Zodiac Academy Fated Throne - Caroline Peckham Page 0,247

family, unbreakable, united always. And knowing that took away some of the fear I held getting through this shit.

"Well that will make this a lot easier then," Dad said firmly. "Assuming they're willing to say that publicly?"

I opened my mouth to say they would but then I paused. "I'm pretty sure they will, but I guess it depends on what their parents' take on it is... I wanna think that Cal and Seth won't be any issue, but I guess if Lionel tells Darius he doesn't want him speaking out in favour of someone with Minotaur blood-"

"I'll be making house calls to Melinda and Antonia today. If we're united then hopefully our king will see sense and back you up too." I couldn't help but doubt that and I didn't miss the way Dad spat the word king.

"Do you know who leaked it?" I asked, knowing there was no point pursuing that topic right now.

There was a pause then Dad sighed. "Not for certain, but... Your mother was-"

"Not my mother," I growled, glad at least that I wouldn't have to pretend about that shit anymore even if everything else was fucked.

"No, I suppose not. Well, she was most upset about those videos that were circulating yesterday of you and Ellis," he said heavily. "Of course I told her that was just usual Fae on Fae posturing and that Ellis needed to figure out how to handle it without coming crying to us but Linda wasn’t satisfied with that. She wanted me to force you to make a formal apology and said that I should make you give Ellis private tuition daily to improve her magic at an accelerated rate. When I told her you needed to concentrate on your own studies and pointed out that Ellis wasn't the Heir anyway, not to mention the fact that she was only gifted one Element so she really isn’t ever going to be-"

"The bitch decided to go public," I summarised. "You think she's going to try and push Ellis to challenge me for my place one day?"

Dad grunted an agreeing noise. "Well she does have very high ambitions for her and of course I love Ellis dearly, but the girl just isn't cut from the same cloth as you, son. You're my oldest and my strongest. There's no doubt in my mind over who the Heir is. We just need to make sure the rest of the kingdom stays in agreement with us over that."

"Okay," I agreed, trying not to feel too hopeless. "I'll see if I can get the Heirs to release statements in support of me and let you get on with damage control."

I made a move to cut the call, but Dad called out to stop me.

"I love you, Max," he growled. "We'll fix this."

The line went dead and I smiled a little even as panic consumed me at the knowledge that this secret was out. One thing was for certain though - I wouldn't be helping Ellis learn shit. If she seriously thought her single Elemental ass could take me on then she could come at me like Fae.

For now, I was going to have to work on damage control and just hope that this didn't all go to hell.

I flew a short circle around the academy grounds with the drizzle in the air sticking to my scales and my breath rising in a fog even though I wasn't breathing fire. It was one of those depressingly damp and cold winter days that were better off spent inside, but I'd had trouble sleeping and so I was out in it all the same.

I looked over the sea to the horizon where the sun was rising, wanting to leave the protective wards that surrounded the academy and fly for hours, really stretching my wings. But that would require me to land and exit via the gate before heading off and then Father would be informed that I'd left the grounds. And I couldn't really sneak out either because it was pretty hard to hide the passage of an enormous golden Dragon through the sky. I was fairly certain I was the only golden beast of our kind currently alive and people talked when they thought they'd spotted an Heir.

I'd asked Father why the wards were even still in place now that he had control over the Nymphs and we were no longer at war. He'd told me he was concerned about the threat in the north where there were rumours