Zodiac Academy Fated Throne - Caroline Peckham Page 0,76

shift the next morning, I’d had time to train my mind and hide away the secrets I didn’t want him to see.

As I was escorted back to my cell, excitement and anticipation laced my veins. The second I was locked up, I hung a sheet over the bars and moved to my bed, grabbing the diary out from where I’d stashed it in a slim hole cut into the mattress.

I sat on my bunk, flipping open the book and taking a deep breath, my heart thudding powerfully in my chest.

“Ankaa,” I whispered to the diary and words unfolded before me, spreading across the first page in a hand written note from my father.

Dearest Lancelot,

If you are reading this, then the stars have aligned and fate has given the world a chance. I bound this book with a word I saw spoken to you in a vision gifted to me from Merissa Vega. The Queen has seen the path that will lead you to the truth. And it lies within this diary.

Firstly, I want to apologise to you, my boy. I never wanted to leave you and Clara behind. If there was any other choice in it, I would have taken it. But my death will buy a chance for the world and the kingdom I love so dearly. Merissa gave me a glimpse of the life you have led and I’m sorry for what you have lost, but there is a chance yet for happiness. And that is all I have ever wanted for you and your sister.

When you witnessed my death, I’m afraid it was an illusion meant for your mother to find. When I later discovered that you had seen it, I was heartbroken. But I could not reveal myself to you. For my real death has been planned for years, my boy, and it will have come to pass long before this letter reaches you. My true body will play an important part in your fate, so please forgive me for the pain I caused you.

My heart crushed as I thought of the fire I’d seen him consumed by, believing he was cast to ruin by dark magic. I’d just been a kid and it had seriously fucked me up. How could it not have been real? And what did he mean about his true body being important?

To leave you with your mother troubles me greatly. I’ve seen what she will become, and it is a sad and unfortunate fact that there is no love lost between us. It pains me to tell you, but our marriage was designed by Lionel Acrux many years ago. Stella was and will always be a close friend of his and I suspect her heart always truly lay with him. But don’t pity me, Lance. You and Clara were the true loves of my life, and I regret nothing.

There are many things Merissa was unable to show me of the future, but she offered me these words that she didn’t understand herself. ‘You are the only one who can save Clara, and you will know how when the time comes.’ Whatever fate has befallen her, I know that you will always protect one another and I have faith that you can make it right.

So I entrust my secrets to you and may the stars shine in your favour. The rest of this diary will be unreadable to the disloyal. It is bound by the magic of the Tenebris Lunae and so you may only read it under the light of the full moon. You must destroy this note to keep this secret safe.

I love you, son. And I know you can pass the tests that await you. Wherever I may be, know that I miss you and will be waiting for you beyond the Veil.

A.O.

P.S. Give Lionel Acrux hell for what he has taken from you and what he is yet to take.

I clutched the book harder, my breaths coming unevenly as I flipped through the rest of the pages and cursed as I found them empty. I tore out the note my father had written and read it ten more times before I carried it to the sink, shredded it into tiny pieces and washed it away. The last words of my father. A keen and eternal pain tugged at my chest over his loss. A loss that had never been a magical accident at all. He’d given his life to change fate. He’d offered the Vegas a chance to