Zodiac Academy: Fated Throne

by Caroline Peckham

  I cast a silencing bubble around me and Cal, jogging forward to walk at his side. He glanced at me, then quickly away again, raising his twin knives. I knew talking about this now wasn’t really good timing, but he’d also been avoiding me since boner gate and the last thing I wanted was to lose my friend over this.

  I cleared my throat, knocking my shoulder against his. Despite how much time I’d had to decide on what I was going to say to him, I now couldn’t remember any of that. What had Darcy advised? Don’t talk about my boner, or do talk about it?

  Her plan to feel him out so far hadn’t gone too well. Apparently every time she tried to move the conversation in that direction, Caleb changed the subject. So maybe I was kidding myself thinking he really could be harbouring feelings for me. Maybe he’d gotten hard while drinking from me because blood turned him on. He was a Vampire, it made sense. So I probably just needed to Fae up, hit my feelings over the head with a sledgehammer then bury them six feet under forever.

  My heart pounded harder as I stole a glance at his face, his perfectly straight nose, his eyes overshadowed and intense. I’d known him my whole life and I’d realised he was attractive some time around my twelfth birthday. It wasn’t news to me that he was hot. But somehow I’d always managed to compartmentalise that from my friendship with him before. Now it was all just melding into one so all I could see was how fucking amazing he was and how much I wanted him and how it had been staring me in the face all these years. No matter how much I hungered for him though, it clearly wasn’t meant to be. I just wasn’t sure how to make my heart get the message on that.

  “Remember when we stole your mom’s fire crystals when we were kids and accidentally burned down her rose garden?” I said, wanting to remind myself as much as him that we had a whole lifetime of friendship regardless of one awkward boner moment. Nothing could break us apart. Not even our dicks.

  Caleb chuckled. “Yeah, and I tried to ride on your back as a Wolf so we could get away faster.”

  “Dumbest idea ever,” I laughed, remembering when Melinda had shot after us with her Vampire speed and dragged us both inside by the ears. She’d made us clean out the acid slug infestation she had in her gutters without any kind of magical protection as punishment.

  Caleb turned to me, gripping my arm to stop me from walking on. He opened his mouth then closed it again and my heart thudded harder as I wondered what the hell he was thinking. My hand found his in the dark and I laced my fingers through his instinctively.

  “Seth,” he said in a low growl that could have been to warn me off or draw me closer. I guessed I wanted to believe it was the latter so I stepped into his personal space, breathing him in and trying to fool myself into thinking there really could be something between us. That I wasn’t imagining it.

  “Look, what happened in the woods the other day-” I started, but Tory shouted out a battle cry and the shriek of a Nymph filled the air, cutting that sentence off at the balls.

  I gasped, turning to the path we’d been forging through the corn and finding the rest of our group gone.

  “Shit,” Cal cursed and we started running after them, pushing between the stalks and hunting for them in the dark.

  “Use your speed,” I demanded, but he glanced back at me with a look that said he didn’t want to leave me.

  Another Nymph’s cry pierced the air and a blaze of Phoenix fire spiralled up into the sky a hundred yards away. We started running toward it and I shoved Caleb’s back to encourage him to move faster.

  A towering shadow fell over us and Caleb yanked me aside with a shot of Vampire speed just as a huge Nymph came charging through the field toward us. I leapt away from Caleb, shifting in the air, shredding through my clothes and the gauntlets around my hands expanded. They encased my front paws so that ten sharp metal claws slammed into the ground as I landed, flames bursting to life around me.

  I turned and started charging back toward the Nymph, my teeth bared and my bloodthirst rising.

  Caleb was running around it in speeding circles, slashing at it with the dual knives in his hands, Phoenix fire blazing along the monster’s flesh. It swiped a hand through the air, knocking him away and he was thrown back into the dense corn out of sight.

  A snarl of rage ripped from my throat as I leapt onto the Nymph’s back, tearing at its barky flesh with my flaming claws of death and sinking my teeth into its shoulder. It reached back to try and rip me off but I held on tight, clawing my way further up until I could see over its shoulder to where the rest of our friends were fighting five more of them out in the field.

