Zodiac Academy Fated Throne - Caroline Peckham Page 0,303

been promised in an empty, endless land of darkness, swearing that one day I’d return to claim it.

I was pulled out of the vision, torn from the cloud of memory and suddenly I was wide awake, laying on my back with Orion panting beside me.

“Oh my god,” I breathed. “That’s her. The Shadow Princess.”

“Somehow she’s bound to my sister,” Orion said, clawing a hand over his face.

My heart was still racing like crazy as I pushed myself upright, taking the hat off, the power of it quiet now. I pushed it into my pocket and turned to look at Orion, his chest rising and falling frantically.

“She’s trying to fulfil her prophesy, even after all this time,” I said in shock and he nodded, looking to me with a crease between his eyes.

“I have so many questions,” he said, his gaze alight with all the information we’d been fed.

That dark magic had once been used by all those Fae. That the Nymph Princess and the Acrux Dragons had been aligned once before.

I got to my feet and started pacing as excitement ran through me.

Orion sat up, watching me pace with a hopeful smile and my gaze snagged on the dimple in his right cheek. “This proves my sister is still in there. She’s being controlled by the princess.”

“We’ll save her,” I swore to him as I had once before. “We’ll find a way. Maybe the hat will show us more.”

“Blue,” Orion said as I continued pacing, but I couldn’t stop.

“Maybe there’s some answer here, something that can help us. Did you see all those Phoenixes? They must be my ancestors-”

“Blue…”

“But what happened to them? Did the Dragons eventually destroy them? But how?” My mind ran through everything at a hundred miles an hour. I felt excited, like we were on the cusp of knowing something life changing but I didn’t know what.

“Blue,” Orion shot in front of me, gripping my crop top in his fist.

“What?” I demanded, looking up at him in surprise as my heart juddered.

“You’re going to be a queen,” he growled. “Just like your ancestor. I can feel it, I fucking know it.”

“How do you know?” I asked, doubt flitting through me.

But I knew I wanted it. I needed Lionel to fall, and right now it felt more possible than ever. We had the Imperial Star. We had a connection to a sea of memories which could hold answers to defeating the Shadow Princess, to unravelling the power Lionel currently held in the kingdom.

“I’ve known since I crowned you in my car. Just don’t ever forget you were my queen first.” He yanked me forward and his mouth met mine, his kiss urgent and furious and I couldn’t help but give in to it for two whole seconds. I felt urged toward him as if by the stars themselves and I remembered what it was like to have him as my will was broken down inch by inch.

But then I pulled away, shaking my head, unsure of myself, of him, of anything.

“Tell me no. Say the word,” he growled and my lips parted but it didn’t come out. Why wouldn’t it come out??

I stepped away, backing up as I tried to get my head straight. But it was crooked as shit.

He stalked after me, slow and intentionally and I couldn’t ignore how every fibre of my being burned for him. “I thought you were done with me, Blue, I really did. I hoped it too even though that knowledge would have destroyed me. But then I found out you were sleeping with the dog.”

“We’ve been through this-” I started in exasperation but he spoke over me.

“I almost lost all hope for us, beautiful, even though I wasn’t meant to have any in the first place. But I did, I just hid it really fucking deep, denying it to myself that I still dreamed about a future where you were mine, no matter how impossible that seemed. And after you told me you weren’t his and kissed me back in the tomb, fuck, I’ve not thought of anything else since. Nothing but your mouth on mine and you pulling me closer. But I still kept away. Because I can’t give you anything. Nothing’s changed. I know that in my heart. I know it and I still can’t accept it. Because tonight I found out what it was like to have you dying in my arms and nothing has ever terrified me more. Nothing, Blue.”

“So what are you saying?” I