Things That Should Stay Buried - Casey L. Bond Page 0,82
wouldn’t want that. He’d be furious.
I just hoped the knot of guilt in my chest went away. Even thinking about giving up on him made me sick.
As she started loosening the knots on my dress, she cursed when she saw the bruises on my stomach. “They’re getting worse.”
“That’s what bruises do. They spread and blossom and look worse before they heal.” I slipped into the water, hyper-aware of every ripple that disturbed the surface, and quickly scrubbed with a bar of soap. Helena brought my shampoo over, and then pulled a razor from her bag. “Thank you.”
“We’ve all lost things,” she replied, sitting on the edge of the steps with a thoughtful expression. “I remember how things were when I was made. The peace was new, tentative, after many years of war. I thought their slumber was for the best. But it wasn’t at first. After the Zodia went to sleep, people struggled. On personal levels and on a global scale, conflict rose.”
“How were you – Guardians – made?”
“Aries’s best friend, a human, died when the Zodia attacked our territory because Aries refused to join their war games, or subject his people to it. He captured his soul and breathed it into the body of another human who was dying of disease. He healed the body and gave his friend a new purpose.”
“Kes,” I breathed.
She nodded. “They were friends long before he became a Guardian, and he vowed his new life to protect Aries and his people. Aries made it so that Kes’s soul would pass from body to body, once the owner’s soul left. Kes could heal it and remain inside until it, too, gave out.”
“Were you Aries’s friend, too?”
She nodded. “The eleven other Guardians were members of his court. We lived among the humans in his territories and brought issues forward to him on behalf of the people.”
“Like governors.”
She nodded. “We were all human, and Aries trusted each of us to do what was best for the people we were charged with protecting. As repayment, we pledged our lives to him and those born under his sign.”
“They’re going to kill me. It’s only a matter of time.”
She pushed her hair back, staring at the richly tiled wall opposite her. “Larken, if you want to live, you have to fight for it.”
Steam wafted all around me. I wished I could see a way out. When I was a kid, Mom and I would work on mazes together, following looping paths that swirled from the starting point to the finish line. Usually, you could look ahead and see the curves, bends, and twists and determine which path was the right one. Life was nothing like that, because we weren’t looking at it from above. From the ground, our view was limited.
“They were going to come after him one way or another,” she finally sighed. “You’re just the excuse.”
That did not make me feel better. In fact, I suddenly felt strange again. My skin pebbled and a terrible feeling settled into the pit of my stomach.
“Helena, do you feel –?”
Helena’s hand suddenly went still. “Get out.” She blurred across the room and grabbed a towel as I hauled ass out of the pool, slipping on the tiled steps, but catching myself. “What is it?” I hurried and dried off.
“Something’s wrong,” she announced. She unlocked the door and took me back to my room at a fast clip. “Get dressed.”
“In what?”
“I don’t care!” she shouted, peeking out into the hall.
I shrugged on the first pair of leggings and hoodie I could find. “I need something to fight with!” I shrilled, not wanting to be left defenseless again. “A gun or knife or something!”
Helena pulled a sleek dagger from her cross-body bag, slapping the handle in my palm. “Don’t make me regret giving you this.”
Just then, a roar came from down the hallway, loud and reverberating. My breastbone resonated from the sound and I gripped the knife in my hands, my palms turning clammy. The stone around us shook and suddenly, it felt like we were back in Aries’s tomb, scared the ceiling would split and bury us alive. My stomach dropped as a garbled cry came from somewhere in the castle.
“That sounded like Aries.”
“It was,” she confirmed.
Another shout. “Kes!” I screamed, bolting to the door. Helena blocked me with her arm, then moved so that she filled the doorway. “What’s happening? Move!”
“They’re attacking,” she breathed, staring toward the ceiling, her eyes dancing beneath her closed lids. Was she seeing the attack?