  The Nymph caught hold of my tail and I yelped as it whipped me forward and threw me to the ground on my back, making pain ricochet through me. It pinned me in place by the throat with impossible strength, its long probes extended and ready to steal my magic. Fear hit me as the rattle emanating from its chest immobilised the well of power inside me. It was going to take all my magic and my life with it if I didn’t get free.

  I fought wildly, about to shift back into my Fae form even though I knew it would leave me vulnerable, but it might just give me room to wriggle free.

  Caleb leapt out of the corn stalks with a yell of anger and sliced through the Nymph’s arm, making hope spark through my blood. The severed limb fell to the ground and I rolled over, scrambling upright to get away, but the beast snatched hold of my leg and twisted until it snapped. Agony spread through me as I yelped, slashing back at the Nymph with my Phoenix claws and ripping a gouge across its face. It released me with a shriek and I ran away, keeping my weight off of my bad leg as Caleb fought to bring the Nymph to its knees.

  A Dragon’s roar filled the air and Darius’s huge golden form swept overhead, a blaze of fire pouring from his lungs. The heat of it warmed me through as he aimed it down at an enemy of his own and the others cheered, telling me this battle was almost over.

  We could never leave a Nymph alive during these fights. If they reported back to Lionel about what we were doing, he’d hunt us to the ends of the earth for defying him. But we’d all decided it was worth the risk. We needed to be doing something to fight back against him in a real way while we continued our hunt for the Imperial Star and planned a rebellion for the future.

  I lunged at the Nymph’s leg, slashing with my claws to help bring it down and it finally fell, crashing backwards and hitting the earth with a bone rattling thump.

  Caleb dove onto it, showing no mercy as he drove one of his blades between its eyes and the Nymph burst into a cloud of shadows as it died.

  He shot over to me in a blur, concern etched into his face as he ran his hand over my hind leg and healed the break.

  I licked his face and he smirked at me, the sight making me howl excitedly. We sure made the perfect fucking team. And maybe I needed to accept that we were always just going to be friends, because I’d never survive losing him. But to keep things as they were, my heart was going to have to pay the price. And I was pretty sure I could already feel it breaking.

  T he grand ballroom at the palace where we'd celebrated last Christmas remained well and truly locked up tight against any and every attempt that Lionel made to get into it. He cursed and ranted about the palace, using every kind of spell he could think of and even getting in earth Elementals with expertise in building and architecture to try and break through the magic that was keeping him out, but it was no good. He hadn't even been able to blast his way through the door with Dragon fire.

  So, much to his disgust, instead of holding his ball in there, he'd had to make use of a huge pavilion out in the east gardens for the occasion. Tonight was the annual Dragon Guild's Oath celebration which Clara had informed me was the night when every Dragon in Solaria was expected to come and reaffirm their loyalty to the Guild by remaking their oath beneath the watchful gaze of the stars. Lionel had taken advantage of that last part when telling everyone that it would be held outside, playing up to the idea of the heavens watching over the occasion, but I knew the truth. And the tantru
m he'd thrown over the palace rejecting him had a smile toying around the corners of my lips.

  Beyond the pompous oath nonsense, Darius had told me that this night would mostly be used by Lionel to make certain that his most loyal supporters were all still firmly on team Asscrux. The Dragons would all be making arrangements for political gains such as marriage contracts, trade deals and the like. All that standard let's keep the rich dudes rich bullshit that went on in fancy ass boardrooms everywhere just dressed up prettily for a party instead.

  The dress I was wearing tonight was actually something I might have picked out for myself and I was going to put that down to the people who bought the clothes rather than give Lionel any credit for it. It was a deep, forest green velvet that brought out the colour in my eyes and was backless, though the long sleeves covered my arms.

