Hurriedly changing the subject, I hitched a thumb over my shoulder toward the bedrooms. “Should I pack a bag for Kes, too?”
“He can return when he’d like. Gather your own things for now.” Aries didn’t face me when he answered; he remained on the staircase, examining each picture and studying the way we’d each changed from year to year.
Maybe it was the twin thing he didn’t get. We weren’t identical, but we looked a lot alike. Mom wanted to hold Kes back after his episode, to yank him out of school and stay home with him, but at that point, I didn’t trust him to be alone with her. So, I was loud. I told her how much work he’d already put into the year. It was April then, and the school year was close to being over. Kes and I joined forces to win her over. He said he was fine, that he wanted to go back so he could continue learning and see his friends. He told her I would watch over him and we’d call if he felt strange at all.
Dad sided with us and formed a majority Mom wasn’t thrilled with, but ultimately listened to.
I pushed my door open and looked around my room for what I knew in my heart was the last time. There was a basket of laundry at the foot of the bed that needed to be taken downstairs and washed. The charger cord for my cell lay on the wrinkled sheets. My desk was covered with papers – crap I’d been using as sources for a Social Studies paper. Pretty sure I wouldn’t have to finish it now.
My dresser was scattered with an array of lotions and body sprays, my deodorant and scrunchies. My brush. I hugged it to my chest and wrapped several scrunchies around my wrist, then grabbed my jewelry box. It was mostly empty, but my dad had given it to me when he bought one for Mom so we’d have matching ones.
In that moment, it hit me like a ton of bricks. It had only been hours – not even a full day – since the Zodia woke, but it already felt like an eternity.
I rifled through my closet, tearing clothes off the hangers and piling them on the bed. Then my hands stuttered across the fabric of my prom dress… dark blue and glittering with crystals, just like Aries’s claws and the night sky. I draped it over my bedspread. If there was room, maybe I could add it. I didn’t need it now, but maybe I could take it with me anyway.
Grabbing the duffle bag from the depths of my closet, I stuffed it full, wiping tears as I packed my favorite jeans, leggings, hoodies, shirts, bras, panties, and socks… tossing in deodorant, notebooks and pens, makeup and my toothbrush. I needed to talk to Aries about human hygiene products.
The mirror of my dresser was lined with pics of friends. I tossed the one of Brant over my shoulder and let it land wherever, focusing on the pics that made me happy, pics of me and Kes, me and Mom, and me and Dad on the balcony with our homemade telescope. There was even a picture of Kestrel before he died.
His memory was becoming hazy at the edges, and the haze crept closer to the middle of the image I had of him in my head. Would the fog eventually obscure him entirely? I hoped he was someplace peaceful, that he was looking down on us and watching out for Mom and Dad.
I took all the pictures down, slipped them into a zippered side compartment in the bag, and took the wooden hoop off the wall. This was one cross-stitching Mom hadn’t made out of aggravation or stress. She made it out of love and had spent a week trying to position the constellations just so on the round, sapphire fabric. She’d tugged golden strands of string through until it was just right. I begged her not to take it out of the ring, to let me hang it just as it was.
I hugged it to my chest, startling when I looked up to find Aries standing at the door.
“Hey,” I said, trying to hide the tears clogging my throat and running down my face. I’d thought he was still snooping around somewhere.
Aries looked as uncomfortable as I felt. He shifted his weight back and forth as if he was unsure where to stand or what to do. “I can sense Gemini, and she senses me. We need to go.”
“Is she awful like Taurus?”
He shook his head. “She’s not like him, but she isn’t kind. None of us are, Larken.”
He stepped inside and studied my things so sharply I wondered if he were committing them to memory, then took up my bag, reaching for me with his free hand. I caught a glimpse of my prom dress draped across my bed before we disappeared, and immediately felt bereft because I left it behind.
