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  “Arianna,” he groaned his lips warm against her ear.

  The ragged relief and pleasure in his voice almost completely undid her as her hands rapidly fluttered over him. They were going to die, but at least they would have this moment, this one last time, and she so desperately needed it as she clung to him. She wished she’d never listened to Jack, Ashby, and Gideon. That she had never tried to distance herself from him. She’d been foolish to think she ever could have let him go, or that he would be able to do the same.

  Touching him and holding him now was the best thing she’d ever felt. She’d never thought to experience love in the first place, never mind this kind of love, with him, a vampire who had taught her there was far more to life, and the world, than she’d ever imagined. She was in love with this beautiful creature who had taught her that not everything was black and white, good and evil. There were shades of gray, there were in-betweens, and there were colors she’d never dreamed of. Colors that he’d shown her in the garden, worlds and experiences he’d opened to her when he’d taught her to read, love he’d given to her freely over and over again with his understanding, patience, and countless sacrifices he’d made for her.

  Now they were here, back where it had all started, and where it would finally end one way or another.

  “You shouldn’t have come.” She buried her face in his neck; she couldn’t get close enough to him.

  “I will always come for you.”

  Yes, he would. No matter what Gideon and the others had thought, he always would have come for her, and she would always welcome him. She would have pretended that she didn’t want him to find her; she would have stayed strong because she’d thought that she was doing the right thing. However, she continuously would have hoped that he would find her, and she would have been waiting for him.

  “You shouldn’t have brought them.”

  “I could no more have stopped them than I could have stopped you if the roles were reversed.” A harsh laugh escaped her at the truth of his words.

  “My father is ok?” she asked worriedly, though she knew he would have had to lead the humans into battle.

  “He was fine the last time I saw him.”

  From the corner of her eye she saw the soldiers narrowing in, their weapons raised with deadly intent. Her fingers were trembling, she should pull away, she should release him, but she couldn’t bring herself to let him go. Not yet, she wasn’t ready to say goodbye.

  “Hold.” She was dimly aware that it was the king that had spoken the word, but she didn’t care about the reason why he had chosen to give them this reprieve. She was certain he had some ulterior motive, but the king didn’t matter, the men surrounding them didn’t matter, not anymore.

  A warm wetness pressed against her skin. She didn’t have to pull back to know that his blood was soaking through his clothes and into hers. Another small sob escaped her, she clutched more frantically at him. “Don’t leave me,” she whispered.

  “Never,” he groaned against her ear. “No matter what happens I will always be with you Arianna. Always.”

  His shirt collar was growing wet with her tears. “Always,” she breathed.

  His lips pressed against her ear, her cheek, and then his mouth was upon hers. It was meant to only be a chaste, loving kiss, one of goodbye, but the minute his lips touched hers, her body reacted as if it had been struck by lightning. She flattened against him as waves of passion and love cascaded through her, leaving her boneless and limp. She clutched at him, torn between wanting to scream from the injustice of it all and wanting to rip this room apart with her bare hands.

  Unfair, it was all unfair. But life was unfair, she’d always known that, but she’d hoped that just this once it would work in their favor.

  No matter what happened after, she would always have the memory of this kiss and the taste of him. She would always have these few short moments and their love to help get her through it. She’d be strong no matter what they did to her. The king and Caleb would never break her; never beat her into the weak little human they thought her to be.

  Braith broke away; he was shaking as his hands cradled her face. She lifted her eyes to his, relieved to see the beautiful gray and blue color she cherished so much. He pressed another tender kiss briefly against her quivering lips. “I love you,” he whispered.

  More tears spilled free as she pressed her cheek against his, delighting in the feel of his stubble roughened cheek against hers. The sweet scent of his blood swirled up to fill her nostrils. Horror filled her as she looked down. He was dying, she was certain of it as the stain of his blood spread across his solid chest and torso. Her large, powerful, magnificent vampire was gradually dying before her eyes. A strangled cry escaped her, he seized hold of her hands as she fumbled to try and staunch the flow of blood.

  “I’ll be ok love, don’t worry about me.”

  “No,” she whimpered, knowing that he lied. “There’s so much.”

  “The guard’s blood helped some.”

  Her hands shook in his; she couldn’t unclench her fingers from his to hug him once more. His gaze scanned over her face, neck and arms as his eyes faded back to a ruby shade. When he let himself go he was more destructive, more powerful, he could feed from his own kind and be a monster like his father. If he gave himself over to the darkness within he may even be able to get them all out of here, but at what cost? Would she ever get him back? She’d rather die than lose him to such a fate, to see him become as twisted and broken as his father and brother.

  “Stay with me,” she whispered. “Don’t go there Braith, don’t let me lose you that way.”

  His eyes came back to hers. They shifted from that awful ruby color to a shade that was partially red and partially blue. It was disconcerting, that beautiful blue band around his iris surrounded by a murderous scarlet, but she could at least see him beneath it now.

  She leaned toward him, and pressed her lips to his as she slid her hands free of his grasp. She moved her lips unhurriedly over his as she realized what she had to do. She recalled Ashby’s words from the tree house, when he’d spoken of his bond with Melinda; we are stronger because we drink from each other. She traced the solid, much loved planes of his magnificent face. “Love me Braith, stay with me.”

