Zodiac Academy Fated Throne - Caroline Peckham Page 0,279

was dark, not a single light on inside and that gave me some comfort. No one was here.

The house had obviously been rebuilt since Lionel had levelled half of it, and I noticed a few embellishments and rooms that hadn’t been a part of it before. I hated that my home had been ruined for me. It was where most of my memories of my dad existed, and my mom had managed to tarnish them all. It had once been a place of happiness, but now it was just a place that homed a wicked witch and nothing but misery.

“It was somewhere over this way,” Darcy said and I followed as she led me through the trees, my skin prickling as I listened, keeping my ears trained on the wood. The hoot of a far off owl was like a klaxon in my head and the sounds of nocturnal creatures scurrying and scratching reached me from all directions. That was good though. Nothing was off. It was when the animals went quiet that we had to worry.

Darcy paused as we made it to a more open patch of woodland, gazing around with a taut frown.

“It was here,” she breathed sadly. “This is where Clara fought us. If Diego shifted into a Nymph then he must have left his clothes somewhere.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you that night. All of you,” I admitted, my chest tightening.

It had haunted me ever since I’d found out about it. I’d known something was horribly wrong that night after I’d experienced the agonising pain of Darius fighting Lionel. The need to go to him had driven me insane. I’d tried to fight my way through five guards and ended up locked in isolation for the night, going crazy with worry. I’d broken both hands trying to batter my way through the steel door and had eventually had to be sedated so a medic could heal me.

Being unable to protect my Ward was an agony I never wanted to know the taste of again. But finding out Blue had been there too after Darius had come to explain what had happened had left me in pieces. That day had spiralled into one of the worst weeks of my life. I’d grappled with regrets while facing the bad luck from the stars, ending up in more fights than I could count. Some of Gustard’s unFae assholes had shanked me in the showers and I’d nearly bled out. There was nothing like almost dying on a cold, dirty, wet floor in prison to put your life into perspective.

Darcy gazed at me with an echo of hurt and I knew there was nothing I could do to heal it. I’d fucked up. I hadn’t been there when she’d needed me most. Some part of her probably hated me for that. Even if she’d never admit it.

“You couldn’t have known,” she said with a sad look as she gazed into the trees. “Let’s get looking.”

She set off to search and I started hunting the ground, kicking over leaves as I tried to block out the voice in my head reminding me of how much I’d failed her. But there was one thing I could do at least. And that was find this damn hat. We couldn’t use a summoning spell on it as it was bound to the damn shadows, but it had to be around here somewhere.

We moved methodically across the ground, skimming the debris on the surface as we hunted. I felt the time ticking by and every faraway crack of a twig had my fangs lengthening and my hackles rising.

I hadn’t known Diego all that well, but I’d been starting to like him. At least he’d died valiantly, and in the arms of a girl who adored him. I couldn’t imagine a better way to go myself. And I’d come pretty close to doing it once too. Maybe barring the valiant part.

When we’d turned over every rock and leaf in the area, Darcy gave me a frustrated look that creased her brow.

“It could be anywhere in these woods. What if he shifted a mile away?” she aired her thoughts in frustration, looking out into the shadows between the trees.

“What did he say to you exactly?” I asked.

“Nothing…he just said to take the hat,” she said with a pained frown as she looked to a place on the ground like she was reliving the memory of his death.

I hated seeing that grief in her eyes, it awoke