ARIES
Larken’s tears made my chest ache. I hovered near the door, the pledge making me feel things I didn’t understand. I wanted to stride across the room and take her in my arms, to reassure her that all would be well in time. That I would protect her.
I barely knew her. If it weren’t for Kes invoking his pledge to save her, none of this would matter. She wouldn’t matter. I would never even know her name. I likely would never have set eyes on her.
I balled my fists, thinking of what Taurus would do to her if my blood left her skin.
Her room was cluttered, but it suited her. Somewhat chaotic. Beautiful. Moody.
Her linens were a shade of soft gold, like the sun-kissed strands in her hair. All around us and overhead, the walls and ceiling were the color of the deep sea. Not solely blue, but holding a hint of green. Constellations had been painstakingly painted on the ceiling.
The fact that she loved the stars made my chest ache worse. I bet she saw me and loathed them now, as she loathed her new existence.
But I could sense Gemini’s approach, and my need to protect Larken flared.
I finally stepped inside where she was clutching a circle of wood to her chest and crying. I gathered her things and warned her about Gemini, whom I felt creeping closer. I didn’t want her to see Larken. Taurus would tell them all about her and my pledge to her, but for now, maybe they didn’t know what she looked like.
My Guardian had only thought to save her in the short-term, but he damned her all the same. Because I was challenged before the slumber, and I would be challenged again. Especially now that I had pledged to protect her.
It was only a matter of time until Taurus garnered support, and with his allies, lashed out. I wasn’t sure anyone would fight at my side.
There was much to do, much I needed Larken’s assistance with. But how could I ask more of her when she’d already given so much?
Gemini slinked closer.
We must go.
When she asked about Gemini’s demeanor, I did not hold back when I told her that none of us were kind. It was the truth. I held my hand out and waited for her to accept, willing her to place her palm in mine and let me take her back to my castle where it was safe.
She wiped her face and took my hand as I whisked her away from her home.
My chest still aches.
The room I gave her was larger than her old bedroom, yet it seemed much smaller all of a sudden. The smell of her salty tears flooded the air. She tried to calm herself by breathing deeply to stem the tide, but small hiccups made her ribs seize.
I didn’t want to leave her alone but wasn’t sure I should stay… if she would want me to.
I didn’t want to leave her.
7
Back in the windowless stone room Aries had given me, I gravitated toward the crackling fire and sat next to the hearth, clutching the bag to my chest that contained all my worldly possessions. Aries hovered awkwardly, eventually telling me goodnight in a raspy voice. It sounded weird hearing something so normal from him, when he was anything but.
When he pulled the door closed, I cried. Bawled like a baby.
Where the hell is Kes?
Were our parents okay? I would trade places with them in a second if I could. I just didn’t know if that was an option, or if there was any hope to be had anymore.
I cursed myself for not grabbing my pillow, but I was exhausted. Curling up with my bag in front of the crackling fire, I eventually drifted off to sleep by replaying the way Aries had studied our house, our pictures, my room, and me.
I smelled cinnamon. And something familiar.
I opened my eyes and shrieked.
Aries’s face hovered inches over mine, staring. Had he been watching me sleep?
“What are you doing?” I screeched.
His hand hovered over my hair, as if he’d been toying with it.
“Trying to wake you,” he said with a smile. “I’ve been trying for half an hour. You sleep so deeply.”
I scrambled to sit up and scooted away from him. “You’re one to talk. You slept for like, ten billion years or something,” I said, somewhat calmer. My heart was slowing, at least.
“I’m sorry I startled you,” he offered softly, standing and giving me space.
Maybe this would teach him the importance of personal bubbles. He needed to realize those were present at all times. “Why are you in here?”
“I have something to show you, and I need to ask for your help,” he admitted almost sheepishly. His horns seemed to curl toward me fractionally as he extended a hand and moved closer.
I swallowed thickly, placing my palm in his. He pulled me up and looked me over, a half-smile greeting me.
