Zodiac Academy Fated Throne - Caroline Peckham Page 0,280

a monster in me that wanted to fight her demons and lay them dead at her feet. This girl didn’t deserve to have so many wounds on her heart. She deserved peace and happiness and a life without pain. If I could have one wish from the stars, I’d wish for that. Alright, and for Lionel to have his power blocked and be kicked off of a two hundred foot cliff. Small dreams and all that.

“Well, it was important to him, so maybe he left it somewhere he would find it easily,” I said thoughtfully and she nodded, biting her lip as she considered that.

“Maybe he hung it somewhere.” She looked around to the trees in the space and I nodded, striding forward with purpose.

“Get on my back again, we’ll do a circuit. There’s no one here, if we use a Faelight we might spot it easier.”

“Alright,” she agreed, climbing onto my back and casting a Faelight in her palm. I locked her legs tight around my waist then started running while she angled the light at the trees and the ground as we searched for any sign of it.

Come on Diego, where did you stash your abuela’s damn soul hat?

I sat at the foot of the stairs in the central entranceway to the Palace of Souls, waiting for my girl with my heart thumping to a steady rhythm and my senses tuned on the surrounding area.

I'd cast detection and repulsion spells all around us while Roxy headed into the secret passages her father had once used to meet Gabriel. He'd seen this much going smoothly and was certain we'd make it to the Royal Seer’s Chamber without being discovered, but after that, the stars wouldn't give him a clear answer as to whether or not we'd get away with this.

I swiped a hand down my face, rubbing at the stubble lining my jaw as I leaned against the bannister and watched the empty patch of wall where Roxy had disappeared. I hated having to let her head down there alone. But even during the walk here, the ground had begun to tremble, making pictures shudder on the walls and a waiter had opened a kitchen door so fast that he'd crashed into us, sending his whole tray of champagne flying everywhere. I'd managed to catch the liquid with my water magic before it had drenched us and Roxy had given me a pissy look which had cut short the way I'd been laying into the dude too.

Apparently it wasn't cool for me to yell at the pawns the stars used to force us apart, but it was also pretty much the only outlet I got for my frustrations so it was hard not to.

I had to fight off the urge to start pacing and I straightened as I felt a Fae's magic brushing against my repulsion spells beyond the door that led to the east wing of the palace.

The sound of someone muttering reached me and I stiffened as I recognised Jenkins, my father's asshole butler.

"I was sure I needed to go this way..." He mumbled something else, seeming to wonder if the King was responsible for his change of heart and I cursed as I realised he'd detected my magic. I smirked to myself as I pushed more power into the spell, making him feel a desperate urge to take a shit and he cried out as he began to run in search of a bathroom. I fought down a laugh as I hoped he ended up shitting himself before he got there.

The sound of grating stone announced Roxy's return and I straightened as a hole opened up in the wall and she stepped through with Gabriel at her side.

The two of them were laughing and my skin prickled as I watched them, hungering for the chance to make her smile like that more often. The only other person I'd ever seen her truly let her barriers down like that for was Darcy and though I knew Gabriel was her brother, it still rankled at me to know there were walls she wasn't letting down for me yet.

Not that I could claim to have let her see all of me either, but I was trying. And I guessed she was too. So if the stars would just stop getting in our fucking way then I was certain we'd have a real shot at something here.

"Hey," I said to Gabriel, jerking my chin in greeting while my eyes stuck