Page 34 of Pisces Rising

Pisces took another step into the room, her gaze fixed on him, scanning the angled lines of his body, the curve of his muscled arms, the way the fading light played across his features. "We...or you?" she whispered.

He thought for a second, and she saw a flash of sadness cross his face, a flicker of vulnerability that made her heart ache. "I forget," he said, looking away, his jaw clenching.

"What's wrong?" she stopped her advance, feeling the shadow of his despair, the weight of it pressing down on her chest. "I thought you'd be glad I know who I am now."

Raking a hand through his dark hair, he nodded, the movement jerky and tense. "I am."

"Then why didn't you come back to my room? Why are you hiding out in here?" The memory suddenly presented itself to her like a Tarot reader flipping the first card, the image vivid and clear. He thought she was intimate with Scorpio. He thought she'd betrayed him. Sag had overheard the conversation, the words seared into his mind. Perhaps he was still harboring resentment, a poison that threatened to taint the bond between them. Pisces took another step closer, wary of approaching too fast, causing his walls to go up, shutting her out once more. "Is this about Scorpio? What you saw?" she asked, her voice gentle, coaxing.

"No," he said, his voice gravelly, the sound rumbling through her like distant thunder. "I don't know how deep Gemini's betrayal goes, but I no longer blame you for whatever you did or didn't do."

That hint of doubt still lingering in his words cut deep, a jagged blade slicing through her heart, but she held back the emotion edging its way up, the lump forming in her throat. She didn't have enough of her own mind to argue her innocence; the memories were still too fragmented and elusive, so she let it fall away for now, a battle for another time. "I saw what we were," she looked out the window, the stars twinkling in the velvet sky, "in the stars."

He didn't respond, didn't meet her stare, his gaze fixed on some distant point beyond the glass. Had Gemini's darkness now gotten to him, too, seeping into the cracks of his armor, the chinks in his resolve? "Why didn't you come back?" she took a step closer, her bare feet inching toward him on the wood floor, the distance between them seeming to stretch and yawn. "Are you angry with me?"

"No," he rumbled low, the word more felt than heard, a vibration that echoed through her bones.

She took another step, closing the gap between them, the heat of his body palpable even from a distance. "Do you want me to go?" He didn't answer as she took another step, bringing her right in front of him, so close she could feel his breath on her skin. Standing there, looking down on his magnificent form, now hunched over with his head down, she sensed something heavier than sadness, a burden that seemed to weigh on his very soul. Was it grief, a mourning for what they had lost, what had been taken from them?

She reached out and touched his hair, letting her lithe fingers run through the black, silken strands, marveling at the softness, the way they slipped through her grasp like water. "Do you hate me?" the words came out of her mouth in a trembling whisper, a question she feared the answer to more than anything.

His head shot up, his eyes meeting hers with a smoky intensity, a fire that burned through her, setting her aflame from the inside out. "Never," he growled, the word fierce and unyielding, a vow spoken in the language of the stars.

Despite the thread of fear that ran through her, she held her ground and continued combing his hair with her fingers, slowly dragging them through until she finally clutched a handful and gently tugged, forcing him to look at her and meet her gaze head-on. "Then what is it?"

He let out a breath, the sound ragged and heavy, and gently grabbed her hips, his fingers digging into her flesh, sending sparks of electricity racing through her veins. He rested his head on her stomach, his forehead pressed against the soft fabric of the shirt, the heat of his skin seeping through the thin barrier. "I've failed you so immensely..." his words fell hard, each one a stone dropping into the still pond of her soul, rippling outward in endless waves.

Pisces hugged his head to her body, trying to soothe the fiery ram, to quell the storm raging within him. "You haven't failed me, Aries. We're Zodiacs. This is what we do." The awareness came from somewhere beyond her comprehension, a well of knowledge that ran deeper than memory, deeper than time itself. The words just fell from her mouth, but as they did, she knew they were true, an immutable law written in the very fabric of the universe.

