Sorrow and Starlight (Zodiac Academy, #8)

by Caroline Peckham

Countless eyes turned our way as his power lashed from him, moans spilling from the lips of those who felt it and the writhing bodies on the beach growing in number as more and more Fae fell to the power of the Siren who rode me so skilfully, finding their own partners and joining us in our union.

Insane...

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.

Fuck!!!!

“Prove it,” he growled against my mouth, his teeth sinking into my bottom lip and making me groan as I flexed my hips beneath him.

Is it happening?!

I was his in that moment, utterly, undeniably, his.

I cursed as I ground my hips upward, my cock throbbing with need as I rubbed my crotch against his, feeling his own erection straining through his jeans as he ground down onto me too.

Yall are on torys bed ya know

“Show me how you like it,” I said, the words sticking in my throat as I forced them out, my skin burning with what I refused to admit was embarrassment, or fear of fucking this whole thing up, as the warm brown of his eyes turned to magma and the smile he offered me turned feral.

Scream

Seth dragged his hips back and I called on my gifts, flicking my tongue against him so fast that he cursed

Oh....

“How vanilla are you feeling, Altair?” he purred, running his tongue along the side of the sex toy and making my heart thrash in my chest.

Again you are in Torys bed

“I’m gonna have so much fun teaching you all the things you’ve been missing out on, Cal,” he taunted, his fingers driving deeper and stealing the breath from my lungs so that I had no hope of replying.

Oh oh! It's happennnning

“Come on then, Caleb. I dare you,” he teased, reading the uncertainty in my face while he taunted me with his confidence.

Im dying

“By the stars, you’re so fucking big,” he cursed, head tipping back with a howl as I pounded into him, taking and giving and losing myself entirely as the power of Venus and the moon collided, stoking the fire of this desire between us to new and unstoppable heights.

Again Torys fucking bed!

Seth didn’t say anything for several seconds, his powerful body tense as he lay with his back to me, and I stared at the new tattoo decorating his skin. I reached out to brush my fingers over the ink and he released a long breath, relaxing into the pillows at last and letting me shift closer to him.

I’d fucked that moon, that beautiful, mystical moon with all her charm and wiles. But nothing. NOTHHIIIINNNNNGGG. Could match the way it had felt to fuck Caleb Altair. Moon craters be damned, I had experienced something transcendent, but hell did it feel temporary.

Hes better than the moon!!!

What if you tell him you love him, and he says he loves you back? A rogue voice spoke in the back of my head that sounded an awful lot like Darcy.

Tell him!

One day, if we took our parents’ seats on the Council, we would have to provide Heirs of our own that upheld the long lineage of balanced power.

Adopt

Luckily for us, the Capellas, Altairs, Rigels and Acruxes had been on the winning side of that war, but unluckily for me there was no way in hell that we would ever be able to be together like that.

New world baby

“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.”

My shipppppp

My stomach free fell, but I didn’t. My wings flapped and I climbed, impossibly climbed, my hooves kicking, my tail swishing, my body rising and rising.

Eee

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.

“Ew, are you hitting on us?” Sofia wrinkled her nose. “Stars, no,” Seth balked. “I’m in love with-” he half choked on those words. “The moon.” Well, that checked out.

“Behold! The Ring of Doom.” He opened his hand, revealing a plain circle of silver metal in the centre of his palm, looking unassuming and altogether uninteresting. “That’s it?” I frowned and Sofia reached out to prod it, but it didn’t do anything at her touch.

“Orion’s FIB girlfriend?” I asked, vaguely remembering her. “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. “Anyway, sadly, she died.

Seth pls

“Listen. Do you not owe your humble king a moment to speak in response to the despicable lies being spread about me?”

Humble??????

In the next second, shit was raining down on us, splattering me all over and slapping into Vard’s ugly face beneath me. I roared in fury, staggering to my feet, but the blast of it only increased, sending me tumbling head over heels through the room, flipping upside down over a couch and slamming into a wall.

Lmao!

“You can’t access your fucking magic in here,” I barked, and they took that as a command to shift, the two of them exploding into their huge Dragon forms and squeezing me between them. And not just anywhere between them, oh no, right between their fucking bare assholes, one on either side of my face as their tails swept through the space above me. “MOVE THIS INSTANT!” I bellowed, my voice muffled by the press of their scaly backsides, and they both reacted so quickly that I was sent flying down into a pile of shit again.

Im dying

I would have to wait here until my Guardians dealt with the mayhem outside, and until that lilac-haired girl was brought to me to be devoured bite by bite, I would never fucking rest.

Lay off ny elise

Ah fuck, am I really trying to look on the bright side? There is no star damned bright side. There’s just a shit fate or an even shitter one.

