“You’re terribly and unusually quiet,” Aquarius noted with amusement, watching as I cut my steak into small, easy-to-chew pieces.
“I have nothing to say,” I answered.
He smiled and glanced knowingly at Aries. I didn’t bother looking at him. I knew his dark brows were furrowed and he was likely glowering. Also, I didn’t want to see Virgo touch him or vice versa. Speaking of the she-devil, she engaged him in a whispered conversation. It was rude, but whatever. These things didn’t care about manners.
“So, you’re not worried about leaving your territory unattended?” I asked Aquarius.
He laughed. “Aries started a trend. I’ve also made Guardians.”
“I hope you can trust them. You just never know who might be a wolf in sheep’s clothing.” I glanced at Virgo.
Kes’s foot slowly crushed my bare toes. I tucked my feet under my chair, giving him a death stare. He stared back, stabbing a piece of meat and chewing angrily.
Aquarius thanked me for the kind advice and offered another sliver of information. “Making Guardians does not go against our vows, but to keep things even, I’ve only created twelve – to match Aries.”
“What do your vows consist of?” I asked, taking a sip of water.
Aquarius sat his fork down and grabbed my hand. His was warm, despite the fact he was made of gold. The skin of his hand felt hard, but smooth. Like a statue in a park worn smooth by the children who climbed all over it.
Did gold pump through his veins? Did he see and feel differently from the others, or was he able to see and feel more than we did?
He brought my fingers closer, examining my small golden ring.
Did gold call to him?
Like Aries, there was a keenness about him. And about Virgo as well, I reluctantly admitted. As Helena noted, her dress wasn’t revealing. It was knotted, but mostly covered her. Somehow, she even had sleeves. I didn’t pretend to think I could make one of these dresses myself, and if we were supposed to dress like this from now on, I hoped Helena would teach me, though she certainly couldn’t come and help me every day.
“Her looks have improved since this morning,” Virgo noted dryly, studying me coolly.
“Larken is always lovely, but when she adds gold…” Aquarius admired, fingering the golden chains dripping from my bicep just as Helena predicted.
“You have quite a fondness for gold, my friend,” Xavier laughed.
Aquarius’s hand went still against my skin. “Perhaps it is not the gold I am admiring at present,” he fired back with a smug expression. Xavier’s easy smile fell away, replaced with the glint of hatred I’d seen earlier.
Kes gave me a look that said I told you this wouldn’t end well.
I reclaimed my hand and sawed at my broccoli, feigning indifference to the swirl of emotions crashing around the table.
“You’ll have to stop dining with her, stop parading her around outside, and hide her completely away,” Virgo asserted, carefully watching Aries for a response.
Suddenly, his eyes raked over me and goosebumps erupted over my skin as though he’d brushed across my collar bones.
“If the others think she means anything to you…” Virgo said softly, her brows contorting as if she felt his pain.
“Why would it matter?” I asked abruptly.
Virgo’s eyes slid to mine.
“If I’m going to die anyway, why does it even matter?” I asked, wiping my mouth with my napkin and tossing it onto my plate.
“You’re going to die?” Xavier asked, confused by the sudden turn in conversation.
Kes scrubbed a hand down his face.
“What’s going on?” my bewildered prom date pressed. When no one answered, he turned to me. “Are you in trouble? Is that what this is about? Why you’re here?”
I wanted to tell him everything, just blab it and let it hang in the air between us. But Kes shook his head, sterner this time. Why didn’t he trust Xavier? Kes had to know my friend would end up with a target on his back if he was anywhere near me, and good ‘companions’ didn’t stray far.
“Your sole purpose in this place, in my home, is to keep her company, Xavier,” Aries warned. “It is not to know her business. And if you can’t keep your nose and hands to yourself, I’ll find someone to replace you. Someone who is capable of both.”
Aquarius stiffened, taking his eyes off the gold earrings threaded through my ears.
