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  “Perhaps, when you are done with her…”

  “I do not share Caleb, you are well aware of that fact,” the prince said forcefully.

  “There is always a first time for everything. She’s only a blood slave after all.”

  Aria forced herself to keep her head down, she was afraid that if she looked at either one of them she would start screaming, and she would never stop. She wanted to tell them how awful they were, how wrong and horrendous and cruel their world was. She wanted to scream at them that she did not deserve this, that her people did not deserve this. She wanted to tell them just exactly what she thought of the both of them, but that would only guarantee her death.

  And she wanted her freedom. Desperately. She wanted to show them that she was more than nothing; she wanted to show them that she was something special. And to do that she would have to get free of here, she would have to be the first blood slave to ever escape the bonds of their master. And she could do it somehow, she knew she could.

  “Leave us.” Aria glanced up quickly, briefly meeting the shadowed eyes of her prince. Caleb was still inspecting her as if she were a side of beef, his eyes narrowed intently. She hated the leering gleam in his eyes; it reminded her of the creepy little vampire that had first claimed her. “Now!”

  She jumped slightly at the barked command. The prince had never raised his voice at her. He had been overbearing and pushy when she had first arrived, but he had never yelled at her. Fresh hurt washed through her, she quickly buried it beneath her growing anger and sense of betrayal. She managed a brief nod before turning on her heel; she had to force herself not to run as she hurried from the room. She did not want them to suspect just how hurt she really felt, or just how infuriated she truly was.

  CHAPTER 6

  Aria stayed mostly within her room for the next few days, she did not bother the prince, and he did not bother her. Every meal time her trays would be sitting outside of her door. She took them, because not to do so would be foolish. She wanted to escape, she would escape, but in order to do that she would need to be strong. And she needed food to make her strong.

  The only company she had was Maggie, but though the girl was always kind to her they had little to say to each other, and Aria did not trust her. On her third day of imposed solitude the prince came to her door, but she ignored him, pretending to sleep when he opened the door to her room.

  On the fourth day, Lauren arrived.

  Aria was just stepping out of the shower when she spotted the blond within the bathroom, clothes in hand. Aria froze at the sight of her; her hand flew to her throat as she stared in shock at the girl. Their gazes locked for a long moment before Lauren turned and left the room. Aria grabbed hold of the towels Lauren had left behind, drying herself quickly before wrapping the towel around herself.

  She moved wearily to the dressing room in between the bathroom and her bedroom. Lauren’s hand was resting on the back of the chair as she waited impatiently for her, a cruel smile curving her full mouth. Her gaze traveled slowly up and down Aria, her lip curled slightly in disgust. Aria would have been happy if she had never seen this girl again, and it was more than apparent that Lauren felt the same way.

  “Where is Maggie?” Aria inquired softly.

  Lauren shrugged absently; she lifted the brush, twisting it within her hand as she eyed Aria cruelly. “I don’t know, the prince has requested my services from now on.”

  Aria tilted her chin defiantly up, her hands clenched tightly. This was just one more way for him to humiliate her, and put her in her place. He was punishing her for locking herself within her room, punishing her for hiding from him, but she would take that punishment without complaint. She could take whatever he and Lauren threw at her.

  She did not look at the girl again as she settled into the chair before her. Lauren began to brush out her hair, pulling sharply at it, nearly tugging it from her head. Aria was unable to keep herself from wincing every once in awhile, but she did not utter a sound of complaint. Lauren smoothed her hair out, and then reached forward to grab hold of some of the barrettes upon the table. Aria did not miss the bite marks that marred Lauren’s wrist and inner arm, nor did Lauren miss Aria’s wide eyed, disgusted reaction to them.

  The hateful blond leaned close to her ear. “The prince was exceptionally hungry this morning.”

  Aria froze, unable to move or blink as the implication behind those words sank in. No matter what Lauren did to her, and no matter what happened within these rooms, it would do Aria no good to tell the prince about it because Lauren was his mistress, and the one that he fed from. He would not believe anything that came from Aria’s mouth, especially not when it was about the woman that was providing for his needs.

  Aria shuddered in disgust, but she was more ashamed to admit that the realization caused an odd twinge of hurt within her. She should be relieved he had not turned to her; it was the last thing she wanted after all. She was lucky that he had not come after her, that he was not using and abusing her, that he was going to other women. Then why wasn’t she?

  She may not understand her strange reaction to these circumstances, but she was beginning to understand Lauren’s intense dislike of her a lot more. She was threatened by Aria’s presence within these rooms.

  What she didn’t understand was what the hell she was doing here. The prince had someone to sustain and provide for him. What did he want with her, when he had not even once tried to feed from her? Was she simply here for his enjoyment? For him to mentally torment her? She also did not understand, or want to acknowledge the sharp pain of hurt that stabbed through her. She refused to be hurt by the knowledge that the prince was with other women, refused to allow such an awful thing to happen.

  She knew that the vampires were cruel, indifferent, brutal, and bloodthirsty but this was the first she had heard of this sort of thing. But then again, she had always just assumed that a blood slave was drained and tortured physically, but perhaps they were also mentally assaulted until they snapped completely, and had to be killed.

