Kes blew out a tense breath. “She should be.”
I gave him a look as confused as I felt. “How could she not be? Aries and Aquarius didn’t tear her lover apart.”
“He made her sleep, though. So, while thousands of years have passed, her heartache probably feels as terrible today as the day she trusted Aries and entered the temple.” Heartache had a way of changing someone, a way of hardening their softer nature. “Let’s hope Virgo hasn’t lost her ability to forgive.”
I suddenly became aware of a slight sting on my hip bone where the tattoo lay. “Can you sense the mark?”
Kes shook his head. “I can’t.”
I breathed out a sigh of relief. “Do you really think Pisces showed up just because his blood hit the water?”
“I think so,” Kes admitted, leaning down to brace his forearms on the balustrade. “Though I think she’ll look for another opportunity to strike again. They all will. Or they’ll come after the two of you together.”
Kes was thinking about something. He had a distant look in his eyes and his brows were scrunched together. “What’s wrong?”
He shook his head.
“You can tell me.”
He glanced at me. His icy, blue eyes brushed against my matching ones. “The pledge is changing you.”
“Changing me?”
“Both of you. You barely know him, but were terrified when you ran out of your room to find him. What was that about, Larken?”
My brows rose. “I honestly don’t know,” I choked out. “I was just out of my mind worried that Aquarius was going to hurt him.”
“Because of him, or because of all that’s at stake if that were to happen?”
He knew my answer, saw it in the purse of my lips. I wanted to think it was merely self-preservation, but knew it was so much more than that. Not that I wanted to tell Kes how I felt. I wasn’t exactly sure myself.
“Be careful, Lark,” he warned. “Aries isn’t human. He may seem like it at times, but he’s not. Don’t forget that.”
“I thought you respected him?”
“Oh, I do.” Kes stood up straight. “I respect him, and more importantly, I respect what he is. And you should, too. Don’t lose sight of it or pretend he’s something he’s not.”
13
Another Guardian knocked at my bedroom door. Kes opened the door to reveal a woman with vibrant orange hair and piercings as far as the eye could see. Her nose was pierced, as were her brows, the entire lobe of each ear, and a sparkly stone hung in the hollow of her belly button.
She wore a black leather mini skirt with shredded fishnets and combat boots. I felt a twinge of jealousy; I wished I looked more like her. Stronger. More confident.
The two whispered and Kes thanked her for coming to him.
Kes closed the door. “There’s someone asking to see you. He’s in the crowd.”
“He, who?”
“She didn’t get his name, but he’s around your age, so I assume it’s someone from home.”
I jumped up and walked toward him, but he blocked the door, holding it closed.
“Well, what are you waiting for? Let’s go.”
He pinched his lips together. “It could be a trap.”
“Or it could not be a trap…”
“How would anyone know you’re here? With Aries?”
I rolled my eyes at his overprotectiveness. “There was a huge crowd yesterday, and Aries and I stood outside for hours. Maybe he saw me but couldn’t get close.”
He nodded. “Just in case, I’m calling more Guardians to stand by as we greet the person.”
I shrugged. “Sure.” It didn’t matter to me who he brought, and more Guardians were never a bad thing. I pulled at the ends of my hair as he held the door open for me. “Do you think I should cut my hair?”
“Yes,” Aquarius answered slickly as his golden, sculpted form sauntered down the hall.
I narrowed my eyes. I wasn’t asking him.
He smiled. “Your hair is lovely, but now that Pisces, Taurus, and Gemini know what you look like, even without seeing or sensing the mark, they’ll use the knowledge against you. They’ll search for women who have your shade of hair. So, dye it. Cut it. But don’t leave it exactly like this,” he elaborated.
I hated to admit it, but he had a point. They’d all seen me. If I dyed my hair darker or cut it off, at least I would look different. The whole point of being tattooed was to help me become anonymous. Kes said it gave me a slight advantage, and I could use every tiny benefit I could grasp.
