Zodiac Academy Fated Throne - Caroline Peckham Page 0,36

with skin like the bark of a tree and their red eyes glared out at the crowd of gathered Fae, promising long and agonising deaths to each and every one of them. Drusilla and Alejandro exchanged a smug look and Miguel gazed at them blandly, his eyes unfocused like he had no opinion on the wild events ensuing around him.

"The shadows have gifted me the power to control their kind!” Father cried. “The war is over. With the gift of the stars, I have won it for us in a single night!"

A long and agonising beat of silence followed his proclamation, then all of a sudden some members of the crowd erupted into cheers as Father's smile grew and a chant of 'Long live the King! Long live the King! Long live the King!' broke out amongst them.

Roxy and Clara slowly stood before him, the only ones of us allowed to return to our feet as Clara pulled an iron crown inlaid with emerald Dragon scales from within her skirts and handed it to the girl who was born to be a queen.

Roxy didn't even hesitate as she lifted it up and placed it on his head, leaning forward to press a kiss to his cheek which came close enough to his mouth to make the Dragon in me snarl with fury and beg to be set loose to rip him limb from limb.

Roxy and Clara stepped to his side then Mom, Xavier and I all found ourselves on our feet, moving to join them.

I ended up right beside my father as cameras flashed and people yelled praise to the new King Acrux. Inside, I was doing everything in my power to fight off the grip of the shadows so that I could tear his fucking head from his shoulders, but externally I stood at his side, the loyal son, helping create the picture of the perfect family he painted us out to be in his lies.

Once the crowd began to quiet, Father strode away from us to stand over the three Councillors he'd forced to their knees.

"Will you serve in my Council the way we all once did for the Savage King?" he asked in a booming voice which carried across the crowd and silence fell once again.

He removed the silencing bubble that had stopped their protests earlier and the three Councillors looked resigned as they exchanged glances.

"I swear my loyalty to the crown," Melinda agreed, the reluctance in her voice clear as Father took her hand and forced her to make that oath before the stars, binding her to her word.

"I swear my loyalty to the crown," Antonia ground out and Seth's shoulders dropped an inch as he watched his mother be forced to bow like that.

Tiberius held out the longest and as my father waited on his oath, I could see the way his eyes tightened against the pain of the shadows which were no doubt being driven into him with more power to force an answer from his lips.

"I swear my loyalty to the crown," he gritted out eventually and with the clap of magic that sealed the oath, it was done.

Solaria was no longer ruled by a Council. We had a monarch. A king who would no doubt be so much worse than the Savage King had ever been.

Father turned and strode towards the gates to the Palace of Souls, the Nymphs parting for him like a tide as he took ownership of this royal place, the people, the kingdom, everything. And all of our nightmares came true at once.

In short, Solaria was well and truly fucked.

I sat in the Mess Hall at breakfast, gazing at the slop they called oatmeal in my bowl and trying to convince myself to eat it. Wasting away in here was non optional if you wanted to survive. Fights broke out daily and without magic I had to be physically strong to defend myself whenever I was dragged into it. Which was pretty often thanks to the stars being assholes to me lately.

The small amount of free time I had, I either spent in the gym or in the library. Working out until I nearly busted a lung was the only thing that ever made my misery more bearable. And the rest of the time I spent pouring through every book in this place as I hunted for clues about the Imperial Star or how to break into an old fucking diary locked by a magical password I couldn’t