She was red in the face when she was finished, and I arched a brow at her. “Are you done?” “You know what, Lance?” “What, beautiful?” I asked. “Sometimes you’re an asshole.” “Don’t sell me short, I’m an asshole all the time.”

“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 playing nice.”

“I hate you,” she hissed, that fire in her only burning hotter. She was a wild thing today. “Are you sure?” I asked, slowly sliding my fingers between her legs. “Because I’d bet you fifty auras you’re soaked for me, beautiful.” “I’m dryer than your humour,” she said.

Oh..

I shot forward, decision made, trouble impending. I picked her up, flipping her upside down and making her squeak in alarm. I threaded her legs through the cage, bending them over the horizontal bar near the top of the cage so she hung from it before me, her mouth lined up perfectly with my cock.

Oh...my

“Happy,” she said through a cute smile, and her eyes flashed green as she gazed up at me, her silver rings shining bright around them, a mark of her bond to me. “Darcy,” I gasped, but then they became dark again and she frowned as my face fell. “What is it?” “Your eyes.” I brushed my thumb over her jaw, kissing her softly. “They were yours again. Just for a second, but your rings were there.”

I tried to rise, tried to fight. But the spell was stealing me away into the abyss, and I couldn’t do anything at all as she leaned over us, taking hold of Darcy’s arm in a possessive grip and whispering, “I never wanted it to come to this.”

EXCUSE ME

I brushed my fingers against the ruby pendant I still wore, but for once the gemstone was almost cool to my touch, no lingering sense of him clinging to it all. A feeling of unease rolled down my spine and for a moment I thought I heard his voice caught on the wind, warning me not to risk this, not for him.

This feels bad

“Fuck it.” I lifted the chalice and gulped down the contents, the petals sliding down my throat on a river of booze, ready to kill me if they got the chance.

Yeah fuck it

It hurt like a bitch, but I told myself it could have been worse as I continued to carve his name into my skin. He could have had a longer name, like Bartholomew or Constantine.

Not the time for jokes

In all fairness, I knew I shouldn’t have even been considering stardusting to some unknown location.

Yep sounds stupid

One dose of Basilisk anti-venom in exchange for the true queens turning a blind eye in Alestria from time to time once we win this war xoxo

Smart bitch

I didn’t think, didn’t hesitate, just snatched that bastard into my teeth and bit down on the glass hard enough to shatter it. The anti-venom burst over my tongue in a wave, shards of glass cutting my lips and tongue as I spat them out again.

Ouch??

It was a child. And she was singing.

Hate it

and away from the ruby pendant which had tumbled from my throat.

Wha nooooo

My eyes snapped open, and I found Stella walking away from me in a stone chamber I didn’t recognise, nothing but a huge, cylindrical glass tank of blood standing in the centre of the darkened room. The tank stood in an intricate silver base which formed two bird-like talons that grasped the sides of it, a tarnish to it that made me think it had to be old.

What is this bitch doin

“It’s taken me such a long time to gather this blood, Lance,” my mother said solemnly. “I would have done this sooner if I could have.”

Is she helping?

“Here, baby.” Stella raised her wrist, offering it to my mouth and my fangs snapped out.

Uhhhhh

But as I tried to retract my fangs, I couldn’t do so, forced to keep feeding while Stella took my other arm in her grip and suddenly drove her own fangs into my wrist.

Omg no

Stella shot up into the air, releasing a noise of satisfaction and using her earth Element to cast a silver lid over the tank, fusing it shut.

What is happening

“Why?” I gasped as she angled it towards her own heart. “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.

Omgggggg mom

“Darcy,” I gasped, looking down at her body, no sign of the shadows clinging to her at all. She was naked, drenched in blood, but wholly Fae. But then she screamed a horrible fucking scream, clutching her chest and crumpling beneath me. The shadows rushed out of her skin, snaring her limbs and she arched against the bloodied floor, not seeming to see me at all as some terrible pain took hold of her. Her screams were all I could hear, her agony the only thing in existence. And I was helpless to stop it.

It was going so well

“I’m all alone,” she sobbed, a shiver going through her small frame. “All alone and it’s all my fault.” “Why is it your fault?” I asked softly, dropping to one knee before her while keeping my sword in hand. “Because I wasn’t enough. I couldn’t give them enough, couldn’t keep them safe. They all left me because I’m toxic, poison, the last choice.”

“Would you carve the silver from her eyes?” the scarred me purred, and I could feel the emotions she was trying to lure from me, the jealousy she was trying to stoke. “Would you slip a knife between her mate’s ribs in the dark?” “Of course I wouldn’t,” I hissed, my grip on my sword tightening as she stepped closer still.