Without letting go, he led me down the hall to another door and pushed it open. The room had been transformed into something out of a dream. It literally took my breath away and I almost forgot that he still held my hand in his.
Almost.
The walls and ceiling were covered in tile with swirling patterns of midnight blue and silver, striations breaking and reconnecting at every grout line. A large basin sat on the counter, and there was a silver bench with a lid that I assumed was a toilet. But what made my feet slowly creep inside was the tub.
There were no faucets, but it was full of steaming water. Merely calling it a tub seemed to be a disservice. It was more like an enormous rectangular pool at the end of the room. A set of tile steps led from the floor up to the water’s edge and trailed down into the water. Fluffy, cobalt blue towels sat upon matching ledges on either side.
I pulled away and flexed my hand as I put my knees on the top step and leaned over, dragging my fingers through the steaming water.
“You don’t approve?” he asked, swallowing thickly.
“No, I love it. I’m just… wow. I’m at a loss for words.”
Aries raked a hand through his dark hair. “Kes – I have to get used to calling him that – admired something like this on a Discovery Channel show once. You watched it with him and commented on how lovely it was and said it would be a dream to bathe in such a place. You said that if the tub were in your house, you would never want to leave it.”
My brows kissed. “How did you know that?”
“I saw it in his memories,” he replied softly.
Wait, what? My heart thundered. “You have all of Kes’s memories?”
He nodded. “When we pressed our foreheads together in the sacred room, he gave me all the memories from each of his lifetimes. It painted quite a picture of how times and human history have evolved.”
That’s how he knew my name before Kes spoke it.
My brows rose. That meant he could sift through Kes’s memories and see… everything. That would prove to be embarrassing at some point. My middle school years were… ugh. I didn’t even want to think about it.
Aries gestured back to the grandiose bathroom. “There is no plumbing, but if you ask any Guardian for a bath, they will fill it with hot spring water. I’ll construct these among the new dwellings and instruct the Guardians to fill them periodically. And I will consider some of the other things you showed me. I appreciate that you had a market for food that you could store away, but ultimately would like to teach my people how to grow crops on the land and hunt the animals roaming it. In the meantime, I will provide for them. I would not see them starve.” He grinned. “And while running water and electricity are luxuries to which you’re accustomed, I’m not sure either is necessary.”
That was fair. We were, perhaps, too spoiled and lazy.
“You said you needed my help.”
He raked a hand over his horn. “Some of my people are gathered outside. Many have questions, which I will gladly answer, but I was hoping you might interpret for me.”
“I can only speak English,” I replied honestly. “I took Spanish and French, but sucked at both of them.”
He gave me a wide smile that took my breath away.
“I can speak every human language. I don’t need you to interpret their words, but the meaning of certain things eludes me. Slang is difficult for me to grasp, as is sarcasm. And I may need you to explain how things work, the way you did indoor plumbing.”
It wasn’t like I had anything better to do. Besides, maybe I could lob a few questions of my own at Aries.
“When do you need my help?” I asked.
“As soon as you are able.”
“I need a few minutes to get ready.”
He nodded and leaned against the wall in the hallway while I slipped back into my room. I planned to run inside and grab my duffle, but grabbed my chest instead. Aries had surprised me again.
“Oh my God,” I breathed. “How did you do this?”
As he was showing me the enormous bathroom, he’d transformed the room he’d given me into an exact replica of my old bedroom. He didn’t remove the hearth, though. It still crackled merrily in the corner of the room. For that, I was thankful. We didn’t use our fireplace at home that often, but the sound and heat was a comforting addition.
I crossed the threshold and turned in a slow circle, my mouth gaping, wondering how he’d done this. Even though we’d spent less than five minutes in my old room, this new space contained everything I owned, down to the familiar scar on my headboard. But it was the walls and ceiling that shocked me. It was like he’d stripped the paint from my home and reapplied it to the stone walls in this room. The stone was painted my favorite color – deep teal – and gold stars shimmered across the ceiling and slid down the walls. Even the ones I’d accidentally smudged held their imperfections perfectly.
