Zodiac Academy Fated Throne - Caroline Peckham Page 0,245

as Vard stepped aside with a bow of deference. "But that's only making this take longer. Tell me who you love."

"You," I gasped out as he reached forward to caress the side of my face, smiling like he was proud of me as healing magic slid into my skin and a whimper of relief crept past my lips.

"Good girl. You know how much I hate seeing you like this, Roxanya. I only wish to look after you, but I can't help you until you give Vard what he needs. Don't you want to please me?"

I nodded mutely and his soft touch on my cheek grew firm as he moved to grasp my chin tightly in his big hand and turned my face so that I was forced to look straight into Vard's single Cyclops eye with no warning.

"Darius Acrux," he spoke inside my mind and I fell into a memory of kissing him before I could even try to fight it.

The second my mind latched onto the memory, pain burrowed into my body so deep and fast that a scream tore from my lips, ripping my throat raw.

I blacked out, falling into the soft embrace of oblivion willingly as I begged it to take me away, but I woke again with a gasp as ice cold water crashed down over me.

"Whose fault is this?" Vard asked as I recoiled in fear, the chains binding me to the chair not letting me escape.

"Darius," I breathed and he nodded, stepping back as Lionel moved forward.

"It's alright, Roxanya," Lionel purred, placing his hands against the bloody wounds on my stomach and healing me as I choked against the pain. "I'm here now. I'll take care of you."

The chains holding me down came loose and I sagged forward into his arms as he picked me up easily and held me against his chest.

"Who do you love?" he murmured as my tears slowed and I curled against him.

"You, my King," I whispered, leaning into him while my limbs still trembled with the memory of pain. "Only you."

I grunted a curse as I took control of her memories with my gifts, gently reminding her of the truth and separating my psyche from hers as I soothed away her fear and pain until her breathing settled.

As I drew back into myself, I realised Caleb's hand was on my shoulder and I turned to look at him with a frown, finding his face pale as he slowly stepped back.

"Did you see that?" I asked, a little pissed that he'd done that without asking.

"Yeah," he muttered, his gaze straying to the girl sleeping in the bed as her brow furrowed again. "I'm sorry. But you were broadcasting bits of it without me touching you. I was getting flashes of screams and pain and I just...sorry."

"It's alright," I said, releasing a heavy sigh. "But you might want to apologise to her in the morning - it wasn't my memories you snooped on."

Caleb nodded, his throat bobbing as he looked down at her again and I swiped a hand over my face.

"You're taking that fear and shit away from her like this a lot?" he guessed, eyeing me as I cringed a little.

"Yeah...well if I don't she just gets worse and I-"

"That's gotta be fucking with your emotions though," he said, knowing too well how my Order gifts worked and the way I was affected by the kinds of emotions I fed my power with.

"A bit," I admitted. "It's not too bad doing this once or twice a night, but she won't really settle unless I sleep in here with her and then I end up automatically feeding on it all night. It makes for a kinda sucky night's sleep." I shrugged as I moved to get into the bed with her and Caleb caught my arm.

"You want me to stay too? I'm not exactly laughing my ass off, but I've probably got some lighter emotions than that going on in my head to balance you out."

My shoulders dropped as some of the tension spilled from me and I gave him a smile as I nodded. "Yeah, you're nowhere near as deep as Tory. So if you've got the magic to spare-"

"I had a snack earlier," he said with a smirk, pushing a hand into his blonde curls and I caught a taste of laughter, joy and lust on him as he thought about that which made me grin.

"Come on then," I urged as I pulled the blankets back and moved