Things That Should Stay Buried - Casey L. Bond Page 0,21

moment before appearing in front of me, getting into my personal bubble again. “Why do you linger out here in the cold?”

He’d changed out of his loincloth and now wore pants and boots with a long-sleeved black tunic that looked thick and warm. It matched his horns and hair and looked perfect on him.

“Why do you care?” I volleyed.

“You will freeze to death.”

“Kes will be back soon,” I told him, raising my chin just a little.

“You’d turn to ice long before he does. He can’t just scoop your parents up and leave with them. There are rules by which he must abide.”

Rules no one but them knew.

I felt like crying, but I knew my tears would freeze as soon as they left the security of my ducts. I felt like screaming, but what good would that do?

“Fine. I’ll find a vacant house,” I said absently, looking around.

“You will not stay in one of these dwellings; you will stay in the castle. I’ve prepared a room for you.”

“Why?” I asked.

His eyes traced the bloody marks slashing through both my eyes. “Because I’ve pledged myself to you,” he said softly, making my pulse quicken.

There was reverence in his tone. It set me on edge.

Aries didn’t pledge himself to me, he merely pledged to keep me safe from the other Zodia, to grant me asylum in his realm. Nothing more.

“I’ve built a fire for you.” His eyes implored me to listen, to obey. I was too frozen not to take notice. Numb, and not just from the cold climate.

When he took my hand and tugged me forward, I let him, surprised to find that his hands were warm and strong, the way I imagined them to be as he held me and brought me here.

I could wait for Kes inside beside a fire, I decided. I was afraid, frightened Kes was out there and had gotten caught checking on Mom and Dad, or was having trouble finding them and might get caught while searching…

The castle felt forever away from the steps that led to the maze of columns, but when Aries offered to bring me to the castle in an instant, I asked him not to. I told him I wanted to walk. Moving sent tingles through my numb legs and arms, and for a moment, I considered telling him I changed my mind. Walking gave me a sense of the layout of all he’d raised from the ground, and it wasn’t until I was in the rows of columns that I realized they weren’t squared into rows at all, but instead formed concentric rings. It was like Stonehenge on steroids.

He led me through tightening ring after tightening ring until we emerged from the stone forest and walked into a stone courtyard surrounding the castle. The noose I felt closing around my throat loosened and I took a breath, only to expel it again when I took in the grandeur of Aries’s abode. This thing put Disney’s castle to shame. It was gloomy and foreboding, yet somehow welcoming. A strange, confusing mixture – just like its maker.

Aries led me up another smaller set of steps that led to the enormous front door, which he opened and closed behind us. Then he led me down a long, dim corridor. I kept my steps small because my eyes needed more time to adjust to its darker, unfamiliar interior, convinced I’d trip and fall on my face.

Aries walked beside me, allowing me to set the pace, glancing my way every moment or so. I pretended not to notice, but when he opened a door to reveal a small room with a roaring fire flickering in the hearth, I rushed toward it. The warmth stung my frozen skin and my eyes watered from the dry heat, but it was worth it.

Aries hovered by the door, his hands in the pockets of his strange pants. Not that they looked bad on him; the style was just unusual. Loose fitting after they cinched at the waist, but tighter over the thighs and calves.

Aries looked lost for the first time since he woke.

“You are unhappy. Everyone is unhappy,” Aries said. “I expected things to be different.”

My brows rose. “Did you expect adoration?”

His brows pinched together. “Yes,” he choked. “Things were much different before.”

“How so?”

Aries crossed the room and quietly sat down beside me. There was nothing in the room but the hearth and us, but somehow he filled it and made the space inside shrink. His presence was overwhelming, and