Things That Should Stay Buried - Casey L. Bond Page 0,62

reappeared tugging a pair of gloves on. Aries watched us walk out of the labyrinth that was his castle, jogging toward the mountains behind it.

Kes was quiet for a very long time.

I didn’t know if he was just angry or carefully choosing his words. With Kes, you could never tell. At the base of the snow-capped mountain, we found a game trail leading up the slope. We ran for an hour before I ground to a stop to catch my breath, letting the sun hit my face. Snow flurried from the heavens and was illuminated by the sunshine, creating a glittering, magical sight to behold. Aries’s kingdom below us, the heavens above, me and my brother perched somewhere in between.

My cheeks burned from the wind, but it felt good to be at a distance. Kes stood at my side, the silence between us making the thinner air feel ponderously thick. I kicked at a rock and watched it tumble down and land far below on the path.

“You’ve only known him a few days,” Kes finally said. “And I understand why you would be attracted to him. He’s unlike anything you’ve encountered. He’s different. Powerful. Exciting. That can be very alluring,” he said carefully.

An icier blast of air rocketed up the mountain, burning my eyes, and I tucked my hands further into the warmth of my hoodie’s pockets. “So you think he’s just bored?” I bristled. “That I’m just a convenient way for him to pass the time?”

“Not at all. He cares for you. I just think the pledge is blurring lines that perhaps shouldn’t be blurred, for both of you. Aries cannot be with you, Larken.”

Deep down, I knew Kes was right. Otherwise, how could anyone fall this fast? But were we really falling, or was this just the two of us bound together, riding the same emotional roller coaster?

Besides, at first, I kind of hated him. He and the others ruined everything. Now I was worried that what I felt might be more than attraction. While I couldn’t claim to love him, I definitely felt something for him. Something strong enough to embolden me. I kissed him last night because I knew I couldn’t leave the room without feeling his lips on mine. The instant he made it clear that he wanted me too, I couldn’t hold back.

“What did you want to ask me?” he said, finally relaxing. He’d said his piece.

“Will anything hurt them?” I whispered. His eyes slid to mine guardedly. “I don’t want to hurt Aries, if that’s what you’re worried about, but if the others come for me, I want to know where to strike, Kes. I need to know where to press the blade. Not to kill,” I rushed to say. “I know if they die, their people die with them, but I need to know where to cut them so I can disable them long enough to run away.”

He swallowed, pursing his lips together. “I’m sworn not to reveal it, but there are clues hidden in plain sight.”

Clues. Of course, he couldn’t tell me what they were, but that meant there was hope.

He hadn’t said as much, but his caginess meant the Zodia could be hurt. And if they could be hurt, they could be killed. They had a weakness. I wasn’t sure I was strong enough to inflict damage, but if cornered, what other option was there than to fight?

Knowing them, their weakness wouldn’t reside somewhere normal like the head or heart. It would be someplace weird and impossible to reach like Achilles’ heel or something. I’d have to sever an obscure tendon to weaken them.

At this distance, I couldn’t see the crowd I knew was gathered beyond the castle. I wasn’t sure why they bothered coming to him, looking for the answer they didn’t want him to give them. Maybe they couldn’t accept the truth…that the Zodia were here and things were irrevocably changed.

They would not be reuniting with loved ones. They would never be allowed to leave this sliver of earth. The lives they had before were gone forever, a distant memory even though it had only been days, less than a week. Soon, every minute spent in their new reality would blur the old. One day, they’d reminisce about how things used to be, until those who remembered passed away and the subsequent generations forgot their stories and accepted what happened as normal.

Future generations would be born into their designated territory, raised by people within the boundary who didn’t