Zodiac Academy Fated Throne - Caroline Peckham Page 0,142

need to go cuddle up to the man who imprisoned and tortured me.” I started backing up towards the door but he caught my hand in his, squeezing tight as he met my gaze.

“We’re all at least a little fucked up, Tory,” he said roughly. “But the people who love us don’t give a shit about that. Better still – they love us even more for it.”

My gaze snagged on the friendship bracelet I’d made for him all those months ago and my heart felt full as I smiled at him.

“I missed you, asshole,” I said in a low voice.

“Missed you too, savage.”

We exchanged a look that was a clear promise for us never to speak of this sappy as shit moment ever again and he released my hand so that I could leave.

I headed back out of the summerhouse and into the palace, walking to the informal dining room where Lionel liked to eat. It was his only real option anyway seeing as the majority of the palace was still locked up tight and he couldn’t figure out how to break into any of the rooms. Which was fucking hilarious to me now that I could fully appreciate it.

My heart started pounding as I closed in on the room and when I heard the deep rumble of his voice beyond the door, I broke into a run despite my best intentions, bursting inside.

My gaze snapped straight to my king where he stood by the door and I leapt at him before I could stop myself, wrapping my arms around his neck and squeezing him tight.

"Ah, here she is," he purred in a smug voice as he wound one arm around me and tugged me against him. "My little pet."

Irritation prickled down my spine at that word, but it was tempered by the blissful relief of being reunited with him, and for several seconds all I could do was bury my face against his neck and breathe in the scent of him.

Someone cleared their throat behind us irritably and I turned to find Darius sitting at the table beside Xavier as they waited for us to join them. My gut plummeted and shame clawed at my insides, knowing he’d just seen all of that. I had to fight off a blush with a tug on the shadows that had my emotions dulling as they took hold of me.

Clara was in the seat to the left of the head of the table, dressed all in black and looking murderous as usual. I got the feeling she was holding Darius in his chair with her grip over his shadows as his jaw clenched and unclenched angrily.

"You see, Darius?" Lionel said in a voice that both made me want to throat punch him and stroke his lovely face. For fuck's sake. "Roxanya is thoroughly satisfied by her position beneath me. Aren't you, my dear?"

Lionel’s cold gaze turned to me and I forced myself to hold his eye, reaching up to touch his face - partly to sell the bullshit better and partly because I really wanted to for some fucked up reason - as my lips tilted into a soft smile. "I'm always happy with my king," I purred, possibly laying it on a bit thick but it was that or let him see how revolted I was at this gross bond he'd put on me.

Darius didn't reply, but the way his eyes flared told me he wished he could, and I had Clara to thank for the silence.

"Come and eat, Daddy," Clara begged, patting his chair at the head of the table and he tutted beneath his breath as he drew me towards it with his arm still wrapped around my waist, his hand just barely above my ass.

I was deposited in the seat beside Darius to the right of Lionel's chair before he sat down himself and I set my gaze on my plate as a prickle of guilt washed through me. This whole thing was so fucked up and Darius had had to endure weeks of this shit, watching Lionel parade me around while I flinched every time he came near me. And now, even after I was back in most senses of the word, I still had to take part in this show. I still wanted to on some level too and knowing how much that hurt him just made me feel like shit.

Before any of us could say anything else, the door opened once more and Catalina walked