Aria remained mute as Braith bandaged her wrist. His touch was gentle, his hands feathery upon her mutilated and sore skin. Her tears had finally subsided but she felt exhausted and completely defeated. He was being kind to her again, and she didn't know why. Neither of them had spoken to the other in the past hour. Why had he come back to her? What had stopped him from going after Max? Ultimately as long as Max had been spared, then she didn't care what the reasons were. She had promised Braith anything he asked of her, and she had meant it.

Was it that promise that had brought him back to her? She wasn't going to risk him changing his mind. She'd overestimated his kindness and understanding of her, hadn't thought there was a snapping point within him, but then again she hadn't slapped him in the face before either. She supposed she was lucky that he hadn't just killed her outright.

He finished with her bandages, his hand rested upon her wrapped wrist and fingers. She lifted her head to meet his shaded eyes. "Why?" she inquired.

"Why what?"

She swallowed heavily, wary of sending him into another frenzy but she knew she had to ask the question. "Why did you pull me off that stage? Why did you choose me when you've never had a blood slave before?"

His hands gently squeezed hers before he rose from the floor and sat on the bed beside her. "I see that people have been talking."

She shrugged, fiddling anxiously with her bandages. "I think most are curious."

"As are you?"

"As am I," she agreed.

He became withdrawn, silent for a moment as his attention fixed on the doorway. "I have never had a blood slave before because I prefer to take my blood from the willing. Many of my kind enjoy the force and the control, I do not. I never have."

She turned toward him, her fingers stilled on her bandages as she studied his handsome countenance. He had wiped her blood from his face but she thought she could still see the reddened handprint that was rapidly fading. A small bit of shame crept through her, she shouldn't have hit him, but she'd never been one to control her temper. It had nearly cost Max his life.

"There are many willing ones out there?"

She felt his eyes slide to her, felt his gaze as it slid over her. She could only imagine what she must look like. Her eyes had to be bloodshot; she could feel the swelling in them. She assumed her face was blotchy and puffy also; her hair was in disarray, wild as it straggled about her face. Her appearance had never mattered to her before though, and it didn't matter now. There was a reason she was here, even if he was hesitant to reveal it, and she knew it had nothing to do with her looks.

"Yes."

She nodded, not liking the strange pit that formed in her stomach as he confirmed what she'd already known. What was wrong with her? Just an hour ago she'd slapped him, now she was upset by the thought of him with other women. She was losing her mind, she had finally flipped her lid, and she was surprised to realize that she didn't really care. Not anymore.

"So then why me? Why did you choose me?"

He ran his hand through his hair. It was already disheveled, now it stood a little on end. He stood up and walked over to the window before moving back across the room. He looked like a caged animal as he paced restlessly back and forth. Tension and power thrummed through him and for the first time she saw him for what he was. He wasn't just a man, or a vampire, and certainly not her enemy. Really he was someone who was just as confused and uncertain about this situation as she was.

"Because I saw you on that stage."

Aria frowned, confounded by his answer, unsure how to respond to it. What did that mean? Of course he'd seen her on the stage, as had everyone else that was present that day. "I don't understand."

"No, of course you don't," he muttered. He stopped before her, kneeling down as he took hold of her hands. "I brought you here because for the first time in almost a hundred years I was able to see something, and that something was you Arianna."

She frowned at him; her fingers were limp in his as she stared at him in confusion. Her eyes scanned over his face, landing upon the thick glasses. Her mind flashed to the cane, and to Keegan, who was ever present at Braith's side. "You're blind," she breathed, awed by this revelation, and the fact that she hadn't realized it until now. But he couldn't be blind. How could he have taught her to read then? And how had she always felt his gaze on her, how had he seen her connection with Max today if he was blind? "I don't understand."

He shook his head, turning to look out the window. "I don't either," he admitted. "But for some reason I saw you on that stage, and once the amazement of actually seeing something again wore off, I began to realize that I could also see the things around you."

