“What are you doing here Melinda?”
“I came.” Her gaze flitted over the cells before landing upon the broken door behind him. “I thought I would try to get to Aria while they were distracted.”
“She’s gone.”
“Ashby.” She took a step toward him, the yearning on her face nearly palpable. “Where is he?”
“Outside the gates.”
Her face paled, her hand trembled on the torch as her lips compressed. “They’re flanked out there Braith, father had troops moved into the town. They’re trapped.”
He was still as his mind churned rapidly. He wouldn’t be able to take any of the troops with him to find Aria. Every man and vampire would be needed if they were to succeed in getting those gates open and saving his brother and Aria’s father. It would weaken his chances of getting them both out of here alive, but if they were going to win it was what had to be done. It was not the choice he wanted to make, it was not the choice he would have made a week ago, but it was the choice he knew he had to make now.
“You will take all of the men and go to the gates Gideon, it’s the only element of surprise we have and the only chance we have of succeeding.” Braith had expected an argument, but Gideon simply bowed his head in acquiescence. “Melinda, go with them, Xavier…”
“I am staying with you,” Xavier stated flatly. “I assume the humans will also insist upon going with you, and you ought to have another vampire at your back.” The three humans glared at Xavier but nodded their agreement. “Getting those gates open is important, but trying to keep you alive is also a necessity. Besides, even if we don’t survive this, I would like a chance to see the girl and her brothers in action.”
“What does that mean?” William demanded fiercely.
Xavier chose to ignore him, as did Braith. “Fine,” he relented. “We have to go.”
“Braith you… ah you need to be prepared,” Melinda’s hesitant words froze his approach toward the stairs.
“Prepared for what?” His voice was a low rumble that caused Melinda to take a small step back.
She swallowed nervously as she glanced at Gideon and Xavier, but they remained mute. “I don’t know everything that has been done to her.” William stepped closer to Braith; his eyes narrowed, his hands fisted as he studied Melinda. “But she has suffered abuse, and it’s very apparent.”
He was afraid to move for fear he would rip the entire place down as Melinda’s words echoed in his head. He could barely get words out of his constricted throat. “I have to get to her.”
“What about us?” the man demanded from the shadows when Braith spun on his heel.
“We’ll come back for you,” Braith responded impatiently.
“Wait, you can’t leave us here!”
He was already moving down the aisle when Max grabbed hold of his arm. Braith almost ripped Max’s arm off in his rush to get to Aria. “Braith, if we lose they’ll be trapped here. We have to let them out now. This may be the only chance they have.”
“We can help you fight them,” Mary said eagerly.
“We can’t leave them here like this,” Max pushed.
He pulled his arm free of Max’s grasp and seized hold of the bars of the woman’s cell. With a brutal jerk he snapped the lock on it and pulled the cell open. The woman stood for a moment, her mouth parted as she waited hesitatingly in the shadows. “Free the others,” he commanded gruffly.
He was almost to the steps when he froze, his nostrils flared, and his head turned slowly as he caught a familiar scent. Lauren was cowering in the back of the cell, pressed flat against the wall as she stared at him. A small whimper escaped her as he took a step toward her.
“Please don’t hurt me,” she pleaded.
Braith’s gaze traveled up and down her filthy, trembling body. “Except her, this bitch stays here,” he snarled. William and Daniel glared furiously at the girl, while Max didn’t bother to look at her as he led the freed prisoners up the stairs.
“Wait! Please don’t leave me here!” Braith turned away as she took a hesitant step toward the door. “I just wanted back in! Please don’t leave me here!”
William moved closer to the bars. “If he doesn’t come back for you, I will,” he assured her.
“I’ll be coming back for her,” Braith promised.
William flashed a feral, fleeting smile that reminded him of the fact that her brothers were a lot more ruthless than Aria was. Braith climbed the steps to the servant’s hall and paused as he opened himself up to the flow of his blood within Aria’s veins. Though it wasn’t as strong as it had been, he could feel it calling to him, feel the rhythm of it within her as it pulsed through her veins.
He turned back the way they had come from. “The scent of her blood goes the other way,” Xavier pointed out.
“I can get to her quicker this way.”
He maneuvered through the hallways, steadily climbing as rising horror began to pulse through him. Aria didn’t know where she was heading, but he did. He was running, not paying any attention to the people he sensed still following him as he burst out of the servants quarters. The kitchens stood before him, startled servants took a step back from the group they’d been huddled in.
“Your Highness,” a woman blurted as she stumbled into one of the counters. “But… Oh.”
There had been no avoiding this; the kitchens were the fastest way to get to their destination. He couldn’t kill all the servants within the massive room, and truth be told he didn’t want to. It was too late anyway. Aria was on a one way path straight into the lion’s den, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He could only hope to get there first. One of the women fell to her knees, bowing her head as she went. Another man knelt, but the rest seemed too astonished by his sudden appearance to do anything other than stand and stare in amazement.
“Do we kill them too to silence them?” Max inquired flatly.
One of the servants let out a startled cry as they stumbled into a workstation loaded with more pots and pans. “It’s too late for that,” Braith informed him.
“What does that mean?” William demanded. “Does the king already know we’re here?”
“No, but we can’t remain hidden for much longer.”
“Why is that?”
“Because Aria is heading straight for the king’s throne room.”