"Don't," Braith growled.
"Both of you don't," Jack inserted. "In case you've forgotten, we have company."
Though Braith knew he should be concerned about the men in the woods, his attention remained focused on Xavier as he strained to bring the vampire into view. It was frustrating not to be able to read the subtle nuances of Xavier's face. He desperately needed to know what Xavier suspected.
But Jack was right, they did have company and Braith was itching for a fight. He was itching for blood. He wanted to take his fury and frustration out on someone, and the king's soldiers were a good start. Slipping soundlessly through the trees with the others, he kept an eye on the shifting shadows as he homed in on his prey.
He thought he should be apprehensive about the excitement and bloodlust coursing through him, but he wasn't. No matter what it took, or what he became, he would do whatever was necessary to get Aria back. He didn't care who he had to destroy to do it.
Crouching behind a tree, he closed his eyes against the distracting shadows. He drew on the senses he'd honed during his hundred years of blindness to get a clearer picture of what was going on around him instead of using his broken eyes.
His ears alerted him to the approach of the men; his nose picked up their scent long before they reached the crest of the hill. He remained still as stone as he listened and waited for the soldiers to move closer.
Then, as the men rounded the top of the hill, and all he knew was the darkness the world had become without Aria, he slipped from behind the tree and descended on the men like an avenging demon. Something he feared he might become. He felt hate-filled enough to have come straight from the depths of Hell. Even before he grabbed the first soldier, he knew there would be no survivors.
As he drove the first soldier onto the ground, he realized he hadn't slipped into the darkness a demon would possess. He'd slid into the darkness the king possessed. What was inside him now was what he'd often seen reflected in the eyes of his father.
The worst part, he knew as he destroyed first one vampire and then another, was he didn't care. He welcomed it, embraced it, and relished in the death around him as it briefly calmed his tormented spirit.
Chapter Five
"Aria?"
Aria roused herself from the dirt floor. It was filthy in here in ways that even the caves weren't dirty. Her nose wrinkled, she tried to block out the scents around her, but it was impossible.
She had lived in some pretty hideous places, been cramped and filthy and foul more times than she could count, but the smells here were some of the worst she'd ever encountered. The air was ripe with mildew, the copper tang of blood, body odor, human excrement, and fear.
The smell of fear hung the heaviest in the cramped dungeons beneath the palace. She shoved herself into a sitting position as she strained to see the source of the voice through the darkness.
"Aria?"
Aria's legs shook as she climbed to her feet; her muscles were cramped from blood loss and being curled in on herself. Her hands were raised cautiously before her as she moved toward the bars trapping her within the small four by four prison.
"Who's there?" she asked softly.
There was a small exhalation, almost of relief. "It is you."
Yes, it was her, or what was left of her anyway. Blood trickled from Caleb's vicious bite marks, but she didn't attempt to wipe the blood from her body. What had been such an intimate bonding experience with Braith was twisted into something repugnant and cruel, and she couldn't bring herself to touch the reminders of that.
The taste of the king's foul blood had burned into her throat and seared onto her tongue. She believed Braith would come for her; she just wasn't sure what he would find when he arrived. Caleb and the king were only getting started, she was sure of it.
She grasped the bars as she fought against the overwhelming urge to curl into a ball and let it all go. Her middle finger protested the movement, but the king's blood was already having a healing effect upon it.
"It's Mary," the voice responded.
Aria's mind spun as she tried to place the woman, and then she recalled her. "Mary," she breathed. She was amazed the woman was still alive as they were captured together; it was Mary's son Aria allowed herself to be caught in place of what felt like so long ago.
"Yes. Yes, it's me," Mary said eagerly.
Through the darkness, she heard others moving about. She'd had only a brief glimpse of the other cells when she was pulled down here. She had no idea how many people were trapped with her, or who they were.
"What are you doing here? The prince…"
Mary’s voice trailed off; there was a little muttering amid the darkness and whispers floated over her.
"We assumed he'd killed you," another said.
"No, Caleb will wait—"
"Not that prince, the other one, the one who bought you."
She was astounded by the insinuation. "Braith? Braith would never hurt me."
"He hurt the others," someone else whispered.
Aria shuddered as she rested her head against the bars. These people had seen Braith at his worst. They witnessed his plunge into depravity and violence. She rubbed her chest over the place where her heart throbbed. What was he like now?
"Was it true then Aria, did you escape?"
"Yes," she breathed.
There was a collective inhalation. "How?" A man asked hopefully.
"It's a long story."
"We have nothing but time in here."
Aria released a humorless laugh. It was true; there was nowhere for any of them to go right now. She told them Jack was the king's son who chose the rebel cause over the king, and how Jack had taken her from here the first time, but she didn't reveal to them it was her absence that had sent Braith spiraling out of control.
"Will Jack come for you again?" Mary inquired hopefully.
Aria hesitated for a moment. "Braith will." There was a collective inhalation as she continued to speak. "He's not a monster."
"Maybe he's not as bad as his brother, but he is a monster."
