Zodiac Academy Fated Throne - Caroline Peckham Page 0,15

win.

Beside Nova was a woman with flowing raven hair and pale skin; she was dressed in long black robes, looking like some sort of medieval witch. She gazed at my father and the other Councillors with respect, but something in her eyes told me she wasn’t exactly thrilled they were here. Her gaze fell on Tory and a squeak of horror left her as she took an abrupt step toward her. “My dear, are you quite well?”

“Quite well,” Tory echoed and the professor pulled at her own hair, glancing at Father and quickly schooling her expression again.

“Good evening High Councillors,” Nova said brightly, ushering an entourage forward to take all of our bags from us – or our porters anyway. “We are absolutely thrilled to welcome your children to Zodiac Academy.”

There were like two hundred other kids waiting behind us but whatever.

“Professor Zenith will be conducting their Awakening as usual,” Nova went on. “And we thought it might be apt for the five of them to be gifted by the stars before the rest of the students.”

“Oh, that’s really not necessary,” Antonia said cheerily and Melinda nodded.

“I think it would be appropriate,” Father said firmly, directing Nova and Zenith to start walking ahead of us, taking charge.

We followed them through campus and Tory drifted along at my side, seeming disinterested in anything but occasionally gazing wistfully at my father. I frowned at her, wishing I could do something to help her, but as she met my gaze, I could see she was hardly even there. Was Father going to allow her to come back to the academy this year?

The thought of her having been stuck alone in the manor with him all summer was awful. But it wasn’t like I’d been able to get near her, and Darius certainly hadn’t. Shit, what could anyone even do at this point?

We wound along through the beautiful campus under the light of the stars and the mutters coming from the crowd of freshman behind us said we were the talk of the night. Grayson kept throwing flirtatious looks at the group of fangirls at his and Hadley’s heels. Come to think of it, there were a bunch of girls pointing at me and whispering too. Heat blazed along my neck and I turned back to face the way we were going before I tripped over my own feet or some shit.

We reached a sweeping meadow full of tall grass and Nova directed the rest of the freshman to wait by the trees before leading me, Tory, the Councillors and their kids down to the centre of the field.

My heart lifted at the sight of the Heirs waiting for us there. Darius, Max, Seth and Caleb were dressed in smart suits, watching us closely as we approached. I could see their lips moving and Caleb’s hand curling around Darius’s arm as my brother stared at Tory. The tension in his posture made my chest ache, and he gave Caleb a firm nod even though the action seemed to cause him pain. They were clearly talking within a silencing bubble, but the second we got close enough, they disbanded it and all moved forward to greet their families.

Darius pulled me into a hug, speaking in a low voice in my ear. “This is your night, Xavier. Enjoy it.”

I smiled at him as he released me, but my smile started to die as his gaze moved to Tory again and she acted like he was invisible. It hurt me to see the two of them like this. Wasn’t being Star Crossed enough? Now my father had to do this to them too? It wasn’t right. Sometimes I didn’t have any faith in the stars. It was hard to accept they were ever on our side when all I saw from fate these days was bullshit.

“Let’s begin,” Zenith said brightly.

My heart thrashed against my ribcage as she directed the five of us to stand in a circle and our parents and Tory stood back behind us. It was easier to concentrate when my father was no longer in sight and I smiled at Hadley across from me who smirked like a cocky asshole.

Zenith stepped between us as Nova moved away to watch and Athena and Grayson grabbed my hands on either side of me.

“That’s it, hold hands all of you,” Zenith said, her eyes sweeping over us with an assessing gaze.

Ellis and Hadley clasped hands then took hold of the twins’ hands too so we were all