He looked up, keeping his hands possessively on her hips, his thumbs tracing small circles on her skin, igniting a heat that pooled low in her belly. "I let her fool me. I let her fool us all. And I let her almost take you from me more than once." The pained look on his face left no room for doubt, a raw, unfiltered glimpse into his soul. He didn’t hate her. He hated himself, a loathing that ran so deep it threatened to consume him. "Shhh," Pisces said, pulling him back to her warm, soft body, cradling him against her. His hands began to slowly wander over her lower back and down her legs, tracing the curve of her thighs, the dip of her knee, the arch of her calf.

"I can't look you in the eye, knowing what I've allowed to happen. I can't look at you and see that failure reflected back at me."

"Hey," Pisces grabbed his chin and lifted his face to hers, forcing him to meet her gaze, to see the truth shining in her eyes, "Mortal or not, I am still born of the stars. We are Zodiacs. We don't live for yesterday, and we don't live for tomorrow. We live for right now."

There was a spark of resilience in his eyes, a glimmer of the warrior she knew him to be, the fighter who never backed down, never surrendered. She leaned in closer, bringing her lips just a breath from his forehead, his scent filling her nostrils, a heady mix of smoke, spice, and something uniquely him. "You are Aries—warrior of the stars, forged in fire. You are alive, and I'm alive. We're together right now. What else matters more than that?"

The match she'd struck ignited in him as a low rumble reverberated through the room, through her body, setting her nerves alight with anticipation. His hands wandered, sliding down her calf and back up her thigh, his touch leaving trails of fire in its wake.

But even as desire coursed through him, Aries hesitated, his hands stilling on her hips. He looked up at her, his eyes dark with hunger and trepidation. "Pisces...last time, I nearly..." He swallowed hard, the words sticking in his throat. "I nearly destroyed you. My power, my energy...it was too much for your mortal form."

Pisces cupped his face in her hands, her thumbs brushing over his cheekbones, tracing the line of his jaw. "You won’t hurt me," she whispered, her voice soft and soothing, a balm to his battered soul. "I'm not afraid. I trust you, Aries. With my body, with my heart...with everything I am."

He closed his eyes, leaning into her touch, a shudder running through his powerful frame. "I don't want to hurt you," he murmured, the words a plea, a prayer.

"You won't," she assured him, pressing a gentle kiss to his brow, his skin warm and smooth beneath her lips. "We'll take it slow. Just let me lead; let me set the pace."

Aries nodded, a gesture of surrender, of trust. He loosened his grip on her hips, allowing her to step back, to guide him. Pisces smiled, a soft, tender curve of her lips, and reached for the hem of the shirt, slowly pulling it up and over her head, baring herself to his heated gaze.

He took in every detail of her, his eyes roaming over her curves, the swell of her breasts, the dip of her waist, the flare of her hips. "You're so beautiful," he breathed, his voice rough with desire, with awe. "Like a goddess, like a dream made flesh."

Pisces felt a flush spread over her skin, a warmth that had nothing to do with the balmy island air. She reached for his hand, threading her fingers through his, and brought it to her breast, pressing his palm against the soft, pliant flesh. "Touch me," she whispered, her voice a siren's song, a temptation he couldn't resist.

Aries groaned, low and deep, and began to explore her body with reverent hands, his touch feather-light and achingly gentle. He traced the curve of her breast, the peak of her nipple, the dip of her navel, the jut of her hip bone. Everywhere he touched, her skin sang, alive and electric, every nerve ending firing with pleasure.

Pisces arched into his touch, her head falling back, her hair cascading down her back in a waterfall of gold. She reached for him, tugging at his shirt, desperate to feel his skin against hers. Aries obeyed her silent command, pulling the garment over his head and tossing it aside, revealing the sculpted planes of his chest, the ripple of his abs, the coiled power of his muscles.

She stepped into his embrace, pressing her body flush against his, a gasp escaping her lips at the contact, at the heat of him, the hardness of him. Aries wrapped his arms around her, holding her close, his heart beating a fierce, immortal brand against her own.

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