The Thirteenth Sign

Celeste's pulse hadn't settled since the moment Kieran had said it.

"Because the Order wants you dead."

The words still echoed in her mind, colliding with every rational thought she tried to piece together. She was an Aquarius scholar, the daughter of respected intellectuals, a devoted follower of the Celestial Order. She had never committed any crimes, except for looking at books she shouldn't have, and she had never offended anyone.

She wasn't a threat.

But the way Kieran was looking at her? Like he had already decided she was.

She swallowed hard, gripping the book tighter. "That's impossible."

Kieran let out a quiet laugh, low and dark. "You think so?"

Celeste's jaw tightened. "I've never done anything wrong."

He stepped forward, just close enough that she could feel the heat of his presence and the weight of his gaze. "Then why did they send me?"

Her breath caught, because he was right.

Kieran wasn't a messenger. He wasn't a soldier who followed orders blindly. He was an assassin—a Scorpio enforcer whose very existence meant one thing: She wasn't supposed to leave this night alive.

And yet, here she was.

Still breathing.

Still standing too close to a man who should have killed her by now.

Celeste exhaled sharply, forcing herself to meet his gaze. "So what changed?"

Kieran's eyes flickered, a flash of something unreadable. "You intrigue me."

The air between them felt too tight. Too charged.

Celeste hated the way her pulse reacted to his words.

This was wrong. She had spent years dismissing the other girls at the Academy who swooned over Scorpio enforcers and their dark, lethal mystique. They were trained killers, not romantic fantasies.

And yet—

She wasn't swooning, but she couldn't look away from him either.

Kieran studied her for another moment, then leaned back against the cold metal wall, as if he was done with the conversation. "Go ahead, ask me what you really want to know."

Celeste folded her arms and glared at the handsome man in front of her. "You assume I want to know anything about you?"

"You do," he said smoothly. "Because I'm the only reason you're still alive."

How cocky. Were all men so naturally... confident?

Her fingers clenched around the book. "If you're not here to kill me, then what do you want?"

Kieran's smirk wasn't kind. "Maybe I just like watching you squirm."

Wha-what...?

Celeste scowled. "You're insufferable."

"Be more creative. I've been called worse."

...

Despite every instinct screaming at her not to, Celeste followed Kieran deeper into the maintenance tunnels. The air was cooler down here, damp with the scent of old machinery and ozone.

She didn't trust him but she trusted the Order even less.

If Kieran was right, if they really did want her dead, then she needed to understand why.

Kieran walked ahead, his movements smooth and effortless. He carried himself like someone who had nothing to fear—like the shadows themselves bent to his will.

It was infuriating. Why? Celeste didn't know why; probably because she hated how he was just so casual about everything when her live was at risk.

But then again, who was she to him? Why would he be affected if it was HER life at risk?

"Where are we going?" she asked, breaking the silence.

"You'll see."

Celeste narrowed her eyes. "That's not an answer."

Kieran glanced over his shoulder and smirked. "It wasn't a question."

What the fuck? She literally asked him where they were going, and he said it wasn't a question?

Ugh, annoying. She hated him!

She also hated that she noticed how sharp his jawline was in the dim light, how his dark hair fell over his eyes like a careless afterthought.

She hated that the pull in her stomach wasn't just fear.

After several turns through the underground corridors, Kieran finally stopped in front of a sealed door. It was old, older than anything she had ever seen in Aetherion. Rusted edges, deep engravings of ancient celestial symbols she only half recognized.

She turned to Kieran with a frown. "This isn't Order technology."

"It's older than the Order," he replied.

A chill traced down her spine. Older than the Order?

That wasn't possible. The Celestial Order had ruled since the Zodiac Factions were created. Their history was the only history.

Wasn't it?

Celeste touched the door, running her fingers over the engravings. A snake coiled around a constellation.

Her stomach dropped.

"I've seen this before," she whispered.

Kieran's voice was quiet but sharp. "Where?"

She hesitated. She had glimpsed this symbol once—deep in the Air Dominion's oldest star maps, in the archives her mother had spent years studying.

But those records had been sealed away. Locked from public access.

Because the Celestial Order didn't want people to know they existed.

Kieran studied her expression, and for the first time, she saw a flicker of something close to understanding in his eyes.

"You're starting to see it, aren't you?" he murmured.

Celeste swallowed. "That the Order is hiding something?"

"That your entire life is a lie," Kieran corrected.

She wanted to argue. She wanted to tell him he was wrong, but the longer she stared at the symbol on the door, the more she knew she couldn't.

...

Kieran moved to stand beside her, so close that his shoulder almost brushed hers. He pressed his palm against the door's rusted surface.

The metal groaned as the gears shifted.

Celeste stepped back instinctively and bumped into Kieran's chest.

He didn't move nor did he step away.

Her breath hitched as she felt the slow rise and fall of his chest behind her, the solid heat of him at her back.

She turned sharply, finding herself far too close to his face.

He smirked. "Careful, Cel. You keep looking at me like that, and I might think you're starting to like me."

Cel? First day of meeting each other and he was already calling her Cel?

Celeste's face heated. "In your dreams, Vael."

"Now, now," he said, his voice a teasing whisper. "No need to make this personal."

Celeste wanted to slap him.

She also wanted to grab his collar and kiss the smirk right off his lips.

But, she did neither.

Stop it, Celeste. You're better than those girls in the Academy. You're not some fangirl trying to hook up with some assasin...

Instead, she shoved past him and stepped into the hidden chamber beyond the door.

And what she saw made her blood turn to ice.