Zodiac Academy Fated Throne - Caroline Peckham Page 0,189

but about him. The whole kingdom had blamed Hail Vega for the atrocities he’d caused, and all along it had been his devious friend whispering in his ear instead. It changed everything. And nothing. Because it was done, history. But it gave me a thousand more reasons to despise the Dragon King. As if I need any more of those.

I’d been a total hypocrite anyway, worrying about what the Vega twins might become back then based off of their father. I’d always stood by Darius despite how awful Lionel was. Maybe bad people were born not bred.

“You can and you will.” Tory jumped up. “So, the other day me and Gabriel made one of these rings for him and I decided to make you one too. I used a little binding spell to put my blood in this stone here and spelled it with some of my magic too. Which basically means this is a key to the King’s passages.” Her eyes sparkled excitedly and the bottom dropped out of my gut.

“I can’t go beyond the shadow boundary either way,” I said, my eyes fixed on that ring.

“Except, I think I can maybe let you,” she said, moving toward me and reaching for my wrists. Her fingers wound around the dark rings of shadow twisting beneath my flesh and I looked up at her in concern.

“What if Clara can feel it?” I asked.

“She won’t,” Tory said confidently. “Because I’m not going to break the bonds. I’m going to shield them.” Shadows coiled out from her palms and I felt the call of them in my bones, begging me to sink into their hungry embrace. A sigh left me as she pressed them beneath my skin and their cool touch wrapped around my wrists. The bonds were slightly larger now, but it wasn’t noticeable as she shut her eyes and whispered something under her breath I didn’t understand. It barely sounded like her voice at all and my blood chilled at the thought of the shadows speaking through her.

“There,” she said, stepping back with darkness swirling around her irises. “That should work.”

“I can’t run,” I told her, shaking my head. “Even if this does work, I can’t leave this place. Lionel will have the FIB hunt me to the ends of the earth. I wouldn’t be able to help you or Darcy or-”

“I know,” she said, her brows pulling together. “But this means you can come and go without Lionel ever knowing. And when it’s time to run, you can. It’ll be better than him throwing you back into Darkmore, right?”

The weight of what she was offering pressed down on my heart and though I didn’t like the idea of living the rest of my life on the run if Lionel remained in power, at least it was an option. And possibly a better one than twenty five years in prison. When I’d found a way to save Clara, when the twins had the Imperial Star…if it all came together, maybe then I could go.

I opened my mouth to thank her, but she spoke over me before I could.

“Let’s see if it actually works first,” she said with a nervous laugh, drawing me up from my seat and gesturing toward the secret hatch in the kitchenette.

I reached for the ring and she handed it over, the brush of her magic humming from the metal as I slid it onto my thumb and making me feel weirdly close to her as I looked up and gave her a smile.

“Ah, shit, you’re gonna cry, aren’t you?” she teased. “Suck it up, dude, I can’t deal with you getting all emotional on me.”

“As if,” I scoffed, twisting the ring back and forth as I got used to the feeling of it sitting there. “But Darius might when he realises I’m clearly your favourite.”

“Uh huh. You can tell him I got down on one knee when I gave it to you too, give him something to really get worked up over.”

“I think I prefer my head attached to my shoulders thanks all the same,” I joked and she nodded towards the kitchenette again to remind me of what I was supposed to be doing.

I walked over to it, crouching down and pressing my hand to the faint Hydra mark hidden in the pattern of the floor tiles. It lit up under my touch and I looked up at Tory with my heart pounding. “Well fuck me.”

“No thanks, dude.” She grinned as I opened the hatch.

“It