  “Always,” he vowed again.

  Gently pressing her lips to his one more time, she turned her head to the side and guided his head to her neck. “I can make you stronger.”

  He hesitated; she felt his desire to recoil as clearly as she felt his hunger for her blood. He didn’t hesitate because he was repulsed by the marks upon her, or the flow of the king’s blood within her veins that she knew he could sense, but because he was frightened that she couldn’t handle anymore blood loss. He could become a monster in order to try and get them out of here, or he could accept the gift of life that she was offering to him as freely as she offered him her love.

  “It’s ok, I can handle this. I know I can, you know I can.”

  His hand cradled the back of her head as the other flattened against her back. Aria held her breath as she awaited his decision. His mouth pressed against her skin, a soft breath escaped her as his lips pulled back and she felt the hard press of his fangs.

  Her raw skin caused her to wince as he bit deep, but the pain was fleeting and the pleasure of finally joining with him again swirled up inside of her. She fell into him as she was lost to this exquisite moment, perhaps their last. Heat flooded her extremities; it pooled through her body, and moved out from her heart as she was consumed by his love for her. The intensity of the emotion left her trembling, and shaken, but also stronger.

  Awareness began to grow in her. Ashby had said that he didn’t know why the bloodlink between vampires made them stronger, but Aria understood it now. It wasn’t only the sharing of blood between such powerful beings, though she knew the strength of their blood was part of it, but it was also the love and trust so freely given amongst creatures that seldom allowed themselves to be
vulnerable to someone else. She wasn’t even a vampire, but she made Braith more powerful simply by loving him, by accepting his love in return, and by nourishing him with the blood he craved most.

  She also understood something else, she wouldn’t lose Braith. He wouldn’t be overcome by the darkness and anger rolling through him. An anger that he’d always harbored toward his cruel and heartless bastard of a father; a darkness that broke free of him every time he felt her life was in jeopardy. He could easily lose himself, but he wouldn’t, not with her here to help pull him back. Even now, in the middle of this whole mess, there was still hope, and a growing understanding of who she was, of who he was, and what they were together.

  She knew, because she knew him, that whatever happened from this point on he wouldn’t be driven by fury and hatred, but by love. And love was by far the stronger motivator. It was something that his father would never understand, and it was their most powerful asset.

  CHAPTER 13

  Braith embraced her as her blood flowed freely into his mouth. She smelled of the dungeon, but beneath the stench of that hideous place he could smell her natural, sweet essence as it flooded his senses and invaded his body. He could taste his father within her blood, and though he knew he should be infuriated by it, all he could find was relief, pleasure, and an all encompassing love that left him shaken.

  He’d thought he’d lost her, and yet she was here, in his arms, holding him as she offered herself with the ease that only she could. He heard the strong thump of her heart, felt the tears that wet his neck as she pressed her face against him, and tasted the power of her blood as it infused him. The knick in his heart sluggishly began to repair as her blood worked to heal him.

  He unhurriedly pulled away from her, nuzzling her neck briefly before leaning back from her. Her tears had left streaks through the dirt that marred her delicate cheeks. Her eyes fluttered open; their crystalline sapphire depths shimmered with unshed tears. It was the love in her gaze that humbled him and made him stronger; it radiated like a brilliant ray of sunlight. For her, he could do anything; even retain control when he was so close to losing it. If this was to be their last moment together, he would make sure that she never saw the monster inside of him again.

  “Impressive son.”

  He grasped her cheeks when she moved to face the king. He didn’t want her to see that bastard again, not right now. “Look at me. Focus on me Aria.”

  “I won’t let them take me alive,” she whispered.

  “They won’t take either of us alive.”

  She swallowed heavily and closed her eyes as she nodded briefly. He savored in the sight of her before turning toward the king, the man that had fathered him but had failed to turn him into the son that he’d wanted him to be. “Very impressive. I am actually proud of you for the first time.”

  The king spread his hands out to indicate the bodies littering the floor around Braith. He had managed to take down a good fifteen soldiers before Aria had reached him. Caleb stood before the dais and his father, his forehead furrowed as he stared at them with glowing red eyes. Blood still stained his cheek, but the gouges Aria inflicted had already healed. No, there was no way he would allow Caleb to get his hands on her again.

  “I never knew you had it in you. It is her, isn’t it? She is what makes you stronger?” Braith held Aria’s head still as she tried to look at his father again. “Her blood is what makes you like this. I’m thinking there’s a link.” The word hissed out of the king as he stepped forward. “After what I’ve just witnessed, I think I’ll keep you both alive and use her to keep you under my thumb. You would be my greatest weapon to control and use as I saw fit, even against the forces trying to take me down now.”

  So that was why the king had told his troops to hold, to stay away from them, Braith realized. He’d wanted to know the lengths that Braith would go to for her. He had needed to see how much he could control Braith by controlling her, and Braith had played right into his hands. He’d shown his father exactly what he’d been looking for and had hoped to know, probably since the moment Braith had left here.

