He didn’t seem to hear her at first, as he didn’t stop kissing her neck. Then his arms locked and he drew slowly back from her. She pushed his dark locks aside as she traced the scars circling his eyes. “Arianna?”
Her fingers moved over his cheekbones, then down to the curve of his full mouth. She trailed over his lips, but he recoiled when she touched the lengthy fangs. “Don’t,” she pleaded, refusing to let him pull away from her. His forehead furrowed in confusion, but he didn’t move any further away from her. She was startled to realize that the sensation of running her fingers over his pointed teeth was tantalizing and breathtaking. She was not at all frightened by it as she thought she would be, as she should be. He was far more powerful than her, he could kill her easily, and yet there was no fear within her because it was him. “It’s ok,” she said again, her fingers stilling on his teeth. “You’re hungry, and I can ease that. I want this Braith.”
“Arianna.” His voice was a low anguish filled moan as he dropped his head into the hollow of her neck. His shoulders shook beneath her; the tension in him was almost palpable. “You don’t know what you’re asking for.”
“I’m asking for you.” His shaking increased; his hands stopped running over her as he cradled the back of her head. Her heart swelled with love. He was fighting so hard against himself, restraining himself because he was fearful that he might harm her, even though she was willingly offering him what he so desperately required. “It’s ok.”
She grasped hold of the back of his head, gently turning it toward the hollow of her neck. Small tremors racked him as she pressed his extended fangs against her rapid pulse. “It’s yours Braith, I’m yours. Take it. Take me. I want to be the one that satisfies you, not them.”
He groaned loudly. She felt the snap, the point where he lost control and his craving for her took over. Aria gasped, her fingers dug sharply into his back as his lips pressed hotly against her flesh before skimming back to reveal his hard fangs. His tongue swirled briefly over her neck before his teeth punctured her skin and struck deep into her vein. For a moment the entire world blurred, she could think of nothing, and see nothing except for him. He was everywhere, over her, in her, a part of her as he bit deeper, his fangs sinking into her completely.
Then, little by little, they became separate entities again. She could make out his hunger, his thirst, his fascination with her as he consumed her. He drank deeper than he ever had from anyone before. And somehow, though he didn’t say it, she knew that was true. His thoughts mingled at the edges of her conscious as his pleasure engulfed her. He craved all of her, could not get enough of her, he would never get enough of her, and she didn’t want him to.
He pushed against her; the weight of his body pressed her more firmly into the mattress. A groan of ecstasy escaped her, her fingers convulsed on his back as he bit down sharply. She heard cartilage snap, her cartilage, but she didn’t care. It didn’t hurt; she didn’t feel anything above the blood being pulled eagerly from her, and the ecstasy consuming them both.
She knew she should be frightened, knew that this was going far beyond either of their control, but she wasn’t scared. As long as she was in his arms, she knew that she would never be scared again. She could feel her blood as it ran down her neck to stain the sheets beneath, but she still didn’t feel one moment of alarm. Instead, her heart swelled with love until it was overflowing from her.
It wasn’t until he growled low, and bit down even harder, that she realized the words I love you were spilling from her in an unending chorus that she couldn’t stop until a wave of blackness washed her away into nothingness. She drifted in and out of consciousness, pleasant memories rolled in like the rain before slipping away again. Dreams came and went, shadows spun through her mind. Braith was holding her, cradling her against his chest, whispering for her not to leave him, but she felt he should know that she would never leave him. She tried to tell him so repeatedly.
He offered her something that felt wet and a little sticky on his wrist. She pushed him away, telling him that he was enough, but he made her take his wrist into her mouth and begged her to swallow. The warm liquid was sweet and tasted of him, she found herself unable to turn away from his offering. As she drank greedily, she thought she heard him whispering I love you, but she couldn’t be sure. Finally, she drifted into a state of profound bliss where she knew she was safe in his arms.
CHAPTER 15
“Aria! Aria! Arianna!” She groaned in annoyance as she tried to roll away from the hands shaking her, but they were clinging to her, refusing to let go as they shook her again, this time more incessantly. “Arianna!”
