Zodiac Academy Fated Throne - Caroline Peckham Page 0,191

to make sure she doesn’t put those pretty lips on anyone else.

Another photo came in of him lying in Darcy’s bed, one hand cupped behind the back of his head and the rose quartz held between his teeth as he grinned.

“Motherfucker,” I spat, shoving to my feet and stumbling as my head spun. A roar of emotion blinded me, the hot, potent anger in me fogging my thoughts in a black cloud.

Fuck no. I wasn’t going to let this stand. That mutt was not going to steal her from me.

I ignored the little voice in the back of my mind that said he couldn’t steal what was already gone, but I wasn’t listening. I’d had enough of his messages. He had to be fucking with me. There was no way Darcy would date that piece of shit. No fucking way.

I can just slip out of the palace, stardust to Zodiac Academy and check on her. No harm in that. I’m just looking out for her anyway. I could totally be there and back within half an hour. Just a quick check.

I glanced over at the hatch which seemed to be whispering my name, then down at the ring on my thumb which seemed to scream go and kill Seth. The inanimate objects all made good points.

I shot to the hatch, opening it and dropping down into the dark, pulling it shut behind me and speeding off into the tunnel. Only I actually smashed head first into a wall instead and knocked myself onto my ass. Fucking drunk dick of a wall.

I shoved myself to my feet, casting a Faelight which wobbled off ahead of me. Or maybe it was me who was wobbling. I tore off into the dark, speeding out to the far end of the tunnel and slapping my hand against the wall where the next Hydra mark lay, extinguishing my Faelight as it bumped into my head.

The stairway appeared, the roots winding together until I could climb out. As soon as I made it to the surface, I took the stardust from my pocket and struggled to focus. I just need to go to Zodiac Academy. But I can’t just stardust to my office like I used to. Gotta go to that other place. The place with the bushes and shit.

I threw the stardust into the air and was yanked into the ether as I tried to focus on my destination. Fucking Werewolf. I’m gonna break his legs and shove his head up the ass of a Griffin.

The stars spat me out and suddenly I was falling. I was hundreds of feet up in the air and tumbling through the clouds. Aer Tower appeared far below me and I swore as I tried to wrangle my air magic to stop myself falling. I slammed into the wards around the academy and what felt like a thousand bolts of electricity exploded through my body as I was thrown away from it. I cried out, the world a mass of black and grey as I tried to figure out what way was up, my brain rattling in my head.

I managed to get hold of my air magic and pulled myself upright, standing in a cloud as the moon gazed down at me.

“Don’t judge me,” I slurred at it. “It’s easy being you, all the way up there with your big, glowy head and your smug little crater face.” I threw another pinch of stardust over myself and was transported away again, getting the last word with the moon and this time landing in a bush beyond the fence. Ha.

I got up off my ass and headed to the fake bar in the fence that would let me into the academy, walking fast toward it. My forehead collided with the metal and a loud dong rang out that echoed through my skull. Nope. Not that one.

I sidestepped, moving through the next one and onto the academy grounds. This is definitely a good idea.

I should probably illusion up my body though.

I lifted a hand, running a palm over my chest and face, casting some sort of illusion that would make me look like a Wolf in my Order form roaming campus. Or was it a Pegasus? Anyway, I was definitely hidden if someone spotted me. Which they wouldn’t, because I could move as fast as a Harpy with its wings on fire.

I made it to the path that led up to Aer Tower, coming to a halt outside and craning my