Zodiac Academy Fated Throne - Caroline Peckham Page 0,97

and that meant more to me than he could ever know.

So perhaps there was more to him than met the eye. He had just aligned himself with the supporters of the royal line. And just maybe, that meant there was hope for him yet.

T he stardust brought us to the courtyard just outside the palace gates after a long week at school and I shared a look with my brother that spoke louder than words. We had our game faces on already, the cold masks the Acrux name required of us. But as the reporters spotted us, I found I wanted my position even less than I ever had. I fucking hated this legacy. I wished I could cut my ancestry from my body like the rot it was. And I wished more than anything that I didn't have so much of my father in me. If I hadn't, if I'd been stronger and more willing to make up my own mind and stick to my convictions then maybe none of the things that had pushed Roxy away from me would have taken place. Maybe she never would have said no to me when we’d had our Divine Moment and I wouldn't have deserved all of the shit the stars were sending my way now.

I couldn’t even count the number of times I’d dreamed of that night going differently. And of the man I would have been for her if she’d given me the chance to prove I could be. But there were some things that night had changed in me which I wouldn’t want to take back. Because losing her for the man who had donated his genetics to my creation was the final straw to have broken all ties I’d still felt to him. Any loyalty I’d been clinging to or desire to please him and make him proud had withered away with every second that had passed since.

What he was doing to her now only made my hatred burn deeper and my thirst for his death more potent. When his time came it would be bloody and brutal and agonising and it still wouldn’t come close to payment for all he’d caused. But I’d relish every fucking minute of it no matter if it happened in the blink of an eye or if I was gifted months to slowly carve him apart.

I strode forward with Xavier at my side, trying to ignore the flash of the cameras as Fae yelled questions at us, hoping to get an answer for the biased rags they reported for.

"Are you settling in well to the palace?"

"How are you finding your father's new regime?"

"Is it true that Lionel is considering Order segregation throughout the kingdom?"

"Do you believe in your father's vision for a new Solaria?"

"Prince Darius, can you tell us how it feels to be next in line for the throne?"

That one pulled me up short and I cut my gaze to Gus Vulpecula, the sneaky little Fox Shifter who always managed to get the story he wanted no matter how loosely his facts were based on the truth.

"What did you just call me?" I snarled, unable to help myself even as Xavier snorted a low warning in his horsey way. I’d let it slide the last time someone had called me a prince, but I didn’t want it catching on. I was an Heir just like my brothers and I had no intention of rising above them.

"Prince Darius," Gus replied, a cunning smile on his lips that said he'd gotten me right where he wanted me. "Your father is the King. His Heirs have also been gifted the Fifth Element, so it only stands to reason that you are now more powerful than the other Heirs. Just as your father is more powerful than the Celestial Councillors. So, it’s a simple assumption to make that they will go on to form a Council in support of you while you sit upon the throne after your father, is it not?"

A low growl escaped my lips at the thought of me betraying my brothers like that and Xavier took a step forward, plastering on a fake smile as he saved Gus from having his head ripped off by intervening.

"Right now, we are simply adjusting to Father being the King. We certainly aren't thinking about Darius or anyone else taking his place any time soon, so maybe we should just focus on the matter at hand for the time being?"

Xavier nudged me to get