Zodiac Academy Fated Throne - Caroline Peckham Page 0,24

our magic. It was illegal as shit what we were doing. But I didn’t care. None of us did. We had to kill as many of them as we could to try and land a hit on Lionel that really mattered before it was too late. The FIB weren’t doing nearly enough to strike back against the Nymphs whenever they attacked and we all suspected they were being fed false information by Lionel and Stella as they secretly aided them. We’d even put in several anonymous tips to the FIB suggesting Nymphs had been sighted near Stella’s house and it hadn’t once been raided. Fucking Lionel.

So we took our job to go up against them seriously and took out whatever small groups of them that we could find. Barely a night had slipped by over the summer that we hadn’t gone after them, but now we were back at school I didn’t think it was going to be as easy. I had to concentrate on my studies, advance my magic. It was crucial.

Tyler suddenly tensed up and released an aggressive, horse-like snort and I frowned at him in surprise.

“You okay, Ty?” I asked and he lifted an arm, dropping it around Sofia’s shoulders and yanking her closer.

“Hey,” Sofia snapped as she lost her grip on a bagel and it went bouncing back onto her plate, but Tyler didn’t look at her.

I followed his gaze to the door. Xavier Acrux had just walked in, his dark hair messy and his expression saying he was out of his depth. A group of girls dove from their seats nearby, crowding around him asking for autographs and his eyes widened before he nodded and started signing anything they thrust under his nose.

“He got three Elements, did you hear?” Angelica said as she dropped down beside Geraldine with a cup of coffee.

“Yeah and he chose Ignis House,” Sofia said, her cheeks turning rosy.

“He’s in your house?” Tyler balked and she shrugged, making him snort angrily again.

“Um, Tyler, what’s going on with the snorting?” I asked before pushing another piece of bagel into my mouth.

He tore his eyes off of Xavier and looked to me with a pout. “I hoofed down Davros and Brutus yesterday. They arrived on campus early and I beat their asses in Pegasus form. I’m officially the Dom of our herd now.” He lifted his chin, holding Sofia tighter.

“Which means I’m his now,” she explained, looking at him with a proud smile that said she didn’t mind that so much, but then her eyes flitted back across the room to Xavier and I suspected there was something else going on here. “But Xavier Acrux is like…serious Dom material.”

“He’s gonna fucking challenge me, I just know it. And I only just became Dom. I got one day and now mini-Acrux is gonna try and take it from me.” Tyler stamped his foot under the table and I bit my lip to hold a laugh back. I swear I was never going to get used to the ways of all the Orders.

I glanced back over my shoulder just as Xavier broke free of his fan club and his eyes met mine. I waved and his expression brightened as he started heading toward us.

“Oh my stars, he’s looking at Sofia,” Angelica squeaked.

“Quiet Angelica, we mustn’t interfere with the ways of their magnificent kind,” Geraldine whispered loud enough for everyone to hear, holding her breath as she gazed from Xavier to Sofia then Tyler.

Xavier reached our table and no one said anything which was super awkward so I smiled at him encouragingly. “Congratulations on your Elements, Xavier. How’s it going so far?”

“It’s pretty fucking sweet,” he said, his eyes flicking from Sofia to Tyler and the tension in the air almost made my ears pop.

“Hey Sofia,” he said, smiling awkwardly then nodding to Tyler. “Hey man, I’m Xavier.”

“Tyler,” he replied, assessing him. “You’ll be looking for a herd, I suppose?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Xavier shrugged, scratching the back of his head. “Anyways um…see you around?” He was looking directly at Sofia again and I couldn’t help but smile as she turned scarlet.

“Yeah, we’ll catch up soon,” she promised.

“Great.” He nodded to me and headed away to join the other Heirs’ siblings.

Max and Caleb were sitting on the back of their couch as they spoke to them and I suddenly realised how absent the place was of key H.O.R.E.S like Mildred and Marguerite. It was pretty damn nice actually.

“Do you know him or something?” Tyler asked Sofia with