“You have to start eating more Aria.”
Her eyes were dark and remote as she studied him. “I will,” she promised flatly.
He knew that though she said the words she would do no more than pick at the food he’d ordered brought up for her. “A bath will help you warm up.”
“Yes.”
She stiffly moved with him to the bathroom. He unzipped the back of her simple black dress and slid it away from her as warm water filled the tub. Though she was bared to him, he felt nothing sexual as he helped to ease her into the water. All he aspired to do was comfort her, to protect her, to ease this for her somehow, and he still didn’t know the extent of the torture his father and brother had exerted over her. Her body was still covered with faded bruises and bite marks that marred her fair skin.
He unhurriedly dipped a cloth into the water and ran it over her shoulders and down her back. She didn’t shy away from his touch, she wasn’t embarrassed by it like she had been when she’d first come to the palace. She drew her knees up against her chest, not to hide her nudity, but in a gesture of comfort as she wrapped her arms around her legs. She rested her cheek on her knee as she watched him. Unshed tears shimmered in her eyes as he rubbed the cloth over her lower back in small, soothing circles.
“Aria…”
“It’s ok, I’ll be ok. I just hurt.”
“I know you do.”
“Please don’t worry about me. I’ll get through this. I just need time. But time seems so long now, so… empty? Maybe not empty, but wrong somehow, and I don’t know how to explain it. There’s this hole inside me and all I want is for it to be filled again, but that’s impossible, and I have to learn to live with it because there are no other options. I have to figure out a way to patch the hole enough so that I can breathe again, without feeling as if the air is suffocating me.”
His hand stilled on her back, it was the most she’d said to him in the past four days. “Tell me what to do to make it better.”
She frowned, her hand slipped from her legs to entwine with his. “There is nothing you can do other than being here,” she murmured. “Time will help I suppose. I’ve heard it heals all wounds, but I don’t think this one will ever completely heal. How could it?” Tears slipped down her face, he wiped them away with the pad of his thumb. “You being here make’s it better, you being with me makes it better. Together. We won Braith and that is more than I’d dared to let myself hope for.”
“We did.” And she’d been so immersed in her melancholy that she didn’t know she’d become a hero of sorts. Daniel had stepped forward to claim his father’s place, and William and Max had become his seconds in command, but Aria was the one everyone talked about, the one they whispered about in awe. The human that had helped take down the king, the ex-blood slave that the new king cherished. Even the vampires admired her, even more so than they had before.
Her eyes closed as he washed her back, kneading her skin as he sought to ease the knots in her muscles. “I knew there was a good chance we would lose someone, I prepared myself for it. I know that we’re lucky even more weren’t lost, and lucky to be alive and free.”
“But you still miss him.”
“Yes.” Her misery was palpable in that one word. “I never got to say goodbye.” More tears slid down her cheeks, he didn’t brush these ones away; they were hers to shed. “I never had the chance to tell him I loved him again.”
“He knew.”
Her eyes appeared even brighter with the tears shimmering in them and the shadows outlining them. “I know that, but before we separated in the past we always said our goodbyes and exchanged our love. Caleb robbed me of that.”
His hand stilled on her back, every muscle in his body froze. If his brother hadn’t already been dead, in that moment he gladly would have killed him a thousand times over. He waited, unable to tear his eyes from hers as she finally spoke of his family. “I’m mad at myself for going into that town, but I’d do it again. That’s the person my father raised, it’s who I am.”
“It is,” he agreed, still unable to bring himself to ask the questions lodged in his throat. He was desperate to know but terrified of the answers she would give him.
“I’m sorry for your losses also,” she whispered.
“I suffered no losses.”
“I know you weren’t close with your father and brother, or Natasha, but they were still your family.”
“You are my family. Jack and Melinda are my family, even Ashby has started to grow on me again, and somehow I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’ve begun to like your brothers.” A small smile flickered across her lips, her eyes lit with amusement as she actually chuckled. The sound of that small laugh warmed him and eased some of his fears.
“That surprises me, with William especially.”
“He is the more annoying of the two,” Braith agreed.
Her smile widened as her fingers danced over his. “My father always said one of us would have been bad enough, but two of us were a sign that he was being punished for something in an ancestor’s past.”
Now would be the time to tell her, but he found he couldn’t. Not when she was smiling again, not when there was actually happiness shimmering in her eyes instead of despair. Later, there would be time later; they finally had time for each other, with each other.
“I’ll take the punishment,” he assured her.
“I hope so.”
“Hell, I’ll even take Max.”
“I’ve noticed the two of you have been getting along better. I’m glad,” she murmured.
“I’m glad you’re glad.”
A sigh escaped her and the smile slipped away. “Would you tell me if you were bothered by the loss of your family?”
“They were my blood, but I’m not sorry they’re dead. They were brutal creatures that never would have changed. If Caleb hadn’t taken my father down when he did, things may have been far different Aria. We may very well be dead. He was a powerful man, and would have been far fiercer competition than Caleb. Thousands upon thousands of lives will be better because of their deaths. Including ours.”
He lifted her arm gently, hoping to distract her from her thoughts as he rubbed the cloth over her ribcage. He didn’t want her feeling any guilt over their deaths when he felt none. He was surprised to find her contemplating him when he placed the arm back down and took hold of her other one. “You must be hungry.”