Page 21 of Pisces Rising

"What?" Pisces recoiled, her head spinning. Her memory might be in tatters, but her heart was intact, and she was certain he was mistaken. "No, that's impossible! I wouldn't do that!"

Aries closed the distance between them in two long strides, looming over her with clenched fists. "Don't insult me further by denying what's already been done. You knowingly and willfully severed the mystic cords binding us as one. And in doing that, you lost the power of my protection." This was why he’d kept a wall between them and refused to tell her the truth. Revealing it meant unleashing a rage that he might not be able to reel back. But this didn’t deter her now. Pisces shook her head vehemently, tears of frustration stinging her eyes. "I don't remember any of this! How can you be sure of what you saw?"

"Because I saw it with my own eyes!" he roared, the windows rattling in their frames. His chest heaved with each ragged breath as Pisces shrank back, fear and awe swirling within her. This wasn't the calculated resentment he'd shown before. This was the virulent eruption of a broken, betrayed heart. After several beats, Aries seemed to collect himself enough to pin her with a searing look. "Leave. Get out of my sight before I lose control completely."

"No..." Pisces whispered, stone conviction taking root within her. She rose on slightly shaking legs to face him squarely. "Not until you explain more about this supposed betrayal. If things were as described, why would I beg you to follow me here? To protect me, even while separating myself from you?"

Aries regarded her warily, that muscle twitching in his hardened jaw. "You claimed I asked that of you," she pressed, leaning up to meet his smoldering gaze.

His nostrils flared as he tried to reel in the anger. The words he uttered next came out low and clipped. "You said you feared something was wrong with Scorpio and wanted me to investigate, to be your eyes and ears regardless of where my anger was guiding me.”

Pisces shook her head at the thought. “I conspired with Scorpio and then asked you to align with him?” A flicker of uncertainty rippled across his features as she recounted his perplexing accusation. Screwing her courage, Pisces surged on. "So, tell me—why would I do such a contradictory thing...unless you're mistaken about witnessing any betrayal at all?"

The words hovered in the shrinking space between them, not quite an accusation but potent nonetheless. Aries' jaw worked silently as he searched her imploring expression. She could practically see the gears turning, struggling to align what he thought he knew with the doubt she was planting. At last, he released a slow, defeated breath and turned away, raking one hand through his disheveled hair. "You begged me to continue being your protector, no matter how it looked," he said gruffly, following some interior motive to relent. "You claimed forces were conspiring against you, poisoning the others' minds somehow. And you feared for your spirit if you lost my protection, so you..." His words trailed off in a rough swallow. Pisces watched his powerful shoulders rise and fall with each measured breath. "So I what?" she asked as gently as she could manage.

Aries turned just enough for his tortured profile to emerge from the shadows. "So you asked me...as one last act of devotion, while the tatters of our bond yet remained...to do whatever I must to infiltrate the others and discern the truth. Even if it meant..." His jaw clenched again, but she could see his struggle to force out the admission. "Even if it meant plotting against you in their company. You made me swear to stick by your side through any hostility so long as I remained your unseen guardian."

The implications settled over Pisces in a smothering wave. Her brow furrowed as she processed the agonizing reality underpinning Aries' rage. "You think I banished you? Set you up as a villain to manipulate from within?"

When he didn't respond, she stepped forward and laid a trembling hand on his arm, relishing the thrum of power rippling beneath his heated skin. "Aries...I need you to look me in the eyes when you say this. Could I truly do such an unconscionable thing to someone I love so much?"

He remained immobile and tense under her touch for an endless, charged moment. Just as she feared he might simply shrug her off, he pivoted to face her fully, wearing an expression of harrowing desolation.

"You did," he rasped in a leaden tone. "And in doing so, you left me powerless to defy my oath. I followed your wishes to the letter, even as it shattered my entire universe." His piercing gaze bored into her, keeping her riveted despite the torrent of his words. "I fulfilled my promise until the sorrowful, bitter end. I slipped behind enemy lines as your spy, covertly obeying while openly damning you, embodying your betrayer as we grew farther apart..." His shoulders slumped in a shadow of their usual proud bearing. "And now," he declared with a bone-deep, shuddering finality, "my obligation is complete. I've seen how far your treason has carried you—stripped of memories, powers, your very essence severed." A muscle flexed in his taut jaw, and Pisces could practically see him throwing up the last of his walls between them.

"So no longer must I pretend. Your final wish has been granted." He loomed over her, gaze hardening once more into molten steel. "I am no longer bound as your clandestine protector. I am your enemy."

And before Pisces could even find her breath to protest, to beg for more explanation, Aries wheeled on his heel and stormed from the cabin, slamming the door behind him with such force that the windows shattered.

Pisces could only stand motionless, stunned into silence by the implications of Aries' words, by the utter agony contorting his features as he laid their sacred, obliterated bond bare. Memories flickered at the edge of her consciousness like phantoms, achingly familiar but eternally out of reach.

What treachery had she committed against the man she must have loved more than life itself? And why, by the stars, had she constructed such an intricate, painful deception around it?

Answers continued to evade her at every turn. But one ugly truth had fully crystallized in the wake of Aries' impassioned revelation—whatever trickery had caused this rift, it had also succeeded in stripping them both of the one thing that took eons to build and one moment to tear down. That one thing that could never be regained.

Trust.

Chapter

Nineteen

Pisces stood in silence long after Aries stormed out, letting the weight of his shattering words gradually diffuse through the stillness. Despite the cracked windows allowing the ocean breeze to circulate, the air grew thicker and more stifling with each ragged breath.

She sank back down on the rumpled bed, cradling her head as she struggled to process it all. Aries' descriptions of their shared history—the fated, all-powerful union, only for her to betray and fracture that sacred bond through unthinkable treachery—battered her like crashing waves on the shore. And his confession that she had essentially exiled him to the role of her enemy, all while professing lingering love and demanding covert allegiance?

It transcended even the most tragic ballads spun by ancient bards. She should be reeling from the sheer melodrama of it all, the unbelievable theatrics underpinning their cosmic fall from grace. And yet...despite the missing pieces of her memory, something deep in her soul's marrow rang hauntingly, achingly true about Aries' account. As much as her rational mind strained to dismiss it as the ramblings of a vengeful, tired heart, she could not ignore the profound sorrow weighing behind those smoldering eyes.

He believed every damning word—and part of her very essence believed it too, even if the specifics remained obstructed for now.

Pisces rose on shaky legs with a tremulous exhale and made her way toward the splintered entrance, sidestepping the glittering shards of broken glass. She needed perspective, clarity, before the walls closed in completely.

Gemini and Sag were already outside, their expressions tight as Pisces emerged. An uneasy silence fell over the trio. "You, uh...you okay?" Gemini asked finally, though a guarded look replaced her usual warm smile, and her eyes flitted uncertainly toward Sag.

Pisces simply shook her head, unable to find her voice yet. Gemini inched closer, moving as if approaching a spooked animal. "We couldn't tell you sooner," she said carefully. "Aries' orders..."

"We get it now," Sag interjected, his typically affable demeanor turned wary as his jawline hardened. "What Aries was raging about...your supposed betrayal..."

The words hung heavy between them. Pisces finally met their accusatory stares, tears brimming anew as her heart twisted. "I don't remember any of that," she pleaded. "I couldn't have?—"