Things That Should Stay Buried - Casey L. Bond Page 0,49

voice heart-meltingly tender.

I nodded and swallowed thickly, embarrassed. “I don’t know friend from foe yet.”

Aries looked affected. He took my hands in his. “I am well. Aquarius is a friend.”

My eyes flicked to Golden Boy. “Are you sure?” I barely recognized the sharpness of my voice.

He nodded. “I am.”

There was no question in his eyes, no doubt whatsoever. Aries solidly believed Aquarius was a friend. So I had no choice but to believe it, too.

“Okay,” I relented, still watching Aquarius warily. Tension and fear melted from my muscles, leaving me tired even as adrenaline thundered through my veins.

A slow smile stretched across his lips. “She’s quite attached to you,” Aquarius commented.

Kes gave me a concerned glance and I gave him one that told him not to open his trap. The whole scene was more than a little mortifying as it was.

“Can I get some fresh air?” I asked Kes. He nodded, informing Aries he would take me to the balcony.

Aries watched me until I was out of his sight. I knew the moment I disappeared from his vision because I felt like running back to him, like the invisible string that tethered us to one another was stretched too far. What the hell is wrong with me? I pressed a shaking hand to my forehead, surprised to find a cold sheen of sweat across my head.

With legs that felt as wobbly as Jell-O, I followed Kes to the balcony. I still wanted to explore the whole castle, but with Kes or Aries a constant shadow and me getting attacked every two seconds, it didn’t seem possible.

Kes shut the door to the stairwell and stood beside me at the balustrade. I gripped the freezing stone for dear life as the frigid wind swirled around me. My wet hair would freeze into icicles if I stayed out there too long. It wasn’t as cold as yesterday when Aries addressed the questions from his people, but it felt the same as the day he brought me here.

The day he built this castle from nothing.

Kes was quiet and I didn’t want to talk, so we just stood there, brooding.

For a long, long time we stood, watching the sun move westward until I became increasingly concerned about the crowd huddled beyond the columns, patiently waiting for Aries to appear. “Should you tell them he’s busy right now?”

“They’ve been informed, but they choose to wait in case he shows up.”

“Will he?”

“I don’t think he will today,” Kes answered. “He and Aquarius have much to discuss. Aquarius has a lot of information Aries needs.”

“And he’ll just give it to him?”

Kes nodded. “He has a mutual interest.”

“Which is…?”

“Peace,” Kes answered. “He wants a peaceful existence.”

I scoffed, “He won’t find it as long as some of the Zodia crave war.”

He nodded again. “I know, but there is hope as long as some of them want it. Aquarius and Aries do.”

“And Virgo. She’s on our side, right?”

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