Things That Should Stay Buried - Casey L. Bond Page 0,53

door open for Xavier and closed it behind him, sealing him out and us in.

“How will you know where to find me?” Xavier’s muffled voice called out.

Kes answered, “I just will.” He waited a beat and then turned to me. “He’s leaving.”

To be honest, it was surreal seeing my friend. What were the odds? Plenty of people were born under Aries’s sign, but he and I both ended up near Aries and his castle.

The bigger question was why Aries was suddenly inviting him over, when he was clearly upset he was here?

“Want to explain why Aries invited my friend to dinner?”

“I’m not sure why he did it,” Kes admitted, followed by an exasperated breath. “But he hates Xavier Dillon, and I’m pretty sure he wants to gouge his eyes out with the tips of his horns.”

My eyes widened. “Seriously?”

“His feelings are so erratic right now. I need to go check on him. I’ll get someone else to stay with you for a while.”

He silently called on the older woman who called me ‘bella.’ She walked beside me, slowly escorting me to my room and staying with me, then quietly napping near the fire. The Guardians were fierce when they had to be, strong and incredibly brave, but the bodies they wore aged. Kes would one day grow old and need naps, too. It was weird to think that for all he was, he was still in the body of a human, a body that grew tired, a body that would one day die.

I knew he’d lived many lives. He probably knew all of life’s phases by heart.

Death only seemed to scare him when he was talking about mine.

I wondered if his deaths had mostly been peaceful, and he was scared because he expected mine to be violent. Or if he experienced the worst deaths imaginable and thought I was in for the same. I could see it in the tightness of his muscles, his stance, his expression. Kes didn’t think I’d make it out of this alive.

A letter slid beneath the door. I opened the rolled parchment but didn’t recognize the handwriting. The words looked like they were written with a quill. The wide parts of the letters were thick and black, while the swoops were so thin they were barely there.

Aries requests that you wear your blue, glittering dress this evening, the note read.

My prom dress?

Why would he want me to wear it to dinner, tonight, when Xavier was coming? I had a bad feeling about this. I dropped the request onto the floor and scrubbed my face with both hands.

The pledge-thing was making us both a little crazy, I’d be the first to admit it. But the level of crazy had to be tamed a little, and Aries wasn’t even trying to dampen the fire of his irritation. He was throwing gasoline on it. And we were both going to get burned.

The little woman shifted and reached out for help getting up. I rushed to her and she smiled and patted the back of my hand before walking to the door and pulling it open, revealing Kes on the other side. I smiled as she left and said goodbye. Once she was gone, I thrust the letter at him and asked him what Aries was up to.

Kes groaned, raking a hand through his hair.

I tugged at the ends of my hair again, remembering Aquarius’s recommendation. “I want hair dye. And I need someone to cut my hair.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I want to change my hair, Kes. What don’t you understand?”

He threw the letter back at me. “He’s insane, and you are, too. The two of you are perfect for one… another…”

He almost caught himself. Almost held the words in, but they tumbled out like laundry from a too full dryer.

My breath caught in my chest. My mouth gaped open. I gave him a look of warning, one he wisely heeded. I’d still tackle his ass to the ground if he messed with me.

“I’ll find someone to help,” he said, vanishing without another word. He wasn’t gone long before he came back, informing me that a stylist would be by soon. Then he apologized.

I looked at him pointedly. “I’m not cutting my hair in an emo fit of rage, or to lash out at you, Aries, or anyone else. You asked me to take the mark because it gave me an edge, however small. They know what I look like, Kes. Some of them do, anyway. I just