Things That Should Stay Buried

by Casey L. Bond

  She held her hands up defensively. “If she’s a threat to one, she’s a threat to us all.”

  “How could you? After Lager… how could you say that?” I asked. “Did his death leave you so bitter and heartless?”

  She snorted a laugh. “Far worse than that, I’m afraid.” She shifted her weight. “I will stand with you, as you once stood for me, but if this ends the way I believe it will, I will not die for you, Aries. I have my own people to consider.”

  “I would never ask you to do that.”

  Footsteps resonated from the staircase moments before flowing ribbons of crimson fabric and tan skin appeared. My throat tightened and a dull roar pounded in my ears. Her dress was the color of blood. Helena had knotted a diamond grid around her stomach, her bruised skin peeking through the knots of fabric. The dress covered her breasts and tied behind her neck.

  A small smile played on Larken’s lips until she reached the bottom step and looked up to see Virgo in my room.

  “Virgo,” Larken greeted without bowing. Kes followed just behind her to the right. “You missed the fight. You must have had something very important going on to keep you from helping Aries like you said you would.”

  I coughed to cover my laugh. My stars, she was gloriously fierce! Her fingertips were round and smooth, but the girl had the sharpest claws and tongue of anyone I knew.

  Virgo stood taller, haughtily staring down at Larken before turning and smiling at me seductively. “I had a wonderful… talk, my friend. We should do it again soon.” Her eyes slid to Larken’s and she smirked as she left my territory.

  Larken’s eyes narrowed at me. Her hair had been braided back on one side and left to trail down the other, and I was seized by the sudden desire to touch it and run my fingertips over the bumps and dips. To rake my claws through her hair and remove the braids just so I could touch her.

  “I want to see Xavier,” she demanded. Before I could speak, she marched back to the staircase and stomped up the steps.

  PART

  THREE

  Things That End

  23

  “You seem upset,” Aries said, jogging to catch up with me.

  “I’m not.”

  “The boy is alive. Do you not trust my word?”

  I didn’t look at him, but he was watching me carefully. “I trust you; I just want to see him. He’s my friend, Aries. You know, like how Virgo is your friend.” My lips quirked when his brows slid toward the ground.

  “She just appeared, Larken. I didn’t invite her into my chamber,” he offered softly.

  I shrugged a shoulder, feigning indifference. “You can do what you want.” His eyes caught on my neck, at the spot that he’d bruised, now healed. I smiled. “Something the matter? Do I have a makeup smear?” I goaded.

  “No,” he faltered. “You look lovely.”

  I suddenly stopped and turned to him. His lips parted as his pink eyes focused on mine intently. “I just realized I don’t know where he lives.”

  Aries blinked. “I can take you to him.” His fingers grazed the skin at my waist, making me hiss. I hated that I wanted him to touch me, to feel his claws graze my tender flesh, to feel his chest pressed tightly against mine.

  And he knew it.

  He smiled knowingly before we faded, reappearing in the middle of Xavier’s home, scaring him half to death. “What are you doing here?” he whispered, grabbing my hands. Then he saw Aries. His expression and voice hardened. “And what is he doing here?”

  “I just wanted to see you and make sure you were okay,” I explained.

  His lips thinned. “I’m fine. Can we speak privately?”

  Aries looked around at the dwelling. The walls, ceiling, and floor were made from the same dark stone. There was a wooden cot with blankets, a basin, and a counter that wrapped around the small but tidy kitchen. The hearth was situated between the kitchen and living area where there was a wooden rocking chair. It was rather charming. Basic, but it seemed to meet every need.

  Xavier looked at Aries. “Do you mind if I speak to her – alone?”

  Aries fixed his impenetrable eyes on Xavier with an unreadable expression, which frankly scared me to death.

  “I don’t feel comfortable with that arrangement,” Aries replied. His eyes flicked to Xavier’s hand on mine. Before removing it, Xavier squeezed it for good measure.

