Things That Should Stay Buried - Casey L. Bond Page 0,96

ran like hell, up until the moment something heavy pierced my back.

He was right. I couldn’t outrun him.

I looked down, expecting to see a pale horn protruding through my chest, but found the tip of a silver spear instead. He’d skewered me with one mighty blow.

I sucked in a breath, unable to let it loose. My ribs tightened and my lungs burned. For a moment, my legs held me up, but they buckled as waterfalls of blood trickled from the entry and exit wounds, slowly soaking down my front and back. My cheek slapped the ground, grit grinding into my skin. It stung when the spear tip was jostled from the impact, slammed back into the wound it had made. A warm tear fell from my eye and splashed onto the stone as Taurus’s hooved feet approached again.

“Aries will soon see who the most powerful among us actually is.” He planted a boot on my back and broke the metal spear handle off, leaving the metal impaling me.

He kicked me over onto my back.

Darkness buzzed in my vision, a storm that roared in my ears. He moved my hair back from where sweat had plastered it to my face and gingerly removed his helmet, careful of his horns. Then he bent and slowly placed his head against mine, attempting to steal my memories. I tried to shrink away, but my strength had fled. This was too intimate, something I only shared with Aries. I didn’t want him to see anything, didn’t want him to have a single part of me.

The pain, and Taurus, slowly faded away, along with the world. Every good thing I loved about my life flashed through my mind as it shut down.

I woke panicked and hyperventilating. Tears streamed down my face as I cried out, hysterical. I couldn’t get a breath. I rubbed the spot over my chest where Taurus had impaled me, then tossed the covers off and paced the floor.

Kes bolted awake and rushed to my side. “What’s wrong?”

My hands shook and my eyes darted around the room, trying to make sense of what I’d seen. I was hysterical. My God. It felt so real!

“Larken, talk to me,” Kes pleaded, mirroring my every moment. I loved my brother, but I didn’t need him right now. I needed… I needed…

“Larken?” Aries asked, gathering me into his arms. “What is it?”

I sucked in a breath, then began to cough. I backed away from him and ran for the bathroom, tears streaming from my eyes. Once inside, I vomited until I couldn’t anymore.

Every time I closed my eyes, I remembered the searing pain, the moment Taurus removed his helmet and the look in his eyes as he bent to put his forehead against mine. It was one of triumph and a promise to ruin everyone I loved. Mom. Dad. Kes. Aries.

I… I loved him. I loved Aries.

Aries hovered as I stood over the basin with my hands propped on shaking knees, a cold sweat breaking out over my face, neck, and body. He stooped down to pat my back, bringing a damp cloth to my forehead and wiping my mouth with it, then he began barking orders to Kes and the other Guardians. I didn’t see anyone else, but I knew they were there. I could hear them rushing around, only to leave again and return with whatever Aries demanded.

Kes handed me my toothbrush and paste. I shot him a thankful glance. My hands shook as I applied a line of paste and began to brush. When my mouth tasted clean again, I threw the brush down on the counter and put my hands on my shaking knees.

“Talk to me,” Aries pleaded. “Please, Larken. I can’t help if I don’t know what’s happening.”

I laughed. “You can’t help anyway. It was just a dream.”

I glanced at Kes in my periphery, seeing him stiffen in the doorway.

“Can you get Helena?” I asked my brother. “She said she’d stay with me while I bathed, and I really want one right now.”

Aries nodded his approval and Kes disappeared. I straightened and rubbed my chest over my heart, where my flesh and bone still ached.

How could it still ache?

“Kes was with you all night,” Aries promised, handing me another cold cloth and pressing another to the nape of my neck.

“I know.” It wasn’t like I’d actually run into the courtyard, fled for my life, and subsequently lost it to a rampaging bull. I brought a hand to the bruises on my stomach.