“Thank you,” he wheezed, falling to his knees.
I rushed to him and fell to my knees beside him. “What happened?”
Kes looked like he’d been through a war. His delicate features seemed more angular. His clothes were wet and muddy.
“Libra wasn’t happy to discover me in her territory,” he laughed.
“Does she know about Mom?”
“Nope. It took me forever to find her, though. And Libra never caught me. I just… led her away from Mom into Canada and then stopped to take in the scenery. It’s beautiful up there. I just happened across a Grizzly who’d just had cubs. She was angrier than Libra,” he laughed.
“This isn’t funny! You could’ve been killed.”
“I’m fine. Honestly. Though I’d kill for a shower right about now.” He blew out a tense breath. Aries looked at me, one side of his mouth tipped up in half a smile.
“A bath can be arranged,” he told his Guardian. “You can thank Larken and your obsession with television for inspiring the facilities.”
My brother’s eyes grew wide. “Seriously?” He looked from Aries to me.
I nodded. Kes turned to Aries with a serious expression. “They know about everything – about what you did, Larken and the pledge – everything.”
Aries let out a low, rumbling growl.
Kes tried to calm him down. “Aries,” he said gently, “you knew they’d figure everything out.”
Aries lowered his head and braced his hands on his hips. “Everything is happening faster than I imagined it would.”
“Then we’ll have to be faster. We need to anticipate their next moves and be ready for them.” Kes sounded like a different person than the brother I knew. Someone wiser. Someone who’d been to hell and back and came out stronger. Surer.
Aries pursed his lips and clapped Kes on the back. “We will talk after you bathe.”
Kes smiled in return. “I can’t wait.”
“What about your ribs?” I waved in the general direction of his side.
He straightened, forgetting whatever afflicted him, and rubbed his hands together quickly. “Already healed. Now, where’s the bathroom?”
Aries offered to show him to the facilities and then stared at me as if asking if I was coming with them, but I turned back to the stone balustrade, bracing my hands on it. I needed a minute to breathe.
I stared at the stars for a long while after they left, thanking God or whatever was up there for sparing Kes, and prayed Mom and Dad could hang in there until we found a way to free them or kill these creatures.
The thought of Aries lying on the ground broken and bloody sent a shiver down my spine. He said none of them were kind, but there was kindness in Aries. There was also something in him that terrified me, and something else that made me want to know everything about him. Something that made me want to ask him to press his head to mine and show me every moment of his existence. And to show him every moment of mine in return.
ARIES
I stood on the balcony directly beneath hers and listened. She let out a shuddering breath and the sound cleaved me in two. As did the scent of her tears.
Kes, her beloved brother, was back. She should have rejoiced at the sight of him, but Larken never responded as I imagined she would. Having him back was not enough. She loved her mother and father. She wanted them back, as well. But it wasn’t possible.
In time, Larken would accept it, but it would not be easy.
She was stubborn.
And sad.
I imagined her tears collecting into a small river, flowing down the balcony’s edge and splashing onto me. I imagined drowning in them. Because if she survived long enough, this life would elicit oceans of tears and I would be responsible for each one that fell.
She was born into an easy life, a happy life full of possibilities, and it was erased in seconds.
I gripped the balcony rail and gritted my teeth against the sound of her taking deep, calming breaths, the sound of her ribcage seizing despite her trying her hardest not to cry.
The pledge was making me soft. I needed to be hard, stronger than I had ever been. Because now that they knew what I did, they would come. And they would target Larken first.
If they killed her, they would also kill a part of me. Perhaps the only part left that was worth anything at all. And stars help them if they did.
9
The air was cold and my breath plumed, but I needed the