Zodiac Academy Fated Throne - Caroline Peckham Page 0,313

his broad shoulders, not seeming the least bit concerned about me leaning over him with his death in my eyes. "The sooner you admit that, the sooner you will grow into the man I need you to be and stop with this foolish nobility. We're Fae, not field mice. We see what we want and we take it if we can. The strongest naturally rise to the top. You cannot deny that is who you are through and through. It is why you fight me so hard after all. You want things that I own - my crown, my power...even pretty little Roxanya Vega who stole your black heart and corrupted your dark soul with that crippling curse."

"What curse?" I asked with a sneer, not buying into his bullshit for a moment.

"Love," he replied simply like it was a dirty world that stained his tongue. "It's why I took her, you know? Because you wanted her so much. The Fae in me saw how precious she was to you and I took her because I could. Because I'm more powerful than you, which is true for one single, undeniable reason."

"What's that?" I asked.

"You're debilitated by your emotions. Your love for her makes you weak. If you truly wanted to kill me, you could have done it already - you only have to cut through her to get to me. But you won't, will you?"

"Never," I agreed, not bothering to try and hide how I felt about her because he already knew anyway.

"Pity," he said with a sigh. "But I'll burn that weakness out of you in time. Aren't you going to open your gift?" He pointed at the Atlas which lay forgotten between us on the table and I growled as I looked down at the black screen with a play button illuminated in the centre of it.

"What is that?" I asked, wondering again where the hell Roxy was and fear knotted in my gut.

"A reminder," Father shrugged. "Of who I am and what I am capable of. You may need to work to keep your emotions in check when you play it though - if you lay so much as a claw on me in reaction to it there will be dire consequences for your brother."

I glanced at Xavier who still sat in his chair, glaring at our father with his chin raised defiantly like he was willing to take whatever punishment he chose to dole out. But I refused to be the architect of his pain.

I snatched the Atlas from the table and hit the button to play the video. Roxy's screams filled the quiet room the moment I did and the camera moved to show her strapped to a wooden chair in the centre of my father's chambers. She was in her underwear, her flesh carved up with countless cuts and stab wounds and her brow was lined with sweat that made her dark hair cling to her face.

"Again," Father's voice came, making it clear he was the one recording this and Clara shot forward from the corner of the room with a bloody knife in hand before slamming it into Roxy's stomach.

Horror washed through me in a wave so potent that I couldn't draw in another breath as I stared at the images, my chest seizing up and my muscles locking with fury and a desperate desire to go to her, rescue her, go back in fucking time and stop this from happening.

Clara stabbed her again and again and she screamed in agony before Vard moved to stand before her, his single Cyclops eye boring into her tear filled gaze as he licked his lips hungrily.

"Who freed you from the shadows?" he purred, his voice slick and oily and turning my stomach.

"Fuck you," Roxy hissed between her teeth, panting heavily as she began to bleed out and she sagged against the restraints holding her in place on the chair. "I freed myself."

Clara backhanded her so hard she fell back against the wood with another curse of pain and the video was cut off just as my father demanded more.

"We had a rather long night," he said, stifling a yawn as I fought with everything I had not to shift and attack him even while my flesh trembled with the need to destroy him for this. I had to hear him out, because he still had her and I didn't know where Vard and Clara were or what the fuck might happen to her if I leapt