Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Couldn’t last the meeting, dear? Your old age is showing,” Sulae said from where she waited across the hall. She gave Aela a deferential nod before she stepped between Heze and Aela, linking their arms. Arm in arm, the three of them proceeded toward the Virgo quarters.
Heze and Sulae spoke softly to each other, sweet nothings and mundane things that made Aela’s heart clench.
While she had numerous relationships on Prente, none held the depth evident in the way Heze held Sulae’s hand over his arm or in the way they looked at each other with such respect and adoration.
The closest experience she had to that was with Jaelin, though they never had a long-standing attachment.
They just kept coming back to each other.
Warmth pricked her eyes. How long would it be until the dam within herself broke under the pressure of everything and she drowned?
Aela tuned back into what the Virgo stars were saying.
“Your luster is particularly bright today,” Heze said. Sulae positively beamed at him. “My bonded isn’t known for being modest—”
Sulae squawked.
“As I was saying, she isn’t the most modest and has never shied away from asserting her opinions. Don’t let her skew your view of me too much though, Aela. I am only Primary due to Virtus making me first. It could easily have been her. It should have been her,” Heze said with fondness.
The significance of their age crashed into her. Her mind went blank.
“Now, now, if we’ve established that I am not modest, allow me to sing your praises, dear Primary. You lead Stardom and our House well, my beloved,” Sulae said as she released her arm from Aela’s and clasped his hand.
Heze effortlessly swept her into a spin down the hallway, the black fringe on the hem of her emerald dress swished, their laughter flitting behind them. Observing the devotion between the two celestials nearly crumpled Aela’s aching heart to dust.
“Annnd here we are!” Sulae sang, flushing a deep green with Heze’s heated gaze on her. Aela cleared her throat.
“You will continue to stay with us until the matter of your bonding is settled,” Sulae said.
A beat later, Heze offered, “And all the privileges of our Line are yours. Please,” he motioned for the females to enter the Virgo’s accommodations ahead of him.
“Why?” Aela asked as she hesitated in the doorway. “Why show me this kindness?”
Though Aela was glad to be away from Tarek, she didn’t like the idea of being separated from Arche, even though the male had been notably absent from recent events.
There was a kinship between them she hadn’t had the courage to share.
Tala was different. Aela could see the two of them becoming friends if the Adjacent ever stood up to her brother.
Over the past half-cycle, she had been crammed into the Taureon House.
What had they become to her? Assisting in the rebellion effort was one thing.
And while Arche had been kind and welcoming, he couldn’t keep her safe from Tarek.
Not really. He was loyal to his Primary and still held out hope that Tarek could come around.
Tala was the Adjacent, and wherever Tarek pointed, she went.
Zosma had as little say as she did. Aela was ultimately just a resource to be used, drained, charged, and used again.
No matter the benefits Tarek poised to her…
all she would ever be to him was a living commodity.
Sulae missed nothing. “That’s why,” she said softly, reading Aela’s internal thoughts written so plainly on her face. “Come.”
Tala’s heeled boots clicked in one direction then back again.
It was a wonder she hadn’t driven a groove into the smooth flooring for all the pacing she had done while Tarek was sequestered in the meeting with the other Primaries.
She always accompanied Tarek. If her duties as Adjacent didn’t require her to be with him, she handled the delicate matters of their court and other less clean tasks so Tarek didn’t have to dirty his hands.
When she had undertaken the Trial of the Gods and petitioned the Goddess Librella, it was partly to aid Tarek.
Miraculously, as with all successful trials, the Goddess had found her worthy and favored her with air.
The element manifested as the ability to disappear and travel within a swirl of sand.
Through their shared nature as twins, Tala sensed Tarek’s unease, and sand rippled within her. Though they weren’t of Gemun and couldn’t speak mind-to-mind like Mun and Teja, it grated on her that she knew he needed her and yet she was forbidden from helping.
Her front foot kicked out in front of her, the white fabric of her wide-legged pants billowed over and then swallowed her boot.