  Aria shuddered at the thought, seconds before a barrette was jabbed roughly into her scalp. Aria shot Lauren a dark look, but her protest and anger died out as she saw the malicious gleam in Lauren’s eyes. A sinking feeling filled her as she realized that it was not only the vampires that were cruel here, but also the humans, her own kind.

  And she was completely at Lauren’s mercy, a fact that was driven home by the sharp stab of the next barrette.

  Aria withstood it all through the next few days; she took the handfuls of hair she lost with silence. She remained quiet through the skin pinching, jerking, pulling, and shoving that it often took for Lauren to get her into clothes that fit perfectly once on, but seemed almost impossible for Lauren to get on her at times. Bruises marred her skin from her chest down, but she was well aware of the fact that Lauren did not touch her face. Though she was in pain, Aria would not give Lauren, or the prince, the satisfaction of seeing her break, of seeing her cry.

  Instead, she kept it all inside, letting her anger fester. She let it build, fueling her rage and fanning her desire to escape this place the first chance she got.

  It wasn’t until she was climbing out of the shower, and Lauren pushed her onto the hard floor, that a startled cry of pain escaped her. Her knees smacked off of the hard floor, her palms stung painfully, her hip was bruised, and she heard the sharp crack of one of her ribs. Aria pushed herself slowly up, gingerly rising to her feet, her hand cradling her wounded ribs.

  She had been trampled by horses before; it had hurt worse than this, but not by much. At least then she had been able to roll through most of the horses hooves. Now she was on a constant collision course with the woman that was torturing her on a daily basis. She did not know how much more she could take before she snapped and pounded the girl into a bloody mess. For though she was beaten, and now also broken, she was certain she could still take the blonde on and just as certain that she would face immediate death afterwar
d for it.

  She was beginning to think that death might be worth it, if it meant getting to extract a little revenge upon Lauren. The only thing holding her back was that she wanted to extract revenge upon all of them, not just the bitch before her. She wanted to show everyone that she was more than just the simple minded blood slave they thought she was.

  Aria cradled her ribs as she defiantly met Lauren’s smug smile. She moved slowly, gingerly into the dressing room, trying not to cry as Lauren pulled the strings of her dress tight. For the first time since she had arrived, she ignored the tray of food outside her door, preferring to curl up in the bed, trying to fight off the agony crushing her chest. It did not help that she could not get the offending dress off, could not work the horrible tight ties free.

  Somehow, she wasn’t quite sure how, she managed to fall asleep for a little bit. It was dark when she woke again to Lauren’s prodding. “Get up you filthy, lazy creature.”

  Aria bit hard on her bottom lip, drawing blood as she held back her pain. Lauren pulled hard on the strings, finally releasing the tight binds pinching her rib painfully. Aria sagged in relief, gasping in as much air as her wounded ribs would allow. Lauren released her and left the room, leaving Aria to try and figure out how she was going to get the dress over her head, and the nightgown back on.

  It took more strength and energy than she wanted to admit to wiggle her way free of the dress. Tomorrow morning she was going to throw the damn thing out, it was the piece of clothing she hated most now. Even more so than she hated the heels. She sat on the edge of the bed, trying to gather her strength to slip the nightgown over her head. She could just leave it off, Lauren had not bothered to help her out of the silly undergarments she had to wear here, but she could not sleep in such a vulnerable state. It was bad enough having to wear the silly nightgown to sleep when she was used to so much more, but to wear even less would be far worse. She was in constant danger here; she needed to be as clothed as possible if she was going to be at least a little prepared for that danger.

  Drawing in as deep a breath as she could, she knotted the nightgown before her and slowly began to slip her arms in. She winced as pain shot through her battered rib cage. She struggled not to cry out, biting her tongue as agony tore through her side. “Arian…”

  Aria froze, her hands trapped within the sleeves of the nightgown. She had not heard him coming. In the forest, she could hear a field mouse from a mile away. But here, in this strange and deadly place, when she needed her senses the most they were failing her. Badly. She did not turn to face him; she could not bring herself to do so. Instead, she remained unmoving. For the first time she was grateful for the silly, uncomfortable undergarments that at least shielded some of her nudity from his view.

  She kept her head turned away from him, her breath held, as she waited for him to take his fill of the damage done to her body before he left again. She did not know what had brought him here tonight, not when he’d left her alone for so long, nor did she care. She simply wanted him to absorb whatever he could of her and leave; she had no fight in her tonight.

  “What the hell happened?” he asked softly.

  Arianna clenched her jaw as she pulled the nightgown further up her arms, grinding her teeth against the pain. She refused to answer him, refused to let him see that she was at all disturbed by his presence. He was before her suddenly, his hand seizing hold of the nightgown as he tried to pull it away. Aria clung to it, trying to keep herself sheltered from his gaze. However, he was far stronger than her, and in far better shape. In the end, she lost.

  Tilting her chin up, she glared defiantly back at him, refusing to be intimidated by his show of strength and control. “What happened?” he demanded gruffly.

  “Like you don’t know,” she snapped.

