Chapter 34
Chapter Thirty-Four
It had been two months since Aela’s power had cleaved out of her at the Sagittarius social. Not only had her display of power awakened memories trapped behind the wall of heat in her mind, allowing her to remember the Fall of Pisces, but it had also liberated her from the Gods’ curse.
Though she had yet to validate her theory and test it properly, things clicked in the fragmented moments of clarity that washed ashore as her grief was carried out on the tide deeper into her soul.
When she and Eros first arrived at the asteroid from Theora, she hadn’t worn a tactical suit.
She hadn’t flickered. The Darkness had carried her, then let her go, and when she ran from Eros after learning he was The Darkness, she had flown on her own.
It was a marvel in and of itself that she seemed to have naturally outgrown her fear of heights as she freely took to the skies.
If her magic was indeed powerful enough to free herself from the curse of the Gods, perhaps she could do what Eros required of her.
Much had transpired among the Zodiac Houses while Aela’s grief consumed her.
The cursed orbit tugged them toward Eros’ prison at the center of the realm.
Peace was strained, and Zosma had reported that numerous squadrons of sentinels had been deployed to each Zodiac House, combing their cities for her.
To add to matters, while she was unconscious, her Need had acted on its own.
She only hoped that whatever it had done without her prompting wouldn’t come back to haunt her.
“Again,” came Eros’ voice, laced with authority.
The Primary of Aries indeed. Doesn’t he know I’m not one of his sentinels he can order around?
Zosma wasted no time. He lunged at Aela in a blur of limbs.
Her former guard had taken the lead as her sparring partner while Eros assumed overseeing her magic development.
Neither of them took it easy on her. How had Tarek ever thought she had bested Zosma?
The Lion had toyed with her in The Games.
“Are you sure—” Aela dodged Zosma’s fist flying toward her face. “—that you aren’t Ariean?” Aries stars were known to be formidable warriors.
“Quite sure,” Zosma said with a flash of white teeth, bouncing back on his toes to avoid her counterstrike.
“You’re in your head,” the Leo warned.
Aela huffed out a breath. “Isn’t this all a bit redundant? I know enough to defend myself; wouldn’t our time be better spent working with my magic?”
Her confidence had grown over the past month when Eros tasked her with honing her abilities so she could deliver her side of their agreement: locating the Gods.
“It’s not like I’m going to somehow fight the Gods—I need to practice my magic to find them.”
Not one to miss anything when it came to her, Eros caught her eye and inclined his head.
Was that an agreement or a challenge?
Zosma capitalized on her distraction and swept a foot at her ankles. Aela fell on her backside onto the sand of one of Solara’s many beaches. Despite no sun dotting the sky, light glared down on her.
“Focus!” Zosma growled.
Aela glared daggers at Eros. He folded his arms over his muscled chest. “Keep staring at me that way, Timora, and you’ll face off with me next.”
Aela rolled her eyes, despite the flush that crept up her neck, and took Zosma’s offered hand. She yanked on his arm and pressed her feet into his abdomen, careening him over her into the sand. Aela sprang to her feet and spun on Zosma.
Eros laughed behind her.
Zosma flipped upright from his back. “Good, let’s take a break.”
Her former guard hiked up the beach a ways, disappearing into the swaying trees.
Aela drew closer to the ocean lapping at the shore.
All the training, the mastering of her Need magic—it was well worth the reward the Aries Primary dangled out of her grasp.
The uniqueness of her other power was something no living celestial could help her harness.
While Eros oversaw her elemental magic, he couldn’t exactly tell her how to control her Need.
All he had said was to pursue what felt natural, to trust her instincts free of bias and expectation.
She’d do anything if it meant bringing the one responsible for the downfall of her House to justice and saving the realm.
While the squall of grief had relented enough for her to find a resolve for what lay ahead, she didn’t think her grief would ever leave her, nor did she want it to.
She wanted to feel the pang of loss. It served as a reminder of what was at stake.
If she couldn’t be with her family, she would carry them with her however she could.
Aela tilted her face to the sky, letting the gentle breeze beneath periwinkle clouds cool her glistening skin.
They had been using the water planet as their training grounds, whisked away by The Darkness to and from the white beaches.
If Linteum had still stood, they could have used the traveling rings to her city.
