Zodiac Academy Fated Throne - Caroline Peckham Page 0,259

the path, a deep blue gemstone caught my eye further into the trees and I grinned as I headed over to claim it.

My Atlas pinged as I grabbed the sapphire from the ground and the Dragon in me tasted the hint of water magic lodged in the stone. This wasn't any old sapphire - it was an aqua sapphire, pretty damn rare. And pretty damn mine.

I added the gemstone to the collection in my pocket and lifted my Atlas to find Roxy's message for me.

Roxy:

Just my uniform ;)

There was a photo attached and I swallowed thickly as I opened the image of her with her skirt removed and her school shirt unbuttoned, revealing her black underwear alongside her knee length school socks and the stilettos she'd taken to wearing to class recently. Her thigh was bare and she'd removed the concealment from her skin so that I could see her tattoo.

I wanted to go to her so badly that an actual groan escaped me and I just stared at the photo for way too long, wondering if I could convince her to fly out to some remote field somewhere again even though I knew that was a bad idea. If we kept riling up the stars and fighting against the fate they'd dished out for us, I was certain they'd strike back at us somehow. But I also knew I wasn't going to be able to stop. And I was quietly hoping that the stars would eventually see that they owed us a second shot at our destiny if we kept defying them, even if that was dumb as shit.

Roxy:

You never did finish telling me that story about you and Max doing that photoshoot at the beach last year…

I sighed as I realised I had to rein my dick in and forget about the fact that she was dressed up like a wet dream right now. Besides, even if my cock wasn't going to be getting any action from her, I had her attention and I planned on keeping it. If that meant catching her up on stories about me and Max getting mobbed by a group of horny women and having to use our magic to ski away into the ocean, then I was more than happy to do that.

But as I went to type out that message, a glint of silver caught my eye and I turned to look further into the trees, noticing a delicate necklace hanging there, swaying gently in the breeze.

It wasn't normal to find treasure scattered through the woods. With a frustrated grunt, I stowed my Atlas in my pocket and narrowed my eyes on the necklace before stalking forward to claim it.

If ever a trap had been laid for a Dragon, then this was definitely it. But as I lifted the one of a kind, platinum piece of jewellery from the branch, I couldn't help but grin again. All mine.

Further into the trees, I noticed a golden broach cut with the shield of the Omega family who had died out around a hundred and ninety-six years ago. Nice. Mine.

I continued on, keeping my guard up as I stalked into the shadows and collected treasure after treasure, unable to stop myself from smirking as I thought about adding them to the chest at the foot of my bed when I got back to my dorm later.

I finally stepped into a clearing where a golden tiara sat on a rock. A cursory glance told me it was over three hundred years old, encrusted with air crystals and crafted with deft precision. Probably from King Hector's reign. Stunning. Mine.

"And with one fell swoop, the Acrux Heirs did perish!" Geraldine cried as she dropped a concealment spell that had been hiding her to the side of the clearing and did some kind of weird flourish thing with her arms.

"What are you playing at?" I asked, noticing Xavier looking a little sheepish behind her as I resisted the urge to place the tiara on my head and added it to the collection in my pocket with the rest of my new treasure. She sure as fuck wasn’t getting any of that back.

"You both fell prey to my lurings," she said smugly. "If I had been of wicked intent then likely you both would have perished."

"Not likely," I disagreed. "I was well aware I was walking into a trap and I was more than prepared to fight off whoever the fuck thought they could take me on. You forget