Things That Should Stay Buried - Casey L. Bond Page 0,87
me in two with her wickedly sharp claw. I just did what anyone else would’ve done. I had a knife in my hand and I used it.
It shocked me that it even worked.
“If you are concerned about my people, you must never enter a fight with the other Zodia again, Larken. I mean it. I know you know this, but it bears repeating. If they kill you, I will weaken. They will strike, and if they kill me, my people will perish.”
“Can I ask for a favor?”
He dunked the cloth in the water and wrung it out again. I was pretty sure the cuts were mostly clean, but he waited to take another swipe. “What’s that?”
“Please don’t punish Kes or Helena for what I did. If you want to be mad at someone, be mad at me. I sort of threatened to stab Helena and go on my own, so…”
Aries sighed. “My Guardians must heed my commands.”
“Do you think you would have won the fight if she’d heeded you and I stabbed her, causing her to be reborn?” I pulled my hand back. He caught it and scrubbed over the surface once again, rougher this time. I hissed and he threw the cloth in the bowl, closing his hand over mine. The cuts on this palm were deeper, so he held on longer than he did before.
“Yes,” he answered. “We still would have won the battle, but I would have lost everything if you’d been hurt. And I’m not only speaking about my people.” The chair legs screeched across the floor as he stood and carried the basin of blood-tinged water to the bathroom. I stood up too, assuming someone would be coming to escort me back to my room.
“Are you angry about Xavier?” he asked, lingering in the doorway, bracing the back of his arm against it.
Sort of. I thought it was unfair that he brought Xavier there just to send him away, but I just shrugged my shoulder and peered down at my repaired skin, avoiding eye contact.
“He would not be a good mate to you,” he said softly, staring blankly at the floor.
I huffed a laugh. “That’s the last thing I’m worried about.”
“What is the first?”
“Surviving.” As weird as this entire experience had been, there was still beauty in my life. There was still hope that tomorrow would be better. One day I would think about a mate, but not while the Zodia were plotting my death. And not while Aries was so close.
He pushed off the doorframe and walked toward me, stopping when he was close enough I could see his feet in front of mine.
“I will not let them touch you,” he vowed, clasping my hand.
When his skin met mine, even in an innocent gesture, it made me want more than he could give me. I wanted to kiss him again, to feel him hold me to his body and pour his feelings into me. Maybe I kept seeing hollowness in others because they were reflections of me. Maybe I felt so strongly for him because he made me feel whole, but that wasn’t his responsibility. It was mine.
I pulled my hand away. “I should go.”
Aries didn’t reply. He quietly watched as I stood and walked away. “Wait,” he said as I passed the mirror. “There is one thing I want to show you. Two, actually.”
“What’s that?” I asked, the heat of his chest pressing into my back.
He steered me by my shoulders and positioned me in front of the mirror. “The glimpses I’m about to give you will be brief, so brief, you may wonder if you saw them at all, but they are all I can risk without being caught. I just perfected the spell, but can’t allow the others to sense the magic. I just didn’t want Kes to have to risk himself to see them.”
“What are you talking abo-”
My breath caught in my chest.
Mom appeared in the mirror, laughing as she chopped some sort of vegetable. She was gone as quickly as she came and her image was replaced with Dad’s. He was sitting alone, a stone wall behind him. I had so many questions.
“They’re well,” he reassured me. “I’ve been watching them.”
I turned to face him, sliding my hands around his waist and hugging his body to mine, so thankful for his unexpected gift. The stiffness bled from his muscles and he folded his arms around my back, holding me close. He leaned down and smelled my hair, my neck…