"He's not a monster," Aria insisted. "I know what he has done in the past, but—"
"You don't know what he's done," Mary interrupted abruptly. "You weren't here."
"He told me what he did, and he is a good man."
"He's not a man, Aria."
No, he isn't a man, she thought to herself. Braith's a vampire, and he's wild, powerful, lethal, and he would come for her. She just wasn't sure how much destruction he would wreak in the process.
"He's good, Mary."
"He sure didn't act like it when he was pulling women from here."
She didn't like to think about what her absence had driven him to, but she had to acknowledge it. She'd had good reason to leave him. Her life was in jeopardy, and he'd never told her about his fiancé, but she hadn't spoken to him about going before making the decision. Her sudden disappearance had driven him to do things he'd never done before.
"Many didn't return," Mary pressed.
Aria wanted to tell her to shut up; she didn't want to hear any more. She wasn't a coward though, she'd never backed down from anything before, and she wasn't about to start now. Braith had told her these things already, he'd tried to make her understand what he was capable of, but though she had acknowledged it, she'd never truly realized what it entailed until now. He couldn't go there again.
Dread trickled through her; she fought the urge to kick and scream and beg to be let out; she needed to get back to him before something terrible happened. She remained immobile though, her hands clenching around the bars as sweat trickled down her back. Humiliating herself down here wouldn't do her any good. She'd plotted with Jack and Gideon to leave him, to move on when the war was over in the hopes he would be able to keep control, but what if he didn't?
Aria thought he might let her go if she asked him to; Braith would do anything he could to make her happy, but if she up and left again with his brother, or if she died, h
e would lose it.
His father had just forced his foul-tasting blood into her, and yet she still felt the soul-deep bond she shared with Braith. He was inside her, intrinsically ingrained into each of her cells and the very fabric of her being. The king's blood, though inside her, was not a part of her. She could feel her body rejecting it as her cells struggled against the aberration in her system.
Braith was a part of her; he always would be. She was a fool and an idiot. Even if she left him, even if he succeeded in controlling himself and ruling as he should, she would never be able to sever the bond between them no matter whose blood was forced into her system.
It took everything she had to keep breathing.
He was in her heart, in her soul, and there was no way she was going to abandon him again. She didn't know how Gideon and Jack would react to her new decision, and she honestly didn't care. They would have to find another way.
Braith would have to agree to try and change her, or perhaps she could live out her life with him, but not be acknowledged as his queen. It wasn't a pleasant notion, and Aria didn't think she would be able to accept such a life, but she wasn't going to be able to carry out what she'd plotted with Gideon and Jack.
"We've all made mistakes, Mary. Braith will lead us to a better life though."
"My mistakes didn't involve me murdering someone," another man sternly interjected.
Aria fought the urge to shy away from their resentment and condemnation, but if she survived any of this, then she was going to have to get used to antipathy from those around her. She gathered her strength as she pressed her forehead against the cold metal bars. She braced herself for their disapproval.
"His mistakes made Braith who he is. They have made him a leader, and they have made him strong. He will come here, and if he is successful, he will free us all."
"And do what with us?" another woman asked. "Drain us dry like he did the others?"
"No, he will give us freedom, real freedom. You can return home, or you can stay within the town, but no matter what you decide, it will be your choice to make."
There was a protracted moment of silence, of breaths held in hope and disbelief. Most everyone here had been a part of the rebellion. This was what they had been fighting and hoping for their entire lives.
"He'll do good, real good in this world," she insisted. "My father believes in him."
There was shifting, and then a hand seized hers. Aria jumped and bit back a cry as the large hand wrapped around hers. It was a man's hand, calloused and roughened from dirt and labor.
"David trusts this creature?" the man asked.
The creature comment irked her, but she didn't pursue it. Some battles weren't worth fighting.
"He does," she confirmed as the man's hand tightened around hers. "And so do I."
"He bought you," Mary whispered.
"He saved me," Aria corrected.
"He didn't save the others."
"But he will save the ones he can, now. I wouldn't lie to you about this; I wouldn't steer you down the wrong path, he is our future, our hope; you must trust me on this. How many are down here?"
"There were fifty-two of us, but Walt hasn't returned since they pulled him up yesterday. There will soon be another auction; they usually run at least once a month, sometimes more depending on the number of raids. There will probably be around another fifty people in here with us after that," Mary said.
Aria's skin crawled, it was awful enough down here now, never mind cramming another fifty people into these cells.
"Have you seen my son, Aria? Have you seen John?"
The hope in Mary's voice pierced Aria's morose thoughts. She would like to give Mary the answer she sought, but she couldn't. "I'm sorry, Mary, I haven't."
Aria's hand was still wrapped within the man's as she listened to Mary's faint sobs.
"I'll find him," Mary whispered. "If I somehow get out of this, I'll find him."
Aria tried to free her hand from the man, but he held on. "What of you, Aria?" he inquired.
"What of me?" She was growing annoyed he wouldn't give her hand back to her.
"You really trust this creature?"
