Sorrow and Starlight (Zodiac Academy, #8)

by Caroline Peckham

“It’s Darcy,” Seth gasped. “Look. It’s Darcy!” “I see that,” Caleb laughed, and Seth broke into a run, leapfrogging over the dead monster and slamming into me so hard that I fell on my ass. He howled his joy, licking my face and laughter tumbled from my throat as I drew him into a tight hug, his earthy scent surrounding me.

Im so happy

“My moon friend!” he cried, and Orion tried to bat him off as Seth collided with him and licked him straight on the forehead.

Awwwww

“Oh my stars!” he yelled, but instead of slamming into me, he went flying past me, then started circling us all as fast as he could. “By the moon – awooooooo!” “What’s he doing?” I laughed. “I think he’s got the zoomies,” Caleb said with a smirk, and Seth continued to race around us until he was panting and pulling Gabriel into a firm hug. “Oh I missed you so much, Gabriel,” Seth said with a choked sob. “We don’t really hang out, like ever,” Gabriel said, patting him on the back. “We’re gonna,” Seth said, releasing him and giving him an intent look. “Every day. Morning, noon and night.”

“Geraldine?” I rasped, shaking my head. Because surely the stars were playing tricks on me. I’d killed her, felt her armour crack beneath the claws of the Shadow Beast, seen her bloody and broken on the ground, so pale that life couldn’t have lived on in her. Yet here she was, battle bound and sublime.

Im so fucking sad

“Where’s Tory?”

Oh.. Bout that

The world waited beyond these walls, but as I lay on my back, feasting on my girl as she fucked my face, I just couldn’t find it in me to care about that.

Oh ok

“Because I was more interested in fucking you than checking out your luggage,” I replied, drawing a snort of laughter from her.

Least he knows

“Leave it,” I said, amusement touching my words. “Let everyone see the mark of the wound which killed me when they meet me on the battlefield. Let my enemies remember that even death can’t defeat me when I come for them.”

The world bent and twisted around us, the stars hissing curses beneath their breath as their own rules forced them to let us travel, and I couldn’t help but laugh at them before they dumped us unceremoniously at the gates to the academy.

Dude lol

The creature was about twice the size of me, insectile in its looks aside from its chest and head which looked disturbingly Fae, the male’s mouth stretching wide in a furious cry.

No thanks oh!!!! Vards monsters!

I fisted her hair, yanking her head back as I stole a kiss from her, the blood marking her body making her even more desirable as some power beyond the two of us revelled in the death we’d offered up.

A WENDYS

The terror in their eyes had me breaking into a run as I drew my axe once more and I couldn’t help but notice my boot landing on the Death card like it was welcoming me to the fray. “You will pay in blood and carnage,” a voice hissed on the wind, and I got the feeling the stars were watching this all too closely.

Oh? Scary.

“Tory?” Milton Hubert’s voice took me by surprise, and I looked up from my position on the monster’s back.

Cow not down!!!!

“Holy shit, I heard he was dead,” Milton gasped in alarm. I flexed my fingers and tightened my hold on my air magic before wrapping the monster in it, hurling the thing across the room towards my husband. “He was,” I admitted, a laugh breaking from me as I broke into a run, slipping through my air shield before letting it close at my back where the Ignis students were clamouring to take shelter.

My wings burst from my back the second I had room for them, and I let the fire swallow me, fully shifting into my Order form and racing across campus to join with her, to reunite at last. My other half. My eternal love.

They were all there, Geraldine, the Heirs, Xavier, Sofia and Tyler, even Orion and Gabriel too. Our family reunited at last.

Before I could release the magic I’d gathered, a glimmer of light drew my gaze and I looked up as if a ghostly hand had caught my chin and forced my head to rise.

Excuse me

“All hail the true Queens,” Darius growled in a low and powerful voice which rang with a clap of magic that seemed to break the spell that had fallen over everyone who was still staring at us in awe.