  “So, are you two together?” he asked. “I assume that was why you had me removed from the castle, not merely because of the scheming of a few humans who want their lives back,” he snapped.

  Suddenly, Xavier’s attention flickered to someone standing outside the window. I glanced outside and alarm bells went off in my head.

  Please tell me they aren’t going to try anything stupid…

  “We need to leave,” Aries demanded, appearing in front of me. Turning his ire to Xavier, he growled, “This was an incredibly stupid thing to do, and I’m afraid my patience with you and your friends is growing thin. One more attempt, and I’ll end you all.” He took my hand and pulled me close, and we disappeared just as three men burst through the door, their makeshift weapons raised.

  My heart thundered. His arm was clamped around me, a vice, and I gripped him tightly as we reappeared on my favorite balcony. He bent his head to lay it against mine. “I don’t want you around him again.”

  “Xavier would never hurt me,” I argued.

  “You don’t know that. He’s desperate.”

  “He’s angry, not desperate. I mean, if you think about it, right now he feels the same way the other Zodia did upon waking. You suspended their lives, then when they woke angry, they upended ours. It’s the same thing and elicits the same reaction: we want what was once ours. We’ll never stop craving it.”

  Aries was quiet, seemingly lost in thought.

  “Did you ever think that he might abduct you? Or maybe use you as a lure to get me into a position where they could strike? And if you say Xavier isn’t capable, what about the other men conspiring to kill me? What if they have no moral objection to using you to get what they want?”

  I opened my mouth, but ultimately answered, “I didn’t think about that.”

  “Men are... self-serving much of the time. And though Xavier might have good intentions, it does not mean that his compatriots do.”

  “You’re right.”

  He straightened, looking at me in his periphery. As his horns sparkled in the sunlight, I wondered if the heat warmed them.

  “Why do you stare at them?” he asked.

  “Because they’re beautiful. Different from anything I’ve seen before.”

  “I can make them disappear,” he said with a grin. A second later, his horns vanished. The wind toyed with his dark hair and I raised my hand to run it across his loose strands. It was soft and smooth. He almost looked human. I told myself that if his eyes were different, he’d blend among us, but that wasn’t true. There was still something… more about him. Something even contact lenses couldn’t conceal. Something nothing could.

  A groan tore from his throat. He closed his eyes and leaned into my touch. I pressed myself closer until my chest met his.

  “I’m glad you’re armed,” he whispered seductively.

  My hand stilled. “How’d you know?”

  “When you came down the steps… I saw the sheath.” His hand brushed my thigh and my breath hitched. A shiver spread over my hip and slid up my spine, soft as silk.

  “It’s not nice to touch another’s knife without asking,” I warned him.

  “No?” He grinned.

  I shook my head. “No.”

  We held the same intangible properties as magnets. Like some unseen force was constantly dragging us toward one another.

  Kes jogged up the steps, so I took a step back from Aries. “Did you see Xavier?” he asked, glancing between
us.

  “Yes.”

  “Told you he was fine.”

  Ugh. I didn’t feel like telling him what happened while we were there. I knew Aries would share the memory with him, anyway. Were they actually stupid enough to attack Aries? The word yes swam through a bowl of alphabet soup in my mind, though I had no idea how he’d alerted them to our presence. It wasn’t like he could text them.

  My stomach chose that moment to growl. “I’m starving.”

  Kes snorted. “Let’s find food.”

  “I want a hamburger,” I whined.

  Kes chuckled. “No can do.”

  I missed burgers and tacos and all the garbage teenagers were fond of eating. I would kill for a cupcake with an enormous, swirled mound of buttercream frosting. Real buttercream. Not the fake, whipped cream kind.

  24

  That evening, Kes and I were racing down the hallway and I was somehow winning. Not by much, grant you, but that was beside the point.

  Aries suddenly appeared in my path and caught me. Kes let out a whoop as he crossed our makeshift finish line. “You made me lose!” I growled. Then I started to laugh.