  I walked down to the ball with Clara at my side as we followed Lionel. He had Catalina on his arm, looking stunning as always, perfectly made up in a silver dress that drew attention to her curves. Clara was pouting because he hadn't wanted her to take his other arm. Tonight was about showing his strength as a Dragon and he wouldn't be seen with anyone other than his pure blooded bride in front of all the others. But of course, Clara was petulant and childish and wasn't just going to accept that.

  "Might I remind you that Guardians are only invited to this function as a courtesy," Lionel growled when she huffed dramatically for the eighth time as we passed a window with a view out to the huge wooden pavilion which was teaming with Dragon Shifters.

  I looked over the hexagonal shaped building with its white roof and mid-level railings surrounding it and couldn’t help but appreciate how pretty it was. Apparently it had been built for my mother so that she could have musicians come and play for her whenever she wanted.

  "If you are unable to behave, then I will send you back to my quarters and you had better believe I won't be kind when I return there later on tonight,” Lionel snarled.

  "But Daddy," Clara whined. "I don't see why I can't-"

  Lionel released his hold on Catalina's arm and whirled on Clara in the blink of an eye, a silencing bubble crashing over our small group as he reached out and grabbed her around the throat.

  "Do you wish for Roxanya to become my favourite?" he threatened, and I fought a shudder at the implications of that.

  Before I'd been brought back to myself, I'd wanted to be the favourite more than anything. But now that I was looking at it without the crazy tinted glasses, I realised the only real difference between me and Clara was that he called her his favourite and he fucked her. I might have had a need in me to please him and be close to him, but thankfully there had never been a stirring of sexual desire towards him in me. That said, I knew I would have done it if he'd told me to before. I would have gotten on my knees and done anything he wanted just to please him. Thank fuck for possessive shadow bitch nutcases.

  "No, Daddy," Clara balked, throwing me a glare full of enough acid to melt the skin from my bones.

  "Then go back to my room and wait for me there. I'll be along when I'm done with the party and you can show me how sorry you are then. Perhaps I will be merciful if you manage to do enough to appease me."

  Clara looked half way between thrilled at that prospect and horrified about being banished but as Lionel's glare hardened, she murmured her agreement then shot away, wailing with tears, her sobs echoing off of the palace walls.

  Lionel's gaze slid to me with a hungry kind of desire that sent a shiver of fear down my spine.

  "You're going to be a good girl, aren't you, Roxanya?" he asked in a low and deadly tone as he reached out to slide his fingers around my throat the way he had to Clara.

  "Yes, my King," I breathed as his nostrils flared and smoke trailed from them.

  Lionel's grip on me tightened painfully and I had to fight against the urge to try and rip his hands from my throat with everything I had as Catalina released a whimper of distress.

  "Sometimes I can see so much of your father in you," he murmured thoughtfully and rage built in me at the reminder of what the stars had shown us he'd done to our father.

  This kingdom had never had a Savage King, it had been this hateful puppet master and his dark magic all along. All for this. He'd been plotting to take the throne even then, doing everything he could to gain the advantage he needed over the other Councillors. It made me sick to know he'd achieved all of that. And that my father may never have known he wasn’t a monster.

  His grip tightened until I couldn't draw breath and light flared in his eyes before he released me just as suddenly as he'd grabbed me and turned to take Catalina's arm once more.

  I had to bite my tongue so hard against all the things I wanted to say to this lying, scheming sack of shit that I made it bleed and that was still only just enough to keep me quiet.

  We headed out into the gardens where the path had been lit up with such a beautiful use of fire magic that I was offered the distraction I needed to pull myself together just by looking at it. The flames burned in a thousand different complicated shapes and patterns, and when we reached the enormous pavilion where the ball was being held, I couldn't help but stare at the life sized Dragon crafted from flames which perched upon the roof.

  My magic flared hungrily as it was recharged by so much fire all around me and I followed Lionel and Catalina up into the pavilion, feeling slightly calmer thanks to the distraction, glad that I didn't have to call on the shadows.

