“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 further with love. Braith fought to restrain himself because he feared he might harm her, even though she was willingly offering him what he so desperately needed.
“It’s okay,” she said again.
She grasped 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 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 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 his fangs sank 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; 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 this was going beyond either of their control, but she wasn’t scared. As long as she was in his arms, she knew she would never be afraid again. Blood ran down her neck to stain the sheets beneath her, but she still didn’t feel any alarm. Instead, love overflowed from her.
It wasn’t until he growled low, and bit down 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.
While 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 she would never leave him. She tried to tell him so repeatedly.
He offered her something wet and a little sticky on his wrist. She pushed him away, telling him he was enough, but he made her take his wrist into her mouth and begged her to swallow.
The warm, sweet liquid tasted of him, and 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 Fifteen
“Aria! Aria! Arianna!” She groaned in annoyance as she tried to roll away from the hands shaking her, but they refused to let go as they shook her again, this time more incessantly. “Arianna!”
She batted at the hands in an attempt to break free, but she was so tired, and they wouldn’t let her go.
“Stop!” she protested.
“Get up, Aria, you have to get up!”
The urgency in the voice finally pierced through the haze of bliss and exhaustion enveloping her. She cracked open an eye and frowned 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 out of bed and tossed over someone’s shoulder. She sputtered in disbelief as she was spun around in a circle before being dumped on the bed once more.
“Get up, Aria, or I’m going to throw you in a tub of cold water.”
She blinked as she tried to clear her blurry vision. Eventually, her eyes focused; she frowned in indignation when Jack came into view. Then, reality crashed over her as she recalled where she was.
She gasped in horror; bolting upright in the bed, 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 Jack was.
“Jack!” she cried as she tried to process what was going on.
She was in Braith’s bed, wasn’t she? But where was Braith, and what was Jack doing here?
“Where’s Braith?” she demanded.
Jack had turned away from her to search for something, but she didn’t know what it was until a pile of clothes fell into her lap. She stared at the pants and cotton shirt in disbelief. They were similar to the clothes she’d worn in the woods, except these were pitch black instead of brown or green.
“He was called to an emergency meeting with our father,” Jack said. “Get dressed. We have to go before he gets back.”
“Wait! What?” she sputtered.
“We have to go, Aria! Now!” he snapped impatiently. “Get dressed.”
Shock flooded 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 her cheeks as he thrust his face into hers. She knew that look well; it was nearly identical to Braith’s when he lost patience with her and was reaching a snapping point.
“You don’t understand, Aria,” he said. “This is our only chance at escape; if we don’t leave now then you’ll remain here, and your father will come for you, and he will die. Now get up, and get dressed.”
She gaped at Jack, then at the clothes, then back at Jack. She couldn’t leave Braith; she couldn’t. She loved him! And though she wasn’t entirely 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 came surging back to the forefront.
“Aria—”
“No, Jack, no. I’d 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 Jack’s hands. “Not if you tell him I’m dead.”
“Max—”
“Tell Max the same thing.”
Jack’s jaw clenched, and his nostrils flared. He stared at her as if he didn’t recognize her; stared at her as if he didn’t have a clue who she was. And truth be told, she didn’t know who she was anymore either. All she knew was her heart belonged to Braith, and she couldn’t leave him.
“Max is here, Aria, he knows you’re alive,” Jack said. “He’s keeping a lookout right now.”
Her gaze darted 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 he was okay.
“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 sat back as he stared at her in consternation. “Aria—”
She seized his hand as she leaned forward. She was desperate for him to understand, desperate for him to hear and believe what she was sa
ying. She knew what Jack was now, but she was surprised to realize she still trusted him, and he was the only one who could help her right now.
“I know it makes no sense, but I do love him, and I want to stay with him,” she insisted.
Jack’s gaze turned pitying; sadness crept over his features as he shook his head. “Aria—”
“Please, Jack, I—”
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,” she said.
“Yes, Aria. They’ve been betrothed for over a year. They’re getting married in six months.”
Suddenly she was choking on the air she struggled to get into her lungs. The strange, guttural sounds coming from her 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 firstborn, 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 Braith is not the same bastard my father is, and the kingdom won’t be the same under his rule.”
Maybe she’d known that yesterday, maybe yesterday she would have said Braith would make a better king than his father, but now she didn’t know anything at all. For all she knew, he’d been playing her all along, and she’d fallen for it.
“He cannot leave here, Aria; he’ll do what is expected of him because he knows it’s for the good of everyone involved. It’s also why he’ll go through with this marriage. Now, you have to pull yourself together because we have to get out of here.”
He pulled her out of bed and stood her on shaking legs.
“Don’t force me to dress you, Aria.”
