Zodiac Academy: Fated Throne

by Caroline Peckham

  I half expected Dante to lunge at Lionel and rip his throat out with the fury that was burning in his gaze as his posture locked tight and his muscles flexed within his expensive black suit, threatening to burst the seams of it.

  He ground his jaw for several seconds and Lionel smirked at him like he was hoping he really would attack. I flexed my fingers, magic pooling to them while I readied myself to leap before my king if he needed defending, equally hating myself for doing it and unable to stop.

  Dante growled and more static poured from him but instead of attacking, he turned to look at me and forced a smile. "Would you like to dance with me, bella?" he asked, offering me his hand and I raised an eyebrow in surprise at the sudden turn of events.

  "I'm glad to see you're accepting of your task," Lionel said triumphantly looking like the cockiest, smuggest bastard I'd ever seen. "And yes, I think it might be for the best if my Guardian were to spend some time away from me so that I can speak with my subjects in private. Run along, Roxanya, dance, eat and just keep out of the way."

  I agreed instantly, giving Dante my hand and letting him walk me over to the dance floor on the far side of the pavilion. Where his skin touched mine, electricity skittered against my palm and I shivered at the reminder of the torture I'd endured even though the voltage he was exuding now was nothing like the agony I'd received at Lionel's hand.

  Luckily Vard wasn't here tonight either as no Cyclopses were invited so I was about as close to free as I ever got while back at the palace.

  Dancers were taking their places on the floor, all of them dressed elegantly and looking supremely comfortable as someone called out to let us know this was going to be a foxtrot.

  "Can I tell you a secret, bella?" Dante asked, lowering his voice conspiratorially and smirking at me like we were firm friends even though I didn't know him all that well.

  “What?" I asked, keeping my tone flat.

  "I don't know the steps to this dance," he whispered loudly and I had to fight a smile.

  "Well then we may be in trouble, because I don't either," I admitted. "Perhaps it's better if we don't-"

  "Nonsense." Dante tugged me into his strong arms and I had to fight a surprised laugh as my hand fell against his shoulder and his hand moved to hold my waist.

  The music started playing and he swept me into the dance, whirling me around in circles, not seeming to give one shit that we weren't following the steps at all. I had to bite my lip to stop myself from laughing as he knocked into the other dancers, carving out a path for us and causing carnage with his total lack of shits to give. He wasn't a bad dancer, he just wasn't following the status quo and I got the feeling he enjoyed shaking it up. There was no law to say we had to do the dance that everyone else was doing anyway and I just wished I could drop my mask and laugh my way through this with him.

  "Do you trust me, little principessa?" Dante asked, whirling me around and I shifted my hand in his as my mind lingered on the Dark Coercion Lionel had placed on him.

  "Why are you asking if-"

  "Gabby told me I could trust you," he said, flashing me a smile. "And he said that you could help me too."

  My lips parted in confusion as I tried to figure out who Gabby was and Dante spun me beneath his arm suddenly, forcing another couple to stumble away from us as he almost knocked me into them. He tugged me back into his arms and my eyes widened as I found a silencing bubble pressing close around the two of us to keep our conversation private.

  "What are you doing?" I breathed.

  "No need to keep up the shadow twat act with me, principessa," he teased. "I see the real girl peering back at me clear as day from those big green eyes of yours."

  "I don't know what you-"

  "Give it up, bella. Gabby told me your secret. So do you trust me with it?"

  My lips fell open as I tried to figure out what he was saying, not to mention who the hell Gabby was. I didn't know a Gabby.

  "Don't tell me, he makes you call him Gabriel,” Dante groaned dramatically. “He's such a stronzo sometimes."

  The penny finally dropped and I snorted a laugh. "You call him Gabby?"

  "Yeah. He loves it. Don't let him tell you different. So can you help me with my little Dragon bitch issue, principessa? Because if this Coercion makes me fuck her, my wife will cut my balls off and I happen to be pretty damn fond of them."