She batted at the hands, trying to break free, but she was so tired and they just wouldn’t let her go. “Stop!” she protested.
“Get up Aria, you have to get up!” It was the urgency of the voice that finally pierced through the haze of bliss and exhaustion that enveloped her. She cracked open an eye, frowning at the blurry face before her. It was too much effort to concentrate on the face, instead her eye drifted shut and she snuggled deeper into the delightful bed beneath her. The voice swore loudly, then, before she knew what was happening, she was heaved up out of the bed and tossed over someone’s shoulder. She sputtered in disbelief as she was spun around in a circle and then dumped on the bed once more. “Get up Aria or I’m going to throw you in a tub of cold water.”
She blinked in surprise as she tried to clear her blurry vision. Eventually her eyes began to focus; she frowned in indignation and disbelief as Jack came into view. Then, reality crashed over her as she realized where she was. She gaped in horror, bolting upright in the bed as she pulled the comforter against her chest. She still wore the slip, but where she hadn’t been embarrassed for Braith to see her in it, she was mortified that Jack was.
“Jack!” She was completely disoriented. She was in Braith’s bed, wasn’t she? But where was Braith and what was Jack doing here? “Where’s Braith?”
Jack had turned away from her, he was searching for something, but she didn’t know what it was until a pile of clothes was dropped in her lap. She stared at the pants and cotton shirt in disbelief. They were similar to the clothes she had worn in the woods, except these were pitch black instead of brown or green. “He was called to an emergency meeting with our father. Get dressed. We have to go quickly, before he gets back.”
“Wait! What?” she sputtered.
“We have to go Aria! Now!” he snapped impatiently. “Get dressed.”
Shock flooded through her, her mind spun in confusion. Go? Now? Leave Braith? No, no she couldn’t. Not after last night, she could never leave him after last night. “No Jack, no I can’t.”
“Aria…”
“No, you don’t understand Jack. I can’t leave, I simply can’t.”
He seized hold of her cheeks as he thrust his face into hers. She knew that look well; it was nearly identical to Braith’s when he had lost patience with her and was reaching a snapping point. “You don’t understand Aria. This is our only chance at escape, if we don’t leave now then you will remain here, and your father will come for you and he will die. Now get up, and get dressed.”
She gawked at Jack, then at the clothes, then back at Jack. Her mind spun, her heart was thrumming. She couldn’t leave Braith, she couldn’t. She loved him! And though she wasn’t completely sure, she thought he might have said he loved her too last night. But it was all so hazy, so distorted and confusing, and it was all so astonishing that she could barely contain her excitement over it. Until the awfulness of this situation, right here and now, came surging back to the forefront.
“Aria…”
“No Jack, no. I would like to stay. I can’t leave him.” Jack’s eyes widened in surprise, the blue flecks in them were more clearly visible as he gazed at her. “Jack, please…”
“You cannot stay here Aria, I can’t let that happen. No matter what, your father will come after you.”
“No.” She seized hold of Jack’s hands. “
Not if you tell him I’m dead Jack, that I’m gone.”
“Max…”
“Tell Max the same thing.”
Jack’s jaw clenched, his nostrils flared. He was staring at her as if he didn’t recognize her, staring at her as if he didn’t have a clue as to who she was. And truth be told, she didn’t really know who she was anymore either. All she knew was that her heart was with Braith and she couldn’t leave him. “Max is here Aria, he knows you’re alive. He’s keeping lookout right now.”
Her gaze darted rapidly around the room as she searched out Max, but she didn’t see him anywhere. Disappointment filled her; she would like to see her friend again, at least once more to make sure that he was ok.
“Then tell them I’m happy Jack, because I am. I… I…” She broke off, her fingers clutched at the blanket. She heaved an irritated sigh before she turned back to Braith’s brother. “I love him Jack.”
