Zodiac Academy Fated Throne - Caroline Peckham Page 0,99

body flooded with rage. "Would you like that, Roxanya?"

Roxy lifted her head to look at him, blinking slowly and shrugging one shoulder. My girl would have punched him in the fucking balls for even thinking about that and I hated to see her so fucking vacant over the suggestion. At the very least I could be glad that she hadn't been too enthusiastic, though my gut clenched at the thought of him making her do that.

Clara hissed like a snake and moved her hand down Father’s chest possessively. "Daddy doesn't fuck the whore," she growled and Stella clucked her tongue, narrowing her eyes on her daughter. "I'm the favourite. I'm the one who gets to please him like that."

It felt like my lungs fucking decompressed at those words as relief filled me in a wave. I’d been driving myself insane worrying about that, night after night wondering if he was forcing her to give her body to him and hating myself more than words could convey for not being able to rescue her. That had been my worst fear for her in all of the nights she'd spent locked up at his mercy and though I knew she had to have faced so many atrocities from him, the fact that he hadn't been raping her sent relief through me in droves. I swallowed thickly against the surge of emotions in me as I looked at Roxy helplessly, aching to just grab hold of her and take her far away from this place. I’d give up everything to do that. To just pick her up and run and run until Solaria was no more than a distant memory of a nightmare we’d escaped and I could know that she was safe at last.

"For now," Father added dryly. "It has occurred to me that poor Roxanya is in a predicament with the new regime though. With crossbreeding outlawed, and no male Phoenixes currently in existence, she cannot procreate. I have been considering making an exception for near extinct Orders like hers. And of course, a Dragon with our fire gifts and ability to fly, not to mention our immense power would be the closest thing to a match for her. A child inheriting either Order would at least be powerful, even if their blood was mixed."

"You can't seriously be thinking about making her have a baby?" Xavier demanded and I stiffened as Father's hateful gaze slid to him.

"Mind your tongue, runt," he snapped. "I am yet to decide on what to do about anomalies such as you. You have Dragon blood as pure as spring water running through your veins and yet you turn into a fucking horse when you shift."

Clara cackled loudly and Mother's eyes glimmered with barely restrained emotion, but Xavier just held his head high and took the insult like the Fae he was. Anyone could see how fucking powerful he was in every way that counted, and Father's Orderist bullshit couldn't change that.

"I have a few matches in mind for you, but of course I cannot risk wasting a female Dragon with good breeding on you if you may pass on this condition. So, for now, you will just remain as you are."

Neither of us replied to that, probably because we were just relieved he hadn't found a fucking Mildred to chain Xavier to. Yet.

Mother’s eyes had tightened as she listened in on our conversation, but she didn’t open her mouth and didn’t move an inch, making me wonder if Father had placed new Dark Coercion on her. In fact, I didn’t need to wonder, I knew the old bastard would have done it without a thought.

"But in answer to your question about Roxanya's fertility options, I am still undecided. Perhaps you would like to put the bastards in her belly, Darius? After all, your blood isn't tainted and I have no particular objection to you fathering bastards so long as you're producing fine Dragon Heirs with Mildred too. I'm sure Roxanya would be accommodating to you if I told her to be. Wouldn't you?"

Roxy turned her dark eyes on me and there was no mistaking the shiver of fear that ran through her at the prospect of that. My heart bunched as I saw it. What had he done to make her fear me like that? Why did she flinch and recoil from me like she was expecting me to attack her at any moment?

"You're forgetting the stars won't allow us near each other," I snapped. "So