Was this his way of telling me he could be trusted, by suggesting something to help me hide from his kind?
“Where is Aries?” I made an effort not to say it eagerly or in a panicked tone. I tried to keep my voice level. Bored, even.
But Aquarius smiled knowingly anyway. “He is in his chamber.”
I hadn’t seen his room yet. I couldn’t help but wonder what it looked like. Whether it was sparsely decorated like most of the empty rooms in this castle, or if his belongings were as mysterious as he was.
“I have to return to my territory. Leaving it unguarded now that I’ve made my stand with Aries is unwise,” Aquarius said, staring at me. His golden lids blinked over gilt eyes.
“Be careful,” I warned him.
He grinned and thanked me, bowing slightly at the waist. “I can see it,” he said as he stood up straight again.
“See what?” I asked, looking to Kes for a Zodia-to-human translation.
Aquarius chuckled. “I can see in you, what Aries sees.”
“Which is…?” I asked, quirking a brow.
“A layer of bitterness beneath the sweet. Just like the finest of poisons.” He smiled slyly. “I sincerely hope none of them suspect you.”
The way he looked at me was disconcerting. It left me unbalanced, shaken to the core. Like he was looking into me and not at me.
“Thanks for saving me. I never thanked you,” I told him.
He gave a half smile. “A word of advice: Don’t be what they expect when you are so much more.”
I wasn’t sure how to respond, but he disappeared in a blink, taking the pressure to reply with him. Kes had frozen beside me. “What was that all about?”
“No idea.”
Even so, I had the sneaking suspicion that he’d been around Aquarius long enough to have a good idea of what Aquarius was speaking riddles around.
We walked down the hall, down staircase after staircase and to the front door. We passed through the columnal rings and I cursed myself for not tugging on a coat before we left.
Before I took another step, Kes winked away and returned with two parkas. His and mine, both puffy with bulky hoods lined in fur; his white and mine the color of mulled wine.
The crowd amassed at the bottom of the platform was enormous. The overlapping voices were almost deafening, but when they saw me and Kes approach, they slowly went quiet. Kes found the girl who’d come for us. Beside her stood none other than Xavier Dillon.
He was a sight for sore eyes. He pushed his longish, bleached-blond hair behind his ears and smiled genuinely.
He was my classmate, my would-be prom date, and my long-time friend.
I rushed toward him. “Xavier?”
His jade green eyes found mine. “Larken!” He pushed around the Guardian and wrapped me in a crushing hug, spinning me around with a laugh. “It is you! I thought so yesterday, but couldn’t see well enough to be sure.”
“You’re an Aries?” I asked. I actually hadn’t known his birthday, so I was sort of a bad friend, but it wasn’t like I knew everyone’s, so…
“But you aren’t. Your birthday’s in May,” he said, his voice dropping as my eyes pleaded for him to keep quiet.
Everyone in our class knew mine and Kestrel’s story. We’d told i
t often enough. People were fascinated with twins, even fraternal ones. And our story, being born weeks apart, was even more unusual.
I threaded my hand through his and pulled him out of the crowd and up the stone steps. The crowd protested. One man shouted, “When will we get to see Aries? We have questions. We have concerns! My son needs twenty-four-hour care and he is a Pisces! How do I know he’s safe?”
All my muscles tensed when he said her name. I knew from experience how cold and cruel Pisces was. How unfeeling and apathetic. There was no way she would take care of someone with needs like his son had, but maybe someone else would. Amid the chaos, there were brilliant flashes of the good that still existed in humanity.
Kes waved us up the steps, walking to my left. He leaned in and told me, “Aries will address his people. It’s not your place to respond.”
Right. Then why did it feel like I owed the man an explanation, hug, or apology? Maybe all three.
At the top of the platform, Aries appeared. He looked at me, scowled at Xavier, and glared at our clasped hands. A rumble began in his chest that rattled the stone beneath our feet.
