Chapter 19
Outcasts.
Wendy
Crazy that, once my life wasn’t threatened, I was able to see how beautiful this planet was.
How different the stars shone here compared to Galleat.
Not to mention that they had two moons! Although I was born and raised on Galleat—who didn’t have any—I had learned that the Earth, the planet where humans came from, had only one.
“It is nothing,” Baelor said as they flew higher. “Virgo has nine of them.”
“Virgo?” I turned my face to Nitochi in question as his hand closed tighter around my waist.
“Do not look to me for answers.” He scoffed, giving me a small smile. “I do not know anything about the rest of our system or their species. Baelor is the one playing diplomat. I, on the other hand, was banned from stepping foot in their gray box.”
“You’re what?”
“You kind of asked for it,” Baelor pointed out, giving one big flap of his wings to reach higher and pull us toward a cliff.
“No, I did not,” Nitochi muttered, following while still holding my other hand. “They stabbed me.”
I gasped. “They what?”
Baelor rolled his eyes. “They did not do such a thing. Your blood needed testing to ensure we could be the ones to get our perfect bride,” he said as we finally landed on the highest spot we’d ever been too.
Baelor brought a hand to the side of my head to cup my face, bringing it closer to his.
I nearly melted at the soft look in his gaze. “Was it not worth it, brother?”
Nitochi only grunted, yet his hold on my waist felt impossibly warmer as he stepped closer to me.
Only after my dark knight kissed me did I turn to sit on the rock next to Baelor. “So you’ve met the other species?” I asked.
He nodded. “Each of those times have been overwhelming.”
But they were all from the same system…If the little I remembered from my chat with the man who made me sign up for the Zodiac Bride project was true, they also all had some human DNA.
“How so?” I asked, even though I had been overwhelmed even meeting only them.
Baelor shrugged while Nitochi remained silent.
He sat on my other side, his feet dangling in the air.
“We are all so different. We might all share the same origins, but I do believe the other side of our genes, the ones that came from our planets and not the humans who played God, takes the lead when it comes to social interactions.”
Nitochi let out another grunt next to me. He looked like he wasn’t fond of his neighbors…
“I tried befriending some of them,” Baelor continued. “It did not work very well.”
“You mean most of them looked at us like freaks,” Nitochi grumbled, fumbling with the stone we were sitting on.
“That is not true,” Baelor answered, yet he still winced. “We got along well with the Aquari and Ari.”
Ari? Wait, were they really all named after the Zodiac signs? “Let me guess,” I muttered. “From the planets Aquarius and Aries?”
Nitochi lifted a brow at me. “Yes. And the only reason we got along was the fact that they were outcasts. Like us,” he continued, now leaning to look Baelor in the eyes.
“We might not have been outcasts if you—”
“Leave me out of this,” Nitochi interrupted him. “It cannot be my fault, I have not spoken to any of them.”
Baelor blinked, too stunned to speak. I cleared my throat to stop them from arguing further. “So, you get along with Aquaris and Aris? That’s good, right? Do you guys visit each other, or…”
“We are not insane,” Nitochi said, like the idea of it was preposterous.
“What? I can breathe fine on your planet, why would it be different for you on the others?”
“It is not about being able to breathe,” Baelor explained. “It is more about…compatibility. Preference.” At my puzzled look, he continued, “Gemini weather is warm, but windy. It can even get a bit cold sometimes. Aries? I have no idea how the Ari's human bride will withstand the climate there…”
“Really?” I asked.
I had thought that all the planets were welcoming to humans…What would happen if a bride couldn’t live on her future husband’s planet?
“As for Aquaris…” Baelor hesitated. “I do not really know. I guess we could technically. They have wings too, although he mentioned he used them for swimming as well. And they do not have any feathers on them…”
Nitochi nodded. “Yes. Gallor—the Aquari male,” he explained, “looked…I want to say like us, but taller. Leaner. Featherless and with visible veins.”
What?
Nitochi winced at the dumbfounded look on my face. “Yes, it was…a strange sight. His skin was kind of gray, eyes as dark as mine, and his ears…Like some sort of fins, or wings.”
Baelor leaned back to lie down, looking at the night sky. He yawned. “At least the others were more scared of him than they were of us…Sorry, of you.”
Nitochi chuckled. “I guess. Not to mention the Scorpius. He was a scary asshole.”
I still struggled to believe it.
I lay down next to Baelor and Nitochi followed. All of us remained here for a while, Baelor dozing off while my dark knight and I silently stared at the stars and moons, his hand caressing mine.
This system was filled with species all more different than the others. All living on planets named after the Zodiac signs and all sharing traits with the physical representation of those signs.
Cancos, living on Cancer, red with pincers? Just a human crab. Aquaris, living on Aquarius, featherless wings, flying and swimming? And what, were Scorpius, living on Scorpio, looking like human scorpions?
Were the ones on Leo just human lions? Would I even find out one day? Meet any of them?
Somehow, I wished I would.