Zodiac Academy Fated Throne - Caroline Peckham Page 0,190

wasn’t an offer.” I smirked.

“It’s still a no.” She nodded to the hatch. “Go on, see if you can get out of here. What’s the worst that can happen?”

“Lionel will eat me whole in Dragon form then shit me back out just so I can continue to work on finding the Imperial Star?” I suggested and she laughed.

“If it sets off the alarm, you can shoot back here and I’ll tell Lionel I got carried away torturing you and threw you across the boundary. He won’t bother to question me because he thinks I’m his little lap dog.”

“Alright. Fuck it.” I dropped down into the tunnel and shot away with a burst of speed. I took a left as the path split, mentally mapping out the grounds above me in my mind and tearing along in the dark with a whoop of exhilaration. I hadn’t run this fast in too long, it felt fucking incredible. I reached the far end of the tunnel and cast a Faelight above me, hunting around the dead end with a frown.

Another Hydra symbol caught my gaze and I shot toward it, pressing my hand to the mark so it lit up like a star. My pulse drummed in my ears as the roots above me in the earth twisted and grew down, forming a stairway that led above ground. I hurried up it, finding myself out in a dark wood that must have been beyond the palace walls.

A laugh escaped me then I raced back down the stairs, zooming along the tunnels as fast as I could before making it back to the hatch. I pulled myself out and looked to Tory who was smiling.

“Well?” I asked. “No alarm?”

“Nothing,” she said then reached into her pocket and waved a pouch of stardust at me. “So if you ever need to run, you run like the fucking wind, got it?” She tossed me the pouch and I caught it.

“Got it,” I said, grinning and tucking it into my pocket as I shut the hatch. “Where did you get that stardust from anyway?”

“Totally stole it from Darius. He’s way too easy to pickpocket for someone who believes he’s all powerful.”

I barked a laugh, making a mental note to taunt him over that when I saw him later and Tory glanced at the clock with a frown.

“I’ve gotta go back to the palace,” she sighed and my heart sank for her. “You’d better save some of that bourbon for your birthday tomorrow.”

“Nah, no drinking tomorrow, Tory. It’s the full moon.”

“So you’ll get to read that diary all night long like a total geek? Seems like your ideal day,” she said with a hopeful expression and I gave her a tight smile.

My idea of an ideal day was something I could never have again. But I wasn’t going to bother voicing that and dragging her into my ongoing pity party.

She headed to the door, waving goodbye before fixing on her resting bitch face and stepping outside. My chest tightened as I watched her go, knowing she was returning to the arms of Lionel and there was nothing I could do to help her or my sister. Not yet anyway. Darcy would figure out how to burn the shadows out of Darius then she would do it for everyone. I knew she could do it. And every time I suffered under the onslaught of fire she poured into Darius’s veins, I knew it was worth it. Because she was going to work it out and free us all.

I headed back to my faithful friend bourbon and watched the clock tick around to midnight as I drowned my sorrows.

Happy birthday to me.

I thought over my last birthday with a longing in my soul, missing those times. I still had one of Darcy’s IOUs tucked into my wallet, and I guessed it would stay there until it rotted now. She didn’t owe me shit. Never had, never would.

My head grew fuzzy and I was definitely deep into the land of wasted when my phone buzzed.

I picked it up and found another photo sent from Seth that immediately raised my hackles. It was a picture of the rose quartz I’d given Darcy, sitting in his palm, a symbol of my love for her, my fucking commitment.

Seth:

Don’t mind if I engrave this tonight and repurpose it, do you Lancey? I couldn’t get hold of any on short notice, but she just gave me the best blowjob of my life, so I really need