He opens his starlit eyes. “I see you’ve chosen yours.”
“You were protecting him.” I lean against the wall and cross my arms, squinting into the reddening light of the sunset streaming through the windows. “Even after all he did to you and your people.”
“I was protecting you, too.” His voice is so deep that it rumbles through me like thunder.
“You lied to me,” I say, glaring at him. “You knew exactly how he’d activate the portal. You knew he needed to bring your House back to do it. Then you willingly traveled here to be sacrificed. And in all the conversations we’ve had in the Psy the past few months, you never said a word about any of this.”
“Stars exist to illuminate your path. Not to tell you why you’re on it.” His inky-black hair is like an oppressive cloud of Dark Matter pressing down on his youthful face.
“Or maybe you just couldn’t See which side would win.”
Ophiuchus plants a clawed foot on the ground and rises to his full height, towering a few heads over me. “Is that what you think I was doing?” he asks, his voice booming through the room.
I straighten and drop my arms to my sides. “Just tell me the truth for once. What is it you want?”
“Same thing I’ve always wanted.”
“Unity?” I ask, scoffing. “Your beloved Aquarius destroyed any semblance of unity we ever had—”
“And you humans are so much better?” he growls, and the glass windows tremble. “I’ve watched you from the beginning. Why is your species so deserving of a tomorrow? What have you learned? How have you grown? You’re still the same petty, greedy creatures you’ve always been.”
“Maybe we could have aspired to more if our stars hadn’t failed us!”
His murderous eyes flash to mine, and I hear my heart starting up. “You let Aquarius get the best of you, and you were too weak to even accuse him.” My pulse pounds harder with every word, so I throw everything I have at him. “You’re pathetic! What kind of god lets his power get taken from him and dooms his people to suffer a maniac’s twisted rule just because he’s too scared to get his heart broken—”
My lungs run out of air as Ophiuchus lifts me off my feet and shoves me into the wall, pinning my shoulders there with his fists. His mouth is inches from mine as he says in a low voice, “I know what you want from me. I know who you need me to be. But have you even considered what it’s doing to me to treat you this way?”
“You’ve done far worse,” I say, my breathing choppy. “And why should you care? You only needed me around to end your despair, and now you have Aquarius for that.”
“You’ve made bad choices,” he whispers, his cold breath blowing on my face. “You are not the first. But you can still make new ones.”
“And what—what if I just wanted it to end?”
My mouth is dry and I can barely believe I’m saying the words out loud. “Would you offer me the same courtesy I once offered you?”
Even though I’m literally in his hands, he looks at me helplessly, like I’m beyond his reach. His voice dips, and he speaks in the same intimate tone I heard him use with Aquarius—like we’re equals. “I need to know you can come back from this.”
Before I can stop it, I feel the revulsion showing on my face, and I spit, “You want me to forgive myself because you want to be forgiven, too.”
I sound aghast. “You really think you can come back from all you’ve done? Because you can’t.” His eyes widen slightly, like some part of him actually thought he stood a chance of being forgiven. “You’ve murdered whole worlds—don’t you get that? You’re a monster!”
His knuckles press into my shoulders with such force that I’m certain bruises are blossoming beneath my tunic. His starry eyes go supernova and his snakeskin darkens until even the room seems to dim, and he looks like the monster every child in the Zodiac was raised to fear. The darkness we created.
Terror makes my heart beat faster until it’s all I hear, and I feel Death’s presence like a shadow that’s just entered the room.
“Tempting,” he growls, “but I would hate to end your torment prematurely. Not when you have so much more suffering to endure.”
The pressure in his grip eases a little, and at last I see his threats for what they’ve always been—empty. He’s not going to end me. I’m still too powerful a game piece to trade amongst him and Aquarius and the Zodai.
I sigh in resignation and ask, “What was it about Aquarius you loved?”
“His light.” Ophiuchus’s answer is so quick that it’s more reflex than reflection. “I fed his fire because I longed to see how brilliant he could burn. I tried to check his flames to keep them from consuming him, but I didn’t condemn his thirst for power. . . . I was too in love with his blaze.”
Ophiuchus lets go of me, and my feet slide back down to the ground.
“I can’t force you to leave this place with me,” I say, glancing at the yellow wristband which hasn’t buzzed yet. “But if you stay, the whole Zodiac dies. Are you really going to let your world disappear a second time?”
“Aquarius promised to return my descendants to my House. My people may be gone, but he’s Seen that my planet has been protected by the Dark Matter, and it will continue to endure after Helios goes dark. The Thirteenth House is the only world that will survive the Zodiac’s apocalypse.”
That’s why Ophiuchus came so willingly.
His House was never in any danger. Which means I have zero leverage to convince him to betray Aquarius.
“So you’re going to let him annihilate the Zodiac?”
A shadow crosses his snakeskin face. “I didn’t see any of the other Houses rushing to help my people when we were destroyed.”
“And your solution is to let the star you claim to love become the universe’s ultimate monster?” I ask, grasping for anything that might make him reconsider. “Is that what you want for him?”
It’s obvious from his hesitation that this isn’t what he wants.
And as I study Ophiuchus’s expression closely, I recognize a feeling that’s completely out of place in our current predicament. It’s hope.
“Holy Helios,” I breathe, my eyes widening as I finally understand his behavior. “You still believe he can change,” I say incredulously. “You think you can actually save him. You’re insane!”
Ophiuchus drops his gaze, and after a moment he says, “I’ll go with you.”
I can hardly believe it, and every cell in my body exhales with relief. I have no idea why he’s helping me, but I just want to get going before he changes his mind again. “Great! Let’s—”
“But not without my Star Stone.”
I stare at him in utter bewilderment. “You’re joking. Aquarius probably took it with him—”
“I can feel its presence. I was never meant to meet a true death, so to die properly I must destroy it.”