  I had to fight my smile back so that no one else would see it as I nodded, relief spilling into me at the knowledge that I could do this for him. If Gabriel had sent him to me then there was no doubt in my mind about that.

  I squeezed his fingers, my Phoenix fire crackling against the electricity in his veins as I pushed it beneath his skin and sought out the Dark Coercion binding him to Lionel's will. I burned through it easily and Dante laughed loudly, spinning me again as he bumped into a guy hard enough to knock him on his ass.

  "What are you going to do about Juniper?" I asked. "If she doesn't end up pregnant then Lionel will know you didn't-"

  "Don't worry about that. Gabby has a plan and I've got back up to execute it from mia famiglia." Dante smirked at me as the song ended and he turned me around, bringing me face to face with Darius who was glaring over my shoulder at the Storm Dragon like he had half a mind to shift and lay into him. "Ah here's our new prince," Dante mocked.

  "You two seem cosy," Darius said in a flat tone, his gaze taking in Dante's hand in mine as the hint of a snarl escaped him.

  "Calm down, mio amico, I have my own girl to keep me more than occupied. I was only dancing with your beautiful mate. But now I need to run and she finds herself in need of a new dance partner.” Dante gave me a little push and I stumbled forward a step so that Darius caught me.

  The feeling of his hands on my waist lit a fire beneath my skin and I drew in a breath as he looked down at me.

  "Your fiancé will be a little late to the party, so you have time for a dance before she gets here," Dante added with a grin that said Gabriel had told him that too before he strode away.

  Darius looked beyond me towards the throne where Lionel had set himself up to receive his subjects before his grip tightened on my waist and he drew me closer.

  I looked up at him in surprise as he slid his hand around my back, his rough palm landing on my bare skin as he pulled me into his arms, his other hand taking mine as the music started up.

  "Are you sure this is a good idea?" I asked though I wasn't making any attempt to pull away as he moved me out into the crowd of dancers as a waltz was announced.

  Unlike Dante, Darius clearly knew all of the steps and he led me around the floor with such confidence that it was easy for me to follow him and replicate them too.

  "My father enjoys watching me suffer over you," he said, pulling me even closer so that our chests were touching. "So he won't have any objections. Especially once Mildred arrives and I'm forced to endure her company for the rest of the night. Besides, being in a crowd this big might buy us a few minutes from the stars."

  I probably should have said more, but I didn't want to be anywhere else so I just gave in, letting him spin me around the ballroom like a fairy tale princess even though we both knew I wasn't anything of the sort.

  We danced around and around, my skirt whirling around my ankles and our bodies pressing so close that I could feel the hard ridges of his muscles through his shirt and I grew breathless as the smoke and cedar scent of him drew me even closer.

  My heart was thumping to a treacherous rhythm and I was glad he held me so tightly or I was almost certain everyone in the room would be able to see that I was anything but a shell of a girl when I was in his arms.

  The music dipped and suddenly his hands were on my waist as he lifted me, spinning me in time with all the other dancers and placing me back on my feet with my body pressed to his.

  "When did you learn to dance like this?" I asked him and he smirked at me as we swept over the wooden floor again, the steps so fast that I wasn't even certain how I was keeping up with him
.

  "Around about the same time as you learned to hotwire a bike," he teased. "Some of us were raised for this life."

  "And some of us learned how to really live," I taunted back.

  Darius's lips lifted in amusement and I was caught in his dark eyes as he directed us across the dance floor once more.

  "Are you enjoying this?" he murmured.

  "Yes," I breathed, unable to deny the way my heart was hammering against my ribcage and my skin was burning up everywhere that we were pressed together.

  "So it feels good to let me take charge?" he pushed and I narrowed my eyes at him.

  "Don't go thinking you'll make a habit of it."

  Darius leaned down so that his lips brushed my ear as he spoke his next words and a tremor ran right through me which I was sure he must have been able to feel too. "You'd love being dominated by me, Roxy," he promised. "I'd pin you down and make you scream so good you'd forget all about trying to stop me as I marked you as mine so thoroughly that you'd never doubt that it was true ever again."

