Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Aweek had passed since Tarek made his intentions clear to Aela.
Much to her mortification, she was perched on his lap as he lounged upon his selenite throne.
He had called an audience to announce their bond.
The throne room was crowded with celestials of varying classes, though the front rows closest to Tarek’s throne were reserved for the elite society.
Since the fateful moment she had met Tarek, her life trajectory had veered off course in a way she feared she would never come back from.
Aela spotted Proxima, the Heir of Sagittarius, among those nearest the throne. To her left was the redhead and the willowy friend Aela had listened in on when she first arrived in Avarice.
“Now that you’re all here,” Tarek intoned, “I am pleased to announce to you all that Aela,” he squeezed her waist for emphasis, “is to be my bonded.”
Murmurs sounded from the room, and the redhead stepped forward. “With all due respect, Prime Apparent, what of her heritage? Surely we cannot be expected to follow a foreign star.”
“Electra, while your opinion was not asked for, it does not go unheard,” Tarek replied. “You let me worry about what my intended shares. She’s mine now.”
Aela couldn’t help her visceral reaction as she pulled away from him.
She tried to cover the movement by shifting to the armrest of his throne, but Tarek pulled her squarely between his legs.
With their height difference, Aela’s feet dangled above the base of the throne.
She clenched her jaw so hard it was a miracle she didn’t shatter her teeth.
“Don’t tell me you’re shy,” Tarek mock-whispered.
A few chuckles dispersed throughout the triangular room.
Shame sparked her cheeks as she glanced at the Asters and those behind them.
She didn’t know what sort of comfort she hoped to find among the sea of power-hungry celestials, but a pair of deep brown eyes caught her gaze, and she seized the offered lifeline.
Zosma’s face revealed nothing, but an unmistakable camaraderie passed between them while Aela tried to drown out the innuendos being tossed around the throne room.
“All in due time,” Tarek said with a nuzzle into her neck as he addressed his court once more. Electra stepped back to her place beside Proxima and continued to glare daggers at Aela. “To celebrate my bond and honor Proxima, our longtime ally, we will have a celebration.”
Aela tuned out the rest of what Tarek said and let her eyes wander around the gilded throne room, marking each star who leered at her. Though the initial shock of his proposal had worn off, the thought still made her nauseous.
To be bound to him with these shackles is enough.
She didn’t know how she had freed Zosma.
She had simply… done it. Driven by some tugging instinct rather than a deliberate act.
Even if she could channel her magic to do so again, there was no telling what ramifications there would be in removing them.
It wasn’t as if a few celestials were bound.
All stars in Avarice wore crystal bands.
It was how Tarek ruled his House; he admitted as much.
While Aela understood somewhat how the bands worked, her time was not her own, and she couldn’t fully experiment with them or understand their long-term effects.
Were all Taureons under Tarek’s complete control?
Were they husks of their former selves after being contained for so long?
Her eyes drifted to Zosma again, whose own gaze swept across the room.
Zosma was a foreigner, like her, and Tarek had clearly hurt him by forcing his actions in The Games.
The Leo star moved through the crowd, joining a small contingent of sentinels preparing to escort Tarek after the audience was over.
His bands had been replaced after she removed them.
She and Zosma were too renowned in Avarice to be seen without crystal bands.
But perhaps lesser stars, those not in high positions, could be freed.
Would they even want to be?
Maybe the Taureons had also lost hope. Aela’s hand floated to her chest where her promise to get home lingered.
Or perhaps they are too weak to stand up to the injustice that rules them.
The audience ended, and the waiting sentinel retinue formed around Tarek and Aela.
They proceeded through the labyrinth of halls in the palace toward Aela’s apartment, where she was graciously permitted to be alone.
Leading up to his public announcement of their bond, Tarek had made a case that his quarters were larger, and sharing the rooms would help solidify their bond.
He didn’t press her on the matter when she’d declined his offer.
He’d only gazed at her with heated eyes.
She knew the lust wasn’t for her but for her power.
Tarek leaned close, speaking into her ear, “It won’t be long now until we receive a summons from the other Primaries to bless our union.”