Perhaps someday Linteum will stand again.
“Are we done for the day?” Aela asked Eros, who came to her side at the water’s edge.
Where she was barefoot and wore loose charcoal training pants and a matching cropped top, Eros was encased in black, dressed as if he had just come from a Primary meeting or other official House business for Aries.
“I’d like to know more about your family,” Eros said. A blast of wind tore over the rolling waves, disrupting the gentle current.
“Why?”
“I know what it’s like to be the only one of your kind. It could help to speak about them.” His voice lacked its normal confidence as he ran a hand through his black hair. Her wind surged across the ocean and up the beach, blowing mist against their legs.
“You’re not alone,” he said, turning his attention from the ocean to her.
As she returned his gaze, she realized she wanted to tell him.
Her bruised heart clenched at the familiarity she felt around him.
In the months that passed after their initial fight, Aela’s anger at the Aries Primary eroded the more time she spent with him.
Perhaps Zosma’s presence helped buffer their odd partnership and ground her as well.
It also helped that Eros didn’t push his innocence on her, but let her come to her own conclusion.
“I suppose there’s no point in hiding anymore. Zosma should be here for this,” Aela said.
Eros speared a ribbon of flame toward where the Leo had gone. Zosma joined them on the shore, his bare chest still gleaming with sweat.
“You didn’t take a break?” Aela asked.
Zosma shrugged.
She shook out her arms, dispelling her nerves, then told them everything: how her dreams affected reality, the other magic that took care of her—that seemed related to her dreams, and how she was the product of two Houses: Aquarius and Pisces.
“Tell me more about your lineage,” Eros said.
Zosma appeared stunned, looking at Aela with something akin to wonder on his face. She supposed her truth was less of a secret to Eros, who had watched her in her dreams as The Darkness, though Zosma now had an answer for how she was able to remove crystal bands.
“My parents are—were—Piscarian,” Aela replied, and though her voice hitched, she plowed on despite the pain.
“My grandmother on my mother’s side bonded with an Aquarius.
That’s all my mother ever offered in explanation for my non-Piscarian gifts.
Do you think my dreams, that other magic, is truly Fates blessed?
Not some forgotten blessing of Piscaria or Aquarenn? ”
Zosma looked contemplative, shifting his gaze to the trees farther up on the beach while Eros’ eyes never left hers.
“No. Your other magic does not come from the Gods.”
Aela hummed as she toyed with the end of her ashy braid.
Eros rubbed a bronze hand across his jaw, scratching at the stubble there before launching into more questions.
Each male grilled her about the dreamscape and her Need.
Assessing for different reasons, though both seeking to understand.
There wasn’t much for her to tell them beyond what she already had—it was clear she hadn’t grasped the full depth and breadth of her power.
Though she would never admit it, it felt good to reveal the truth.
However unsettling it was to hear them speak so openly about her gifts and heritage, things she had worn like a never-spoken-about affliction her entire life, it was comforting for someone else to know. She no longer bore her secret alone.
Zosma retreated to resume his independent training, leaving Aela alone with Eros. Needing to reclaim a sense of detachment after unearthing so much of herself, Aela refocused on wielding her magic.
“Don’t you have House business to see to?” Aela grunted as she summoned a whirlwind of air into the churning waters, swirling the ocean into a vortex that howled in response to her wind.
“I’m checking in on my investment.” Darkness bloomed behind him, and cool tendrils of night wrapped around her arms.
Aela bared her teeth, released the flow of air, and whirled on the Aries Primary.
“Let me make one thing clear. I am not your anything. I belong to no one other than myself. Tarek thought he could control me. And if you think you can buy me, you’re mistaken and wasting your time.
I’m allying myself with you for as long as this fated mission takes or until I discover the truth for myself—whichever comes first.”
Eros hummed.
The shadows melted away from her skin and pooled at his feet. She didn’t miss how he rarely showed his true nature whenever Zosma was around, aside from transporting them to and from Solara for training. He saved his Darkness for Aela.
“And then?” he asked.
“And then I’m gone.”
“Where will you go?”
Tala and Aela’s conversation from what felt like a lifetime ago came to the forefront of her mind, and she let the Taureon Adjacent’s words echo through her.
“Anywhere but here.”