Fated Throne

I probably should have been used to her calling him Daddy by now, but fuck no I wasn’t. It still made me wanna vom. Every. Damn. Time.

It hurt me to see the two of them like this. Wasn’t being Star Crossed enough?

“We’re the Heirs and the Savage Princess. Darcy and the dudebros. Wolfman, Bitey C, Fish Fury, Dragzilla, and the Phoen Dream.”

I dropped his gaze, trying to ignore the void living inside me, but it was a hungry thing. Sometimes it felt like it was going to consume everything inside me and leave me hollow.

“The truth is, I’ll probably dream about Lance for the rest of my life. I’ll miss him and long for him, but when I wake up, I’ll continue as if he was never here. Because that’s what he asked for when he betrayed me. And now he’s gone, he’ll never get back in. No one will. I just can’t trust anyone anymore.”

I supposed if I had one constant companion in here, it was loneliness.

I might have been a washed up bastard of a professor, but I was still a wily one.

“It’s like…when I was on the moon and I could see the earth, I thought about how sad it was that they’d never be together. The moon just watches the earth in all its gorgeous green and blue glory, but it can never, ever touch it. And it made me think of him.” He dropped his eyes. “Everything makes me think of him.”

Yep, him just standing there like a big hot Vampire ex-boyfriend is really helping me focus.

"Give me a few minutes to just be glad to have you in your right mind again then I promise to go back to being a dick as soon as I can," Orion joked.

“I gotta laugh if I don’t wanna cry, right?

“We’re all at least a little fucked up, Tory,” he said roughly. “But the people who love us don’t give a shit about that. Better still – they love us even more for it.”

I was officially kickstarting Mission: Get Darion Back Together.

I was going to get her back together with the love of her life and make Lance Orion my bestie in the process. Like, not at first. Man, he was going to fucking hate me. But long term, he was a bestie to be. Either that or I really was going to end up strangled by my own intestines.

I teased. "You're kind of a downer, you know that?" "I'm a heartbroken criminal who has now had two careers destroyed before I've even turned thirty," he growled. "So you really shouldn't be surprised by that. Besides, what do you want me to do about it?"

So do you want my gift or not?”
“Go on then. But unless it’s a key to my freedom, the reinstating of my position of power in society, and your sister wrapped in a bow in a mood to forgive me, it’s probably not gonna be what I want.”

“Where did you get that stardust from anyway?”
“Totally stole it from Darius. He’s way too easy to pickpocket for someone who believes he’s all powerful.”

My idea of an ideal day was something I could never have again.

“Gracious!” she gasped. “What unworldly thing could I have possibly done to deserve such a gift?”
“You’re you, Geraldine,” I said with an earnest look. “That’s enough.”

“I’m never not going to catch you,”

“I knew I could never keep you, Blue. I knew it from the first time we kissed, I just fooled myself into believing it for a while. So when it came to us or you, I chose you. Because I woke up to reality. And real life isn’t nice or easy, it’s fucking quicksand that tries to drag you down the more you fight it. Love doesn’t conquer all this time, because we’re on two different paths. You’re heading to the stars, beautiful, and I’m staying down here in the dirt. That’s just the way it is.”

Royal Vega blood tastes the sweetest. Does the monster or the man in you run deepest?

I saw memories scrolling through my mind of this girl. Her standing before me for the first time, her hair dipped in blue, her eyes wide and curious. Then her sitting in my class, me stealing looks at her I had no right to steal. The taste of her lips against mine for the first time, hidden at the bottom of a pool, then the way she’d looked dripping wet outside my front door with a single word on her lips. A word that meant everything to me. Because it meant her. My girl. My queen.

“It’s your old teacher,” I called to her. “You’re only as young as you think you are,” she said

Because if I had her then I knew I had it all. And I didn't care if we really would have to tear the stars out of the sky to force them to give us our tomorrow. I'd do it. I'd pay any price they asked of me just to make this feeling last. Just to truly have her.

Dragons were hardwired to find the most priceless treasure they could and make it theirs and she was the most prized possession I could ever hope to own. She was beauty and strength and bravery and hope and if I spent every day for the rest of forever making her mine then I'd gladly do it.

“Then in the words of Lance Orion, the best damn Pitball coach this team has ever had by the way, class is fucking dismissed.”

“You mean when he sacrificed himself for you so you might have a chance to take down Lionel? So that you wouldn’t lose everything including your place at the one academy capable of training up a Fae of your power level and giving you a real chance for the throne? By the stars, what an asshole,” he growled mockingly and I pursed my lips. “No, you’re right, Darcy. I won’t stand for it. How dare he throw himself into the most dangerous place in Solaria and face months of hell in Darkmore because of how much he loves you? How fucking dare he.”

"I never played by any rule in the first place. So if you wanna change the limits you're putting on yourself then I'm ready."

and as he directed his magic that way, I sped out of my hiding place and threw a javelin of fire at the back of his shield.

“I’m okay,” I promised and his Adam’s apple rose and fell. “I’m not,” he replied in a deep growl.

“I’ve known since I crowned you in my car. Just don’t ever forget you were my queen first.”

This was a terrible idea with a million repercussions that I’d have to face tomorrow. But weren’t all the best ideas that kind?

"Isn't love supposed to conquer all?" Darius asked casually, not seemed to care at all that he was baiting the monster.

She smiled weakly, reaching up to hold my cheek in her palm as her other hand fisted my shirt over my heart. "You're mine where it counts, Darius. And I'm yours. Nothing can change that."

I knew that we were never going to truly be allowed to be together. And the fact of that coupled with the knowledge that I couldn't protect her broke something inside me that hurt so much I couldn't fucking breathe.

“Do you have anything to say for yourself in your defence?”
“Fuck you,” I snarled, spitting on the sand at my feet and heckles rang out from the crowd.

She lunged toward me, tiptoeing up and kissing me fiercely for two short, sweet seconds before running around and climbing onto my back. And something told me that might be my last good moment in this world.

"Acrux," the ethereal voice spoke in my mind again. "Your destiny awaits."

Tears slipped down my cheeks and I barely felt the pain of my injuries at all as I gazed at my mate in front of me. A man I had chosen for myself, regardless of stars and fate and laws. He was mine and I was his. Now and always. In the end, he’d kept his promise to me after all and I’d kept mine. We’d fought for each other until we couldn’t fight any more.

Lance Orion came for me. He loves me like a pack mate.

"The price of knowledge is power. The price of power is great. Every bargain has a cost. What will you trade for a different fate?"

"Asshole," he muttered as he gave in. "I heard you were horny for the horn, but I never knew it was true until now."

He was just an evil Dragon overlord with control over dark shadow magic and two powerful Guardians working alongside him after all. I could totally kick his ass. Maybe.