Zodiac Academy Fated Throne - Caroline Peckham Page 0,250

together. So if he asks me again, I'll play along."

Seth grinned widely and we grabbed our plates of toast before heading to eat on the couch.

I took my usual armchair beside the fire and Seth moved to the couch but as he went to sit down, he jerked back up again and I barked a laugh as I spotted Max emerging from a heap of blankets.

"Ah shit, did I fall asleep?" he slurred, reaching for Seth's coffee and draining it before Seth could even realise what he'd done.

"Hey! Did you just force me to be generous?" Seth accused and Max gave him a weak smile which pretty much admitted it before swiping a palm down his face.

I upped the light in the room with a few Faelights to see him better by, noticing the generally feelings of concern and worry slipping from him as his gifts spread through the room.

"Why the hell were you sleeping out here?" I asked him and he groaned.

"I wasn't meant to be. I got some bad news and I was using my gifts to make myself calm down so that I could think through my best course of action. I must have upped the voltage a bit too much and made myself sleepy instead.”

Seth snorted as he grabbed himself some fresh coffee and a second mug for Max who seemed like he needed it.

"What was the bad news?" I asked, biting into my toast as Max grimaced.

"My sweet sister and evil stepmother decided to out me to the world last night, most likely in payment for me making Ellis look like a fucking fool. A story was leaked about my bastard blood and my Minotaur grandfather on my real mother's side and I'm basically expecting a whole world of shit today. Especially as Lionel has half the kingdom hating Minotaurs right now."

"Fuck," Seth said heavily. "But on the bright side, now it's out we can just deal with it and move on. I mean, you might be the cause of a bit of a political scandal for a while but at the end of the day you're still your father's son, there's no law against bastards claiming their place and you're still a million times stronger than Ellis. So she's no threat to you or your position as Water Heir."

"What tactics are you planning on using to counter the gossip?" I asked and Max looked between us uncomfortably.

"Well, when I spoke to Dad he said that it would help to have clear backing from you guys. A statement or whatever. But I know that with Lionel's stance on Minotaurs he probably won't want you doing that, Darius. And I understand that you and Cal have to check with your parents too, Seth," he said with a helpless kind of shrug.

"Fuck my father," I growled. "What loyalty has he ever shown me? Give me your Atlas and I'll record a statement in support of you. We'll make it clear we've known about this for a long time and tell them the only reason it was kept secret was to protect your stepmom from the scandal of the world knowing your dad cheated on her. Simple."

"Seriously?" Max asked, raising his brows at me. "But Lionel will punish you for that if it's not what he wants."

"So what? Fuck him. Fuck his Orderist bullshit and fuck the idea of me ever letting anyone think I believe in his screwed up hate speech either. He won't kill me without another Heir to replace me and I've lived through enough of his punishments to know that trying to follow his rules won't save me from them. So I might as well earn them doing something I believe in." I reached for Max's Atlas and he slowly handed it over.

"I don't want you getting hurt on my behalf," he said, clearly conflicted over what I was offering.

"Look, I either make the recording for you to give to your people to use in the best way they wanna release it, or I'll go live on FaeBook now and tell the world myself," I said.

"Alright. Shit, man, I owe you for this," Max said.

"No you don't. We're brothers and this is what we do for family. No question. No debts. We're just here for each other when we need to be."

I lifted his Atlas and made a recording, speaking clearly and honestly about my love and support for him and saying in no uncertain terms that the addition of Minotaur blood to his