Zodiac Academy 6: Fated Throne

"I promised you forever too, Roxy," he growled. "And I intend to keep my word."

But I didn’t want to stop trying. I needed to break free so that I could stand against my father and rescue the girl I loved.

“Are you going to sit down or continue to perch there like a constipated owl?” he asked dryly and my lips dared to twitch.

“T’wit-twoo,” I made an owl sound as my answer

"I'm the girl no one ever loved, Darius," she said. "No one but Darcy, my whole life. And though I never let it show, I used to dream of finding someone who would love me like a prince in a fairy tale so I could be their princess. But I don't love you like a princess. There isn't anything soft or sweet or easy about us. It's wild and unpredictable. It hurts more than any pain I've ever felt and consumes me more completely than anything I ever could have predicted. You make my heart race with all the best kinds of fear and my gut clench with the angriest butterflies I've ever known. I have hated you more than I even knew I could hate a man and I think if I love you with as much fury then I'll burn up in it."

"So you don't want to let yourself love me?" I asked, looking down at her as she stopped barely a meter from me and the heavens raged in fury at the way we were defying them.

"Maybe not," she agreed and my gut fell, but she lifted the hem of my tank and my gaze was drawn to the movement of her hand as she dragged her thumb up the front of her thigh and removed the concealment she must have had in place over her skin there.

A lump formed in my throat as my gaze tracked the lines of ink on her flesh. I knew the design because it mirrored the one Gabriel had told me to place on my own skin. The lines which dictated the position of the heavens on the night she'd told me no. The night when everything could have been so different if I'd only followed what my heart wanted sooner. The words which ran down her thigh to the left of the design in delicate script were a mirror of those on my own skin. There is only him.

"I think I'm already burning, Darius," she breathed. "And it's time I stopped pretending I'm not."

“That’s not funny,” Orion muttered, shaking his head at me.

“I gotta laugh if I don’t wanna cry, right?

I landed in strong arms and my heart leapt as I found myself held against my Maxy Boy as Seth ran beneath us, the two of them having circled back for me and Seth howling in victory as we tore away through the trees.

“I’ve got you, Gerry,” he purred in my ear.

“Oh you cunning cuttlefish,” I cooed, relaxing back into him as we tore away from the K.U.N.T.s in the direction of King’s Hollow.

He chuckled behind me as he held me close and despite the fact that he was an Heir and a scoundrel, I found myself smiling. For a man who claimed not to support the true queens, he had just put himself at great risk for the A.S.S. and that meant more to me than he could ever know.

So perhaps there was more to him than met the eye. He had just aligned himself with the supporters of the royal line. And just maybe, that meant there was hope for him yet.

“He’s forgotten,” I said lightly like I wasn’t affected by seeing him again. But I was. And I knew I’d forget about Orion the same day the stars decided to give us all a break and blast Lionel to pieces with a flaming meteor.

Well, a girl can dream

“Do it,” Darius commanded and I knew he’d cast himself into my flames and be consumed by them if it would help bring Tory back. Because I’d do the very same

I shook my head at him with a half smile and turned to find Orion standing right behind me, looming over me like a damn tower.

“Come on, show me this shadow shit,” he demanded.

“Did you have to come all the way over here to say that?” I muttered, side stepping him and feeling him follow a hair’s breadth behind me as I walked over to Darius. Goosebumps rose along the back of my neck and I was glad of my long hair to hide them from the intimidating shadow currently following me. What was with the stalking?

“Relax, Orio. Sit down. We need to talk about the diary,” Gabriel said, gripping his arm tightly and leaning in close to speak in his ear. “Oh and if you ever shove my sister like that again I’ll rip one of your arms off.” He said it so calmly, but the darkness in his eyes said he’d absolutely do it. Aw, I love my psycho big brother.