Zodiac Academy Fated Throne - Caroline Peckham Page 0,334

against me.

I cried out as the blast hit him with the force of a meteor, lifting him from his feet and slamming him against the wall with a sickening crack. Blood spilled and he fell to the ground unmoving as a sob lodged in my chest.

I caught a blur of movement shooting towards us again and fought with everything I had against the bond, trying to stop myself from shielding Lionel as I clung onto every reason I had to hate him.

A blast of fire shot from Caleb's hands and I leapt in front of it, not even shielding myself as I threw all of my magic into protecting Lionel and my skin burned without my Phoenix to protect me.

I fell to the floor with a cry of pain and the flash of Lionel's fire magic blasting over my head was all I could see as I quickly smothered the flames burning into my white dress.

I grunted as I healed myself, pushing to my feet again before I'd even finished, creating a whirlpool of water magic all around myself and Lionel to keep Caleb away from us.

"That's it, Roxanya," Lionel encouraged as he brushed my hair back over my shoulder and stepped so close that his breath made a shiver run down my spine. "Now prove to them where you true loyalties lie and kill him for me."

The command was like an arrow piercing my heart and a fire lighting in my soul at once.

The bond wanted to please him more than anything, urging me to destroy Caleb for daring to stand against my Ward while my heart ached and shattered at the thought of hurting him.

"I won't," I breathed defiantly as the whirlpool fell away beneath my command.

But as I stood ready to face Caleb again, I held a dagger forged from ice in my hand and I was filled with the desire to plunge it into his heart.

Caleb eyed me warily as I positioned myself between him and my king, a tear slipping down my cheek as the need to kill him burned brightly within me and I silently begged my friend to just turn and run.

But of course he didn’t. He was an Heir. And they’d been bred to be cocky and self-assured until the very end. I just prayed I wouldn’t end up becoming that end.

“Oh, I think you will,” Lionel purred and I had the horrifying feeling that he might be right.

T he chamber I was in was dark and cold but somewhere ahead of me, golden light spilled into the shadows, guiding me closer.

My skin was tingling with the power in this place and my pulse thumped to a sultry beat that seemed to be lulling me deeper into the cave.

As I took a step forward, a golden rune illuminated beneath my foot, the symbol twisted and beautiful and seeming to whisper its meaning into my ear.

“Truth.”

I took another step and another rune lit up beneath me, this one breathing, 'fortune' on the air. As I continued on, more runes illuminated and more of their meanings were whispered to me.

“Honesty. Virtue. Life. Growth. Strength. Sacrifice. Power. Death. Destiny. Fate.”

As the echoes of the last word fell from the air and I was plunged into silence once more, I found myself standing before a huge stone which glowed ever so faintly in the dark.

It hummed with a power so visceral that the hairs along the back of my neck stood on end.

I reached out for it hesitantly, my fingertips brushing against the rough stone before a jolt of power slammed into my chest and I was drawn undeniably closer.

I sucked in a deep breath as the entire thing began to glow with a deep, golden light which reminded me of my Dragon's scales when the setting sun hit them just right. It was rich and vibrant and so full of power that it stole my breath away.

The entire thing seemed to hum with a power so ancient that I felt utterly insignificant standing before it as it scrutinised every dark corner of my soul.

"Acrux," it breathed, its voice deeper now that I was touching it and my pulse galloping as I felt like it truly knew me.

In the centre of the stone was a perfectly smooth hole and I slid my hand down to touch it, finding coins, jewels and other small tokens that had been left there in offering so long ago that even the earth beneath my feet could hardly remember the Fae