Sorrow and Starlight (Zodiac Academy, #8)

by Caroline Peckham

She’d been born to topple mountains and make the stars quake; she’d been born to ruin and rise.

I’d watched everything from this place, rarely left it, my attention glued here even though I knew it could lead to madness.

Poor darius

I couldn’t truly affect anything, but sometimes when I touched them or bellowed a warning, they felt me there.

Those lips parted, a thousand kisses burning through my memory as I watched them, waiting, wondering if after all of it she might still think I was worthy of her.

Roxanya Vega left speechless, no venom left to spit, no rage left to break from her. I thought I’d never see the day.

She was mine, my one good thing, the keeper of my heart and the shackles surrounding my soul.

Her. Only ever her.

She drew closer, the air between us growing thin as I took her in, this beautiful, broken, queen of mine.

I drew the glimmering sword from my hip in a fluid movement before placing its tip against the ground between us and dropping to one knee in front of her.

OMG

“I pledge myself and all that I am to you, my Queen,” I breathed, emotion wracking my core as those words tumbled from me at last, my place in this world somehow fixing there as if I had found the truth of my own destiny, and all that I had ever needed to be. “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.”

OHBMY GOD

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

My hands came around her waist as my lips parted for her and I drew every piece of her flush against me, the world fading to less than nothing beyond us as she claimed me right there, in the heart of death, like it meant nothing at all that she had ripped her way into this place to come for me.

That kiss was hello and goodbye, a bittersweet reunion, and a promise of everything we should have had.

Youre killing me

Because I couldn’t step back into life. There was no path leading that way, not for me.

Fuck off darius

Rose petals fell from the sky, dropping against her skin and coating her in them until she was clad entirely in their blood red colour, her wedding dress appearing on her as I was gifted a moment reliving that unreal memory when she had given herself to me entirely, beyond all reason, utterly mine, no matter how little I had deserved it.

This is bullshit

“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.”

My salvation.

I get why hes #1 book boyfie

This was goodbye. And the song was ending. “I love you, Roxanya Vega, and I wish I could have been worthy of you.”

Dont talk to me

“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.”

Why did we do thia to be brokwn again

“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.”

Screaminggggg

Stealer of life. Twister of destiny. Beware the cost. Turn from this path. Stop before you unbalance the scales. His ascension will bear a price.

Oh god

What more could they even take?

Stupid question

Talons of ether cut into their power and with a flood of my will, I stole a piece of magic from each and every one of them. I stole what they refused to give willingly, and I took pleasure in the horrified screams which rattled the sky itself as I twisted their will to my own and forced them to fuel this magic in me.

Holy shit??

“My life is bound to his. His death bound to mine. One heart….” I panted heavily, my legs caving and nothing but Darius’s grip on me holding me upright. “One life…” I collapsed as power ripped me apart from the inside out, but he was there, holding me up, gripping me tight and trembling with the effort it took to do so. He was there. And I would never be without him again.

“There is only him,” I swore and with that vow, my power broke, crashing from me, through him and into the very heart of death itself. There was a cost to this. A cost which I knew I would be forced to pay, but none could surpass my need for him. Just him. Only ever him.

I mean hes just a man...

The thump of Darius’s heartbeat rang out in perfect synchronicity with my own because it was my own. One heart. One life. Never to be parted again.

Holy fuck

When we stopped spinning, he kissed me hard, crushing his mouth to mine again and again, speaking between every touch of our mouths. “You. Phenomenal. Fucking. Girl.”

Eeee i love them

“Oooh, look at that,” he cooed, cocking his head to one side as he examined it. “That’s a real nice stick. The grain is just perfect. And look at those nodules…” He ran his fingers over them then tucked the thing into his waistband possessively before moving to sit on my other side.

Hes so stupid lol

“It’s a dangerous, bloodthirsty creature, and we should leave it here in this marsh the moment we have a route to follow,” Orion said, taking hold of my wrist to try and pull my hand away from it.

He sounds like ryder with the ghost hound

He turned to smoke and rushed into the space I’d created for him, turning the clear gemstone grey inside. I turned to Orion triumphantly and he gave me a dry look that said he wasn’t pleased I’d just found a solution to a problem he didn’t want me to solve. “Looks like he’s coming with us,” I said brightly. “Joy,” Orion said sarcastically.

