He also wanted her body.
Aria shuddered, desire pooled through her. It was something that she had not been ready for, something she had not given because circumstances always seemed to separate them. But even though they were on the run, adrift in a world that provided no security, there were no barriers between them anymore. She didn’t even care that they were kneeling on a kitchen floor right now; she was so swept up in both of their needs and desires.
He pulled away from her, shaking as he held her tight. “Arianna,” he moaned.
“I understand. I know what you need.” But though she said the words, she wasn’t sure they were right. She knew he wanted this as badly as she did, but she wasn’t entirely certain that it would be enough. She sensed that he may need more than just her blood and her body. He already had her heart and soul; she didn’t know what else she could give him to ease the distress she sensed growing within him.
“Arianna.” His voice was a low groan of pain and need. “You are so innocent. So sweet…”
“I am not that sweet.”
His smile was wan, his eyes dark and tortured. “True,” he agreed softly. She grinned at him, sensing the lightening in his mood that she had been hoping for. “There is so much you don’t know about me though. So much that you could never understand. There are things that I have done…”
She placed her fingers over his mouth, silencing him. “Don’t Braith. You’re not going to scare me away; you are not going to drive me away. You are not your father, you are not Caleb.”
“I am a killer.”
“I have killed also,” she managed to choke out.
“In self-defense. I killed for pleasure, for joy.” She tried to turn away from him; she didn’t want to hear this. She knew what he was, knew what he was capable of; she had witnessed the full force of his brutality earlier. He grabbed hold of her though, pulling her back toward him. “You need to hear this Arianna.”
“I understand Braith; you don’t have to do this.”
“I do, because you don’t understand.” She frowned fiercely at him, her hands clenching tight on her legs. “I never killed for pleasure, never killed for the joy of it.” She didn’t understand where he was going with this. “Until Jack took you from the palace.”
Aria recoiled, the color drained from her face. He was right, she didn’t understand this. He had told her about the blood slaves he had taken after her escape, and though she hadn’t asked, she had assumed that he had not killed them. The Braith she knew was kind, caring, overly protective of her, and as willing to die for her as he was willing to kill for her, but he was not vicious. And this conversation was taking a turn toward cruelty that she had not expected from him.
“And then I lost myself to the pleasure of the blood, the pleasure of sex, and the pleasure of the death.” She felt nauseous. She was going to throw up. He was a killer, she understood that. There were other women before her, she knew that, he was over nine hundred years old for crying out loud, she’d be a fool to think there hadn’t been other women, but she didn’t want to hear about them. And she didn’t want to hear about him glutting himself on them, on thriving on destroying them. He leaned closer to her, his eyes burned with a strange fire. “I did not enjoy it for long Arianna.”
She shook her head, forcing herself not to recoil from him. She loved him but how did she assimilate the monster he was describing to the man before her. “Then why?” she managed to croak out.
“Because I wanted to forget you and I thought that it would help.”
She stifled a moan as she closed her eyes. Guilt stained her soul and twisted in her stomach. It was not her fault that he had done those things. He had chosen to kill, but her absence had been the catalyst that sent him spiraling over the edge. “Why are you telling me this?” she whispered.
He sighed softly; his hand was gentle as he gripped her chin. “Because you need to know.”
She shook her head in denial. She loved him, she truly did, but now she felt wounded and raw. He had starkly reminded her of things that she did not want to recall, reminded her of the fact that though she had no one to compare him to, there were probably hundreds, if not thousands, that he would be comparing her to. He had also harshly reminded her of the fact that he was a monster, or at least had the potential to be. He would never hurt her, but what would he do to someone else that stood in his way? What would he do if her family stood in his way?
She knew the answer to that, and though she wanted to deny it, she knew that it would be something swift, and vicious.
“Arianna, you need to understand what it is that I am saying to you.” She blinked, her eyes burned with tears, but she was confused as to why he kept pushing this. “I can’t lose you again Arianna; it sent me into a dark spiral. It snapped something inside of me, turned me into something evil and twisted. I upheld my promise, I did not reclaim any blood slaves after the last time I saw you. I couldn’t, the thought of them was disgusting to me. But I cannot lose you from my life again, many will not survive it.”
Her eyes were wide, her mouth parted in disbelief. “You’re not going to,” she promised softly.
His hands were on her face, his eyes forceful and smoldering. “Whatever this is between us, it’s something that I don’t understand, it’s something strong, intense, pure, and yet consuming. It is something wonderful and precious, but it can also turn me into something horrendous. Losing you will also drive me mad. I am one of the strongest of our kind, I am a prince, and my blood is strong, old, untainted. If I snap, if I go on a rampage, I will destroy many people before I am stopped. If I am stopped.”
“Braith I will never leave you,” she promised.
“You are human Arianna. As long as you stay human you will be mortal, at risk of death.”
“Braith…”
“I cannot take the chance of you being killed. I cannot risk that.”
Realization was cold and vile as it hit her with the force of a hard slap. He did want more than just her blood; he wanted more than just her body even.
He wanted her life. He wanted the only thing she couldn’t give him right now, if ever, but seeing the stress in him now she wasn’t sure she would be able to stop him from taking it by force.
Chapter 13
Arianna was still pale, and shaken. She had not spoken since he had made his revelation to her, she had barely even moved. Every once in awhile, she would stare at him, her eyes would darken slightly, and her hands would begin to tremble in her lap once more. She was the strongest human he had ever encountered, perhaps even the strongest being he had ever come into contact with, but his confession, his openness, had rattled her completely.