“It won’t be you I kill, Arianna,” he snarled.
Her knees buckled as the implication of his words sank in.
“I’ll keep you alive, and I’ll make you watch as I relish his slow death,” Braith vowed. “I can take whatever I want, whenever I want it. I have been kind to you so far; I won’t be kind anymore. No one disobeys me; no one goes against me. I will show you what kind of a monster I can truly be.”
“No,” she managed to whisper.
“Oh yes, and I am going to enjoy it. I’m actually rather parched; it’s been awhile since I’ve fed.”
Horror tore through her; she rapidly shook her head as he shoved away from her and swept toward the door. She knew where he was going and who he was after. She had to stop him. Max would be punished because she was an idiot. She couldn’t allow that to happen. Not again.
“Wait! No! Stop! Your Highness, please don’t do this! Please!” She scurried after him, nearly tripping over the leash still tethered to her. She seized his hand, but he shook her off like a bug. “Don’t do this! Braith, I’m begging you!”
Her feet tangled up in the leash, jerking her awkwardly down, and causing it to slice deeper into her flesh.
“He’s my friend! He’s been my friend since we were children! He’s like a brother to me!” Despair threatened to choke her as tears clogged her throat. “I have never begged for anything from anyone in my life, but I am begging you; please don’t kill him! He did nothing wrong! I’m sorry. I’ll do whatever you ask, whenever you ask it of me! Punish me! Punish me!”
The force of her sobs made it almost impossible for her to breathe through her broken rib. She couldn’t move; agony racked her entire body. The blood spilling from her wounds formed a puddle beneath her and soaked into her dress, but she didn’t care. She didn’t care about anything anymore.
She’d destroyed Max’s life. She hadn’t freed him; instead, she’d given him a death sentence, and from the look on Braith’s face, it would be a long and tortured process.
There was a long moment of silence in which she couldn’t look at him. She felt as if her misery would kill her. Then, to her surprise, she felt the gentlest touch she’d ever experienced. His hands cradled her cheeks as he lifted her face to his.
His lips brushed her cheeks, her forehead, whispering against her ear as he tried to soothe her. Aria’s mind spun as his hands and mouth caressed her with a tenderness that nearly undid the horror of the past half an hour.
“Don’t,” he said.
The word slid over her skin making her body tingle with electricity at the same time it completely undid her. Her sobs rocked her as a low moan escaped her. She didn’t know why she was crying now, didn’t know where the source of this distress came from, but Aria could no more stem the flow of them than she could tether the wind.
“Arianna, stop, you’ll injure yourself more. Stop, Arianna, it’s okay.”
His hands were in her hair, drawing her against him as he wrapped his arms around her and rocked her against his chest.
Chapter Eleven
Aria remained mute as Braith bandaged her wrist. His hands were feather light on her mutilated and sore skin. Her tears had finally subsided, but she felt exhausted and defeated. He was being kind to her again, and she didn’t know why.
Neither of them had spoken in the past hour. Why had he come back to her? What stopped him from going after Max?
Ultimately, as long as Max was spared, she didn’t care what the reasons were. She’d promised Braith anything he asked of her, and she meant it.
Was that promise what brought him back? 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 before either. She supposed she was lucky he hadn’t killed her outright.
When he finished with her bandages, his hand rested on her wrapped wrist and fingers.
She lifted her head to meet his shaded eyes. “Why?” she inquired.
“Why what?”
She gulped, 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 people have been talking.”
She fiddled anxiously with her bandages. “I think most are curious.”
“As are you?”
“As am I,” she agreed.
He was 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.”
Her fingers stilled on her bandages as she studied his handsome countenance. He had wiped her blood from his face, but she could still see her rapidly fading, reddened handprint. 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 nearly cost Max his life.
“There are many willing ones out there?” she asked.
She felt his eyes slide 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 wild as it straggled around her face.
Her appearance 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,” he said.
She didn’t like the strange pit forming in her stomach as he confirmed what she already knew.
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 had finally flipped her lid, and she was surprised to realize she didn’t care. Not anymore.
“So then why me? Why did you choose me?” she asked.
He ran a hand through his hair. It was already disheveled, and now it stood on end a little. 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 a man, or a vampire, and certainly not her enemy. He was someone who was as confused and uncertain about this situation as she was.
“Because I saw you on that stage,” he said.
Aria frowned; unsure how to respond to it. What did that mean? Of course, he’d seen her on the stage, as had everyone else present that day. “I don’t understand.”
“No, of course, you don’t,” he muttered. Stopping before her, he knelt to take 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.”
Her fingers were limp in his as she stared at him in confusion. Her eyes scanned his face before landing on the thick glasses. Her mind flashed to the cane, and Keegan, ever present at Braith’s side.