Aria frowned, his voice was familiar, but she couldn't place where she'd heard it before. Then she recalled her capture and her time in the holding pen before she'd been brought on stage to be auctioned off. A man had told her to be strong, and though she hadn't seen him or known who he was, she recognized the voice now and knew it was the same man.
"Completely," she stated.
"It can't be any worse than it is now," the man murmured as he squeezed her hand and released her.
Aria didn't respond. She absently rubbed her injured finger as she strained to see. She wished she could part the shadows and rid the world of the shadows concealing it, but it was impossible. The darkness was absolute.
Braith glided through the trees before kneeling at the edge of the wood’s line; his eyes closed as he opened his ears to listen to the sounds of the day. David and Daniel knelt beside him. Daniel unraveled the designs he’d illustrated and laid them out.
Though Braith didn't open his eyes to see the dark shadows of the drawings, he knew the boy was talented; he'd seen some of his other work. Daniel outlined the attack plan for the town with the ease and knowledge of someone far older than his twenty-one years.
"This area here is large enough for us to move everyone into the town without becoming hindered by the forest," Daniel said.
Braith kept his eyes closed as he felt the open space Daniel described. The wind moved freely through the area as it was less crowded with trees and obstacles.
"Setting fire as we go will confuse them and drive them from any hiding spots they may have,” Daniel continued. “They won't know what to expect from us."
"So this is where we will split off from?" Xavier inquired.
"Yes, from what Braith described the entrance to the tunnel is in this area of the woods." Daniel's fingers skimming over the drawings caused the papers to rustle. "If you split off from here, you'll be hidden within the forest until you reach the mountainside."
"Are you sure the king doesn't know about this tunnel?" Ashby inquired.
"I created it as an escape route from the man in case it became necessary. No one knows about the tunnel except for me," Braith told him.
"Must have taken a while," William muttered.
Braith’s fingers and muscles clenched at the mere thought of the king. "You do what is necessary, no matter what the cost," he said bitterly. "I'll take twenty in with me when we first enter."
"You can't go into the palace so unprotected," Gideon protested.
"If I take more it will be impossible to move them through undetected."
"The tunnel is our best advantage to get more men inside without being seen," Gideon insisted.
"If they know we are inside they will make sure they have Aria with them," Braith growled.
"Braith—"
"No!" he barked. "No more arguments, Gideon. This right here, this, is not a democracy! Not when it comes to her. I will go in there with only twenty. We will have one hour before others may follow, but I will have that hour to try and locate her first. When the others enter, they can make their way to the main gate, but I will remain inside until I find her."
"Can we take all of the troops through the tunnel?" Frank inquired.
"No, there's not enough room to maneuver that many men through undetected. They would discover us, and we would be trapped, pinned down by the king's men if we try to move everyone inside the palace that way. It will be hard enough for the three hundred who enter behind us, but it will be doable."
They uneasily shuffled around him. "It's a solid plan," Ashby finally agreed.
Braith listened as Daniel rolled the designs back up and tucked them into his shirt. "Of course it is," Daniel said.
Braith normally would have felt some amusement over Daniel's self-assured response, but he was incapable of feeling such a thin
g right now. He rose to his feet and stretched his aching shoulders as he tried to ease some of the tension within them.
"When will we be ready?" he asked.
"Tomorrow, two days at the most. If we wait until nightfall there will be even less resistance," Daniel answered hesitatingly.
Braith's teeth clenched; his jaw throbbed from the pressure on it. Two days, it was far more time than he had expected. Two more days of Aria trapped in that palace and at the mercy of his father and brother. Taking down his father's soldiers had assuaged some of his bloodlust and craving for death, but it was coming back tenfold right now. It thrummed in his temples and pulsed through his body with every passing second.
"Two days it is," he grated.
They exhaled a collective breath of relief. Braith turned away from them and moved deeper into the woods. He had to get away from them. Rage burned his chest, surged up his throat, and strangled him with its intensity. Moving through the trees Aria loved so much, he took refuge in the forest she cherished as he climbed the hill. He could almost feel her here, laughing as she jumped from tree to tree and limb to limb.
He was thankful most of their troops were still in the caves; he couldn't deal with anyone else right now. Arriving at the top of the hill, he turned back toward the town and the palace. The shadows shifted and blurred before him, but he could make out the silhouette of the king's home.
Anger didn’t tear through him now, but a sense of loss so profound it nearly drove him to his knees. He couldn't think about what was happening to her or what she was going through because of him.
It had been a simple mission, and he'd lost her. He'd let her down. He'd vowed to keep her safe, and he failed miserably. Even if he did get her back, Braith didn't know if he would ever be able to make up for the torture she was enduring. He shuddered as his hands fisted.
"Focus," he told himself firmly.
The only problem was, there was little to focus on besides her. It was why he'd come here. He couldn't see the boards scattered about him, but he knew they were there. William, Daniel, David, Max, and Jack had helped him to carry the wood here. Even Ashby, Gideon, and Xavier had wandered to the clearing to see what Braith had in mind for all the lumber.
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