Things That Should Stay Buried - Casey L. Bond Page 0,26
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?”