Things That Should Stay Buried

by Casey L. Bond

  Her people would suffer and die if I killed her.

  Disgusted, I threw her away from me. She coughed, slumped on her side, and clawed at the ground to get away as I strode forward. “Don’t step foot in my territory or near my pledged again. Next time I will not be as merciful, and I won’t think twice about sparing you to save your people. They’re the only reason I’m showing you mercy now. Them. Not you. You came for a fight. Don’t blame me for giving you exactly what you wanted.”

  Rage and power dueled for my control, as well as panic. Larken was off the balcony now. Kes was with her. I could feel him near her, feel his fear.

  Did he see the confrontation?

  How well did Gemini see Larken? She sensed my blood, but did she have time to study her features? In a blink, Gemini disappeared and I felt her slide back into place in her own territory. She would lick her wounds and then gather the others to tell them what I did. Probably tell them it was unprovoked, but the very sight of her eyes on Larken incensed me.

  I appeared before them at the bottom of the small set of steps that trailed from the balcony. I was about to rage at Kes for letting her anywhere near it while Gemini was snooping around, when he snapped at me instead. “Are you insane?” Kes screamed, throwing his hands up. “You attacked her. She’ll come after Larken now!”

  “She already came for her! Why do you think I did it, Guardian? And mind your tongue before I tear it out!”

  Larken gasped, putting herself between us. “Don’t talk to my brother like that!”

  I glared at her, at my blood slicing through her eyes. She might as well be wearing a beacon. The Zodia could sense one another through our blood and mine was painted on her skin. “I want you to take my mark on your flesh. The blood binds my vow, but it makes you stand out. Whomever comes next will be looking for the blood marks. A permanent mark would be marginally safer.”

  “A tattoo?” Larken put a fist on her hip and looked at her brother.

  “If Aries thinks its best, you should do it. And for the record, I think he’s right,” Kes backed me.

  LARKEN

  “The mark can be small,” Kes reassured me. “Really small.”

  I turned back to Aries. “What’s this mark of yours look like?”

  “Kes can draw it for you. He can place it, but once it’s on your flesh, it will be there permanently,” he warned.

  Unless someone slices my flesh off, I wanted to sass, but the haunting images I’d conjured of Virgo’s lover being shredded like chicken filled my mind and my sass faded fast.

  Kes took my arm and led me back to my room, Aries staring after us. I could feel his gaze on my back, his anger wafting toward me.

  I wasn’t sure if he was mad at Gemini for popping in uninvited, or at me for going to the balcony to see what she looked like, against my brother’s vehement pleas for me to stay in my room. I was still a faster runner than Kes and I thought for sure there was no way she’d spot me from so far away. I was wrong.

  We wended through the castle until my door came into view. My brother let me go when we were safe inside.

  “I don’t want his mark tattooed on me.”

  “It can be very small. But the blood of each Zodia calls to the others, and since they already know he pledged to a human, they can scent it on you. They’ll be able to find you quickly. If we’re caught unawares and you’re too far from us, they could kill you before we could reach you.” Kes’s silver-blue eyes drilled into mine, pleading with me to see reason.

  “I mean, how much time would a mark actually buy me when I’m plastered to Aries’s side?” I argued weakly. How much time would I have regardless? Gemini’s impromptu appearance was the first since Taurus showed up to claim me, and I was absolutely sure it wouldn’t be the last. This was only the beginning, the equivalent of the alert text message that went out just before things went bad.

  “Every second matters now, Larken. Every single second could mean the difference in whether you live or die,” he argued, aggravation lacing his voice. “So, yes, Mom would hate this tattoo. Mom would hate any tattoo. And yes, you might hate it. It might not be the mark you want on your body or you may never want one, but right now, it’s the small things that could amount to us being able to save you. So I think you should stop freaking out and take the mark already.”

  It was such a trivial thing, a little tattoo, but it seemed a lot bigger to me for some reason. I knew it was a big deal when Aries cut his skin and let his blood pool in his palm, and then applied the marks to my face. I could see the tension, the reverence, and feel the hesitation in his movements as he fought with himself over whether to actually go through with it and honor the promise to his friend.

  That was a big deal to Aries, just as this was a big deal to me. Because this was forever. Or at least for as long as I continued to live and breathe. I didn’t even want to think about how short a time that might be.

  “I get that it’s not ideal. None of this is. This isn’t the life I hoped you’d live,” he said, quieter. “But protecting it has become my goal in this lifetime, and I won’t let you down. Just help me… make this easier, not harder.”

  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. There was another reason I didn’t want to take a permanent mark. If I chose, I could still wash Aries’s blood away. Making a permanent mark took that choice away. Until the mark pierced my skin, I could make another choice. One I might need to save my brother. Or my parents. One I wanted to have in my back pocket. Because if all the Zodia attacked and the people I loved were threatened, I could remove the blood and go to Taurus. I could end the fight and save them by giving myself over.

  “Forty-eight hours,” Kes said suddenly, calming himself.

  I ticked my head back. “What does that mean? Forty-eight hours.”

  “If you refuse the permanent mark, you won’t live forty-eight hours. And there will be nothing I can do about it.”