Xavier’s lips pinched together and his fists tightened on the handles of the fork and knife he held. “If I’m in danger, I’d at least like to know it.”
Aquarius raised his glass and tipped it to Xavier. “You, my friend, are in danger. There. Now, everything’s out in the open.”
I was seething, my skin getting hotter the angrier I became. “You don’t get to do that,” I told Aries, my veins heating with anger.
“I don’t get to do what?” he asked coolly, leaning back in his chair.
“Don’t engage her,” Virgo advised Aries.
“What do you care if he engages me?” I snapped.
“What do I not get to do?” Aries goaded, leaning back with his arms crossed, a smug and semi-entertained look on his face.
“You don’t get to order him to be my friend or companion. If you want him to be that, and he’s unable to keep his hands to himself, or if I’m unable to keep my hands to myself, then it’s none of your business. You don’t care, right? You just care what your friends here tell you is best. Their opinion is what matters.”
Kes groaned across the table. “Your mouth, Larken.”
“Don’t even start. It’s not fair! This double standard for women has existed for centuries, and now you’re perpetuating it on a cosmic level, Aries. It’s bullshit!”
Xavier’s mouth popped open. I could tell he was fighting back a smile, but he wisely covered it with his napkin.
“This isn’t a feminist issue,” Kes argued. “You don’t understand—”
Virgo didn’t have scales like Libra, but her hand slithered over to Aries and she leaned in to whisper something to him.
He nodded, then all the warmth flooded from his eyes, replaced by cold indifference. “You’re emotional. Perhaps it would be best to dine separately from now on.”
Ugh. I’d seen Lord of the Rings when the King of Rohan was being brainwashed by the slithery little twerp, and this seemed no different. I would find Aries wandering around the castle one day, weakened, his eyes clouding over with milky inaction, all because he was taking the opinion of someone who didn’t have his best interests in mind.
“I completely agree,” I said. “In fact, I’m not hungry anymore.” As I stood, the legs of my chair scraped the stone with a loud screech. Holding my shoulders back, I hoped he took in every inch of my exposed skin as I sauntered across the room, swaying my hips for good measure.
I made it halfway to the door when a sound like thunder shook the walls. I thought Aries was in the middle of another tantrum, but when I turned around to look, he was still seated, perfectly still.
So still.
The candelabra in the center of the table jumped a few inches as something loud crashed outside the room. Aries was in front of me in an instant, handing me to Kes, who appeared at my side. “Take her away,” he growled.
Virgo’s upper lip curled as Taurus thundered into the room. “Hello, Aries!” he boomed. “It seems my invitation to dinner was misplaced.” He smiled wickedly at the room’s inhabitants. “Virgo, Aquarius,” he greeted. Then his molten orange eyes fastened on me and a gleeful smile stretched over his face. “Larken.”
My breath caught in my chest. “He knows my name,” I whispered to Kes, who trembled. Whether from fear or anger, I wasn’t sure.
“I brought someone to see you,” Taurus taunted, watching me for a response. A rise he knew he’d get when he jerked my father into the room.
“Dad!” I cried, lurching toward him, held back by the arm Kes wrapped around my waist.
“Are you guys okay?” he managed to shout.
Before I could answer, Kes clasped my elbow and my breath caught in my chest as I caught fire and the room and everything in it faded away.
We appeared someplace where darkness was absolute. I’d toured a few caves, and in each, the tour guide did the same thing. He’d ask everyone to turn out their flashlights and put their phones away so they could experience absolute darkness.
The thing about darkness was that it wasn’t cold and hollow, it was alive. Cruel. A reminder that no one knew where you were but it, and it could hide you forever if it wanted.
Kes made shushing sounds into my ear, soothing me and tightening his hand on my arm. “I’m here.”
“You have to go save Dad!” I said, pushing him away.
He sprang back. “I can’t leave you,” Kes gritted out. “Aries forbade it.” Kes sighed. “He looked fine. He looked like Dad. He was fine, Larken. Taurus was just dangling him in front of you to see if you’d bite.”