Jack sat back as he stared at her in consternation. “Aria…”
She seized hold of his hand as she leaned eagerly forward. She was desperate for him to understand, desperate for him to hear and believe what she was saying. She knew what Jack was now, but she was surprised to realize that she still trusted him, and he was the only one that could help her right now. “I know it makes no sense, but I do love him and I want to stay with him.”
Jack’s gaze turned pitying; sadness crept over his features as he shook his head. “Aria…”
“Please Jack, I…”
He seized hold of her face, his hands cradled her cheeks. “He has a fiancée Aria.”
Her words broke off, sputtered, and died. Dismay surged through her, she couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move. She could only sit there and stare at him, her mouth open, and her heart shattering as something within her curdled and died. “No, not possible, he… No.”
“Yes, Aria. They’ve been betrothed for over a year. They are getting married in six months.”
Suddenly she was choking on the air she desperately struggled to get into her lungs. Strange, guttural sounds were coming from her, they didn’t sound human to her. She didn’t feel human anymore as her heart shredded and a moan of agony died within her. Jack held her as she rocked forward, unable to fully comprehend his words, unable to function through the agonizing grief consuming her.
“I’m sorry Aria, I am so sorry, but you can’t stay here. She’ll have you killed as soon as the wedding is over, and he won’t be able to save you. He’s my brother, but he will never go against my father. It’s the curse of the first born I suppose, to be the one reared to one day rule, to do what is expected and to bear the heavy burdens of duty. You and I both know that Braith is not the same bastard my father is, and that the kingdom will not be the same under his rule.”
Maybe she had known that yesterday, maybe yesterday she would have said that Braith would make a better king than his father, but now she wasn’t so certain she knew anything at all. For all she knew he had been playing her all along and she had fallen for it.
“He cannot leave here Aria; he will do what is expected of him because he knows that it is for the good of everyone involved. It is also why he will go through with this marriage. Now, you have to pull yourself together, we have to get out of here.”
He pulled her out of the bed, standing her on her shaking legs. “Don’t make me have to dress you Aria.” She shook her head numbly, tears streamed down her cheeks as she grasped hold of the clothes he thrust at her. She could only gaze dazedly up at him. She hated the awful pity in his eyes, hated the fact that she looked so weak and pathetic right now. “We have to go, get dressed.”
Jack turned away. Her hands trembled as she pulled the slip over her head. The spectacle of her blood staining the neck of the nightgown almost made her vomit. He was engaged? He was engaged! They were the only words running through her head, the only thing she could focus on right now. He was engaged and he had never even told her. He had slept beside her, held her, kissed her; he had fed off of her. He had used her, and all the while he had known that he had a fiancée.
She had never kidded herself with dreams of a future for them, but she had never expected this betrayal. If he had told her, she never would have allowed things to go this far. She sure as hell wouldn’t have allowed him to feed off of her.
Tears streamed down her face, she couldn’t get the buttons together. Jack was back before her; the sympathy in his eyes was almost more than she could bear. “You let him feed from you.” Aria blinked at him as he buttoned her shirt hastily. She was not embarrassed that Jack was seeing this much of her anymore, nothing else could faze her at this moment. He grasped hold of her shoulders, shaking her. “Aria, you have to listen to me, you must concentrate on me for a moment, it’s important.”
She managed a nod, and she just barely managed that. “He fed from you.” It was not a question. In fact it was quite obvious that Braith had fed from her between the bloodstained slip and bed. She winced as Jack brushed at the blood on her neck, rubbing against the sore bite that marked her. “Did he give you any of his blood?”
“Excuse me?” she asked in surprise.
Jack was growing frustrated with her. “Think Aria! This is important! Did you feed from him?” He enunciated each word clearly and sharply.
Aria blinked as she tried to recall the night, but her mind and body shied away from the painful memories. It was too much. She couldn’t think about it. It had all been a lie. A cruel, brutal lie. It had meant so much to her, yet it had meant absolutely nothing to him. She was nothing but a blood slave after all. She didn’t know why he had waited so long to feed from her, and she didn’t care to think about it.