I let go of Xavier’s hand and walked to him. “This is a friend from school,” I explained quickly. “Xavier.”
He refused to look at me, focusing fully on Xavier. I could almost see him sifting through Kes’s memories.
Xavier took in Aries and had the good sense to shrink away.
“Xavier Dillon,” Aries said coldly.
Xavier’s eyes slid to mine, full of questions about how Aries knew his name. I’d have to explain a few things later. “Aries,” I said calmly, drawing his attention back to me. “Is it okay if I talk to Xavier inside the castle?”
If Aries was outside and wanted to hear something that was said inside the castle, I had no doubt he could. There was little he couldn’t do.
“You will be chaperoned,” he replied gruffly.
“That’s fine; I just want to talk to him for a few minutes.”
He nodded. I could tell it took great effort for him to make the movement, for him to allow what he wanted to prevent. I wanted to reassure him that while Xavier being here was exciting because he was familiar, a friend, it was nothing more than that. He was nothing more than a friend and never would be.
“Do you want to come with us?” There was nothing I would say to Xavier that Aries couldn’t hear.
“I have other matters to attend,” he answered, staring at the crowd. “Kes will accompany you.”
I nodded. “Thank you.”
His full lips thinned but he inclined his head, stepping around me to address the concerns of his people, but not before muttering a few sentences to Kes in the language only the Zodia and his Guardian could understand. Kes flicked a glare at me and told me and Xavier to follow him.
He didn’t like whatever Aries had said.
Kes led us into the castle where we were met by another Guardian, an elderly woman with the sweetest smile I’d ever seen. She placed a hand on my cheek and her voice trembled the word, “Bella” I blushed ten shades of pink because I was pretty sure she’d said I was pretty.
Xavier took in the castle’s foyer, the tall ceiling, the dark stone, the hall that stretched farther than should be possible. “This place is insane,” he noted absently.
Kes led us into a large room with plenty of seats. Double plush couches, chairs. Kes pretended to strike a flint and light a fire, but I saw him flick his finger and watched the hearth roar to life, fire wrapping around the wood stacked in the grate. The hide of an enormous grizzly bear was spread on the floor. I avoided its head, watching the firelight glint over the animal’s long, glossy teeth and glassy marble eyes, walking around to sit on one of the couches.
Xavier started to follow me but Kes stopped him. “I think it’s best if you sit opposite her,” he said bluntly.
Xavier stiffened, but nodded. “Sure, okay.” He shot me a look of confusion.
I swallowed, knowing I couldn’t explain the situation to Xavier. He wouldn’t betray me on purpose, but what if he accidentally blabbed something to someone he shouldn’t? What if Pisces shed her scales and sought him out for information, or sent someone to torture it out of him?
“Why are you here?” Xavier asked frankly. “Like, in here, in the castle. And why are you in Aries’s lands?”
“It’s complicated,” I breathed. Kes gave me a subtle shake of his head, confirming I wasn’t supposed to tell him. “All I know is that Kes and I are staying here for a little while. My mom is a Libra, but my dad is a Taurus like me.”
He placed his elbows on his knees and leaned forward. “My dad is a Scorpio, my mom is a Sagittarius, and my little sister is a Gemini.”
The thought of Gemini’s double heads made me shiver.
“I’m sure they’re fine. I mean, we are,” he continued. “This is just so crazy. You got the message on your phone, right?”
I nodded.
“Then people started disappearing. The whole school panicked when that started. James and Brody were walking with me. We were heading to James’s truck so we could leave school, and the keys were in his hand when he disappeared. They just dropped to the ground where he’d been walking. That’s when Brody and I started running home. He disappeared just outside the school gates. By the time I got to my house, no one was left. No one on the streets. No one in cars. I hid out for hours until I appeared here, in the middle of nowhere. It looks like Utah or Montana or something, but I have no idea where we even are. Do you?”
