Zodiac Academy Fated Throne - Caroline Peckham Page 0,82

and I shuddered at the kissing sounds which followed.

“Yes. You make it painfully obvious,” Father muttered cruelly, but apparently that rebuke wasn’t enough to make her give up.

“Let me have a real taste of you, sire,” she breathed. “Let me remind you of how good we were together.”

Father sighed as the sound of his fly rolling down came and I scrunched my nose up, taking a step back before he spoke again.

“Have some self-respect, Stella,” he growled. “I was fucking your daughter over this desk before you got here and you know it. Desperate doesn’t look good on you.”

Stella sucked in a shocked breath and the sound of him yanking his fly up again came.

“She can’t possibly compare to what we have, Lion,” she said, the sound of her crocodile tears starting on the last word. “Besides, you’re a king. You can have as many lovers as you please. Why can’t we just-”

I decided I wasn’t going to overhear anything else that was useful, so I threw the door open and strode inside, pretending I didn’t notice my best friend’s mother scrambling up off of her knees as I looked into my father’s cold eyes.

“You summoned me,” I said, my voice dripping with disdain.

“No need for the attitude, boy,” he growled. “I only wish to offer you a gift.”

“What gift?” I asked sceptically.

“You’ll find it in the summerhouse. And don’t say I never give you anything.”

He flicked a hand dismissively and seeing as I had no desire to linger in his company, I turned and strode from the room, relieved to have been able to keep it so brief.

But as I headed down the long corridors and descended a curving staircase, my heart began to patter with concern over what I was going to find when I made it out to the summerhouse.

When I was growing up, he’d often bought me expensive gifts like cars or motorcycles to reward me for any particularly desirable behaviour. I’d once lost my temper with a bunch of assholes in my school when I was twelve and beaten the crap out of the three of them. The school had called my father to tell him and he’d bought me a million aura speed boat which was currently docked in Skybour Bay. But I hadn’t done anything to please him recently that I could think of, so I wasn’t sure what I would have waiting for me now.

The summerhouse was to the east of the rear grounds of the palace and my boots thumped heavily down the path which led to the little cottage as I glanced at the white roses which climbed up the walls of it.

When I reached the door, I hesitated for a moment, drawing my magic close in case this was some dumb test then I pushed the door open.

It was dark inside, the open space only lit by a single lamp sitting on a desk in the far corner and I frowned as I stepped inside, not spotting anyone anywhere.

“Hello?” I called, knocking the door closed behind me and feeling like a girl from an old school slasher movie waiting for the psycho to spring from the closet.

I moved further into the dimly lit space, passing a living area with a couple of couches and pausing at the foot of the king-sized bed which was placed against the wall.

A blur of motion caught my attention and I twisted to look towards it a beat before something collided with me and I was sent crashing down onto the bed beneath a hard body, the air driving from my lungs in a whoosh.

The scent of cinnamon filled my nose and I almost swung a punch at the asshole on top of me before his deep laughter had a grin tearing across my face instead and I started laughing too as I wrapped Lance in my arms.

“Holy shit. How?” I demanded, squeezing him tightly as the dull ache in my chest loosened at the feeling of his body against mine. Fuck, I’d missed him.

“The king dick wants me to find the Imperial Star for him. Seems he’s got a Seer who knows I’m the key to finding it,” he said into my neck and I dragged him further up the bed so that we could lay with our heads on the pillows to talk.

“Vard,” I spat. “Father’s new pet. Now that he’s King, he made that asshole his Royal Seer. He’s been using that glass chair in the palace to help him see