Zodiac Academy Fated Throne - Caroline Peckham Page 0,183

turned my insides.

"My King," I greeted, dipping my head even though it went against every instinct in my soul. "I miss you."

He sighed, seeming both pleased and irritated by the show of needy behaviour like I knew he would be, and he beckoned me closer as he got to his feet. "I don't plan on this party going on much longer. Why don't you head back to our bed and make sure Clara isn't up to any mischief?"

I nodded eagerly, feeling like a whipped little puppy dog as he cupped my face in his palm and placed a wet kiss on my cheek before waving me away. I turned and headed out of the party as fast as I could without drawing attention.

The path seemed abandoned as I strode down it purposefully, but as I drew closer to the palace, a blur of movement caught my gaze and I was swept off of my feet as Orion grabbed me and sped us inside.

I could hardly keep my bearings as he shot past the household staff, down long corridors and headed into the guest wing of the palace before skidding to a halt outside a closed wooden door.

He dropped me to the floor and kicked the door open before shooting inside and throwing a blast of air magic at Christopher's back before I even made it over the threshold.

The Dragon Shifter had already taken his shirt off and Catalina was in her underwear on the bed, her eyes wild as she spotted us.

Christopher stumbled back beneath Orion's attack but recovered quickly, lifting his hands and throwing a torrent of Dragon Fire straight at Orion who barely managed to shield in time to protect himself from it.

The flames ricocheted off of the shield and Catalina screamed as they were directed at the bed where she lay instead.

I cursed as I threw magic towards her, mixing ice and air into a powerful shield around her and grunting with the effort of maintaining it as the Dragon fire blasted the bed apart with a tremendous crash.

The second the flames died down, Orion hit Christopher with a shot of air so hard that he was thrown back against the wall where his head made a horrible cracking sound against the bricks before he dropped to the floor unconscious.

"Shit,” I gasped as I dispersed my shield, panting in relief as I found Catalina cowering beneath it.

I hurried past Orion as he moved to make sure Christopher wasn't about to wake up and grabbed her hand, pushing Phoenix fire beneath her skin and seeking out all of the Dark Coercion that Lionel had forced on her yet again.

"Are you okay?" I breathed, looking around for her clothes and finding her dress burned to a crisp on the remnants of the burning bed.

I took her hand and hauled her up and she glanced between me and Orion with relief and fear filling her gaze in equal measures.

"You shouldn't have done that," she breathed, wrapping her arms around herself and Orion shrugged out of his jacket before handing it to her so that she could cover herself up.

"We weren't going to just let him abuse you like that," Orion snarled in disgust.

"It wouldn't have been the first time," she said, shaking her head hopelessly. "Lionel has been using me to help him secure deals for years. At first it was just flirting which I did willingly enough, but then..."

"You were Coerced to come here tonight," I said angrily. "That doesn't sound like you were willing to me."

Catalina blanched. "A few years ago, one of his political contacts wanted more than flirting from me and when I refused, he tried to pull out of a major deal Lionel had wanted to make. So, to save the deal he told me to go through with it and when I refused again, he just..."

My blood burned with fury and outrage on her behalf and I pulled her into a tight embrace as she trembled in my arms.

"I know you were trying to help me, but if Lionel figures out what happened here, he'll kill all of us," she breathed fearfully and I looked around at Orion with concern, wondering how we were going to get out of this.

A knock at the door almost made me jump out of my skin and fire blazed to life in my palm as I whirled around, finding Gabriel standing there with a grin on his face.

"Oh good, I wasn't certain if I'd get here now or