  Aries laughed with us. “You’re foot racing?”

  I groaned. “You sound a million years old when you say that.”

  He shrugged. “I’ll race you.”

  “What?” I asked, my mouth gaping.

  “Sure.”

  Kes looked at him. “She’s faster than she looks.”

  His pink eyes glittered at mine. “Is she, now?” His horns were back. And they looked amazing. “See something you like?”

  “Not really,” I teased, spinning out of his grip. The mark on my hip tingled and he flicked his eyes toward it. He was doing this to mess with me. “Stop it.”

  “Stop what?” he asked innocently, looking to Kes for help.

  Kes narrowed his eyes suspiciously at us, then jogged to the end of the hall, holding his hands out. “First to tag me wins!”

  Aries looked me over. “Have you had enough time to recover?”

  He was asking for it. I quickly knotted my skirts at my left side, exposing my right thigh and the knife strapped to it. Aries went still, not even breathing. “Do you need a minute to… recover?” I asked, quirking a brow.

  He growled, tearing his eyes away with great effort and focusing on Kes.

  “No cheating. You can’t disappear,” I warned. I dug my bare feet into the stone, locking my muscles and getting ready to spring.

  “I would never—”

  His words garbled as I took off sprinting down the hall. I pumped my arms and pushed against the floor with every step. Suddenly, Aries was beside me. A smile split his face, but I pushed harder and watched it fall away.

  He took the lead. My legs burned along with my pride as he slapped Kes’s hand and spun around to face me, a victorious expression on his face. His eyes flicked to my leg. He may have won the battle, but I’d win this war.

  “You should learn how to better use the knife,” Aries suggested, not even out of breath.

  I took a minute to catch my breath. I mean, he could grapple with muscled bulls, snake women, and centaurs. Of course a little sprint wouldn’t wind him. Besides, by the way his eyes kept flicking back to the blade, I thought I’d wielded it just fine…

  “I did okay, didn’t I? Speaking of which, how long will it take for Cancer’s pincer to grow back?”

  “Not long, and she could’ve struck you with the other claw.”

  But she didn’t. Helena said she was too afraid to lose the second one and be left defenseless. I wondered what would have happened if I’d hacked off both. Would the others have taken the opportunity to end her? Did they have some sort of millennia-old quarrel with her?

  “Kes? Want to show me how to better defend myself?”

  He glared at Aries pointedly. “It seems I’m needed elsewhere.” With that, my agitated brother disappeared.

  I stood there with wide eyes, stunned. “So…” I drawled, turning toward Aries with a hopeful expression.

  He gave me a conceited grin but didn’t say a word. “We need a larger space.” Striding back down the hallway we’d just raced up, he called over his shoulder, “Come on, Larken.”

  Bossy much?

  He lingered and waited for me to catch up. “Who better to teach you to defend yourself among the Zodia than me?”

  He had a point, I supposed. “I’m going to end up with more bruises, aren’t I?” I grumbled.

  “No,” he answered sincerely. “I won’t hurt you.”

  “You should,” I told him. “I need you to really come at me, or else this impromptu practice session will be pointless.”

  Something shimmered in his eyes, but he shook his head and looked away. “Very well.”

  He led me to a large, empty room. Four Guardians appeared, spreading blankets and furs over the stone floors. “Oh, so you’d rather I bleed on these?” I teased.

  A rumble came from his chest. He did not find the joke funny at all.

  Jeez.

  When I looked up, there was no anger in his eyes, it was something more intense. Something primal that made my skin prickle.

  Aries slowly began to circle me like the predator he was. I drew my blade with a snick that echoed around the room. “How did Cancer approach?” he asked, the gravel in his voice making my skin pebble.

  “She,” I rasped, clearing my throat, “she came up from the columns. She snuck up behind us, but she was in front of me when I cut her.”

