CHAPTER 3
“There was a raid.”
Braith stood silently, thinking over his brother Caleb’s words as the tailor moved slowly around him. The tailor had stopped mumbling to himself, and although he continued to work, Braith knew he was listening intently to the conversation. “And?” Braith asked quietly.
“She was not amongst the captured.”
“The dead?”
“No. The soldiers know that she is to be brought back here if caught. That they all are.”
Braith shrugged, disliking the feel of the coat he wore. “No matter the orders, there are always casualties in war,” he murmured. He expected Caleb to leave after delivering the news. Even twisted, brutal Caleb didn’t like to be around him for any length of time anymore. No one did. Braith’s temper had become volatile, his fury and paths of destruction were well known, and feared, amongst the residents of the palace.
A lot of blood had stained his hands over the past two months; he had consumed more blood in the past eight weeks than he had in the past eight years. But it was not enough, it would never be enough to bury the hatred and anger festering inside of him. His murderous rampage had died down, but only because he had calmed enough to realize that the deaths of innocent people did not ease his rage as much as he had hoped it would. Now he just consumed mass quantities of blood, but most of the time the people survived his attack now.
“Is there more?” he demanded impatiently of his brother.
Caleb cleared his throat. “She was not amongst the dead, and she was not amongst the captured, but she was there.”
Braith’s head came slowly up, he turned toward his brother. He could not see Caleb, darkness ruled Braith’s life once more, but he could smell the faint hint of fear and excitement that rolled off of him. Braith stood for a long moment, stunned by Caleb’s words. There had been no sign of her since she’d left here, and though he could have found her at a moment’s notice, he refused to lower himself by going after her, by making her think that he wanted her back, because he didn’t. She had betrayed him after all; he wanted nothing more to do with the traitorous bitch.
And yet he felt a moment of fear rock through him. He wanted her punished for her treachery, wanted her to suffer for what she had done to him, but did he truly want her dead? Did he truly want her back here where she would be tortured and punished for her treachery? He had believed so, he had wanted it to be so, but now that his troops had stumbled across her, now that they were hot on her heels, he wondered what he would do if she was recaptured. She would be tormented, beaten, and eventually killed. She would be punished for being a traitor, and it would be a brutal punishment.
If he really wanted her back, then he would have gone after her himself and brought her back here by now. But even though he hated her, even though she had sliced him deeply, he had to admit that he did not want her dead. He wanted her to hurt as badly as he had upon first discovering that she was gone, but he did not want her dead.
In all the time since she had been gone, it was the first time that he actually realized this fact. He wanted her blood, he wanted to taste her and see her again, and he wanted to make her pay for what she had done. But he wanted to be the one that made her pay, not his brother or his father, and he did not want her dead. His jaw clenched tight as he grasped the lapels on the jacket he wore. The hated jacket. The tailor made a soft sound of protest as he stepped down from the dais he had been standing upon, ignoring the annoying gnat of a man.
“How do you know she was there?” he growled.
“One of our people spotted her; it was why they went in when they did. They were hoping to capture her.”
“Went in?”
“They were in a group of caves, apparently well engineered caves with a series of tunnels and gates throughout them. The caves were discovered last week, but they were going to wait until they knew where all of the exits were before raiding them. Our guards got a little overexcited when they spotted her though, and jumped the gun early.”
Caves, she was living in caves. She had spoken about her woods, and her forest, with such reverence that he had assumed she’d returned to the trees and plants that had brought a small smile to her face when she spoke of them. That she had returned to the world of freedom and wilderness that she had so openly craved. Instead, she was living in caves, hidden beneath the earth, trapped beneath mounds of dirt and rock. It made no sense to him, but what made even less sense was the fact that he even remotely cared where she was living. What she was doing.
He had moved on with his life, he now owned several blood slaves, and though none of them were her, he found he did enjoy them. They made him forget for a little bit, they made it not so hard to get through the days. And unlike Arianna, these ones were more pliant and less defiant. He was getting married in a matter of months, granted he couldn’t stand the woman, but he need only have a male heir with her and then he wouldn’t have to have anything to do with her again. It was just a matter of time, and his wife’s family would help to strengthen his own. He had not planned on marrying the woman, no matter what his father wanted, but he was resigned to it now. He had never intended to do his duty as the eldest son. Not until Arianna had abandoned him, not until she had fled here with his brother and another blood slave.