  His eyebrows drew sharply together over his glasses, his mouth compressed in a hard line. “I wouldn’t be asking if I knew. What happened?”

  Aria refused to back down from him, refused to cower beneath the weight of his heavy stare. “Your bitch happened,” she retorted fiercely.

  Shock registered on his face, his mouth parted slightly as she felt his eyes wander slowly over her again. Though it was far more of her body than any man had ever seen before, she did not shrink from his gaze, did not turn away from him or try to shield herself from him. He already thought her far weaker than him; she would not support his theory by being afraid of his weighty stare. She merely straightened her shoulders. “Are you talking about that girl that was here earlier?”

  Aria did not appreciate being played with. Especially not right now. Right now she simply wanted to go back to sleep and give her body a chance to heal before it was assaulted again tomorrow. “Yes, that girl,” she snarled.

  The prince’s gaze wandered over her body once more. Aria was surprised to realize that he appeared angered by what he was seeing. “Why did she do this?”

  Aria shrugged, wincing as she instantly regretted the action. Pain tore through her, she clamped down hard on the small cry that wanted to escape. “Because she can. I am just a blood slave after all.”

  His jaw clenched tightly, his hands fisted momentarily. “You may be a blood slave, but you are my blood slave.” Aria would not meet his gaze, she kept her hands folded before her as she focused upon the back wall, refusing to look at him or respond to him anymore. “Stand up,” he commanded gruffly. Aria’s jaw clenched, but she did not move. “Get up!”

  The words were practically snarled at her, but she didn’t move. She had been beat down enough over the past week, she would take whatever small victories she could get right now, and disobeying him was one such victory. She did not think about the fact that she was disobeying the prince, that he could do whatever he wanted to her right now. She just didn’t care anymore.

  He made a soft hissing sound, and then his hands were upon her arms. She was surprised by how gentle his touch was as he lifted her to her feet. Aria’s eyes snapped back to him, her mouth parted in surprise as she gaped at him. He placed her on her feet, his hands rested lightly on her arms as he took a step back. Heat flooded her face, embarrassment suffused her. She couldn’t stop her hands from instinctively fluttering up to try and cover herself, but he pulled them easily aside.

  Aria bit on her lip, fighting back waves of anger and despair as she stood before him, her body almost completely exposed for him to see. Yet, he did not leer at her, did not stare at her as if she were inferior to him and unworthy. His fingers trailed lightly over her ribs, running along the edges of the dark bruise that was clearly obvious against her pale skin. Though she kept her face impassive, she felt her body instinctively flinch away from his touch as it neared her broken rib.

  His jaw clenched as his hand stilled upon her skin, his palm flattened gently upon her. “Your rib is broken.”

  “I know.”

  His head came slowly up, his shaded eyes were hidden, but she could sense the question behind those dark lenses. She did not answer it, as far as she was concerned he did not need to know how it happened. He already knew who and why and that was enough for her. Instead, she remained immobile, frozen beneath his touch. His hand remained against her, gently cradling the broken bone housed beneath her skin. His touch was far kinder than she had expected from him, he was the one that had allowed this to happen after all.

  “And she did this to you?” Aria remained silent, trying to keep the tears in her eyes back. She did not want him to see them, did not want him to know that his gentleness touched her so deeply. Especially when she had decided that he was nothing but evil, that she wanted nothing to do with him, and that he was just tormenting her. “Arianna?”

  She turned her head away. “Yes.”

  She could feel the tension that seized him, the anger that locked his bones, and yet his hand against her ribs remained surprisingly gentle. He leaned closer to her, his mouth momentarily pressing against her ear. She could feel the brush of his lips against her skin as he spoke. “It won’t happen
again.”

  A single tear slid free, a shudder tore through her, neither of which she could hide from him. He wiped the tear away before sweeping her into his arms. Aria gasped, expecting pain to explode through her, and yet the way he cradled her did not leave any room for pain. It was so gentle, so sweet that she could only gaze up at him in dazed wonder. “Don’t.”

  He did not respond to her simple word, did not look at her again as he left the room. Aria tried to squirm against him, tried to break free, tried to feel some anger again, but she was so beat down, so broken, that she could not find much of a protest. True panic tore through her when he placed her down in the middle of his room. She tried to jerk free, but he grasped lightly hold of her wrist, pulling her gently back.

  “You need to be watched over. Broken ribs can be dangerous.” He said simply, as if this was enough of an explanation for everything that was happening now. As if this was enough explanation for everything that she found so confusing and dizzying. It was not, but she did not argue. She simply wanted to sleep again, if she could.

  They stared at each other for a long moment before he released her wrist. He lifted her gently again, placing her down upon the softest, most wonderful thing she had ever experienced. It was only after she sank into the mattress that she realized she was in his bed, and it was only after that realization that she knew she never wanted to leave. Her hands stroked over the thick blanket, the soft sheets. It was a little bit of heaven here on earth.

  Then, the fear kicked in. She was in his bed! She tried to sit up, but pain lanced through her side causing an involuntary gasp to escape her. He was at her side instantly, his hands upon her shoulders as he tried to push her back down. She wanted to struggle against him, but there wasn’t much fight left in her at the moment.