"So your vision is coming back?"

"No." He turned back to her. "I only see things when I am with you, when you are around. When I leave this room, when I am not in your presence, I am still not able to see."

Aria's heart leapt wildly in her chest. She didn't know what to make of this confession or what it signified. Her heart pounded rapidly as she leaned forward and touched the edge of his glasses. He didn't move away from her, didn't stop her as her fingers wrapped around them. She bit her lip, excitement washed through her as she pulled the glasses away.

His eyes were closed, but she could see the faint white scars that outlined them. It had been a hundred years, plenty of time for a vampire to heal, but those scars were still there, still marring the otherwise perfection of his masculine beauty. Her fingers stroked over the marks, compassion washed through her. Whatever had caused this had to have been something horrific to leave this type of lasting damage.

"Let me see Braith." Her words were barely a whisper as she was consumed by the sudden need to see his eyes.

His eyes remained closed for a moment before his long dark lashes swept upward. Surprise flickered through her, but she found herself frozen, immobile within the grip of his turbulent yet solid stare. His eyes were striking. They were a bright, striking gray that robbed her of her breath and left her stunned. Around the iris was a band of bright blue that was utterly arresting. They dilated once the light hit them, once they focused upon her. Though they had focused upon her, they seemed strangely unseeing and somewhat dazed as she ran her fingers lightly over the scars encircling them. The comprehension dawned upon her that even though they were damaged, his were the most beautiful eyes she'd ever seen.

"Beautiful." She saw the brief shock that rolled through him, but she didn't care. They were beautiful, and she couldn't stop touching them, couldn't stop touching him. "What happened?"

"An explosion."

"The war?" He shook his head in response, but didn't elaborate, and she sensed that he didn't plan to. She wasn't going to push him either. It didn't matter how it had occurred, it simply mattered that she was here, with him. "I'm sorry."

"It was years ago, I had long since adapted to the loss. Until you."

She stopped searching his damaged gaze, and focused fully on the man before her. "What does it all mean?"

His hands encircled hers; his grasp was tender upon her wounded fingers. "I don't know what it means Arianna. I wish I had more answers, but I don't. I do know that I wasn't going to let you go once I saw you, and I especially wasn't going to let you go to Richard Ellis."

She pressed her hands tighter against his face as she leaned forward and brushed her lips tenderly against his forehead. She wished that she could do so much more, wished that she could heal the damage that had been inflicted upon him. She couldn't undo what had been done to him all those years ago, long before she was even born, but she could attempt to soothe the lingering anguish she sensed in him now.

"Braith," she breathed, so completely lost and confused by everything that was happening to her. To them.

She pulled back, surprised to feel tears burning her eyes again. She didn't think that she could possibly have any more tears left in her, but she did. "Arianna, you must listen to me. I don't aspire to hurt you, I really don't, but there are rules to being a blood slave, and there are rules about the relationship of a master and their slave."

"I know my life is not going to be a lengthy one," she assured him. "I've known that for years. I've seen more death than people three times my age, and I've narrowly avoided it many many times. I understand the rules Braith; and I know there is nothing you can do..."

"But there is, or there could be, but you must do as I say Arianna. There have been other vampires that have kept slaves for a few years. But you must behave, you must stay quiet, and you have to stay away from your lover..."

"Max is just my friend!" she interrupted sharply; maddened by the fact that he kept insisting upon something that wasn't true. "I told you that already, and I meant it. We've been together since we were children; he's my brother's best friend. If it wasn't for me, and my recklessness, Max wouldn't even be here. I can't let him suffer because I'm a fool who never listens to orders..."

Aria broke off; she silently cursed herself as she realized what she had nearly revealed to him. There was something growing and changing between them, but there were some things she could never reveal. Even if he didn't plan to harm her, there were others that would still use her against her family, and that was something she could never let happen.

"Orders?" His interest was piqued by her words.