Which I totally would have if these barbarians would let me!
He was my dad; the one who tucked me in when I was little, who sprayed my room with ‘monster spray’ when I was scared, who read whatever books I asked him to read before bed. He was the one who kissed my head before leaving for work in the morning, who told me to have a good day and assured me he’d see me that evening at dinner. He was the cornerstone of the family. We were built around him, but he kept us stable and strong. And mom… she was our family’s heart.
“Do you think Libra knows about Mom?” I asked, my voice cracking.
“I don’t know.”
We stood in the darkness for minutes, maybe hours, and then Kes finally began to breathe normally. The tension slid from his fingers as they fell off my arm. He grabbed my hand. “It’s safe now.” The trip out of the dark was as painful as the trip in.
Kes left me in my room, tears clinging to the tips of my lashes as I rocked on the edge of the bed, after I asked him to find out if Dad and Xavier were okay.
I raised my head as the door handle turned and tracked the handle as it twisted down. I watched silently as Aries entered the room, his pink eyes wide with worry and his fingers stretched at his side. I turned my head away from him.
“Your father wasn’t harmed. He’s using him to get to you, Larken.”
“Well, it worked!” I cried. “Is he going to kill him?”
Aries shook his head. “Not while he is useful to him.” He chose his next words carefully. “You cannot sacrifice yourself for your father. He would still be under Taurus’s control, even if you gave yourself over to him. He will never let your father go free,” he said, so low I could almost have imagined it.
My tears splashed onto my thighs and the deep teal fabric draped over my lap. “He’s going to kill us both.”
“He will try, but I will thwart his every attempt, just as I did tonight. I won’t let Taurus win.”
I was grateful Dad wasn’t hurt, grateful that he and I were still alive, but I knew it was only a matter of time until someone let their guard down. Until one of them saw an opportunity to end me and seized it. I remembered the iron-tight grip of Pisces clamped around my middle, holding me underwater.
Aries shifted on his feet. “I will do whatever you want from now on. If you want to take walks, we will walk together. If you want to dine together, we will. I will live to make you happy.”
“Doing so would just make you miserable, Aries. You can’t live for someone else’s happiness. I’m sorry you’re obligated to protect me. Honestly, it’s okay if you want to break the pledge. It’d be easier on everyone if you did.”
He took a tentative step toward me, reaching out to plant his hand on my hip and gently brushing the mark he’d made. “I pledged myself to you out of obligation, but I honor it out of choice, Larken.” He placed a soft kiss at the corner of my lips, whispering over my skin, “Your friend is almost here.”
He raked his knuckles over my cheek. I reached up to touch his hand, but he disappeared, leaving an ache I couldn’t explain or extinguish.
A minute later, Xavier rushed through it, gathering me in a tight hug and rocking side to side. “I thought we were both dead!”
We almost were, I wanted to say, clinging to him and sobbing into the crook of his neck.
“Thank God you’re okay,” he said.
“I’m glad you’re okay,” I told him, still crying.
He held me tight and let me sob on his shoulder. “Kes is outside,” he whispered into my ear.
I nodded, pulling away from him.
His eyes searched mine. “Please tell me what’s happening. I’m terrified and so damn scared. My mom and dad and sister are stuck out there somewhere and I have no idea how to reach them. Tell me what’s happening, please.”
“Kes?” I said loudly. He entered the room a moment later. “I’m telling him. Deal with it.”
His mouth popped open but I put my hand up so he could talk to it. I was done. “I’m telling him, because this affects him. And it’s not fair to leave the people you care about in the dark.” My pointed words seemed to skewer him.
“Let the record show that I vehemently oppose this,” he said.
“Duly noted.”
Kes bit the inside of his lip as he closed the door, leaving us alone. Xavier blew out a breath. “You can trust me,” Xavier said, the fire from the fireplace flickering in his eyes. “I know Kes isn’t… human,” he began. “I remember Kestrel dying that day. I remembered your cries and how the teachers tried to pull you away, but you refused to leave him,” he said, swallowing thickly.
