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.