  A throb of need built in my core at his words and I wondered if he knew how much I wanted him to try that. I was aching for his touch on my flesh, my cheeks flushed and my panties wet as he held me almost tight enough to bruise.

  But before I could give him an answer to that suggestion, a roar which sounded kind of like a pig going into battle with an angry sheep announced Mildred's arrival to the party. I flinched back out of Darius's arms as an explosion of vomit-yellow taffeta charged our way.

  "Here I am snookums!" she cried as she launched herself into his arms, knocking me back and making me curse as I fought to steady myself in my heels. "No need to waste your time dancing with anyone else," she added, tossing a pointed look my way as she wrapped her arms around Darius possessively.

  Everything in my being screamed at me to punch her stupid pug face and my muscles locked up as I fought to try and control my anger, cutting a glance towards Lionel on his throne.

  He was watching us, his gaze on Darius and an amused smirk on his lips as I forced myself to turn and walk away. I didn't head back to Lionel though. He'd told me to dance, eat and stay out of the way so I knew he didn't want me around his Dragon asshole buddies.

  I took a shaky breath as I tried to calm my pounding heart and headed over to the feast which had been laid out to the side of the pavilion. There was every kind of food you could imagine on it, beautifully presented with golden plates ready to be filled by the servants who perked up as they saw me approaching.

  I told the guy who offered to get me food that I didn't care what he picked out then took it to the far side of the pavilion with the intention of hiding out in the shadows until I had to return to Lionel's bed later tonight.

  Wow, my life was so fucking painful. I felt trapped in this endless cycle of lying about who I was, faking a lack of emotions about everything that mattered to me then stealing moments to be myself while still having to lie about the part of me that just ached to be with Lionel every minute of every fucking day.

  Time ticked by as I stood there alone, my plate of untouched food balanced on the railing beside me as I tried not to watch Mildred pawing at Darius and failed miserably. She was all over him and it didn't even matter that I knew full well he had no interest in her. He was still destined to be hers. And unless we managed to stop Lionel by the time they graduated then he'd have to go through with the marriage too.

  "You look as miserable as I feel." Orion's voice snapped me out of my thoughts and I looked around to find him leaning against the railing a few feet from me.

  "Shit, you made me jump," I scolded as I glanced at his blue suit and tie while he folded his arms over his chest.

  "Yeah, well, everyone is Power Shaming me so I might as well be invisible here. But Uncle Lionel says his Heir's Guardian had to be present so here I am."

  I nodded in understanding because that was why I'd been gifted an invite too.

  "Please alleviate my boredom - I need something to get me through the reality of spooning with that motherfucker tonight," I begged and Orion's lips twitched the tiniest amount as he handed me a glass of champagne before taking a long swig of his own.

  "You and I both know you'll be diving in for that spooning head first," he scoffed, leaning back against the railing.

  "At least allow me to pretend I've still got some dignity," I muttered.

  "It's fine - I'll be in bed with Darius, no doubt listening to him talking about you incessantly while he makes me his little spoon."

  "I would have pegged you for a big spoon kind of guy," I teased, not sure what to think of Darius talking about me like that.

  "Yeah, well I would be if I had my girl in my bed, but the bond makes me want to please my Ward and seeing as Darius suffers from the superiority complex of a lifetime, let's just say the domineering asshole always wants to be the big one."

  I smiled a little at that visual, taking a sip of my drink to cover it in case anyone was looking our way, but they all seemed too invested in their bullshit to pay attention to the unwanted additions to the party anyway.

  "You said your girl," I pointed out, giving him a sidelong look as his brow furrowed and he sighed, casting a hopeless kind of look my way.

  "Shit, you really look like her sometimes, you know?" Orion breathed, swiping a hand over his face and looking so freaking tired and broken that I kinda wanted to hug him despite all the witnesses.

  "I look like my identical twin? Really? No fucking way," I teased and he shook his head.