She shook her head, unwilling to discuss this now. She simply couldn't. "He's my friend and he is going to die because of me. I can't... I can't bear it," she choked out. "All he wanted was to save me, for Daniel."

"Daniel?"

Aria managed a tremulous smile. "My brother."

Braith's face was rigid, his eyes searching as he looked her over. "I see."

"Max could have gotten away Braith. I went in to rescue Mary's child, but Max could have gotten away, he could have escaped and fled into the woods. He's here because he thought that he could save me from all of this, Max is an optimist to the end."

"And you're not?"

She managed a feeble smile. "I've always been one hundred percent pragmatic. Like I said, I've seen a lot in my short life, very little of it has been good. Max is good though, and I hate the fact that his goodness will be destroyed because of me. I didn't mean to hurt you; I just wanted to see my friend, to know that he was safe, and that he wasn't dead, at least not yet anyway."

Braith stretched his long legs before him as he sat back. "You didn't hurt me."

Aria nodded, her hands slipped away from his face, brushing briefly against the stubble that was already lining his jaw. "Of course I didn't hurt you. I shouldn't have said that, I didn't mean it." She couldn't hurt him, she'd been foolish to think that maybe that was the reason he'd been so incensed with her over Max. She had to remember that, although her feelings for him might be changing, his feelings for her were still inscrutable.

"I didn't mean to do what I did today. It's just that when I saw Max he reminded me so much of home, and I missed him so much that all I could think of was getting to him. All I could think of was my woods and hunting and running free. Freedom, Braith, I loved my freedom, I reveled in it. I'm sorry that what I did today could have caused us both problems, but I couldn't stop myself because for one brief moment, I was in the woods again. I could smell them, taste them, feel them around me, and it was wonderful."

Aria broke off, overcome with a crushing sense of homesickness again. Braith was silent, his mouth parted slightly as he studied her, and then his fingers were in her hair and he was pulling her against him. Aria gasped as his mouth claimed hers with a desperation that left her dazed and breathless. At first she was so surprised that she was motionless against him, unable to respond to the intensity and passion she felt radiating from him.

Then her shock was buried beneath the torrent of emotions that surged forth in her. She was shaking, rocked by the need that filled her, the desperation that seized her. She needed this, she needed him. It all felt so right, so perfectly, and astonishingly right! Something inside her was healing and becoming whole. There had always been something missing in her life, something that she'd been searching and hoping for, but she'd never known what it was. Until now.

Now, with his mouth upon hers, and her body tingling with electricity and a fire building within her, she knew that it was him.

He was what she had been missing; he was what she had been searching for. He was what had made her so reckless all the time, because without him she'd been so lost and empty that she hadn't stopped to think about the consequences of her actions. She knew there would be consequences for these actions, but she didn't care. In fact, even though he was something that she had always hated and fought against, she thought this might be the first right thing she had ever done.

His large body loomed over hers as he seized hold of her waist and lifted her easily up to deposit her in the center of the bed. Her heart hammered, excitement and nervousness tore through her in equal measures as he came down on top of her. She couldn't get enough of the feel of him. His chest was firm against hers, the width of his shoulders was nearly three times the size of hers as his arm wrapped around her waist and he lifted her against him. The differences in their bodies were startling, he was unbending everywhere that she was yielding, and yet she fit perfectly against him. All of her curves hugged all of the right places of his rock-solid frame.

She arched beneath him; he took advantage of the small exhalation that escaped her to take full possession of her mouth. He tasted of spices as his tongue slid into her mouth in a sensual dance that left her aching for more. Her fingers fell against the bare skin at the hollow of his lower back that his shirt had bunched up to expose. Her hands splayed over the rigid muscles that flexed beneath her as he settled more firmly between her legs. He kissed her until she was breathless, kissed her until she couldn't think straight and was desperate for more.