  “I bet you’d even kill Jericho if it meant keeping her alive.” Aria inhaled sharply, her tears wet his fingers as he held her still. “I’ll make her watch as you destroy everyone and everything she loves, for her.”

  Braith would destroy himself first. “That will never happen.”

  The king grinned at him as he gave a brief nod of his head. “I want them alive.”

  The soldiers started moving in to shatter their moment of solitude and peace in this brutal place. He turned his attention back to her, taking just one more moment to feel her against him. “Stay behind me.”

  She shot him a wild grin that made him realize she would do no such thing, not his Aria. He grabbed hold of her, wrapping her in his embrace as he launched to his feet. Her blood had renewed his strength, and revitalized him in ways that the guards blood never could have. He hadn’t taken enough to impair her, but even so, he bit into his wrist and offered it to her as he spun her away from the onrushing guards. She seized hold of it, pressing it firmly to her mouth with an enthusiasm that surprised even him.

  She swallowed swiftly and eagerly before she released him. He reluctantly let her go to face the soldiers rushing at him. From the corner of his eye he saw Aria leaping forward with the grace of a deer as she dashed to a spear discarded on the ground. Snagging hold of it, she spun with an eerie elegance toward the soldier charging at her. Her throw would have been lethal if the guard hadn’t sidestepped the weapon at the last second.

  Braith grabbed hold of the two closing in on him. He snapped the neck of one with a brutal jerk before ripping the spear from his twitching hands. The man wasn’t dead, but Braith didn’t have time to finish the job as he drove the spear deep into the other guard’s heart and pulled it free. Aria ducked beneath the grasping hands of the guard. She moved so quickly that even Braith didn’t notice the broken end of the spear she’d managed to plunge into the man’s chest until the guard fell back.

  She ran toward her brothers and Max. Braith kept an eye on the guards encircling them as he deliberately moved back with her. Three more guards launched themselves at him; he fended them off as he fell back, determined to keep his body between her and the king. It would be Aria his father went for first, Braith was certain of it. Keegan leapt before him, growling and snapping as he forced one of the guard’s away.

  Max, William, and Daniel launched forward suddenly. They shoved their shoulders into two of the guards that were watching over them as Xavier leapt to his feet. A guard grabbed William by the neck of his shirt and plunged a spear through his right leg. William wailed loudly before his scream broke off and he grasped hold of his thigh. Sweat beaded his forehead and upper lip, his face went deathly pale as he tried to rip the spear free.

  Fury darkened Aria’s features. She switched directions as she raced toward the man that had just maimed her brother. “Aria!” The shout came from Max as he managed to grab hold of a bow and a quiver of arrows. He tossed them toward her before being knocked back by a blow that echoed throughout the room and probably knocked more than a few teeth loose.

  Aria slid across the floor on her knees; she snagged hold of the bow and arrow before leaping back to her feet. Braith had no idea where she was going, or what she had in mind until she leapt onto the lap of one of his father’s trophies, jumped onto the table, and launched herself at the massive, dark wood beams that ran across the rounded cathedral ceiling of the room. She hung for a moment before swinging her legs up and catching hold of the beam. Pulling herself up, she sat briefly on top of the beam before leaping to her feet.

  She was back in her trees, Braith realized as she dashed across the wood.

  Braith wasn’t surprised that some of the soldiers had stopped to stare at her as she leapt from beam to beam toward her brother, Max, and Xavier. Even the king was watching her with assessing, shrewd eyes. Braith met Xavier’s gaze over the crowd of soldie
r’s, Xavier’s dark eyes closed as he bowed his head to Braith and gave a brief nod. Braith didn’t know if it was relief or anguish that filled him at Xavier’s confirmation of what he suspected about Aria.

  But he did know that they had to survive this before anything could be discussed or decided.

  Braith shoved another guard out of his way as he struggled to get to the others. Aria leapt to another beam, leaned back on her heel and fired two arrows at the guard that had stabbed her brother. He fell back as another guard snagged hold of Daniel and hauled him to his feet.

  Xavier was a man of books and histories, but even so, as the guard jerked Daniel up, Xavier grabbed hold of him and slit his throat with deadly ruthlessness. Xavier pulled Daniel free and finished the guard with a killing blow to his chest. Pushing Daniel behind him, Xavier grabbed hold of Max as the three of them were forced back beneath the crushing wave of the king’s men.

  Daniel tried to grab hold of William, but the spear through his leg made it nearly impossible for him to move. Aria covered her twin by firing at any guard that dared approach him.

  Braith leapt over the bodies of two fallen guards. Grabbing hold of William, he tried to lift him from the ground but part of the spearhead was embedded into the marble. William released another shout that was eerily echoed by Aria, as Braith ripped him free with a merciless yank that tore muscle and bone.

  William’s fingers dug into his arm, his lip bled from biting into it, but he didn’t offer a complaint as Braith shoved him at Max and Daniel. Something pointed and rigid pierced his shoulder; a ferocious growl escaped him as he spun back on the guard that had just shot him with an arrow. He leapt forward, looking to bring the man down, but an arrow pierced the man’s chest before Braith could get to him.