  "Yeah, well, when you smiled you just reminded me of her more than usual. Or at least of the way she used to look before I..." He trailed off, looking out over the party and my heart twisted for him, but he really had been the architect of this fucking mess between them, so I wasn't going to offer him platitudes. He needed to buck the fuck up and fix it.

  I twisted my fingers where he couldn't see beside me, crafting air magic into the shape of a fist before slamming it into his junk at least as hard as I would have punched him if we didn't have an audience.

  Orion cursed, doubling over and dropping his drink so that the glass shattered and several of the Dragons looked to him in shock. They hurriedly looked away again like he didn’t exist and one pinched face woman loudly said, “For shame.”

  I bit my lip as I slowly took another drink, hiding my amusement as Orion tried to subtly cast healing magic on his balls while pushing himself upright again.

  "Why?" he hissed and I cut him a look that said 'you know why' to which he muttered beneath his breath something along the lines of me being a fucking psychopath and feeling sorry for Darius if that was how I treated his junk.

  "If you recall correctly, I offered you one chance not to fuck things up with her and promised castration if you hurt her," I said casually. "So really you're getting off lightly."

  "By the stars, you're a monster," he growled.

  "Damn straight I am," I agreed. "So fix it and I won't have to elevate your punishments."

  "Elevate?" he asked, his voice raising an octave and making me smirk into my drink again. "If you elevate it, I won't be left functioning."

  I cut him a look and mimed snipping a pair of scissors with my fingers while he grimaced, shifting a protective hand over his balls as he shook his head in horror at me.

  Darius and Mildred swept around the centre of the dance floor and my amusement fell away as I watched them. She might have had a frame almost as big as his and feet which in all honesty looked even bigger than his, but she had clearly been taught how to do all of these fancy formal dances. The two of them moved around the dance floor in perfect synchronisation and as I watched them, I couldn't help but wonder what would happen if we failed to get hold of the Imperial Star. What if all of our plans and goals and aims to thwart Lionel and dethrone him just didn't work out?

  Was this the life I was destined to lead forever? Watching Darius with that nasty troll of a girl as he danced with her at parties, was forced to marry her,
had little pure-blooded Dragon babies with her. All while I was cursed to spend my nights warming Lionel's bed and following his every command in the vain hope that we might one day find some way to break this bond he'd put on me.

  My chest tightened as I watched Mildred's vomit-yellow dress sweeping out behind her, Darius's hand resting on the small of her hairy back. His eyes met mine through the crowd and I could see that same ache there, that longing for a different life which I could see no path to. Because even if we did manage to take the throne back from his father, it wouldn't change this curse I'd put on us. We'd still be Star Crossed, destined to be alone, pining for each other forever.

  Was this all my future held? Looking at him across crowded rooms and wishing I'd made the other choice?

  "He really does love you," Orion said in a low voice which jolted me out of my staring and I cleared my throat as I dropped my gaze down to my feet.

  "I'm not an easy person to love," I muttered.

  "Neither is he. That's probably what makes you so perfect for each other."

  I hmmed lightly but not really because I didn't agree, more because it seemed so pointless to even consider it. Nothing could change our fates now anyway.

  "I actually came over here to hang out alone in the corner so that I could feel less shitty," I teased. "You're kind of a downer, you know that?"

  "I'm a heartbroken criminal who has now had two careers destroyed before I've even turned thirty," he growled. "So you really shouldn't be surprised by that. Besides, what do you want me to do about it?"

  "Be more fun," I joked and he rolled his eyes.

  "Fine. You wanna play a game?"

  "What kind of game?" I asked.

  "That was a joke."

  "Your delivery requires some work. Come on, you've promised me a game now. Why don't I guess what the pompous douche hats are saying to each other and you can use your bat ears to tell me if I'm right?" I suggested.

  "Sure. But don't blame me when it's nothing but posturing bullshit," Orion agreed, sounding less than enthused by my idea but he was less than enthused by most things since he'd fucked up his relationship with my sister, so I was willing to ignore that.