There was no way that she could figure out what he had been thinking, or doing, or why. She wasn’t cruel and manipulative like him, she would never understand why he had done this to her. It didn’t matter anymore. It all meant nothing. For the first time in her life she had been a silly fool who had allowed her defenses down, and she had gotten what she had always expected. Nothing.
“Aria!” Jack barked.
She blinked him into focus, shaking her head stubbornly. “No, I… No. What does it matter anyway?”
“It matters. Are you sure?”
She bit on her bottom lip. There had been dreams, so many fantastic dreams of peace and love and security. There had even been a dream about something sweet and delicious tasting, but they had been nothing more than dreams. They couldn’t have been anything more, he was engaged after all, and therefore he never would have told her he loved her. He already belonged to someone else. Dreams, nothing but awful, shattered dreams.
“No,” she whispered. “No, I didn’t.”
Jack’s shoulders slumped in relief as he nodded. “Good, good. We must go.”
She didn’t respond as he seized hold of her arm. He pulled her through the library, the sitting room, and then into the bedroom she had used upon first arriving. Max was standing by an open doorway that she’d never seen before. It seemed to have magically appeared in the wall next to the bed she’d slept in.
Max’s shoulders slumped in relief, his eyes filled with love as he spotted her. For a moment, the sight of her friend was enough to make her forget her grief. A cry of happiness escaped her as she raced forward, throwing herself into his open arms. He had lost weight, his face was gaunt, his eyes were far wiser and sadder, but his arms were still warm and secure as they wrapped around her.
“Later, later.” Jack was pushing them toward the open doorway, shoving them into a dark tunnel.
“What is this?” Aria demanded.
“Security tunnels, all the apartments have them. They lead out of the palace. We have to go fast though; they’ll kill us if they find us, and personally I don’t feel like being caught and branded as a traitor. It’s not a pleasant death,” Jack informed her.
Aria imagined it probably wasn’t. She stared around the dark, confining tunnel in disbelief. The entire time she had been looking for a way to escape the route ha
d been within her own room. She had been sleeping right next to it. The realization only added insult to injury.
She kept her hand in Max’s, taking strength in his warm touch. She was struggling not to cry as they fled through the dark tunnel with Jack leading the way. She could barely see through the darkness, but Jack moved with speed and unerring sureness of foot. She didn’t look back until they arrived at the end of the tunnel, and then she only paused for a moment. She vowed that she would never look back after this, never think about anything that had happened within those hated walls again. Though she desperately wanted it to be true, she knew that she was lying to herself.
She stared down the darkened tunnel but didn’t truly see it as her tears caused it to blur before her. Her body throbbed with the force of the anguish consuming her. She was leaving that world behind, she would never return to it, but she knew that it would haunt her for the rest of her days. She would never escape what had happened within those walls, never be free of the torment his betrayal had inflicted upon her. She also knew that the woman that walked out of this tunnel was far different than the girl that had first entered as a captive.
Max tugged on her hand, pulling her forward, tearing her from her melancholy thoughts. She turned away, fighting back the tears of unhappiness and hopelessness that wanted to fall. She would never look back again; especially not now that she had her freedom, and would soon have her family. They plunged into the sanctuary of her beloved woods, blending seamlessly in with the surrounding forest.
***
Braith was shaking; fury consumed him, it boiled through his blood and caused his eternal darkness to turn a violent shade of red. She was gone. He had known it the moment he stepped back into his apartment. He had sensed her absence when he’d been downstairs, but it wasn’t until he had returned that the lack of radiance, and her beauty, confirmed his fear.
Keegan whimpered as he crept away from Braith’s leg, slinking into the shattered debris that littered the room. To say he had lost his temper would be an understatement; he had been in a rage, furious at himself, furious with Jericho, and furious with her. He knew that his youngest brother was behind this, there was no one else that could have taken her from these rooms without being seen. There was no one else that would have known that Braith hadn’t been present, and where the tunnel within his apartment was located.
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