“You’re blind,” she breathed, awed by this revelation, and the fact she hadn’t realized it earlier. But he couldn’t be blind. How could he have taught her to read? 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 before 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 realized 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 you are near. When I leave this room, when I’m not in your presence, I’m still unable 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 r
aced 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 over her as she pulled the glasses away.
His eyes were closed, but she could see faint white scars outlining them. It had been a hundred years, plenty of time for a vampire to heal, but those scars still marred his otherwise perfect, masculine beauty. Her fingers stroked over the marks as compassion washed over her. Whatever caused this had to be 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 as she found herself frozen in the grip of his turbulent stare.
His eyes were striking. The striking gray of them robbed her of her breath. Around the iris was an arresting band of bright blue color. Though his eyes focused on her, they seemed strangely unseeing and somewhat dazed as she ran her fingers over the scars encircling them.
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 him. “What happened?”
“An explosion.”
“The war?” He shook his head in response but didn’t elaborate, and she sensed he didn’t plan to. She wasn’t going to push him either. It didn’t matter how it occurred; it simply mattered she was here, with him. “I’m sorry.”
“It was years ago; I’d long since adapted to the loss. Until you.”
She stopped searching his damaged gaze and focused on the man before her. “What does it all mean?”
His hands encircled hers; his grasp was tender on her wounded fingers. “I don’t know what it means, Arianna. I wish I had more answers, but I don’t. I do know 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 she could heal the damage inflicted on him. Aria couldn’t undo what was 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 happening to her. To them.
She pulled back, surprised to feel tears burning her eyes again. She didn’t think she could possibly have any more tears left in her, but she did.
“Arianna, you must listen to me. I don’t mean 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 isn’t 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’s nothing you can do—”
“But there is, or there could be, but you must do as I say, Arianna. Other vampires 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, angry he kept insisting on 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 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’d nearly revealed to him. Something was growing and changing between them, but there were some things she could never admit. Even if he didn’t plan to harm her, there were others who would still use her against her family, and that was something she could never let happen.
“Orders?” he asked.
She shook her head, unwilling to discuss this now. She simply couldn’t. “Max is 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 fled into the woods. He’s here because he thought 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. As 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 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 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.”
When Aria’s hands slipped away from his face, they brushed against the stubble 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 maybe that was the reason he’d been so angry 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. When I saw Max, he reminded me so much of home, and I missed him so much that all I could think about was getting to him. All I could think of was my woods and hunting and running free. Freedom, Braith, I loved my freedom. I’m sorry that what I did today could have caused us both problems, but I couldn’t stop myself because for one moment, I was in the woods again. I could smell the forest, taste it, feel it around me, and it was wonderful.”
Aria broke off, overcome with a crushing sense of homesickness again. Braith was silent 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 she remained motionless against him, unable to respond to the intensity and passion she felt radiating from him.
Then the torrent of emotions surging forth in her buried her shock. She was rocked by the need filling her and the desperation that seized her. She needed him.
It all felt so astonishingly right! Something inside her was healing and becoming whole. There had always been something missing in her life, something she’d been searching and hoping for, but she’d never known what it was. Until now.
Now, with his mouth on hers, her body tingling with electricity and a fire building within her, she knew it was him.
He was what she’d been missing; he was what she’d been searching for. His absence was what made her so reckless all the time. Because without him, she’d been so lost and empty 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.
She’d always hated and fought against his kind, but she thought this might be the first right thing she’d ever done.
His large body loomed over hers as he seized 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 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 she was yielding, and yet she fit perfectly against him. Her curves hugged all the right places of his rock-solid frame.
When she gasped, he took advantage of the small exhalation escaping 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. When his shirt bunched up, her fingers fell against the bare skin at the hollow of his lower back.
Her hands splayed over the rigid muscles flexing beneath her palms as he settled more firmly between her legs. He kissed her breathless, kissed her until she couldn’t think straight and was desperate for more.
His strong hands slipped the thin dress up her thighs. His fingers brushed against 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 when reality crashed around her. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t control her surging body and tumultuous emotions.
“Wait, Braith, wait,” she managed to pant out.
He froze against her; his fingers a tantalizing sensation as they stilled on her thigh. 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 such overwhelming desire and belonging mingled with such pulsating dread of the unknown. She couldn’t think, and she desperately needed a minute to at least try and sort out what was going on.
His hands were on her face, turning it towards him. She blinked at him as she focused on the beautiful, caring eyes before her. “Arianna, are you okay?”
She managed a wan smile. “I’m just... I’m not... It’s 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 was too mortified to meet his gaze again.
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