  In a flash, he stood in front of me. “You lose,” he breathed, holding my arms to my side. Without giving me a moment to recover, he ordered, “Again,” and strode back across the room.

  This time, he charged and ran instead of appearing right in front of me. It wasn’t any less startling. He ran incredibly fast, much faster than a human. I raised my blade to slice him and he easily batted the knife from my hands, grabbing me again and drawing me close. His lips hovered just over mine. “Don’t ever let go of your weapon.”

  I nodded as much as I could with the scant distance between us.

  He let me go and I exhaled, retrieving my blade. When I straightened, he attacked again. This time, even though I was terrified, I fought back, swiping the air and quickly jabbing toward his midsection.

  He smiled and grabbed my wrist, tugging it behind my back as he spun me around. He held me to his chest, growling in my ear. “Better.”

  “It wasn’t better. I still lost,” I panted.

  “Because you’re tentative. Don’t be afraid to stab me.”

  I scoffed. “I would never stab you.”

  He let go of my wrist but let his hand settle on the curve of my hip. “Let me give you a reason to fight.”

  We parted and the playful look in his eyes faded. His upper lip curled in disgust. His chest heaved. Surprised, I ticked my head back as he circled me, both of us dangerously dancing counterclockwise.

  He charged me so quickly, I barely saw him move.

  I slashed, but he blocked the knife easily with his horns. I was afraid to hurt him, so I pulled back at the last second. When he charged, I realized I’d forgotten to plant my feet. We tumbled to the floor, though Aries wrapped his hands around my back and head to cushion my fall. He straddled me, staring at his claws for a moment before offering a menacing smile.

  “What’s wrong with you?” I breathed. “Get off me.”

  In a blink, he slashed at me with his claws. I raised my arm by instinct and blocked with my knife, and his claws clashed and raked off the knife’s edge. He wouldn’t stop, slashing again and again. I fought valiantly, but he was stronger and was swiftly wearing me down. By the look on his face, he knew it.

  I tried to buck him off, but he was heavier than me. I did manage to slide up a little and get my knee free, and when he
smiled at the quivering muscles in my forearm, I kneed him in the groin. Hard.

  He gasped, then fell over onto the enormous rug. I didn’t even want to think of the bear who once wore the skin, or whether Aries had killed him and how.

  I scuttled away, keeping hold of my knife as Aries rolled onto his side with pinched eyes and his face contorted in pain.

  “Why did you do that?” he gritted.

  “You deserved it!”

  “I certainly did not.”

  “You were clawing my face off!” I yelled.

  “I never touched you,” he growled.

  I wondered if he was thinking about batting me across the room now. Standing up, I watched him warily. I didn’t trust him not to strike back. Faster than my eyes could track, he was in front of me and time slowed. He lowered his head.

  This was how he hit Taurus. It was how they made the earth rumble and break.

  “Fight back,” he warned.

  “No,” I said, backing away.

  “Fight. Back. You have to know that if you pull a stunt like that, they’ll recover quickly. I won’t hurt you, but they will shred you.”

  My hand was sweaty on the handle of the knife. As he ran toward me, I screamed and stepped out of his way at the last second, bringing my knife down in a sharp arc toward his kidney. The tip pierced his tunic, but I withdrew.

  He whirled on me, his eyes wide. “You did it!”

  “Gee, don’t look so surprised. It’s a little insulting.”

  “No,” he said, clearly flabbergasted. “How did you do it?”

  I shrugged. “I just did. I don’t know.”

  His eyes narrowed. “I often wonder if you’re hiding things. Keeping secrets behind those pretty blue eyes.”

  My stomach fluttered as he leaned in, the tip of his horn raking into my hair.

  “I’m an open book, Aries. Unlike you and my brother. Ask me something, and if I know, I’ll tell you. Will you do the same?” His eyes held mine hostage. I caught my breath, took a step backward, and sheathed my knife. “I think that’s enough practice for today.”