Zodiac Academy Fated Throne - Caroline Peckham Page 0,59

fear danced down my spine.

I reached for the jar, picking it up and feeling the power of the runes used to contain the bolt of lightning inside it as I unlocked them the way he'd taught me. This was what I deserved for letting Darcy and the others get close to me like that. For letting them try and take me from my king. I needed this punishment. It was the only way to set things right.

I gritted my teeth as I pushed my magic into the runes, unlocking them as I twisted the lid off of the jar in the same movement.

The bolt of lightning slammed into my chest with a force so powerful that I was helpless to stop the scream of agony that tore from my lips as I was knocked flat on my back while the electricity careered back and forth inside my body.

It lit me up from the inside out, burning and frying and shocking everything it touched before bouncing back around to hit all the same places again twice as hard.

My back arched as I screamed so loud my throat tore and pain unlike anything else I'd ever experienced held me in its grasp and wouldn't let go. It was never ending, this blinding, all consuming agony which sliced through every piece of me until it was destroyed and bleeding for my king.

When it finally stopped, I collapsed in a heap of agony, shaking and crying, the scent of burning filling the air and a ringing in my ears that wouldn't let up.

I could hear Lionel breathing heavily as he listened in to my torture and I latched onto the sound as a groan of pleasure escaped him, the single good thing that I could find in this eternal fire that I was burning in.

"Good girl," he grunted through his panting breaths as I just lay there sobbing and whimpering, unable to move or do anything to relieve the pain in my flesh which went on and on eternally.

The shadows crept closer to me, promising oblivion if I let myself dive into them, but I knew I couldn't do that. Not yet. Not until he said I could.

"Five more minutes to make sure you've really learned your lesson," Lionel said in a rough voice. "And when I next see you, you'll be rewarded for your dedication."

I tried to force a reply past my burned lips, but only a pained moan escaped them as I lay there, almost certain I was dying.

"Remember not to kill the one who comes to heal your wounds," he added gruffly. "I need them alive. Don't let the shadows take them."

Another pained moan escaped my lips as I agreed and he clearly knew I understood as he cut the line, leaving me to lay there and suffer for my failings.

The tears which slid from my eyes only made the burning worse but in five minutes I could escape into the shadows. Five minutes and I wouldn't feel it anymore.

And soon I would see my king again, knowing he was proud of me. That was all that really mattered anyway. So I’d hold onto it with everything I had and be sure to make him proud.

I raced up the pitch with the roar of the crowd in my ears and the Waterball tucked firmly beneath my arm as I headed for the Pit with my jaw locked in determination.

It was the first game of the season and the sixth week of term. Lionel Acrux had taken the throne, we were having fuck all luck finding the star despite the fact Darcy had broken her star vow with Orion, Tory was still well and truly lost in the shadows, Darius and Darcy were so fucking miserable that it actually caused me pain to see them like that and to top it all off I'd been out hunting this morning and had caught an eyeful of Washer's teeny weeny while he was shifting down by the lake. Fucking gross.

But no matter how much everything else sucked, there was one single thing in this world which would always make me smile and bring me and my brothers together. And that was Pitball. I mean yeah, we might have lost our coach and yeah, we had the world's most unenthusiastic cheerleader in Tory and yeah, a win on the pitch wouldn't solve any of the real issues we were facing, but it sure as fuck would feel good. And that was what I wanted. One