I admitted that Kes was something like a changeling. He’d chosen that word carefully when he revealed he wasn’t Kestrel, but changeling was the only thing remotely close to what he was. I told Xavier that I knew immediately he wasn’t my brother, but how we forged a fast truce and then that truce became respect and love. I loved Kes. I didn’t want him in the middle of this, either. I knew what a dangerous position he’d put himself in by asking Aries to protect me.
I told him about the pledge, about the marks I took at first, and the permanent one on my hip now; how Aries basically had to protect me ‘above all others,’ which explained how intense he could be when guarding me.
“And territorial,” he added, half-laughing.
“Now the rest of the Zodia are upset because the pledge makes the Zodia who made it more powerful than the others.”
“And they should all be equal,” he added, pinching his bottom lip.
“I guess.”
“Why don’t they all pledge to one human now and make it equal again? Problem solved.”
“That’s part of it, but they’re also upset because Aries built a temple for them, sealed them in, and put them to sleep.”
“Why would he do that?”
I shook my head, rubbing my arms despite the warmth and whispered, “Because they were monsters.”
“So, you’re saying Taurus wants you back to weaken Aries, which would even things up again. It would set things right among them…”
“But it wouldn’t be equal. If the pledge is broken, Aries would be weaker than the rest.”
Xavier curled a finger, motioning for me to move closer. “There’s a resistance forming outside,” he whispered. “A group of people are trying to learn their weaknesses and see if they can kill them.”
I shook my head. “You can’t.”
“Everything can be killed,” he whispered into my ear. “Everything.”
“If you kill a Zodia, all those born under their sign will die with them.”
Xavier’s mouth gaped. “Are you sure?” I nodded and watched as his shoulders sank in defeat. “Then we’re just screwed.”
<
br /> I didn’t tell him what Virgo had whispered to Aries in his rooms – that if he broke the pledge, he wouldn’t weaken, because I wasn’t sure if it was true. I could tell in Aries’s tone when the two of them spoke that he wasn’t sure either.
How would Virgo even know? She didn’t break her pledge to Lager. Did she? Would the others have known if she did? The circular logic of the entire situation was enough to make my head ache.
There were a few things I did know:
Mom was still in Libra’s territory, and Dad was firmly in Taurus’s clutches.
If Aries broke his pledge it might set things right, but I was scared for him to do it.
Kes and Xavier were in danger just because they were close to me.
And the Zodia – led by Taurus – were coming for me.
They would kill me. Especially if I couldn’t figure out how to strike back to stun but not kill.
“How do you know the people will die?” Xavier finally asked, a muscle ticking in his jaw. I nodded to the door. He scoffed and rolled his eyes. “He’s his Guardian. You’d really take his word for it? It seems a little too convenient, if you ask me. Of course, we won’t attack if it means we’d be killing ourselves in the process… but what if that’s a lie?” Xavier asked, his brows raising.
“He’s my brother,” I warned. “He would never lie to me. Not even for Aries.”
Xavier had the good sense to drop what he was suggesting. His eyes brushed over me and trailed over my stomach, partially bare, thanks to Helena’s expert knotting. “Where did the bruises come from, Larken?” he asked, an edge to his voice.
“Pisces tried to drown me while I was taking a bath,” I admitted.
He muttered a soft curse. “And Aries saved you?” he asked.
“Aquarius did.”
“Ugh. I hate Golden Boy. He’s a dick,” Xavier grimaced. “Where was Aries when Pisces attacked?”
“He had just left to get something from his room.” Saying it aloud, I admitted it sounded stupid. “She pulled me under before I had a chance to scream.” He came for me, I wanted to tell him. Aries knew she was near and came as soon as he sensed her. It was so fast; the whole thing lasted less than a minute. But it only took seconds for a human to drown.
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