“I don’t.” Honestly, I didn’t care. Wherever this was, it wasn’t home. That was all that mattered.
“Hey…” he began, “you seem to know Aries really well. What’s up with you and him?”
“He’s a friend.”
“Since when?” he asked, flipping his hair the way he did when he was trying to impress a girl. I mean, he did have nice hair. Sort of reminiscent of Bieber’s early days, to be honest. And while he was nice looking, he wasn’t beautiful.
I silently cursed Aries for making every other male on the planet – including this one, whom I’d thought was hot enough before a certain Zodia awoke – seem… disappointing.
“Since they woke up, I guess.”
Kes crossed his arms, tipping his chin to another Guardian hovering at the door. “Aries would like to extend an invitation for you to join us for dinner, Xavier.”
My skin prickled. Why would he do that? He couldn’t hide how he felt about Xavier a little while ago.
“Sure,” he replied warily.
“Larken, you have things to attend,” Kes said cryptically.
Xavier’s thoughts were written all over his face. He wanted to know what things I possibly had to attend, as well as a slew of other questions, ones he’d asked and I didn’t answer, and ones he hadn’t even thought of yet. I had no answers for him. I stood and walked him to the door.
“What time should I come back?” he asked.
“I’ll come get you,” Kes offered. He pulled the front door open for Xavier and closed it behind him, sealing him out and us in.
“How will you know where to find me?” Xavier’s muffled voice called out.
Kes answered, “I just will.” He waited a beat and then turned to me. “He’s leaving.”
To be honest, it was surreal seeing my friend. What were the odds? Plenty of people were born under Aries’s sign, but he and I both ended up near Aries and his castle.
The bigger question was why Aries was suddenly inviting him over, when he was clearly upset he was here?
“Want to explain why Aries invited my friend to dinner?”
“I’m not sure why he did it,” Kes admitted, followed by an exasperated breath. “But he hates Xavier Dillon, and I’m pretty sure he wants to gouge his eyes out with the tips of his horns.”
My eyes widened. “Seriou
sly?”
“His feelings are so erratic right now. I need to go check on him. I’ll get someone else to stay with you for a while.”
He silently called on the older woman who called me ‘bella.’ She walked beside me, slowly escorting me to my room and staying with me, then quietly napping near the fire. The Guardians were fierce when they had to be, strong and incredibly brave, but the bodies they wore aged. Kes would one day grow old and need naps, too. It was weird to think that for all he was, he was still in the body of a human, a body that grew tired, a body that would one day die.
I knew he’d lived many lives. He probably knew all of life’s phases by heart.
Death only seemed to scare him when he was talking about mine.
I wondered if his deaths had mostly been peaceful, and he was scared because he expected mine to be violent. Or if he experienced the worst deaths imaginable and thought I was in for the same. I could see it in the tightness of his muscles, his stance, his expression. Kes didn’t think I’d make it out of this alive.
A letter slid beneath the door. I opened the rolled parchment but didn’t recognize the handwriting. The words looked like they were written with a quill. The wide parts of the letters were thick and black, while the swoops were so thin they were barely there.
Aries requests that you wear your blue, glittering dress this evening, the note read.
My prom dress?
Why would he want me to wear it to dinner, tonight, when Xavier was coming? I had a bad feeling about this. I dropped the request onto the floor and scrubbed my face with both hands.
The pledge-thing was making us both a little crazy, I’d be the first to admit it. But the level of crazy had to be tamed a little, and Aries wasn’t even trying to dampen the fire of his irritation. He was throwing gasoline on it. And we were both going to get burned.
The little woman shifted and reached out for help getting up. I rushed to her and she smiled and patted the back of my hand before walking to the door and pulling it open, revealing Kes on the other side. I smiled as she left and said goodbye. Once she was gone, I thrust the letter at him and asked him what Aries was up to.
Things That Should Stay Buried Page 13
