The Zodiacs

84. Shadow Of Two

Lotus sat on the large bed, looking around the room in awe at the riches she'd never seen in her life. The bed's tall mattress placed on a finely carved wooden base that rose at each of the four corners to connect with the thick roof that reached the ceiling of the room. Each corner tying back the tan colored canopy that matched the colors of the neatly tucked in blanket over the mattress.

The girl brushed her fingers over the softness of the cover beneath her body, allowing her fingertips to brush against the flower patterns running vertically over the fabric. Thick rows of dark red and beige made up the warmth outer layer that folded back just beneath where she rested. Their color illuminated by the bright lamps to either side.

Her eyes scanned the light colored tile beneath her, a thin rug surrounding her bed while the remainder of the room's floor remained bear to combat the Egyptian heat.

Golden curtains covered the two windows to her left while a much larger fabric draped over the balcony opening.... To think Lotus would ever live in a space with a terrace that looked over the entirety of Luxor.

She sighed, a smile already on her lips when she looked over the bookshelf in the distance that was already stocked with all the fantasy books she could dream of reading. A padded chair hanging from the ceiling above directly beside the shield positioned next to the balcony's opening. Chione had really planned this, hadn't she?

A desk lined the wall behind her, to the other side of the bed and beneath the natural light that would pour from the window had it been morning. But the night setting outside didn't offer any illumination more than the brightness offered by the lamps on her side. Was that a vanity? Lotus narrowed her eyes at the desk and mirror that morphed into one another... she'd never seen a vanity, but that definitely seemed like one.

Lotus pulled in a deep breath, lifting her legs up to take off the sandals she'd resorted to after losing her heels earlier in the night. A good night's sleep on a soft mattress felt like a heavenly blessing after over a month sleeping on the floor of a cave in the Sahara.

She'd placed her sandals at the side of her bed, lifting herself onto her bare feet to begin undoing the back of her dress. But a knock from the door made the girl hesitate, quickly rebuttoning the back of her gown as she made her way over to the room's entrance. "Yes?" Lotus pulled the door open, her eyes widening at the boy standing behind.

"These are yours," Aharon lifted his hand to show the two heels hanging from two of his fingers. There was something about his disheveled dreads and the way his tired eyes hung slightly closed that awoke a foreign sensation in the pit of her stomach.

Lotus glanced at the heels after forcing her eyes off of his. "Oh yes, right," she reached forward to take them from his hand. "Thank you."

Aharon nodded.

Her hands wrapped around the door, but why did it suddenly feel so much heavier now that she knew it was Aharon who stood at the opposite side? "Was that... all?" Lotus asked, hoping that there would be more the fire sign had to tell her. It was weirdly aggravating to think that he'd come all this way just to return her shoes when there was so much that Lotus wanted from him.

"Yeah," he shrugged.

The Libra couldn't even hide the way her expression fell at the simple word; he didn't even appear to consider it. "Okay then," she stepped back, grabbing hold of the doorknob. "Goodnight Aharon," Lotus closed the door.

But it came to a halt with a sudden force from the other side when she was only inches from clicking the lock shut. As if the pressure of Aharon's hand was already a confirmation, Lotus stifled a relieved grin as she pulled the door open once again to see the way his jaw clenched, his eyes set on the floor between them. "I thought you'd died."