After that, all he had wanted was vengeance, and to forget. All he had wanted was not to think about her soft smile, bright eyes, delightful innocence, and sweet blood. And there were even times during the day when he almost did forget, brief moments when he found a little reprieve from his memories in the copious amounts of blood. Those moments never lasted long, and there was a part of him that hated himself for what he was doing, but he knew that with enough blood, and enough time, he would eventually forget her. And eventually Arianna would die, she was human, and she lived a dangerous life. It was only a matter of time before it happened, he would know when that time came, and he had thought that he would feel relief when it did.
He wasn’t so sure now.
“Was there any sign of Jericho?”
Resentment boiled through him at the thought of his younger brother, the sibling he had trusted and liked the most, and the one that had betrayed him the deepest. The one that had taken Aria from him. Though he doubted she had put up any fight. In fact, he was fairly certain that despite her vows of love, and her promises to never leave him, that she had probably run eagerly through the tunnel once it had been revealed to her. She was a fickle bitch after all, or at least that’s what he had come to believe. Why else would she vow to love him forever and then leave him the very next morning?
And Jericho had become enemy number one now. Braith may not personally destroy Arianna, but he thought he would have a try at Jericho.
“They did not see Jericho there, but I’m sure he was nearby. He betrayed us for her after all; she must mean something to him.”
Jericho had said that he was here to rescue Arianna because her father was the leader of the rebels. Jericho had come here for her because he was one of the few that could get her free. That was what he had said, but Braith had a hard time believing anything that had come out of his brother’s mouth during those days. His brother had also said that he would not do anything without consulting Braith first, and then he had disappeared the next day.
In fact, he thought that Caleb was right, that Jericho did feel more for Arianna than just friendship and loyalty, why else would he have taken her like he had? Braith had never revealed to Caleb, or his father, Arianna’s true history. There was no point in doing so, she was gone now, and there was no way to use her against her family anymore.
“There was a different man with her.”
Braith’s eyebrows lifted sharply, his mouth curved in a sneer. “Was there,” he said sardonically. How many damn men that the little bitch have? He wondered angrily. First the blood slave, Max, then his brother, and now some other mystery man. His fingers twitched into a fist, he struggled against the fierce surge of bloodlust that tore through him. He needed to bury his fangs in something in order to try and forget the anger raging through him.
“Yes. They have no idea who it was, but it wasn’t Jericho and it wasn’t the other blood slave.”
A muscle in his cheek began to twitch in aggravation; he felt his temper beginning to unravel. He had thought Arianna a sweet innocent who had brought light back into his life. He was beginning to learn that nothing could be farther from the truth.
“I see.” But he didn’t see, and he wondered why he didn’t go after her and drag her back here kicking and screaming. Why he didn’t go after her, destroy her family, smash her rebel cause, and hunt down his treacherous brother and make them all pay. Braith paced away, shooing away the tailor that tried to follow him. He tore the jacket off, suddenly feeling claustrophobic within the material. The tailor made a strangled sound of despair as the material ripped, but Braith did not care. “Have they brought any blood slaves back?” he demanded.
“Yes, they are leading them onto the stage now.”
Braith nodded, he grabbed his cane and hefted it into his hands. Keegan, his ever faithful wolf and seeing dog, yawned before rising to his feet. His claws clicked against the wood floor as he walked beside Braith. “Let’s go.”
Caleb hesitated for only moment before falling into step beside him. Braith was used to the darkness, used to navigating it; he needed no assistance as he wound his way through the hallways of the palace. The cane clicked off the floor, but it was Keegan that always alerted him to any new obstacle that may have been placed in the way. With a subtle pressure against his leg Keegan could steer him easily one way or the other.
Braith made his way swiftly down to the stage that held the future blood slaves. He looked it slowly over, but he saw nothing. There was no glowing light upon it, no redheaded girl staring in horror and fear at the crowd. He had been shocked into immobility at the sight of Arianna, unable to move, unable to believe that he could actually see anything again, let alone the frightened, dirty, bedraggled girl that was everything he had ever disliked about a woman.
