Curse of the Zodiac by Ashley Kaplan

Author:Ashley Kaplan [Kaplan, Ashley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wayward Books
Published: 2022-08-30T16:00:00+00:00

The council chambers looked like a courtroom with wooden pews on either side of a thin aisle. The aisle ended at a raised podium with twelve seats in a semi-circle. Before each seat was an illustration of a different zodiac sign, lit in glowing neon. Four of the council members were currently present – a woman and three men, sitting in their rightful places and looking down at me. Orion stood in the center of the room beside Damien who gave me a nod in greeting. Professor Abner stood to their left with that same austere look on his face I’d seen so many times before.

“Council members,” said Abner, “I’d like to introduce to you Arianna March.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat as I waited for them to point at me, call me a fraud, and throw me out of the room.

“Ms. March, Mr. Bardin,” the councilwoman spoke, addressing Damien and me. “I am Alicia Townsgate and these are my colleagues Robert Wright, Ian Quentin, and Martin Lewis. Now that we’ve dealt with introductions, shall we get down to the matter at hand?”

“Which is what exactly?” Damien said gruffly, his arms crossed over his chest. I had to smile at his complete disregard for authority.

“For one,” said the woman with a disapproving tone, “there is the matter of the Cursed One. You have information, Abner?”

Professor Abner nodded and took a step forward. “Yes, the Baru we brought here yesterday divined the celestial omina. He believes she means to strike on the Observation of the Ascendant. She also holds in her possession two books of the Tetrabiblos.”

Martin Lewis looked alarmed. “That is grave news indeed. We have been getting accounts of several concentrated attacks in recent weeks. Whatever her end game is it would appear she is reaching her deadline.”

“Amelia,” Quentin continued, “has been sending Infernals after our Legacies for many centuries. One here, one there. Never has she tried to take so many at once. Now that we have a possible deadline, we need to move fast. The Legacies are no longer safe to live their lives among the ungifted humans.”

“Mr. Bardin,” Alicia Townsgate spoke next, “my condolences over your Guardian and your brother. You are a Gemini, yes? Losing that connection must be exceptionally difficult.”

Damien’s jaw clenched. “You want Amelia dealt with and I want to make her pay. Seems to me like we’ll get along just fine, as long as you don’t get in my way.”

Townsgate shook her head. “Impertinent…” she said under her breath. “And you, Arianna March? is it vengeance you seek as well?”

“Who me?” I said with a nervous laugh. “I’m not a vengeance kind of gal.” But even as I said this, I sobered. Recalling the heinous creature that came after me, I knew that anything capable of commanding that thing was just as ugly on the inside.

“Look, all I want to do is get my life back, go to university, be with my friends, but I realize as long as Amelia is free that will never happen.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.