She nodded mutely. It was all faux checks and balances. The Zodiac Houses appeared quite content to not interfere with others not of their Line—and she would know. It was evident in how her own House fell and how Tarek got away with enslaving his constellation.
Why was approval needed for a bond?
She supposed that in the vacuum of order the Gods created by leaving the realm, the Primary Stars sought to fill the role.
She found it all ironic. The celestials were controlled by a cursed orbit that circled a flaming river that would swallow them whole, yet they placed more parameters on themselves to keep the peace.
Peace was an illusion. As was her freedom.
Though it had only been a week in Avarice, Aela was a fast study of behavior and had learned how to hover below notice. After being ostracized on Prente, she was used to dimming her light for others. She would do what she had to do to survive, even if that meant playing along in Tarek’s game.
At last, the retinue arrived at her apartment, where Tarek paused before the massive quartz door, noting her stricken features.
“What’s got you down, precious?” Tarek asked.
Aela scrambled for a better response than tearing his throat out with her teeth like some mountainous lion of The Spine.
“It’s these guards. How am I to fully integrate into your House if they’re always holding me apart? I will never be one of you,” Aela said.
Hear my words. She wanted to scream at him. I will never be one of you.
Still, her breathing was even, calm, unruffled.
“They’re there to keep you safe.”
“If I’m your intended, who would dare cross you?”
“There are those in other Houses who would use you to get to me.” Tarek lightly grasped Aela’s shoulders. “You’re right, though. My constellation will never fully accept you if you are not seen as one of them. Zosma,” Tarek called.
Startled, Aela forgot her ruse and pushed away from Tarek, spinning to see her former opponent. As Zosma approached, an image of him crying out in pain during The Games flashed before her. Her eyes narrowed on his banded wrists.
“Yes, Prime Apparent?” Zosma bowed.
“My intended is feeling… confined,” Tarek said with a gentle smile for her. Aela wanted to scratch his eyes out. Or better yet, get her hands on some raw crystals. Then she could prolong his agony as she made him watch his power slip away and everything he built crumble to dust.
The sentinels accompanying them stepped back several paces, instantly obeying their Prime Apparent’s wishes.
Tarek mulled his thoughts aloud. “I cannot let her go unprotected, no matter how trusting she is.”
Zosma and Aela each held their breath.
“You will be her shadow, her guard in all things. Where she goes, you go. Don’t let her out of your sight. If you fail, I won’t spare you a second time. Is that understood?”
“Yes,” Zosma said.
“There. Happy now?” Tarek asked as he bent his head to peer into Aela’s turquoise eyes.
“Yes, happy now,” Aela mumbled, her lashes fanning over her cheeks. “Thank you.”
Before she saw it coming, Tarek’s lips pressed against hers. His tongue swept across her sealed lips, and he held her captive there for a moment before he withdrew.
“All in due time,” he whispered with a knowing look. He left her alone with Zosma, having called the sentinels away from her guard detail.
Aela watched as Tarek disappeared from view. She couldn’t tell if his House obeyed him out of fear or were outright controlled. She nibbled her bottom lip as she considered.
As he seeks to control me, I seek to exploit him. Am I any different?
“You are nothing like him,” Zosma’s voice pulled her from her thoughts.
She hadn’t realized she had spoken the words aloud. “What do you know of me? You tried to kill me the last time I saw you.”
“I know enough.”
Aela and Zosma stared at one another for a hard moment until she spun on her heel and went to enter her apartment. Zosma protested, but she held up her hand.
“I know what Tarek said, but I’d wager you know as well as I that there is no way for me to escape my rooms. Please.”
Zosma nodded and stood beside the quartz door, and Aela entered her rooms alone.
She stalked through the entry, not even feeling the wards slide over her skin.
The control she’d kept on herself was wavering.
Heavy drapes were pulled tightly over the open expanse windows.
An attendant likely tidied her space while she was out.
Aela gritted her teeth as she tore them off the wall.
Once the curtains were a puddle of fabric at her feet and she felt night air, open and inviting, she allowed herself a deep breath.
Aela glanced down at her hands, where the crystal bands adorned her wrists. “I can’t do this,” she said to the empty room. She was a disaster in the making, and Aela knew if her power didn’t get let out soon, not even the bands could contain her.