Zodiac Academy Fated Throne - Caroline Peckham Page 0,167

another bite, she slammed back her shot of tequila without even flinching and eyed me with mischief dancing in her eyes.

"So what now?" she asked. "Did you have some grand plan for our evening of escaping our problems or are you just winging it?"

I shrugged because I definitely hadn't expected to take her out like this and though I was aching to get her alone somewhere, I was just happy to be in her company without shadows flickering in her eyes. And being in a crowd of strangers was close enough to alone all the time I had her undivided attention.

"Maybe we should just stay here," I teased. "Hide from all of our problems and never go back."

"It'd be that simple, huh?" she asked, glancing around the room heaving with people as if she was considering it for a moment.

"No," I replied honestly. "They'd hunt us down. There are ways to trace magical signatures which are especially effective here where there are hardly any Fae. Besides, even if we could hide from them, Fae can't live in the mortal world for long periods of time once their magic is Awakened. The balance of power isn't right here. This place slowly eats into your magic if you hang around too long. Even the Fae who work here importing goods back to our realm rarely stay more than a month at a time and even then, they pay a cost for it. We just don't belong here."

"No," she agreed, looking around at the humans who seemed so like us in some ways and yet so different in others. "What would happen to a mortal who came to Solaria then?" she asked curiously.

"They'd lose their minds," I replied. "The magic in our realm is too much for them to handle."

"Okay...so what about a couple who fell in love Romeo and Juliet style?" she asked. "A Fae and a mortal-"

"Destined for failure," I said with a mocking smile. "They can't even have children together. The magic in our blood and the lack in theirs makes it impossible."

"Good thing I'm not a romantic or the idea of that might just break my heart," she teased and the two of us fell silent as we looked at the black rings in each other's eyes. Being here with her like this felt so damn good, but I knew I was just kidding myself into thinking we were alone. There were people all around us and the stars were clearly still watching even here. But it was still pretty nice to pretend.

“So come on then, what's next?" she asked and I shrugged.

"If this was a proper date and I'd actually organised it, I guess we would have gone for a race on our bikes," I said. "I still want a re-match after the last one."

She smiled at that suggestion and my heart leapt as I looked at her. She was so beautiful. Why hadn’t I just let myself see that before? I’d been so caught up on the idea of it just being lust and wanting to hate fuck her that I’d refused to see that her beauty went so much deeper than her appearance. She was everything I wasn’t and everything I wanted. A princess, born to live her life in a specific way just like I had been and yet she refused to blindly follow any path. At least until my father had forced her onto one.

"Well, I guess it's on me to solve that little problem then, isn't it?" she asked, getting to her feet and pulling out the cash she'd pick pocketed before tossing it all on the table.

"What the hell are you doing?" I asked as I stood too. "You're not paying."

"Well I don't see you hiding any mortal money in those jeans," she said lightly. "So just suck up your pride and let me pay. You can be all bitch hurt over being emasculated tomorrow when I'm not around to witness the tears."

She offered me a taunting smirk and I wasn't sure whether to laugh or growl, but she didn't give me the time to decide before turning and striding out of the restaurant.

I was forced to jog after her as she led the way back up the dark street with her long hair swaying down her spine. When I called out to her to slow down she just laughed before ducking into an underground parking lot and out of sight.

I cursed beneath my breath as I ran after her, vaulting the