Braith was healing fast but he was still impaired, and Caleb had been feeding better than he had. But even so, it appeared that Braith was winning as he leveled Caleb with a brutal blow that caved his cheekbone in. Caleb howled as he clawed at Braith’s face, trying to tear at his eyes as he fought to escape Braith’s devastating punches.
Nausea twisted in Aria’s stomach. This is war and it’s brutal, she reminded herself. She’d done her fair share of killing today, but what was between them was something more than the war surrounding them. This was a vehemence that had been building for centuries, and was finally being released in a torrent of blood and loathing.
Caleb somehow managed to twist in Braith’s grasp and dodge the next punch. Braith’s fist slammed into the heavy wood table, the harsh sound of cracking bone was distinct even over the raucous of the room.
Braith cursed loudly, he jerked his broken hand back as Caleb thrust his fingers into Braith’s Adam’s apple. Braith was thrown off enough by the switch in attack methods that Caleb was able to get his legs in between them and push Braith off. Braith fell back on the table as Caleb scrambled out from under him. Caleb staggered to his feet, nearly fell over, but somehow managed to keep his balance as he grabbed hold of one of the torches in the sconces above him.
A cry of horror escaped her as Caleb thrust at Braith with the flame. Braith jerked back as the flames caught at the tail end of his shirt. He slapped at the flames, beating them out as Caleb launched at him again. Knocking the torch aside, Braith seized hold of Caleb’s arm and jerked him forward. Caleb managed to dodge Braith’s punch, he slammed his shoulder into the lower part of Braith’s chest and propelled them both across the table.
They tumbled over, bouncing across the hard surface before spilling onto the floor beneath her feet. Braith seized hold of Caleb’s shirt, lifted him up and smashed him into the floor. Caleb was stunned for a moment, but then he rapidly kicked out at Braith as he was lifted high again. Aria had been so focused on the fight between them that she didn’t notice the soldier that had come up behind Braith until he smashed a club off of Braith’s back.
A cry of distress tore from her as Braith pitched forward beneath the force of the blow. Braith spun as the guard went back at him with the club raised high and a malicious gleam in his eyes. Grabbing hold of the club, he ripped it from the man’s hands and swung it across his face. While he was distracted Caleb threw himself at Braith’s back. The knife he brandished gleamed in the light of the room. Braith knocked his hand aside, blocking Caleb from slitting his throat completely, but Caleb was still able to cut him. Blood spilled forth as Braith’s sliced skin began to bleed profusely, and more guards encircled him.
She had relented and stayed aloft, but there was no way she could stand idly by and watch Braith be murdered in cold blood. Her gaze fell to the piece of broken flag pole she had left behind and she scurried back to it. The ominous feeling that she may already be too late gave her a burst of tremendous speed as she propelled herself back toward Braith.
Braith was struggling against two guards when Aria launched herself off the beam at Caleb. There was a moment when it almost felt as if she were flying, almost felt as if Braith would die while she was suspended like a feather in the air. And then, finally, she was falling.
Caleb staggered beneath her as she crashed onto his back and nearly drove him to his knees. He somehow managed to catch his balance as she wrapped her legs around his waist and clenched her thighs against his sides. With a ferocious cry, she lifted the makeshift stake above her head and plunged it down. Caleb’s skin and bone gave way with a loud crunch beneath the fractured wood as she drove it through with a strength born of terror and love. His legs gave out as the pole broke through his ribcage and pierced the other side. Even before she saw the angle of the pole she knew it hadn’t been a direct blow to his heart.
A howl escaped him as he jerked back and tried to throw her off, but Aria adhered to him like a burdock to cloth. She bit back a cry of agony and frustration as he clawed at her over his back, tearing her arms open but not slicing as deep as the creatures from The Barrens had. Caleb beat at her, catching the corner of her eye and splitting her lip as she tried to keep her face shielded from him.
Suddenly Braith was before them. She’d never seen him look like this before, feral and lethal but with an air of control he’d never possessed when her life was threatened before. His eyes, as they met hers, were not rubies. Instead they were a piercing gray that touched the very core of her soul with their beauty. She knew, without words, without a gesture or move, what he wanted her to do.
A final burst of energy poured through her as she leapt off of Caleb’s back. Braith lunged forward and grabbed her around her waist. Pulling her protectively against him, he slammed his right hand into Caleb’s chest. An inhuman wail escaped Caleb; he reared back beneath Braith’s assault as Braith yanked back with a mighty heave. Aria turned away, and buried her face in Braith’s neck as Caleb’s wail increased in frequency before silencing completely.
She shook against him, clinging to his solid frame as he held her flush against his side with her feet dangling in the air. His hand trembled as he brushed the sweat dampened strands of hair back from her face. She didn’t even care he was touching her with the hand that had just destroyed his brother as she lifted her gaze to meet his frantic eyes. She simply stared at him for a moment, basking in the feel of him.
A small breath escaped her, he was the only thing she could see, the only thing she could feel as he kissed her firmly, bit into his wrist and offered his blood to her. She stared at it for a moment before snagging hold of it and pressing it to her mouth. She eagerly swallowed, pulling his blood into her body as she tried to rid herself of the awful taste of the king’s blood that stained her tongue and throat. The sweetness of his blood, the pureness of it flowed into her, healing her at the same time it helped to purge her system.
He kissed her forehead as he stepped back from the table and turned her into the shadows of an alcove. Aria gradually became aware of the hush that had descended around them and she released Braith’s arm. Her hand pressed into the hollow of his back as she leaned around him to survey the room. The few soldiers that continued to fight were swiftly being taken down. It seemed that when Caleb had been destroyed, most of the king’s remaining soldiers had given up the fight. There were pushed against the opposite wall, their weapons on the ground at their feet and their arms raised in surrender.