Zodiac Academy Fated Throne - Caroline Peckham Page 0,144

room.

"I said, release him!" Darius shouted, his fist thumping down on the table and making everyone's plates jump.

Catalina yelped in alarm and Xavier released a frightened whinny while Vard smiled like he’d already seen how this was going to play out. And if he was excited about it then I knew it could only be bad.

I looked between the dying waiter and Darius fearfully, forcing myself not to say a word despite how much I wanted to. Revealing the truth of my situation now would only make everything so much worse for all of us, but if Darius couldn't save the man's life then I didn’t know what I was going to do. I couldn't let him die. He'd only dropped the damn soup because I'd been holding Darius's hand and the stars had used him to force us apart in their fucked up way.

"If you are so concerned over the life of a servant then perhaps you would like to volunteer to take a punishment in his place?" Lionel asked, pausing with his soup spoon half way to his mouth.

"Fine," Darius gritted out, his jaw ticking with fury.

Lionel smiled cruelly and released the waiter without even bothering to look his way. His face had turned blue and blood vessels had burst in the whites of his eyes, but I was fairly certain he would survive so long as someone healed him sharpish. Two more of the wait staff hurried over to drag him from the room and I held my breath as Vard tittered a laugh and Lionel returned to eating his soup.

Darius slowly lowered into his chair and it soon became clear that Lionel had no intention of punishing him yet, drawing out the suspense as he focused on his meal.

I met Darius's eye for a brief moment, hoping he could see how sorry I was for causing that problem before forcing myself to eat my own soup.

Lionel didn't break the silence again throughout the starter and only spoke once the main course was well underway and we were all thoroughly terrified of what the hell he was going to say.

"Vard foresaw something very troubling today, didn't you?" Lionel said finally and my gut tightened as I wondered what the hell his twisted Seer could have seen. Was he watching me closely? Was there any chance that he might know I was no longer fully under the control of him and his master?

"Yes," Vard said in that snivelling tone of his that turned my stomach. "I was blessed with a vision of a great library. One which holds more forgotten knowledge than we can even imagine."

"Where?" I asked, keeping my tone as neutral as I could.

"That's the problem," Lionel said in a tired voice. "It has been hidden away by yet another group of lowly Orders, trying to steal from their betters."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Darius growled.

"You yourself know how conniving Sphinxes are, don't you, Darius?" Lionel mused. "After all, I heard you were screwing one not so long ago."

I had to fight the urge to wrinkle my nose at the reminder of him dating Marguerite and I focused on pushing my food around my plate, hoping no one was paying me much attention.

"She was trying to secure a position as your bride, did you know that?" Lionel asked with a disgusted laugh. "Her father actually had the nerve to come to me about it. He claimed you were in love and wanted to try and arrange a marriage for you. As if I'd muddy my lineage with blood like theirs."

"We should punish them for suggesting it, Daddy," Clara said excitedly and he gave her a small smile.

"I have even better reason to punish them than that," he said. "This library Vard saw held all manner of priceless tomes and artefacts, scriptures and knowledge long since lost to us. All stolen by Sphinxes and hidden away with the help of the Minotaurs."

"Minotaurs?" Xavier asked in confusion. "Why would they help to hide-"

"The library is underground, in the centre of a labyrinth carved by their half-shifting kind," Lionel spat. "And soon I will release this knowledge to the rest of the kingdom. Solaria will decide what we should do about these lesser creatures trying to conceal and hoard knowledge which they have no right to take from the rest of us."

"And the people will cry out encouragement to help their king retrieve it," Vard said confidently, running a hand through his long hair and licking