My comforter and sheets were here in all their golden, disheveled glory, as well as my dresser, sans pictures. I would hang them back where they belonged. There was even a closet, though part of its contents lay wrinkled in my duffle now.
Aries braced his forearm against the door frame and watched as I took it all in.
Draped over my bed the way I left it, lay my glittery prom dress. I gathered the material in my hands and held it to my chest. The sequins scraped my cheeks, but I raised it to my face and breathed in its scent anyway. Did he conjure a replica, or did he bring it here? Did I just imagine that it smelled like mulberry?
“I’m not sure how… but thank you,” I croaked.
He inclined his head, but remained silent.
I finally laid the dress back on the bed and rifled through my duffle bag, quickly choosing clean clothes and toiletries.
I wanted to throw my arms around his neck, but kept them wrapped tightly around the pile of things in my arms. “This means a lot,” I told him instead, locking eyes with him as he moved to let me pass through the doorway.
“I’m glad you like it. I worried it might upset you.”
I shook my head. “It doesn’t. It’s… it’s amazing.”
His bright smile seemed to light the world.
A heavy knot tightened in my throat. I slid past him and walked to the bathroom next door, letting out a pent-up breath as soon as I locked the door behind me, the loud snick filling the cavernous space.
Staring into the mirror, I took in the bloody marks he’d made over my eyes. They weren’t so bad. I thought I might look a little like Pennywise the clown, but instead they made me look like some sort of Norse warrior queen. I gathered my hair back and looked left, then right. Not bad at all.
They were kind of fierce.
The room�
�s humidity slid over my skin.
I really, really, really wanted to sink into the tub and relax. The steam beckoned me, but I had given my word, and I would keep it. Aries was keeping his pledge to me. I could do this small favor for him.
I dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved Henley and brushed my teeth and hair, gathering it into a messy bun. The frizz was real this morning and would not be tamed. As I worked through my tasks mindlessly, my thoughts drifted to Aries, who I sensed was still waiting outside.
I’d seen several of his expressions in the short time I’d known him. I noted the slant of his dark brows when he was angry, the way his eyes captured everything around him, the way he clenched his jaw when he was determined, and the way he smirked when he knew it upset someone. But I hadn’t seen him truly smile until just now.
It was nothing short of magnificent.
He was terrifying and beautiful, and his smile was triggered because he did something pleasing for me.
I swallowed thickly, wishing I didn’t like his smile at all, or the feel of his hand holding mine, or that he’d gone out of his way to search my brother’s memories in an effort to make me comfortable, to recreate my room just as I’d left it.
I could feel him through the door. His power radiated from him at all times, but it wasn’t just that.
There was something about him that made me aware of him. Maybe his blood sang from my skin. Maybe it was just his mass, drawing me in like a planet’s gravity drew in its moon…
Whatever it was, it was dangerous.
Okay, so I lamely admit that I never watched further than the first episode of Game of Thrones. Sorry, George R. R. Martin, it just wasn’t my thing. But if I had watched further, I wondered if one of the scenes would’ve looked like the one before me. Aries wasn’t on a throne, per se, but he stood on a platform that was ten steps taller than the humans lined up to see him.
Most people shared the same question. They wanted to know what was happening and whether they’d get to reunite with their loved ones. He addressed his answer to everyone who could hear and promised the message would pass to those too far away to hear but still within his boundary. Aries explained that the earth had been divided, as it was in the time before the Zodia’s slumber. Like wedges of a round cake, each of the creatures had taken a slice (I’m paraphrasing) and called for their people to join them in the section of their birthright. Because we were Aries’s people, we could not live in another Zodia’s boundary; and those who were ruled by another Zodia could not live within his.
Things That Should Stay Buried Page 7