“I pledge my life to your service.” His words were like a summoning and suddenly they were all there, Caleb falling to his knees at Darius’s side, his navy eyes wide with amazement as he looked first to his lost brother, then to Darcy and I who stood shell shocked, hand in hand, in the wake of that terrible power we had just summoned to save us all. “I pledge my life in your service,” Caleb said loudly,

Og ppmhhxhshs oooh shit

“I pledge my life in your service,” Max echoed, falling to his knees on Darius’s other side, his head lowering, and the overwhelming feeling of love and respect that flooded from him almost floored me.

“I pledge my life in your service,” Seth breathed almost reverently, and I sucked in a sharp breath as heat began to grow in my chest.

Holy shitttttttt

The ex-Councillors were among them, hesitating only a fraction of a second before they shared a look of awe and dropped down to their knees as one.

Woah

The power surrounding us built further, and I gasped as I felt hands brushing against my cheek, turning to look at Darcy just as a crown of blue flames appeared upon her brow. The reflection in her green eyes told me a matching crown of red had appeared for me too.

Holy crap

The endless sea of our people remained on their knees all around us, our reign beginning with that first light of dawn, the stars practically banished by our denial of the fate they’d been counting on.

The sky appeared to crack, sucking Tory and I away into a dark rift that swallowed us down greedily, tasting the sins on our bones.

Wtf

“Fate changer,” the stars hissed at her. “A cost to bear, a burden worn. Will regrets shatter the foundations of your blood bound choice?”

“Once, in a time long lost, there was a star among us who idolised the Fae. Clydinius of the Seventh House.”

“You will breathe life into my heart when it is returned to me. You will offer me the power to take the form of a Fae and walk among the world.”

“I suppose using this lump of rock to kill Lionel might make it seem like we couldn’t crush him without it,” she admitted, releasing her hold on the amulet. “And I really am looking forward to seeing the look on his face when I cut his head off and prove just how much more powerful than him I am.”

“Kill a star?” she murmured, a smirk lifting her lips at the idea, and no matter how crazy it sounded, I was all in. It was the only option that led to us breaking our curse. “If we pull it off, we’ll be free of the curse, free of fucking Clyde and-” “And nothing will stand in our way when we attack Lionel and his army,” Tory finished for me.

“At last, the Vega bloodline returns,” a voice filled my head that was feminine, then masculine, then something in between. “Have you come to fulfil the broken promise at last?” Tory and I shared a look then she raised her chin and spoke loud and clear to it. “We have.”

“A better mate than a sister, I guess.” She turned her back on me and a snarl rolled from my throat.

Ok bitch

She moved towards me, wrapping me in her arms, a hug from her meaning so much, she had no idea. “The past won’t come again, Darcy. These fleeting, fragile seconds. They’re all gone when they’re gone.”

And as we walked down into the depths of the caverns, our hands found each other’s and we were just two little girls again, about to take on an enemy that was far bigger than us. But together, we would find a way to defeat it.

Hell yes

“Come forth, daughters of the flames, twins of Gemini, wielders of the four Elements. You were born to right this wrong of old, and it is time to keep the promise of your elders.”

Our magic did nothing, and suddenly it was all ebbing away, the well in my chest hollowing out as my magic was sucked into that all-powerful being before us.

Uh...

I blinked as the light faded away, finding two girls standing in the cavern, the image of Tory and I, flames flickering between their fingers. “I am Fae,” the false me spoke in reverence, my voice perfectly mimicked by the star. “True freedom is mine,” the fake Tory finished, as if this thing was both of us now, housed in our skins.

What???

We were trapped here without a drop of magic, unable to summon our Orders or else meet a gruesome end. And in the wake of Clydinius’s departure, words rang out around us in the voice of the stars, a new fate knitted into existence in response to what we’d done.

WHAT THE FUCK

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.

I wetted my lips as I spied her nipple between the shifting shadows, her body lithe and supple beneath them, though only a fool would have wished to sink his cock into her.

Ew vard

Ever since the two of them had run to this place they had been inseparable, both of them as transparent as glass in their attempts to cling to each other’s power.

“The power of the fallen has awoken, greed and glory blazing as one. All fates hang in the balance as the flames rise from the hollow, But the Dragon still may prosper if the paths of the enemy are thwarted. Beware the one whose name is Nox, and seek the treasures of the ancient ring. Use the stolen, ally with the might of your maker. Not all starlight gleams.”

And I painted on a smile, just like always.

OMG