  “Why would you say something like that?” He was being cruel. “You’re my brother. You might have been created by Aries and be loyal to your maker, but you chose me as your sister, Kes. You asked me for peace, a truce. You should have a little loyalty to me, too.”

  He raked his hands through his hair. “My opinion that you should take the mark has nothing to do with Aries and everything to do with you, and with my loyalty to you. You are my sister. We chose one another when we didn’t have to. We are family. I love you and don’t want to watch you die. You are caught between Aries and eleven celestial beasts who would gladly watch you bleed out. Aries and I are the only ones who want to protect you. Even from your own stubbornness.”

  I had no words.

  He scrubbed hands over his face. “Please. It’s an edge. An advantage we need. If those bloody slashes aren’t on your face and your mark is small and hidden away, you might be able to hide amongst the other human females for a time. It will give you a fighting chance. Or a chance to run. Or for Aries to protect you. It’s literally the only edge you might have now. Things are changing quickly; we have to adapt to them and stay a step ahead if we’re going to keep you safe.”

  My heart was caving in. I didn’t want to die.

  Okay,” I rasped.

  Kes’s shoulders deflated. “Thank you,” he breathed.

  “I don’t mean to be difficult. This is just… a lot.”

  He nodded. “I know it is, and I’m sorry to thrust you in the middle of a millennia-old fight. It’s just… I know Aries. I trust him with my life and yours. And while I think the others will attack, I believe in him. I believe he can win if they bring the fight. I believe he can set things right. He’s done it before. With you at his side now, I think he’ll see the world in a different light. With purpose, I don’t think he’ll want to escape his destiny. I think you’ll make him revel in it. And I think he’ll make you revel in yours.”

  “I’m not Aries’s purpose
, Kes,” I warned. That seemed too heavy a burden for anyone to bear. I was just me. I couldn’t be the world to anyone else. And I wasn’t sure what my purpose was now that the Zodia had crashed the party that was supposed to be my life.

  “He has to apply this mark as well, to essentially make the pledge again, but more permanently,” he told me, deftly changing the subject.

  “Wonderful.”

  He gently closed the door and I let out a long breath, grateful to be alone for half a second. I couldn’t see Gemini well from the balcony, but she had two heads and Aries tried to strangle both of them. What did she say to him to send him into such a rage?

  He said she came for me.

  If she’d been closer, what would’ve happened?

  My heart thundered. I held my hand over my chest, sat on the bed, and tried not to freak completely out, pretending to be fine when Kes opened the door a moment later.

  He took one look at me and paused. “Thank you for agreeing to this, Larken.”

  I nodded at my brother, unable to speak. Tears filled my eyes against my will. It was weird to think that I went from looking forward to living my life my way, to simply trying to survive it.

  Forty-eight hours wasn’t a long time, but what if the mark didn’t work? What if his estimate was still accurate, tattoo or not?

  I imagined Mom and Dad learning I was dead and began to cry in earnest. I remembered her wailing after Kestrel died, and I remembered Dad’s hulking body collapsing as grief took him to his knees. I guessed Kes didn’t have to tell them. They could live out their lives in their Zodia’s territory and never know.

  Kes flopped down beside me and hugged me. “Don’t. Don’t give up before the fight’s begun, Larken.”

  “Do you know how to win it?” I asked.

  I felt his neck bob when he swallowed. I knew he would lay down his life for me, and I knew Aries would just because Kes had asked and he gave his word. But the knowledge didn’t comfort me, because I just wanted to live. Preferably a normal life. Boring, even. Boring would be great.

  “Do you know why I told you what I was? I easily could have lied. I could’ve quieted your mind and made the doubt you felt drift away, but I chose to be honest with you, Larken. Even though you were only a child and I never should have let you in on my secret. I’d never told anyone before and doubt I will ever trust someone with the knowledge again.”

  “So, why did you do it?”

  “Because I could see you were strong enough to accept it and thought how wonderful it might be not to have to hide from you. If anyone can win the battle ahead, it is you and Aries. It’s both of you together. You only have to bend a little. I’m not asking you to break, I just want you to get through this the way I know you can.”

  I let go of Kes and nodded. That was one of the nicest things anyone had ever said to me, and every word was true. Sometimes hearts could feel things like truth and sincerity.

  Aries entered the room holding an ornately carved, dark wooden box.

  Kes hugged me again and left the room, shooting a look of warning at his Zodia before closing the door and sealing us inside.

  Aries gently sat on the bed facing me and opened the box, removing a bulbous, but squat bottle of ink, a long piece of wood with needles attached to one end, and parchment. “Would you like to see a sketch of the mark first?” he rasped.

  “I would.”

  From the box, he took up a sliver of coal, careful of his claws, and sketched a ‘V’ with ends that curled to the sides like Aries’s horns. It wasn’t so bad, and if it was small, no one would see it.

  “Can you make it smaller than that sketch?”

  He shook his head. “There’s a very specific way I have to tattoo it. It must be tapped into the skin. The row of needles is too broad to go any smaller, but I’ll make it as small as I can.”

  There was no such thing as small enough when you didn’t want it in the first place.