She was not round, she was not voluptuous, she smelled far from decent, and yet he had seen her. She was the first thing he had witnesses in over a hundred years. And slowly, over the time he spent with her, she had become infinitely beautiful to him. Yes she was defiant, harsh, far too skinny for his taste, and not beautiful in the classical sense but she was also strong, sweet, innocent, and unbelievably wonderful. He had come to care greatly for her, until he had realized that it was all a lie. That she was in fact none of those things, and was instead a cunning, manipulative shrew.
He looked over the stage once more, but still nothing popped out at him. No other women appeared to him, no one else gave him sight again. “Is there anyone up there that could be her family?”
Caleb was silent for a few moments. “Not that I can see. I’m going to grab a few of them, I’m sure they’ll eventually tell us more. And if they don’t,” Braith heard Caleb’s shrug of indifference. “I will enjoy trying to make them talk.”
Braith stood silently, listening as blood slaves were brought forth and auctioned off. Caleb claimed four of them. Braith briefly contemplated taking a few more of his own, but decided against it. He had enough for now.
He turned away, if there was anything to learn, Caleb would do it. He made his way back toward the palace, wondering where Jericho had been during the raid, wondering who it was that she had been with. Another man? Just how many damn men did she have in her life? He tried to tell himself that he didn’t care about the answer to that question, but he knew he did. He could not deny it. The bitch had betrayed him, and now she was running free, wrapping even more men around her devious finger in order to get them to do whatever she wanted them to. He hated her for making him one of those men.
He made his way easily through the crowd, his mind churning; anger simmered hotly inside of him. He needed a new plan. He couldn’t simply sit here and allow her to get away with everything that she had done. He could not allow his brother, the youngest, to be sitting amongst the humans, laughing about how he had managed to deceive his eldest brother, and his family.
Braith had made the decision to let them be, he was now beginning to rethink that decision. They should pay for what they had done, and he could make them do that. They may be able to avoid his men, but they could not avoid him.
Especially not her.
***
Rain dripped softly onto the makeshift tent. The piece of canvas offered little protection against the elements, but Aria didn’t care. The air smelled wonderful, it was freeing after all the time in the caves. It helped to ease the sense of claustrophobia that still clung to her, but it did little to wash away the lingering screams that had woken her every night for the past week.
She could retreat to the shelter and warmth of the caves, but she knew that she would not. She couldn’t bring herself to go back in them now, if ever. So instead she sat in silence, listening to the plop of the water upon the tent. Max and William sat beside her; they had been her constant companions since the night of the raid. William would wander out once in awhile to gather food but Max would not leave her be, and she wasn’t sure that she wanted him too. He moved closer to her, dropping a blanket around her shoulders. His hands lingered upon her for a moment, and she didn’t shrug him away. She found she needed his comfort, his loyalty, his unwavering love right now.
She leaned into him, resting against his legs. “You need to get some sleep,” he told her.
“I will.” They both knew she lied, but he didn’t argue with her.
When she shivered, he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her against his chest and cradling her gently. Though her heart did not thump with excitement, as it had when the prince touched her, his strong embrace was wonderful. She felt safe in his arms, cherished. No, he did not affect her as the prince had, but he was a good man, he loved her, and he would do anything for her.
Maybe one day she would love him too, even if that day couldn’t be now. Now she just wanted to feel something other than shock and anger and despair. Now she just wanted to sit with her friend, content in his arms as she listened to the rain fall. “It smells good,” she said softly.
Max nodded, nuzzling her hair gently for a moment. “Yes.”
Aria closed her eyes, concentrating on the beat of his heart. The prince had not had a heartbeat; in fact he hadn’t had a heart at all as far as she was concerned. But Max did, and he used it freely. He pulled the blanket tighter around her, the heat of his body, and the soft splatter of the rain slowly lulled her into a fitful sleep.
When she awoke again, the sky was just beginning to lighten; the birds had not even begun to sing yet. She stared silently at the growing dawn against the walls of the tent. Max’s arm was wrapped around her waist. She slipped from beneath his embrace, moving to the edge of the tent to pull the flap aside. It was going to be a warm day; the air was already muggy with heat. She sighed softly, slipping from the tent. She wanted to bathe, and then perhaps do some hunting with Max and William.