  A herald announced Lionel's arrival like the pretentious douche he was and to my disgust every fucker standing in the beautiful wooden structure bowed low for their king.

  Lionel preened like an overstuffed peacock as the first of the simpering sycophants rushed over to join us and my gaze fell on a giant of a man as he lumbered forward. In fact, every fucker here was huge, I guessed on account of the fact that they were Dragons.

  "Ah, Christopher," Lionel greeted warmly as the big motherfucker tilted his head in acknowledgement of his king. "I was hoping to have a discussion with you later about the Minotaurs living in your part of the kingdom.”

  "Of course," the Dragon replied, licking his lips and running his beady eyes all over Catalina without an inch of shame. "I'd be more than happy to help you rid Solaria of the vermin who have been holding us back for so long."

  "Good," Lionel said. "Because there are a few favours I need of you and it would be most helpful if you could see to it that they were done sooner rather than later. Of course, I would reward you greatly for your help in this matter."

  Christopher agreed to speak with him more later and another Dragon stepped forward, this one eyeing me warily as he bowed to Lionel.

  "Your Highness," he said crisply, his black beard moving just enough to show he'd spoken. His eyes darted my way again and Lionel sighed.

  "I'll come and speak with you alone soon, Tomas," he said. "Once my Guardian is otherwise occupied."

  The bearded Dragon seemed pleased by that suggestion, bowing low before heading away and Lionel cut me an irritated look as if it was my fault his followers didn't like me being here. Technically, this was supposed to be Dragons only, but he'd said it was customary for Guardians to be allowed to attend too. It just didn't seem like the other Dragons were all too pleased about it.

  I looked towards the next Dragon who was ushered up to approach us and had to hide a smile as I recognised Dante Oscura, pleased to find that there was at least one marginally more likeable person here than I'd expected. He was huge like all the other Fae here, but he wasn’t like them at all somehow with his gold jewellery and causally swept back black hair, the few buttons left open at his throat and a general aura of not wanting to be here. He stood out in all the best ways and I was fairly certain he was someone I could call a friend. Or at least I could have before Lionel got his claws into me.

  "Good evening, bella," Dante purred, his Faetalian accent dripping over his words as he smiled at me then turned his attention to Catalina. "And of course the Dragon Quee
n is looking beautiful as always." Catalina smiled graciously and thanked him as Lionel bristled at being left until last. "And finally, my lord and over-ruler, King of all of Solaria and the most powerful Fae I know," Dante said finally, his words oozing disdain and I noticed he didn't bow either.

  "I hear congratulations are in order, Storm Dragon," Lionel growled. "Though I hope you don't think that your arrangement with Juniper means your other children are exempt from my rule. If they Emerge as our kind then I'll be expecting them to join to the Guild."

  Dante didn't even bother to suppress a growl as static electricity washed off of his skin and lifted my hair around my shoulders.

  "Well, we're actually hoping for my Wolf blood to shine through. Let's not forget I'm only a Dragon because of a gift from the stars. I doubt I'll be passing on the Dragon gene," Dante said roughly.

  "Who knows what ways the heavens work," Lionel disagreed. "My blood is as pure as it gets and yet my youngest was cursed to become a Pegasus. Perhaps the stars are righting that oversight by gifting you the genetics to produce an entire army of Storm Dragons to make up for his shortcomings."

  "Yes, no doubt my life and Order were all planned out by the stars to suit your purposes, my king," Dante replied scathingly. "We all live to serve you after all, lucertola viscida."

  Lionel tsked at his tone but made no further efforts to reprimand him.

  "I expect another baby in Juniper's belly by the end of the year," he said. "She's here somewhere. I suggest you find her and put one in her before the night is over."

  I stifled a gasp as he bound Dante with the Dark Coercion that would force him to cheat on his wife and Dante's eyes flared with the power of a storm as he glared at Lionel in outrage. A crash of thunder sounded overhead and as I looked out of the open wall of the pavilion, I could have sworn I spotted a huge, feathered wing crossing over the moon where it hung low in the sky.