But he wasn’t a knight with deeds of virtue to his name. He was my devoted, ruthless Vampire. And he was finally safe. Free at last.

The Book of Ether alone was an invaluable weapon, and I would mourn the loss of it if it was gone.

Uh oh

Darius landed in front of me with a boom that threatened to knock the snow from the peak of the mountain, and I smiled up at him as I reached out to stroke his golden nose.

HES THERE

My everything. “Hello, wife,” he purred, the corner of that sinful mouth hooking up.

AHHHHHHHHHHH

I swallowed thickly, nodding as I took that in, my feet moving from grass to stone as he backed me right into the ruins, his steps sure, that intensity unwavering as his gaze roamed over me from head to foot, like he was a starving man, and I was a freshly made meal.

Reunion fuck!

I stared at him, this man in the flesh of a god, risen from the dead and haunted by so many demons.

“Do you want me to kneel for you again, my Queen?” he asked against my skin, his fists bunching in the fabric of my dress. “Yes,”

Grrr woof

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.” “Who knew the big, bad Dragon Heir would be into wedding roleplay?” I teased and he grinned at me, this feral, wicked grin that promised to destroy any scraps of virtue I might have had left. “Oh, Roxy. You have no fucking idea.”

Oh.

“Is that an order from my queen?” he teased, the deep rumble of his voice against my core almost sending me over the edge. “The first she ever gave me. What will the citizens of her kingdom think of that?”

Im dead

“I’m going to hear that sound every fucking day from now until the end of time,” he promised me, his cock so deep inside me that I could hardly draw breath. “And when you come for me, when I own and destroy your body, you will know right down to the core of you who you belong to, won’t you, Roxy?”

Jesus sir....

“I love you, Roxanya Vega,” he growled, hands roaming up my sides as he withdrew enough to part our bodies and I instantly missed the feeling of him inside me. “I love this freckle right here…” His mouth dropped to my shoulder as he placed a light kiss against it, and I breathed a laugh. “And I love this one, just here…” He moved his mouth lower, placing it against my shoulder blade where my wing would burst from my skin if I shifted, making the sensitive skin there tingle with pleasure.

I love them so much

My lips twitched in amusement, and I reached up to trace my fingers along his jaw. “How bored you must have been before I came along to torment you.” “Just a little,” he agreed. “Anyway, like I said: the tattoo has nothing to do with you. So stop being so conceited and thinking my whole life revolves around you.”

Fish Fury: Gerry I really don’t know how you fused this bagel onto my dick but – fuck **this message was deleted**

“You can’t go to war with a bagel on your cock. As your bestie, I can’t let you.” Seth ran at Max, Pitball tackling him to the ground and shoving his hand down his pants.

This is so funny

“Believe it or not, this isn’t the strangest object I’ve jangled off a guy’s cock, Max,” Seth said, pushing to his feet and pulling Max after him. “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.

Oh no

“Holy fuck, who pissed in the stars’ oatmeal?” Seth cursed, shoving upright, and pulling Caleb with him. “There’s some weird shit going on. I’m just so hungry, man,” Tyler said. “Even you look appetising right now.”

Probably tory

It was ice and fire and earth, all of it crashing and swirling and begging for an outlet. I channelled it towards the wards and it slammed into it like a bolt of fury, a flash of red light billowing up and away from us, arcing along the wards and bringing them down in a cascading rain of light.

DAMN

“Lemme just check my Shadow Beast ring.” I twisted it around on my middle finger then raised it to swear at him as I joined them. “Yup. All good.” “You’re gonna be in trouble for that,” Orion growled in my ear as Gabriel took a pinch of stardust from the pouch.

A thrill shot through me at the thought of seeing the Heirs again, tangling with my confusion and fear over why there would be a monster at Zodiac Academy.

Who would have thought wed ever be so excited about it

It was beetle-like with hardened plates of yellow armour over its hunched back, its six legs ending in taloned feet. Max was hovering on a gust of air, his bow raised, and

Thanks i hate it