Zodiac Academy Fated Throne - Caroline Peckham Page 0,180

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