warily.
She told me to strip, and as I peeled my shirt over my head, she answered, “My girlfriend plays violin. Last night, she said Aries couldn’t tear his eyes off you, and you don’t even want to hear the words she used to describe how he looked when he ordered them out of the room. He was more knotted than your dress will be.” Her fingers worked deftly and fast. “And that’s saying something.”
She wasn’t kidding. She made a knot, pulled the rest of the swath through, grabbed another piece of fabric, somehow wove it in, and then tied it into the other. Soon, a blended cross-hatching of fabric and space between had formed.
“I’m sorry if I was less than friendly yesterday. It’s just… my life was upended, too. You know?”
I nodded. The Guardians all had lives, people they cared about, hopes and dreams. They didn’t expect the Zodia to awaken. They weren’t ready, either.
“Aries created us before he put the others to sleep. We built the temple to hold them,” she admitted. “He was kinder than the rest, though always the clear leader among them. His feelings were always transparent, before and after the slumber. Until he pledged to you, he wore his heart on his sleeve.”
“Where does he wear it now?”
She smiled. “He doesn’t; you do. Stretched ‘round your little finger.”
I shook my head, tugging off my jeans. “I don’t think he feels that way. He’s made it abundantly clear how much he wants to push me away.”
She gestured to my bra and panties. “Those go, too.”
I paused.
She stopped knotting the scrap of fabric. “Meek or bold. I can’t choose for you.”
“Bold,” I said, meeting her eyes and unclasping the bra at my back.
Helena nodded her approval. I turned when she asked me to, and she fitted the fabric to my body. My breasts were strategically held up by two wider pieces of fabric, Helena knotting below them and at my collar bones. She interlaced wider panels to cover my bottom half in front and back, leaving both my sides bare. I’d opted for bold, and bold was what she provided.
She clamped long golden beads engraved with slash marks along the sections where the fabric was twisted into rope. Then she reached into her bag hanging on the far end of the cart. “Raise your arm.”
I raised the left one and let her clamp a piece of gold jewelry onto my bicep. Not a cuff, but a series of chains, each longer than the last that dangled to my elbow. She clasped another on the right arm and stood back, an assured gleam in her eyes. “Would you like help with your makeup?”
“Yes,” I said quickly. I needed her help. Her mocha skin glowed, her wing-tipped liner, taupe shadow, and highlighter flawless. And don’t even get me started on how pretty her lips were.
She laughed and grabbed her bag, and I sat as still as possible on the bed while she made me over. When she pointed to my mirror, I stood and gaped at my reflection.
“How do you do it?” I marveled. She was amazing. My lips were the color of a juicy red apple. My skin shimmered, a slice of peach over my cheekbones, and my eyes… gold in the inner corner, fading to chocolate at the outer corner. Winged, just like I’d hoped.
She laughed. “I’m a little obsessed with all things wardrobe and makeup.”
“Why aren’t you wearing the traditional garb?”
She sighed dramatically. “I love my leggings, but alas, I will have to change, as well.” Just then, her eyes flew to my door a second before Kes knocked and barged in.
His eyes narrowed at my outfit, then at Helena. “What have you done?” he accused.
“She’s dressed traditionally and is ready for dinner, just as you asked,” she offered sweetly. “Now, hold the door open so I can wheel this thing out.” She sauntered right past him, the wheel of her rolling rack squeaking all the way down the hall.
Kes scrubbed a hand down his face.
“What’s your problem?” I asked.
“This shows more skin than your prom dress did, and you saw how he reacted last night!”
He didn’t know the half of it. He was escorting Xavier home during the most intense part. “I know it must not have had much of an effect if he invited Xavier to be my ‘companion’, and invited Virgo over to spend the day.”
“Virgo and Aries aren’t… intimate,” he defended.
“You don’t know that.”
“Actually, I do,” he said, refusing to elaborate. “I