Braith

Braith kept his arm around Aria’s waist as he led her through the bloody streets of the town toward the palace. Smoke wafted around them, and the cries of the dying filled the air before they were able to be put out of their misery. Aria kept her shoulders back and her chin up, but he felt the small tremor in her muscles against his side. Though she tried, she couldn’t hide her sorrow from him.

William carried his brother’s body in his arms, his expression almost identical to Aria’s as they neared the palace gates. The last of Sabine’s troops were falling beneath the onslaught of the palace guards and the fighters who had ensnared them within the town.

“Braith! It’s Braith!” Melinda shouted from the wall when he stopped before the gate and tilted his head back to look up at them. She clapped her hands excitedly and bounced on her toes before spinning away and disappearing from view.

Gideon and Ashby gawked down at them. He lifted Sabine’s head into the air to show them she’d been eliminated.

“Open the gates!” he commanded.

Gideon blinked at him before turning away. “Open the gates!” he bellowed, and the cranking of the mechanism within sounded as the battered wooden drawbridge lowered with a groan.

The wood hadn’t fully hit the ground before Melinda was running through the gates toward him. She ignored the head in his hands as she threw her arms around his neck. Unwilling to release Aria, or to have Sabine’s head touch Melinda, he turned his chin into her shoulder. “It’s good to see you too, sister,” he told her.

She pulled back from him, her hands staying on his shoulders. “She had your head,” she whispered, her lower lip trembling as her gaze ran over him.

“Not mine, but I do have hers.”

Melinda grinned at him and slapped him on the shoulders. “Good.”

She stepped away from him as Ashby and Gideon emerged from within and strode out to meet them. Behind them, Braith spotted the rest of The Council making their way outside of the palace walls, along with a large grouping of humans and vamps who surveyed the wreckage around them with wide eyes.

“We have to put the fires out, now!” Braith shouted at the milling group.

The command snapped many of them out of their stunned stupor. They ran back inside the walls to gather the hoses and pumps that would funnel water from the nearby lake to the fires.

Melinda’s gaze ran over all of them before falling on William’s arms. Her hand flew to her mouth and the color drained from her face. “Is that…?”

Her question trailed off as she looked to Aria, who held her gaze, but didn’t speak.

“I’m sorry,” Melinda whispered to her.

Aria gave a brief bow of her head as Ashby and Gideon arrived.

Gideon’s gaze ran over him from head to toe and back again before he grinned at him. “Not your head she had, I’m guessing.”

“No,” Braith replied. He had to get Aria away from all of this and settle her somewhere safe so she could mourn in peace. Lifting Sabine’s head, he smiled grimly at Gideon as he thrust it into his stomach. “Make sure this stays away from her body.”

Gideon’s lip skimmed back in disgust. His hand threaded through her hair. “With pleasure.”

“The fires must be put out, the injured have to be taken care of, and the bodies of the dead collected. All of the bodies of those who followed her are to be burned. There are too many dead to bury them all, and they don’t deserve a funeral. Any of her followers who are still alive are to be executed. There will be no leniency and no prisoners. I will help you sort that out shortly, but if you have any questions about who was on Sabine’s side and who wasn’t, detain them until their loyalty can be determined for certain.”

“We will take care of it,” Ashby said.

Braith nudged Aria forward, but she planted her feet. “We must stay and see everything through,” she said.

“I can take you to our rooms. It will be quiet for you.”

“No,” she replied. “The largest part of the threat has been eliminated, but we’re still needed here. It is the way of our world that we can’t always do what we wish.”

Braith stared at her, torn between carrying her away from here to give her the time he knew she needed right now and doing as she asked of him.

Her head turned toward him; the tears in her eyes didn’t fall as she spoke. “These are our followers. They come first, and we will take care of them. It has always been so. It will always be so.”

Braith brushed the hair back from her forehead before bending to kiss her. “Sabine was a complete fool. There is no finer queen than you,” he whispered against her mouth.

Her hand compressed around his as she stepped back to speak with William. “Place Daniel in the solar where we put father and meet us back here. They will need all of us here to oversee things tonight.”

William bowed his head to her and turned away. Tempest stayed close to his side as he walked through the crowd who parted to allow him to pass. Braith would make sure that Daniel’s funeral would be the largest they’d ever had once this was all settled; he was the only reason Aria still stood at his side.

“Max will be taking Daniel’s spot on The Council. I realize there will have to be a vote to confirm this eventually, but he is in charge right now, and I have no doubt all who vote will choose him when the time comes,” Aria said to Ashby, Gideon, and the other Council members who had walked out to join them. “Max has stood by my father’s side and then Daniel’s throughout. He will help you to calm the humans.”

“Come with me,” Calista said to Max and jerked her head toward the palace. “It will be best for you to be with the injured and the grieving now.”

Max took hold of Maeve’s hand before walking beside Calista through the gates. Aria focused on Xavier, her eyebrow raised in question as he stood resolutely by her side. Braith knew there had been something between him and Daniel in the end. He’d smelled them on each other, but he’d never scented Daniel’s blood within him or seen Xavier’s marks on Daniel. He hadn’t gotten the impression of love between them, only a mutual respect and need.

“Xavier—”

“He was a good and loyal man, a dear friend. He will be missed greatly by many, including myself,” Xavier interrupted Aria and rested his hand comfortingly on her shoulder. “I cared for him deeply, but I will be okay, Aria.”

Aria bowed her head and took a minute to compose herself before squeezing Xavier’s hand. Keeping Aria against his side, Braith turned to face the town as water was released onto the flames eating away at the buildings. Keegan brushed against his side, and Braith ran his hand over the wolf’s head. Keegan whimpered when he pressed against Aria’s legs, sensing her sadness.

“We’ll be fine. Go on, return home,” she whispered to Keegan as she ran her fingers over his thick fur.

The wolf licked her hand before trotting away between two of the houses not yet on fire. His green eyes flashed in the light of the flames when he looked back at them for a minute. When Keegan turned away and vanished into the woods once more, Braith knew his old friend had said good-bye for the final time.

***

Braith

Throughout the endless night and into the next day, they worked tirelessly to put out the flames, gather the injured, settle those who had been displaced, destroy those who had attacked them, and calm the nerves of the numerous survivors.

The sun had set on the next day when Braith was finally able to lift Aria into his arms and carry her to their rooms. He turned on the water in the large tub before carefully removing her bloody, ruined clothes. The gashes on her arms had healed and the wound in her shoulder was mostly healed, but the skin around it was still red and puckered. She remained unmoving while he worked, her head bowed as tears slid down her cheeks.

She shivered when he bent to kiss her back. He undid her braid, allowing her glossy auburn hair to spill around her shoulders. Carefully, he lifted her into his arms and climbed into the tub with her. He settled into the water, clutching her against his chest when she curled into a ball against him and finally gave herself over to the sobs she’d been holding back.

He didn’t try to quiet her, but only held her as she shook against him and her tears wet his chest. He’d give anything to take her sorrow from her, but though there were so many things that could be taken from someone, the worst of them never could be. Grief had to be endured.