His strong hands slipped her thin dress up her thighs. His fingers brushed over her bare skin, stroking her as he moved steadily higher. She wanted to scream with pleasure at the same time a bolt of fear shot through her. It was all so new and thrilling, but it was also moving far too fast as the heavy weight of his body pressed her deeper into the mattress.

Aria broke free of the enchanting pressure of his mouth as reality crashed back around her. She couldn't breathe, couldn't get control of her surging body and tumultuous emotions. "Wait Braith, wait," she managed to pant out.

He froze against her, his fingers were a tantalizing sensation as they stilled upon her thigh. Aria shook at that realization; it was the most intimate touch she'd ever experienced. A tremor raced through her as desire sent her heartbeat skyrocketing again. She'd never felt so torn before; never felt such overwhelming desire and belonging mingled with such pulsating dread of the unknown. She couldn't think, and she desperately needed just a moment to at least try and sort out what was going on.

His hands were upon her face, turning it towards him. She blinked at him as she focused on the beautiful, caring eyes before her. "Arianna, are you ok?"

She managed to nod; she even managed a wan smile. "I'm just... I'm not... It's just too fast. It's all too fast."

His eyes scanned questioningly over her face. Then, much to her dismay, a dawning realization seemed to come over him. His brow smoothed out, his eyes were far more understanding as they came back to her. "Arianna, are you a virgin?" Her face flooded with color and her eyes darted rapidly away from him. She couldn't meet his gaze again, she was too mortified. "Why didn't you tell me?"

She bit on her bottom lip, shaking her head as she strived to keep the fierce heat from her face. "You should have told me, I would have gone slower, I would have..."

"Stop," she whispered, too embarrassed to hear anymore.

He bent his head to press his forehead against hers. His lips were swollen from their kisses as they hovered over hers; seeming to breathe her in even though he didn't require air. His fingers played with her hair. "Ok," he said, pressing a quick peck to her nose.

He rolled off of her, pulling her against his side, his arm wrapped around her waist as he held her against him. Aria was enthralled by the easiness with which he embraced her, and the fact that he had taken her abrupt stop so calmly. His fingers were as soft as down against her wounded ribs, the light pressure actually felt good.

"I don't understand any of this," she whispered.

He brushed the hair back from her face and tilted her chin up to him. "Neither do I, but you must keep this to yourself Arianna. No one else can know about my eyesight."

"Not even your family?"

"They see my blindness as a weakness, and there are many people that would like to keep me weak. If they realize that I have my vision back, and that it's because of you, they will kill you to keep me weak. They may not know why I can only see around you, and they won't care. You can't let anyone know."

"I won't," she promised.

He smiled at her as he pressed affectionate kisses across her cheeks. She was amazed by him, overjoyed by the tenderness he showed her, staggered by the fact that he had so easily accepted being denied something she knew he craved. He was a vampire, and yet she knew now that though he could be volatile, he was not a monster. He never would be, not to her anyway. She knew it with every fiber of her being.

"What are you going to do with me?" She hated to ask, the answer wouldn't be good, but she had to know.

His quick smile was stunning, robbing her of her breath. His eyes twinkled brightly as a small dimple briefly flashed in his right cheek. "Whatever you would like me to do." Aria couldn't help but smile back at him as she traced the ridge of his jaw. "I know you covet your freedom Arianna, and I understand that, but I can't give it back to you. I will keep you protected for as long as I can, but although I am a prince, there are still those with more power than I. It may take a little while, but I will work through this, somehow. I won't let them kill you."

Aria nodded, warmed by his words, but not at all comforted by them. There would be little either of them could do if it were decided that she was a threat that must be eliminated. "You look exhausted."

"I am," she admitted.

"Sleep, we can talk later."

She didn't feel like sleeping, she enjoyed lying there and feeling him against her. She wanted to lay there and enjoy the simple awe of her strange and tenuous situation. Although she fought against it, sleep was swift and deep when it finally claimed her.