In the heart of the Damned Forest, beyond the Waters of Depth and Purity, lies the Ever-Changing Winds of Sky and Spirit. The Endless Drop will take you through the Fires of the Abyss and beyond them, where the ether lies thickest, your answers await.

That was the way of life, the past was sand turned to glass, never to be undone. And all I could do now was make peace with my end.

“Your death is coming, I swear that to you. It will be so bloody and terrible that it will be imprinted on the minds of all who are there to witness it forevermore. And I pray, I fucking pray, I am one of them.”

“How about you lie down and spread those pretty thighs for me like a good girl and I’ll use my tongue to make you like me again,” I offered.

“How about get fucked,” she said airily, and I growled, my hold on her tightening.

“How about you watch your mouth, or I’ll stop...

“Maybe I don’t want you to play nice,” she said, eyes sparkling furiously. “Maybe I’m sick of you being nice wit...

“Because I am your mother. And I love you more than life itself,” she exhaled then drove the dagger into her chest, a scream leaving her as she used the strength of her Order to carve her heart from the cavity of her ribs and yanked it out of her own body, skewered on the blade as she held it before her.

My mother’s sacrifice had freed me. “I’m sorry,” Darcy said. “I had to. She said the Death bond had to be heightened for the spell to work, on the verges of killing you. She said Lavinia wouldn’t feel it when it broke because of the potion she made you drink. She promised she’d save you, and that it was best you truly feared you were going to lose me. I just had to take the chance because as much as I hate her, I’ve seen her love for you over these past weeks, Lance, and I trusted the depths of it in the end. She said we’ll have a chance to run tonight because Lionel is at the Court of Solaria with his Dragon Guild.”

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.”

“My name?” I asked,

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

“I wish I could come back with you more than any man has ever wished for any fate in all the history of all the world. I’m yours, Roxy, heart and soul and everything beyond, I’m yours. But even that can’t free me from this place. What I lost can’t be returned. There is no healing the body I once owned and there is no returning through the Veil now that it has closed at my back.”

“I love you, Roxanya Vega, and I wish I could have been worthy of you.”

“I’ll wait for you,” he swore to me. “Right here. I’ll wait for you for as long as it takes. And I’ll watch over you, Roxy. I’ll be there even though you won’t see me. I’ll never truly leave you. I swear it. I’ll wait for you even if eternity passes me by while I do. I won’t ever leave you.”

“You are going to fight this,” I ordered him. “You will fight it with all you have and if the price of that fight is the end of us both then I will gladly take that over death or life without you.”

“I’m looking at the woman who crossed into death for me,” he replied, his tone rough with a reverence I didn’t deserve. “The woman whose heart found it possible to love me even though I could never be worthy of it. You cursed the stars themselves for me and forced them to bend to your will. You risked dark magic and death before your oath was fulfilled, you bound your own heart to mine so that you could haul me back here to you.”

“Because this dress is a reminder of the day when you gave yourself to me entirely. It is a reminder of the day when I died trying to fight for you and you cursed the stars themselves as you swore to undo that wrong. This is the dress of the Queen who owns me heart and soul, and I want to be able to see you in it as often as I can. I want to be able to dress you up in it then peel it back off again to claim you with my tongue and my hands and my cock.”

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.