Zodiac Academy Fated Throne - Caroline Peckham Page 0,275

word ran across the centre of it in curling script.

Immunisia

Immunity.

This spell grants lifelong immunity to all illnesses.

“Holy shit,” Orion breathed and I turned to him with laughter bubbling in my chest.

“This is crazy.”

His eyes met mine and his fingers brushed my hand on the table, sending a line of fire through my body. “You’re gonna need to polish your crown, Blue,” he teased.

I breathed a laugh, leaning a little closer and whispering, “I need to take it back from a Dragon king first.”

C hristmas Eve had crept up on us before we knew it and I’d spent the day in the Palace of Souls with Lionel, trying to hide my nerves about what we were planning to do tonight.

Gabriel was confident that everything was coming together despite all the reasons we had to fear this going wrong and he was certain that we would have a decent shot at sneaking him into the palace during the party.

Then we just had to get him to the Royal Seer’s Chamber and sit his ass on the chair so that the stars could gift him with the vision they’d promised. Why they had to be dicks about it and insist on him coming to the palace was beyond me, but he seemed to think it was perfectly acceptable for the twinkly bastards to set a challenge if we wanted to be rewarded with knowledge from the heavens.

I personally thought they were just being vindictive little assholes, but maybe I was just a salty bitch over the way they’d repeatedly fucked up my life.

I also had no idea why the stars had decided to allow him to make use of it tonight after months of him trying while I was trapped in Lionel's grasp – maybe they just didn’t like me very much - but I did trust that he knew what he was talking about. And hopefully this would be the key to us moving forward with our plans against the so-called king so I was more than willing to run with it.

Over the past month we’d all been helping gather the ingredients Orion needed for the royal elixir to initiate members to the Zodiac Guild. It was complicated as shit and the bubbling potion in his closet which gave off a weird almond smell apparently needed a full week in darkness now before we could add the next ingredient. Which was something called rothium grass and it only grew on one special mountain which had apparently been blessed by some old Vega prince hundreds of years ago. Frankly, the whole Guild thing kinda made me uncomfortable. But maybe that was because I was assuming all royalists were like those in the A.S.S. who liked to stare at me and my sister, taking photos on their Atlases when they thought we weren’t looking. I didn’t want people swearing shit to me and making promises on the damn stars which they couldn’t take back. Maybe it wasn’t like that though. Because I couldn’t picture Orion suddenly waiting on me hand and foot and bursting into song when I entered a room. He might for Darcy though…

Damn, I forgot to dick kick him today.

The dress I'd been given to wear to the ball tonight was golden and shimmered as the light touched it, looking like a spill of liquid metal over my curves as it fell to my feet. My arms were bare and the neckline plunging which would have left me cold in the current weather aside from the fact that I could use my fire magic to keep me warm.

Lionel had managed to force entry into the grand hall - which my father had apparently used for trials during his reign - and had chosen to hold this party there. No one dared ask why we weren't using the extravagant ballroom and it was a matter of quiet joy that I knew the palace still wouldn't open all of its doors to him.

I'd already silently suffered through the reception line where Lionel made every guest at the party file past him and bow while he sat on the throne. He kept a host of Nymphs at our backs the entire time just so that he could boast about his control over them, but everyone who came had eyed them warily.

The Nymphs had stayed in their shifted forms the entire time, standing stoic and statuesque at our backs, but the whole thing had left me fighting to stave off a shudder. I didn't trust