“It can wait.”
Aria pressed her back against the tree as she unwaveringly met his gaze and pulled the collar of her shirt down. His gaze latched onto the marks his father had left, an involuntary snarl escaped as he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her against him. Using his body to shield her from the others, he bent his head to the side of her neck that wasn’t wounded. “It’s ok, I’m fine,” she told him when he hesitated.
He briefly nuzzled her before sinking his fangs into her. Her hands curled around his arms as she melded against him. He took just enough to regain some of his strength before pulling away and offering his wrist to her. She took it eagerly, her eyes closed in pleasure as she bit into him. Releasing him, she lifted her eyes to his. “How was that even possible?” she asked quietly.
Braith shook his head as he released the tree and stepped away from her. Though he would still require human blood, he could already feel the strength of her blood healing his broken bones and other injuries. “I don’t know.”
“He told me he was almost fifteen hundred years old and that a stake wasn’t enough to stop him.” Braith’s jaw clenched, his hands fisted at the reminder his father had even had a chance to tell her such a thing. “Has anything like this ever happened before?”
“I have never heard of such a thing.” Xavier was starting to regain some of his color and the bites on his neck had almost completely healed as he stepped closer to them. “But Atticus was the oldest of our species, ever, and his line is the purest. He must have been far more powerful than any of us realized. I never heard him coming, I didn’t even know he was there until he was on top of me and by then it was too late.”
“He tracked me,” Aria murmured.
Braith wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her against his side. “He’ll never be able to do that again.”
She nodded as she tilted her head back to study him. “You might also be able to survive such a thing?”
“It is a possibility,” Xavier said.
“I’m not willing to find out,” Braith told them.
“Neither am I.” Aria shuddered against his side.
“We will probably never know what you’re capable of, or Jack and Melinda.” Xavier’s gaze landed on Aria as they made their way steadily up the hill to where Caleb had been unceremoniously buried. “Though it’s obvious that it’s more than the rest of us.”
At the top of the hill, Braith led the way toward an area of the woods that was barren and dark. Nothing grew beneath the high bows of the pines shadowing the forest floor. The inhospitable environment had seemed like the perfect spot to place his father and siblings. Dirt had been heaved up around the hole that his father had pulled himself from but the other two graves appeared to be undisturbed.
Calista smiled as she handed the shovels to a scowling Gideon and Ashby. “Dig away boys.”
They didn’t protest as they broke ground and began to uncover a creature that Braith had never thought he’d see again. Caleb’s hands appeared first, and then his chest and face. His face was sunken in, his skin grayish and missing in chunks. Aria’s hand tightened around his, she shuddered and turned away as they began to uncover Natasha.
“Burn them,” Braith ordered gruffly, unwilling to take the chance that a month or two from now they may just reemerge also.
Calista and Gideon lit the torches and tossed them into the graves. Braith didn’t care to see the end result; he didn’t want Aria there for any longer than necessary. “If they’re still in their graves does that mean that you wouldn’t survive a stake?” she quietly asked as he led her through the woods.
“I don’t know. It may have been my father’s age that allowed such a thing to happen, it may have taken more time for them to rejuvenate, or it may have simply just been my father’s bloodline.” Aria nodded as she leaned against his side. “Are you sure you’re ok?”
Her hand absently fluttered to her neck, her eyes darkened as she nodded briefly. “I’ll be fine. The darkness Braith, I don’t know how you handled it.”
He kissed her temple briefly, inhaling her sweet scent beneath the hay, blood and sweat. “Because of you.”
“Yes, because of you,” she murmured.
“I understand the darkness Aria. It will never rule you though; you don’t have to fear that.”
She glanced at him from under lowered lashes as he squeezed her shoulder. “Unless something happened to you.”
“That’s not going to happen,” he assured her. “Apparently there’s a chance I might be even harder to kill than any of us thought.”
A small laugh escaped her. “Apparently.”
He fought against the waves of anger that suffused him as he brushed the blood from her neck. “This will never happen again.”
“I hope not. If he comes back from a beheading I think we can just give him his crown, throw him a party, and admit defeat.”
“Thankfully that’s not a possibility.”
“Good, there are only so many shocks my heart can take, beating or not.” He chuckled as he kissed the top of her head and they reentered the town.
Chapter 26
Throughout the repairs, and rebuilding, the golden chains were salvaged from the wreckage of the town and placed where the stage had once stood. That night, after taking some time to recuperate and consume some blood from the donation center, Braith gathered all occupants of the palace, towns, and forest together to burn the chains with the remains of his father. The sun was beginning to set as he lit a torch and handed it to her. “I thought you would like the honors.”
The flames heated her cheeks as she twisted it within her hands. She smiled at him before stepping forward and tossing it onto the pile of kindling. She’d never seen anything as satisfying as watching all of those chains, and the king’s remains, spark and catch fire. Braith reached into his pocket and pulled something out. She leaned over him as he opened his hand to reveal the signet ring that symbolized the House of Valdhai he’d worn when she’d first met him.
“Braith?”
“It’s a new beginning all the way around Aria.” He stepped forward and tossed the ring into the flames. Sliding her arms around his waist, she rested her head on his chest and savored in the moment. The fire spread throughout the vast amount of wood and rose higher. Sparks shot and leapt into the air as smoke curled high into the darkening night. It had been an awful day, but this moment made it all worthwhile.