  “Where do you suggest?”

  His eyes raked over me, slowly, catching on the skin between my breasts, on my lower stomach, my hip, upper thigh… until my face heated. He dragged his eyes back to mine. “Somewhere you can keep it hidden,” he finally answered.

  “What about here?” I asked, wrapping my hand beneath my left arm and clutching my ribs around my side, toward my back.

  He shook his head. “That may be too visible, depending on what you’re wearing.”

  I blew out a short breath, wondering where to put the mark, and wondering just how naked I’d have to get in front of Aries. He was quiet as he situated his ink and the tapper.

  Depending on what I wore, low between my breasts would work, but what if I was swimming or something? Maybe I was overthinking this, but this was permanent, and I wanted to be sure to place it as carefully as possible. Aries watched patiently as I fought a silent war with myself.

  I dragged my hoodie over my head and watched his pupils flare as he took in my tank top. “I just thought it might be in the way.”

  He swallowed thickly, watching as I stood. “Place it on my hip bone.”

  “Where, exactly?” he asked, his eyes affixed to my hand as I pointed to my left hip bone.

  “Here.”

  “You should lie down,” he suggested. “And I’ll need access to your skin.” The slightest smile blossomed on his lips, but it didn’t calm me. My heart began racing at the sight of it. I could hear it pounding in my ears.

  I laid down on the bed, careful not to overturn the ink he’d propped against his leg. I pushed the top of my leggings and bikini panties down to expose the bone.

  He braced his hand against my skin, his claws catching and tugging at the elastic of my pants as he splayed his hand like he was going to hold me down, and my body flooded with heat. I knew this wasn’t… there wasn’t anything between us, but it seemed so intimate. I licked my lips and asked the only thing I could think to. “How bad is this going to hurt?”

  “It won’t be comfortable, but I’ll be fast and will heal you as soon as I can.”

  My hands were sweating while his were warm and strong. My skin pebbled all over as I shivered.

  “Are you cold?” he asked.

  I shook my head, my eyes fluttering closed. I wasn’t cold at all. If he only knew how not cold I was…

  Distraction. Distraction was good. And I still had questions, so maybe while he focused on giving me my first ink, he would be distracted enough to answer some of them. “Do all guardians have a right?”

  He went still, the needles drowning in ink. “No.”

  “Why did you give Kes one?” What was so special about Kes? Not that he wasn’t awesome, but something had to set him apart from the other eleven.

  “There are twelve Guardians, one made to watch each territory during the slumber, tasked with alerting the others should the Zodia awake.”

  “Was the harbinger sent by one of the Guardians?”

  He nodded.

  “That’s incredible,” I breathed. Sometimes I wished I had my brother’s powers, but I wondered how much they’d even help him if a Zodia decided to hunt him. He’d have more than forty-eight hours left, I’d bet.

  “Kes was the first Guardian I made, and he was tasked with watching over me as I slept.”

  And he did. He made a beautiful tomb for him and guarded over it constantly. He was always disappearing, and now I knew where he went.

  “He organized and led the other Guardians, as well.”

  Wow. I let all that information sink in until Aries said he was ready. His thumb brushed my skin and then he gripped my skin tighter. I almost let out a hiss, propping my upper body up with my elbows. My nerves were already on fire.

  “Ready?” he asked, bending low, his cool breath fanning over my bare skin.

  “Yeah.”

  The first tap didn’t hurt that bad
ly, but he kept tapping and wiping ink from my skin to reveal what he’d done and how much more had to be inked. Soon, it began to sting. I winced, trying to keep still as his hand held me to the mattress.

  His eyes flicked from the mark to mine. “You’re okay.”

  I nodded and focused on the slant of his brows, the slight wrinkle that formed between them when he concentrated, the feeling of his hand on my skin – skin I always kept covered. Skin no other guy had touched because I hadn’t let him. Not that this was like that… I reminded myself. Again.

  “Did Kes tell you about the ink?” he asked out of nowhere as he wiped my blood and his ink off my skin, satisfied that I was properly marked. “It’s finished.”

  It was? I went to stand and he lifted his hand, letting me up.

  “What about the ink?” I asked, wandering across the room to look in my dresser’s mirror. It wasn’t bad, actually. And he’d kept his word and made it tiny. It was actually dainty and cute. I lifted the hem of my tank top to see it better, then sucked in a startled breath when I looked up into the mirror to see Aries standing behind me. “You scared me to death!” I accused. My heart jumped a little, too. Not just because he was there, but because he was so close, his chest close enough to brush against my back. He stepped closer until I was flush against him.

  The corners of his lips turned upward. “Yet still you breathe.”

  Did he just make a joke?

  I let out a breathy, “Barely.”

  “How does it feel?”

  “It stings.”

  Aries cleared his throat and extended his hand toward my hip. “May I heal it?”

  He’d asked me that question once before and I denied him. I was glad he asked again now. My muscles tightened involuntarily. “Yes.”

  When his warm hand landed almost possessively over my skin, I stopped breathing. The sting faded away, but his touch left me stinging in a different way. His thumb brushed my skin along the bone. Once. Twice…