The Zodiacs

76. Gentle Flame

Lotus pulled the front of her gown up as she sprinted through the narrow back hallways. She'd abandoned the heels on her foot, running down the space with her bare feet and dress flowing frantically behind her. Whipping her head around to check if the Basha was still on her tail, the girl struggled to grasp an efficient supply of oxygen.

Then she caught sight of the figure that suddenly appeared in front of her from the corner of her vision. The girl spun around, opening her mouth to shout in surprise as his hands seized the top of her arms, holding her away before she could slam into him. "Ah!-" She began to scream, but stopped upon truly seeing who it was standing in front of her. Not the Basha, but... "Aharon?"

"Watch where you're going," he shoved her back. The girl stumbled awkwardly, but was able to catch herself without the slippery height added to her feet. "Is the new look taking away from your normal eyesight?" He muttered coldly, motioning to his eyes lazily.

"What are you doing here? You're supposed to be dealing with the Pisces," she turned anxiously, relieved when nobody had entered the hall that they stood between.

He shrugged, sliding his hands back into the pockets of his black pants as the Aries looked around. "I finished."

Lotus clicked her tongue at his irresponsibility. "Then you're supposed to go wait in Master Omari's old chamber, not wander the halls looking like that," she retorted, making the boy glance down at his figure.

"What's wrong with how I look?" He grumbled.

"No- nothing," she sighed, realizing that her reasoning about his carelessness exposing their presence no longer worked. Their location in the palace was already known by the Basha, so it must be known by the Pharaoh. Which meant there was no more use in hiding. "Nevermind. Come on," she wrapped her hand around his wrist. "We need to hurry and go to the meeting point so we can warn the others."

Aharon's eyebrows raised as he looked down at her hold, the girl not seeming to notice as she quickly led him down the corridor. Hadn't this been the exact same way he'd dragged her along upon their first meeting? He'd been trying to kill her then, but the girl was trying to save him this time. How... contrasting.

That's when his attention caught on the redness of her hands and, upon closer inspection, Aharon noticed all the risen scratches and cuts along her hands and wrist. It ignited something unfamiliar in his chest.

"Woah," Lotus attempted to steady herself when the fire sign suddenly stopped in the middle of the main passage they had walked into. He yanked his arm back, making her spin to face him with enough force to make the girl stumble around. She instinctively placed her hand against his chest to keep the girl from crashing into him.

"What?" Lotus blinked up at Aharon, her chest rising and falling dramatically with the struggle to provide her body with enough airflow. He pulled in a deep breath and kept the heated contact between their eyes for a moment longer.

Then Aharon's fingers wrapped around the wrist of the hand she held onto his arm with, pulling her grasp away as the girl furrowed her eyebrows at his behavior. His thumb grazed the inside of her palm when the fire sign turned her hand between his fingers; the boy's attention narrowed on the blood between each of her nails. "What happened?"

They were standing directly in front of the Pharaoh's throne room in the middle of the wide, limestone corridor that led to the palace's main entrance. On each side, a row of carved columns raised dozens of feet until they met the high ceiling. Each one painted and perfected with gorgeous colors of orange, green, brown, beige and so many more. If they weren't in such a vulnerable location, Lotus may have stopped to appreciate the sight.