She shook her head as tears streamed down her cheeks and she grasped the clothes he thrust at her. She could only gaze dazedly at him. She hated the awful pity in his eyes, hated the fact she looked so weak and pathetic right now.
“We have to go; get dressed,” he said.
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 never told her. He’d slept beside her, held her, and kissed her. He’d fed off of her. He used her, and all the while he knew he had a fiancée.
She never kidded herself with dreams of a future for them, but she’d never expected this betrayal. If he’d told her, she never would have allowed things to go this far. She sure as hell wouldn’t have allowed him to feed on her.
Her trembling hands made it impossible for her to get the buttons together. Then, Jack was back before her.
“You let him feed on you,” Jack stated.
Aria blinked at him as he hastily buttoned her shirt. She wasn’t embarrassed Jack was seeing this much of her anymore; nothing else could faze her. He grasped 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 barely managed that.
“He fed on you.”
It wasn’t a question. It was quite obvious 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 painful bite marking her.
“Did he give you any of his blood?” Jack asked.
“Excuse me?”
Jack was growing frustrated with her. “Think Aria! This is important! Did you feed on 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 was all a lie. A cruel, brutal lie.
It meant so much to her, yet it had meant absolutely nothing to Braith. She was nothing but a blood slave after all. She didn’t know why he’d waited so long to feed on her, and she didn’t care to think about it.
There was no way she could figure out what he’d been thinking, or doing, or why. She wasn’t cruel and manipulative like him; she would never understand why he’d done this to her.
It didn’t matter anymore. It all meant nothing. For the first time in her life, she’d been a silly fool who let her defenses down, and she’d gotten what she always expected. Nothing.
“Aria!” Jack barked.
She blinked him into focus before shaking her head stubbornly. “No, I... No. What does it matter anyway?”
“It matters. Are you sure?”
She bit her bottom lip. There had been so many fantastic dreams of peace and love and security. There had been a dream about something sweet and delicious tasting, but they’d been nothing more than dreams.
They couldn’t have been anything more, Braith 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 her arm. He pulled her through the library, the sitting room, and then into the bedroom she used upon first arriving. Max stood by an open doorway she’d never seen before. It seemed to have magically appeared in the wall next to the bed she’d slept in.
Max’s eyes filled with love when he spotted her. For a moment, the sight of her friend was enough to make her forget her grief. A cry of happiness escaped as she raced forward and threw herself into his arms. He’d lost weight; his face was gaunt, his eyes far wiser and sadder, but his arms were still warm and secure as they wrapped around her.
“Later, later.” Jack pushed 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 searched for a way to escape, the route had been within her room. She’d slept right next to it. The realization only added insult to injury.
She kept her hand in Max’s, taking strength in his warm touch as she struggled not to cry while 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 she’d 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 she was lying to herself.
She stared down the darkened tunnel but didn’t truly see it as 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 it would haunt her for the rest of her days.
She would never escape what happened within those walls, never be free of the torment Braith’s betrayal had inflicted on her. She also knew the woman who walked out of this tunnel was far different than the girl who first entered the palace as a captiv
e.
Max tugged on her hand, pulling her forward and tearing her from her melancholy thoughts. 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 into the surrounding forest.
Braith shook as fury boiled through his blood and caused his eternal darkness to turn a violent shade of red.
She was gone.
He’d known it the moment he stepped back into his apartment. He sensed her absence when he was downstairs, but it wasn’t until he returned that the lack of her radiance confirmed his fear.
Keegan whimpered as he crept away from Braith’s leg and slunk into the shattered debris littering the room. To say he’d lost his temper would be an understatement; he’d been in a rage, furious at himself, with Jericho, and with her.
He knew his youngest brother was behind this; no one else could have taken her from these rooms without being seen. There was no one else who would have known Braith hadn’t been present, and the location of the tunnel within his apartment.
“Your Highness.”
He turned at the sound of the wavering voice. His hands clenched on the head of his cane; it was essential now that he’d destroyed the room. There were obstacles in his way that weren’t there before, and she was no longer present to light the darkness.
“There is no sign of them outside of the palace walls,” the voice said.
“Of course there isn’t,” Braith sneered.
Jericho was smart, quick, and he would be far from here by now. Using his cane, Braith maneuvered his way through the shattered remains of his furniture. His display of temper and destruction could be blamed on the fact his brother stole his blood slave. All his kind would understand the betrayal, the insult to his pride, and the denial of his toy.
But as he stopped in the doorway of his bedroom, he knew it was far more than that.
The scent of her blood assailed him. It burned into his nostrils, flared through his body, and caused an aching hunger to explode through him. She’d been magnificent, free and giving last night, and so delectably satisfying. Her delicious blood had filled and nourished him in a way he’d never experienced before.
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