How could she be of use to Tarek and their House if she wasn’t privy to what was said in the meeting?
Tarek didn’t fare so well under pressure.
After the initial gathering that had gone so poorly, she and Arche and the rest of their retinue had been settled in the Taurus guest quarters within Theora.
“Will you stop that?” Arche asked. He for one didn’t seem the least bit phased at being separated from his Primary. “If you’re trying to grind your heels down to a more manageable height, change your Godsdamned shoes! Clickity-clack-clickity-clack,” he mimicked.
Tala slowed her pace and looked down at her pristine white pantsuit to assess her heels. “I’m… not used to this.”
“No,” Arche guffawed. “Don’t tell me the unflappable Tala is nervous. Oh, you’re never going to live this down.”
“By the Gods. Why aren’t you more concerned? Tarek is outnumbered. You know he’s taking risks, and we aren’t there to protect him!” Tala exclaimed.
“Serves him right,” Arche muttered before throwing back a glass of liquor.
Tala narrowed her eyes at him, lounging on a chaise of deep orange crushed velvet. Abandoning her warpath on the floor, she approached him, swiped the decanter out of his hand, and took a swig.
“Hey!” Arche cried.
Tala replaced the stopper and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. She lifted the vessel and raised her eyebrows. “How full was this when you started?”
Arche hiccuped.
Alright then.
“Want to tell me what’s going on? Something is bothering you,” Tala said.
Arche leaned his head on the back of the chaise, his eyes closing. “Nothing that concerns House Taurus,” he said somberly.
Understanding flooded Tala’s mind as she slapped one of Arche’s booted feet off the chaise to sit beside him. Her hands were clasped tightly in her lap—she had never been one for physical affection or comfort. Her talents lay elsewhere.
“The sun,” she said softly.
Arche’s throat bobbed.
“Did you know them personally?”“No. I was taken into Tarek’s service when I was young. You know this. But he was my Primary, Tala. To use the energy from his fracture feels… wrong. Like a betrayal. I didn’t know Al-Tarf, but knowing I’ll never get to know him…” Arche trailed off.
Tala remained silent, letting her friend gather his thoughts. She was practiced in the art of silence. The individuals in her care usually revealed things in periods of silence more than they did with more direct ministrations.
“It never gets easier. Each time The Games are held, the more power he amasses, each time he exploits his own constellation—” Arche clenched his fists. He looked down at his crystal bands around his wrists before he brought the heels of his palms to his eyes.
Tala tentatively reached out a hand to his biceps, offering what she hoped was a comforting gesture. “How many of you are left?”
“It’s hard to say. With those not in service to the Houses, the majority of Cancerrans silenced themselves if they weren’t chosen to guard a planet…
It’s like the curse of the Gods wasn’t enough, ya know?
We can’t move freely; I can’t find any of my brethren, see if they need help, let alone offer it. My Line is fractured.”
Arche brought his hands away from where they had rested over his face.
“I feel like part of me is missing and I didn’t even know him.
The one and only time I asked Tarek for help with this, he nearly killed me.
Said I was ungrateful for being in his Line.
Kept saying I was House Taurus now… I can’t deny who I am.
Even for him.” Tears tracked down Arche’s defined cheekbones.
Tala twisted her lips to the side. “How long have you felt this way? You’ve never given me cause—”
“Of course not,” Arche snapped, knocking his glass off the chaise.
The empty tumbler fell, the remnants of liquor soaking into the plush carpet.
“You think I have a death wish?” Arche barked a bitter laugh.
“Tarek may fume and rage at me, but he’d save the task of dismembering me into nothing but shards of power for you.
And that, I couldn’t bear. Though I suppose, now, you’ll have to. ”
Something cracked wide open inside Tala’s chest at his admission.
I couldn’t bear that either.
“Your secret is safe with me.”
The hours had been blessedly quiet and calming to Aela’s nerves since the meeting. As if, like the Geminis, she too could read minds, Sulae granted her privacy with her thoughts, busying herself with her own attendants.
For once, Aela found herself able to choose her own garments without the pressure of dressing to impress Tarek.