She gathered some of her clothes, scooped up her bow and quiver. Max and William were still sleeping; the sun had just poked over the horizon, when she dropped the flap back into place. She moved swiftly through the forest, winding her way toward the river they were camped near. She knew she shouldn’t be doing this on her own, that she should have awakened someone to come with her, but she needed some privacy today. She needed some time alone to try and sort through the multitude of emotions swarming her.
She made her way swiftly to the river. She would have preferred the lake, but after the raid they had moved far from the caves, settling in a new area of the forest. It would be a long time before they went back near the lake again. Reaching the river, she stripped quickly and plunged into the chilly water. Not for the first time she missed the hot water of the palace, and the delightful spray of the shower. The lake had been tolerably warm and comfortable, but the river was fresh water from the mountains, and it did not warm up.
Aria bathed as quickly as she could, her teeth chattering and shivering the whole time. She was glad to escape the frigid water, glad to put some clothes back on so that she could warm up. Grabbing her bow and quiver, she tossed her towel over her shoulder and slung the quiver onto her back. The sun was breaking over the mountains, casting bright rays of light over the forest. She stood for a moment, her head tilted back to allow its warm rays to caress her, to soothe her, if only just a little.
She didn’t know how long she stood there for, but the snap of a twig pulled her away from the healing sunlight to the world around her. Aria frowned, listening as she heard another soft snap. Moving behind a tree, she dropped the towel on the ground, and drew an arrow from her quiver. Kneeling, she slid the arrow easily into the bow. She didn’t have to wait long before a buck wandered out of the woods, heading toward the river. Aria admired him, he was beautiful, but even though he was a gorgeous animal, he would also provide enough meat for the encampment to last a few days. He would feed the hungry children, and herself she realized as her stomach rumbled eagerly.
She was about to let the arrow fly when she felt it. The hair on the back of her neck stood up, a chill crept down her back before seeping through her limbs. She froze, she couldn’t breathe. She didn’t move, because she was afraid that moving would only trigger an attack. She had lived in these woods long enough to know when a predator was near. Lived here long enough to know when an animal was near its end, but this time she was not the hunter and it was her end she feared. She was certain that there was the deadliest kind of predator near her right now.
Slowly, ever so slowly, she turned to face the creature stalking her, watching her. It did not take her long to spot him. Braith stood amongst the trees, his dark hair highlighted by the rising sun. Light reflected of the dark glasses he wore to cover his stunning eyes, but she could feel the heat of his gaze as it raked over her. Her heart knocked against her ribs, it flipped and beat and pounded in a rapid pace that left her stunned, breathless. He was just as magnificent, dark and handsome as she remembered, but seeing him here, in her world, she also realized just how wild and untamed he was. Just how dangerous and lethal he could be.
Excitement strummed through her, for a brief moment all she wanted was to run to him, to throw her arms around him, to bury herself in his strong embrace and shut out all the horrors of the world like only he could make her do. For a brief moment, all of the joy and wonder she had ever experienced with him in the palace flooded rapidly back to her. She had been terrified in that palace, lost and confused, and adrift in a world that she didn’t know and would never understand. But she had also been the happiest she’d ever been in her life. She’d been foolish, and naïve. And she had been in love.
Her arm wavered on the bow, dropping it momentarily lower; she could feel the hot press of tears burning her eyes. He looked wonderful, he looked amazing, and he was here. He had finally come for her. Though she hated to admit it, there had been a part of her that had wanted this. A part that had longed for him to come for her, a part that had wanted him to take her away from all of this fear and pain, and keep her safe. She hated that part of her, tried to deny its existence, but it had always been there, hoping, waiting, praying, and now he was finally here.
But it was obvious that he hadn’t come because he wanted to see her.
She could see that fact in the hard set of his jaw; see it in the tension in his broad shoulders. She could sense it in the anger that radiated from his hard body. He was here, but he hadn’t come for a good reason. Aria swallowed heavily, fear trickled through her as she realized that he was truly furious right now. She could feel the rage thrumming off of him in nearly violent waves. She didn’t know why he was so infuriated, so filled with anger, but she did know that it was directed at her. Well that was good, because she was pretty damn pissed at him too.
She didn’t know why he had finally come after her, but from the look of him it appeared that he wanted to rip her throat out. Narrowing her eyes, she clenched her jaw as she lifted the bow higher once more, leveling it right at the spot of his non-beating heart. Yes, he had finally come for her, but it was obvious that one of them would not be walking away from this encounter.