Sorrow and Starlight (Zodiac Academy, #8)

by Caroline Peckham

“You must harness this darkness that lives in you,” Hail said. “You cannot break, and you must never, ever give up. For if you do, all will be lost.”

I was encased in a deep and terrible fear, that the worst was yet to come.

I was nothing but a spirit tethered to it while hunting out the release of my own death.

Married and widowed in the same day.

There had never been a creature born of such fury as me, let alone one so powerful and vengeful.

I had never wanted to be a queen. But now a crown of flames would ignite like a funeral pyre upon my brow, and 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.

Pain was meant to be felt, just as all emotions were.

“We must feel the bad as deeply as the sea, for then we are able to feel the joy as high as the moon.”

This would be the start of the end, and I wasn’t ever going to back down again.

I closed my eyes as I felt the ghost of him beside me, the man I loved come to witness the destruction of this nightmare.

I could have sworn I felt the brush of his lips against my neck, his powerful body pressing to my back as his arms encircled me.

He’s gone now. Passed through the Veil to the peace that awaits there and where are we? Left broken in the ruins left by his end, left grieving and bleeding from a wound which will never heal.”

“Fate is unbalanced. The wrath of Clydinius wove your woes.”

I should have known that everything could get so much fucking worse. It always did.

There was no chair left vacant for Darius.

STOP

“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.”

and now it has been 0 days since I’ve thought about throne of glass... for a better world😭

I half expected her to take off and fly away into the sky, only Caleb took hold of her arm and kept her there. Of course he did. Because he was her anchor now. Her rock in a stormy sea. And that didn’t hurt. Not even a little.

“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.

HAAHAAHA

I didn’t even know what you called a horse that had a horn and no wings. I’d never heard of such a thing.

A UNICORN OMG STOP

I would die from this pain. Slowly but surely, it would consume me and rot everything good I had ever claimed for my own. And I couldn’t even say I cared about that anymore.

The ruby pendant which hung from my neck seemed to heat beyond even the power of the flames, a pulse sounding within it as though the heart of it had come alive, beating to a rhythm I knew as intimately as my own pulse. Like he was there, his chest pressed to mine, our souls linked as one, reaching for each other even through the barrier of the Veil.

The urge to count each and every piece tugged at me, and I looked over my shoulder sharply, almost expecting to see him there, bitching about the golden trinkets which were scattered across my floor and threatening to beast-out if it wasn’t all carefully counted and polished immediately.

Because it seemed wrong to let myself feel anything but the agony of my loss.

They weren’t coming back, and I had the awful feeling that I wasn’t either.

Those who dare tap into the call of this purest form of magic should heed this warning: No prize comes without a cost. Blood shall spill, spirits shall splinter, and all shall behold the one-eyed demon of fate before the end.

So don’t go keeping promises to that asshole which will end up getting the both of us killed, when he broke every oath he ever swore by dying on that fucking battlefield and leaving me all on my own.”

oh tory

She was a Vega, the most powerful bloodline in known history and a Phoenix too, her magic endless while that fire burned at her back and her will iron as she forced the laws of magic and nature to bend to her will.

If there was a single Fae in Solaria capable of making the stars themselves tremble with their wrath, then I knew it was Tory Vega. And not even the might of the heavens would save them when that time came.

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

I felt the loss of her in everything around us.

There were no guarantees, and putting off tomorrow because I was afraid of today made no fucking sense to me anymore.

“Is that what you want? Marriage, kids, some fairy-tale house? It doesn’t have to look like that, I can paint our picture with whatever brush you choose, and make it look however you imagine.”

All Phoenixes shall be my adversaries from this day forth, and I shall twist their fates so they fail in all endeavours, their lives will be full of sorrow, and there will be no way out until the promise is kept. Either that, or their Order shall fall, and no more will ever walk this earth.”

“The Imperial Star cursed them. That’s why all the Phoenixes died. And it’s why Tory and I have failed time and again in this war. That old curse is still in place. We’re fucked, Lance. Unless we can figure out what the broken promise is, we’re never going to be free of the star’s wrath.”

“Romina didn’t know what the broken promise was either,” I said, a frown knitting my brows together. “What the hell could it be?”

it's giving "nameless is my price" and i don't like it ONE BIT

The vapour vanished and the only things left in its wake were blood and bone, all of it twisting and writhing under some power as it formed a single word across the flagstones. FOE.

“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.”

She was going to choose him over me.

😭😭😭

I’d sworn to Darius that I’d protect her and wherever my friend was now, I knew he could see his moment, that he was roaring my name in the sky and demanding I save her.

Just little old me against a pack of hellhounds.

she perused my room, trailing her fingers over Darius’s treasure and making some feral part of me want to bare my teeth at her.

My heart hurt at his name, but I didn’t let that stop me from thinking of him, refusing to balk from the pain of his memory and risk losing him altogether.

“I feel a chord of it straining to remain in place. And I think it’s time you tugged on it.”

“Segui il fuoco,”

FOLLOW THE FIRE?!?!?!?!???

Wide. Awake. That was me. Sleeping was the game, losing was my name.

LMAOOOOOO

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.

😭

He was mine and I was his and I had come here to return him to my side.

*high pitched scream*

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

AHHHHH FBBISIOAPOSHDNFSK

Until I found you by Stephen Sanchez started playing at little more than a thought from me and I offered her my hand. One more song. The wedding dance we should have had. The beginning we’d been denied.

stop im crying

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