The choices set before her were provided by a Virgo attendant, and they were beautiful.
Varying in style and color, Aela took her time selecting her attire for the social later.
Similar to the recent ball in Avarice, there would be fine food, drinks, dancing, and obscene amounts of posturing, and deals struck under the table between all five Houses.
She wished she could be holed up in Tabitha’s shop or in her cave in The Spine instead.
Aela opened the door from her guest room and watched the effortless ebb and flow between the Primary and Adjacent of Virgo and those of their Line.
It was as if they were all a natural family.
In every Zodiac House, there were many branching family lines and associations that were part of the collective constellation.
With the Virgos, mutual respect was evident in how they all spoke to each other.
While their classes in power might differ, they were stronger together, dependent on each other.
It was a stark contrast to what she had become accustomed to and assumed was commonplace while living under Tarek’s rule.
Catching Aela’s stare, Sulae slinked toward her. “Is there something I can help you with?” the Adjacent asked.
“Sorry, no. It’s just different here,” Aela said as she cast her gaze down and tucked her once luminous gray hair behind her ears. She still wore the long-sleeved black dress she borrowed from Sulae.
The Adjacent tipped her head, gesturing for Aela to follow her away from the dresses lying on her bed. Aela fell into step beside her.
“As you may have noticed, we’ve been around longer than nearly any other star alive,” Sulae said. The casual remark about her age, which was still an unfathomable fact to Aela, made her miss a step.
“Your Primary mentioned Virtus as if he knew him.”
Sulae made a dismissive gesture, urging Aela to drop the honorific title.
“Indeed. Virtus created Heze first, then created lesser stars to join him in a constellation to glorify himself. All the Gods and Goddesses did that. We were the pinnacle of their creation. From this young and abundant realm, they made worlds, essence, matter, planets, creatures, and all manner of things. They made humans and other inferior beings. But we outshine them all,” she finished with a wink.
“What was it like? Before?” Aela asked.
Sulae’s pale eyes went distant, “There are no words to describe the blissful feeling of peace and harmony that followed creation.”
They walked in silence for a time, meandering down a hall branching off the main living space to a set of glass doors.
Beyond them, across a large disc of empty space, were the other House quarters.
The meeting areas and other official rooms made up the outer edge, with the apartments for the Houses making up the innermost ring of rooms. Opening the set of double doors, Sulae gestured for Aela to step out onto the balcony with a graceful hand.
“Of course, there were squabbles between the Gods,” the Adjacent continued.
“What kind of squabbles?”
Sulae gave her a knowing look. “I’m happy to oblige a history lesson if that’s truly what you wish. Make use of my time while you have it.” Her directness was refreshing, if a little abrupt.
“Forgive my curiosity. I’ve been away for a long time and have been a bit starved for information.” Aela stared over the circular building to where a faint glow hazed beyond it, hinting at the vibrant city of Theora.
“I never really believed that I’d come back—I don’t know where I fit in all of this.”
“What do you want?” Sulae asked. Her cobalt hair dusted over her shoulder as she regarded Aela.
“I know what I don’t want. I don’t want a bond.”
“With Tarek,” Sulae amended. “You don’t want a bond with Tarek.
What I sense he desires is not what a bond is at its core.
A bond alone does not bind beings to each other.
It is a recognized union, offering protection and privileges depending on your class.
I believe Tarek wishes to control you, to fasten you to his House with a bond so you are forced to carry out his wishes—that is not a true bond.
It would be nothing like what I have with Heze. ”
“Is he your soulmate?”
“Yes,” Sulae said. Casting a look behind them to where her Primary and bonded waited within their quarters. “It matters little to me if the Fates spun us together. We chose each other, and that’s all that I could ever ask for.”
Aela considered the Adjacent’s words.
“What do you want?” Sulae asked again, softer this time.
“To get back home. I don’t know. Things change,” Aela’s head drifted in the direction where Avarice was neighbored, to the innocent celestials bound there.
“Then I suggest you find out. Find what it is you want and take it.”