Page 20 of Pisces Rising

A door creaked open, shattering her reverie. Pisces' eyes flew open as Aries strode out of the bathroom, beads of water glistening across his bronzed skin and his dark hair slicked back from his face. A towel hung precariously around his trim waist as he ran a second towel over his damp locks.

Heat blossomed across Pisces' cheeks as she drank in his aggressive masculinity. "You have an entire ocean outside to bathe in?" she stammered in a feeble attempt to deflect her excitement.

Aries froze mid-stroke, dropping the towel to his side as his penetrating gaze met hers. "Fire and water don't mix, starfish," he growled, low and full of quiet menace. "One second in that vast abyss and my flame would be extinguished forever." His tone was cold, annoyed, utterly devoid of the tenderness she needed. A tremor of dismay shot through Pisces as the walls came crashing down around the fleeting vulnerability she thought she'd witnessed before blacking out. Of course, the ice between them remained impenetrable.

“Tell me what you meant when you said I asked you to follow me.” She hoped he would give her a clue, something more to unravel.

But instead, he replied with a brisk,” No.”

“Aries,” her voice was barely a whisper as she silently pleaded with him to look at her. Instead, he turned away and began redressing, denying her the view of his powerful physique. Her embarrassment curdled into bitter resentment. She'd laid herself bare before him, all her doubt and inner turmoil expelled, only for him to retreat into his customary disdain.

Ripping the comforter aside, Pisces swung her legs over the edge of the bed. Her back stiffened with resolve. "Why did you keep me here in your cabin?" she demanded through gritted teeth. "If I'm so unforgivably reprehensible to you, why not put me in my cabin, or better yet, simply let me pass out on the beach and leave me there?"

Aries' only response was to yank his snug linen pants over his hips, his molten glare never meeting hers. Now, she wasn’t getting his disdain; she was getting shut out entirely.

"Tell me what you meant!" Pisces pressed, prodding at the hairline fracture she sensed in his impervious exterior. "That I asked you to follow? To help me?" She barked out a sarcastic laugh as the hurt welled up anew. "Some help! You've made it abundantly clear how little you think of me."

Rising to her feet, she crossed the space between them in two long strides and jabbed one accusing finger into Aries' rock-solid abdomen. "I don't need you here. I don’t care what you say. I never asked for any of this!"

Before he could rebuff her, Pisces spun on her heel and stormed toward the exit, slapping her palm against the doorframe. "Forget it! I'd rather embrace the depths of the sea than continue being scorched by your hatred. At least I’m wanted there."

With that, she flung the door open and fled, ignoring the startled look from Gemini as she raced across the sands toward the beckoning turquoise waves. She heard Gemini call out to her, concern etched in her tone. But the closer Pisces drew to the waterline, the more Aries' cruel dismissal faded into a dull ache, replacing itself with soothing calmness and purpose. The ocean wanted her, called to her, welcomed her. Yes, she mused as the foamy surf caressed her ankles. This was where she belonged—not wrapped in the snarling inferno of Aries' scorn but cradled in the eternal rhythms of the sea. The stars didn’t want her, but the watery abyss opened its arms. A few more step, and she could escape this torment forever.

Suddenly, a towering inferno erupted on the beach behind her with a deafening roar.

"Pisces! Stop!" Aries' voice, fraught with panic, cut through the crashing waves as a blast of dry heat washed over her back. She didn't even turn, resigned to letting the sea claim her. But then, two searing arms encircled her waist, wrenching her backward against a furnace of scorching skin and tendrils of smoke. Pisces thrashed wildly, every cell in her body rebelling against being torn from the tranquil ocean's embrace. "Let me go!" she howled, raining a torrent of blows against Aries' impervious form as he dragged her back onto the sand.

Once clear of the waterline, his grip slackened just enough for Pisces to whirl around, coming face-to-face with raw anguish burning in his eyes. "Don't..." he rasped through clenched teeth. "Don't you dare leave me."

Pisces could only stare, chest heaving, as the inferno surging around Aries slowly banked into smoldering embers dancing across his shoulders and trailing in his wake. This wasn't anger or indifference—it was desperation. When his fists finally unclenched, she realized just how tightly he'd been restraining his fearsome power to keep from scorching her. "Come with me," he muttered in that deep rumble that demolished her restraint. Without waiting for objection, Aries clasped her wrist and pulled her back toward his cabin in silence. Gemini, Sag, and Virgo were on the beach watching, their eyes wide with concern.

Gemini stepped toward them as they approached. “Pisces, are?—”

“She’s fine!” Aries barked, putting up a warning hand for the spectators to keep their distance as he hauled Pisces into the cabin and shut the door. Once inside, he guided her to sit on the edge of the bed and moved wordlessly to bank the shutters against the riotous sunset and prying eyes spilling through the windows. The guttering light cast strange shadows across his taut features as he hovered in the center of the room, suddenly looking as lost and adrift as Pisces felt in the wake of this latest explosion.

"You were right," he said at last, each word falling like lead between them. "About me keeping you here. You did ask me to follow and protect you."

Pisces' breath hitched in her throat as a kaleidoscope of confused emotions battered her from all sides: frustration, hope, and, most of all, a yearning for understanding.

"But not because you were in trouble," Aries pressed on, raking both hands through his tousled locks. The torment was evident in every line of his body now. "You asked me here because...” The truth seemed stuck in his throat until he managed to say, “We were fated to rule the cosmos together, side-by-side, as equals for all eternity."

Chapter

Eighteen

"You..." Pisces stared at Aries, her mind spinning as she tried to absorb the weight of his words. "You were my equal?"

Sag and Gemini hadn’t told her this. They’d told her she was the Zodiac with the most power. “Why didn’t Gemini or Sag tell me that?”

Aries gave a small, ironic laugh. “I forbade them to speak about it. They wouldn’t dare disobey my order.”

That made sense and explained why the other Zodiacs were so vague in their responses to her questions and so cautious when Aries arrived. “We ruled together?” she asked.

He gave a slow, solemn nod. "You are the oldest of the Zodiacs, its primordial birthplace. But my constellation is the first house, the purest essence of astrological power. Two inseparable forces born right next to each other—the beginning,” he pointed to her, “and the end.” He pointed to himself. “Fated to share domains."

Inhaling a shuddering breath, Pisces sank back on the bed's edge. "And this...bond between us? What did it entail?"

A muscle ticked in Aries' clenched jaw as he seemed to wrestle with how much truth to reveal. "Our strengths were merged, our souls intertwined for thousands of years. We presided over the celestial realms in harmonious co-existence and trust. Until..." His nostrils flared, rage simmering behind those blazing obsidian eyes. "Until you betrayed that sacred union. I witnessed you with Scorpio, enticing him with your charms, whispering strategies to overthrow and dispose of me." The look of disgust this caused him to throw at her hit hard.