Melinda remained wary; she leaned over and placed a soft kiss upon Ashby’s mouth. Aria pitied them, she wanted to let Ashby go, wanted them to be able to hold each other. She couldn’t imagine being kept from Braith. Yet there were two of them, separately they were not much of a threat to Braith, together they would be.
“Let your brother know what is going on, maybe then he won’t look like he wants to go on a rampage and slaughter us all,” Ashby urged.
Aria stepped closer to Braith; she needed to feel more of him, needed to touch more of him. She had a feeling she wasn’t going to entirely like what Melinda and Ashby had to tell them. He wrapped his arm around her waist. His body was cooler than hers, but heat still flooded through her as her chest was brought up tight against his side. His hand stroked briefly over her, his eyes burned into hers for a long moment.
“Have you ever heard the term bloodlink?” Melinda inquired softly, breaking into their moment.
Braith turned reluctantly away from her, his hand tightened briefly on her stomach. “No, I haven’t.”
“Neither had I,” Melinda admitted. “Until I met Ashby.” Her gaze traveled slowly to him, she reached out a delicate hand, clasping hold of his outstretched one. They fit well together; they seemed to take relief from the feel of one another as their fingers stroked each other. “And then the whole world was completely right, and so completely wrong.”
“I was already married to Natasha,” Ashby continued.
Melinda’s face scrunched up, anger and disgust flitted briefly over her delicate features. “If you recall, I was with mother when their wedding occurred. I was too young to stay behind when father banished her; he did not want the responsibility of having to take care of me. It wasn’t until she was killed that I was allowed back into the palace.”
“I had been married to Natasha for five years at that point,” Ashby said softly.
“I remember,” Braith interjected coldly.
Ashby grinned at him. “We used to have fun in those days. Before the war, when everything was still easy. You were the reigning heir and I was a vampire with a title, money, women, and a wife that cared as little for me as I did for her. Ok, well the wife part may have sucked, but mostly avoided each other. All we needed was to conceive a son in order to make your father happy, and then we wouldn’t have to be with each other again. It just wasn’t working for us.”
Melinda’s eyes had grown darker; her face was as stormy as a tumultuous sea. It was more than apparent that she did not want to hear about Ashby with her sister. Ashby brought Melinda’s hand to his mouth, kissing her softly as he sought to ease her tension. “Then the war broke out, mom was killed, and I was sent back to the palace,” Melinda said tersely.
“Your father was always greedy, always wanted more. He just never banked on so many vampires being content with their way of life. He never even considered the fact that some of the other powerful families might not want to go along with him. And he never expected that I would want out of my marriage from one sister, because I had lost my soul completely to the other one.”
They stared at each other for a long moment before Ashby turned his attention back to them. “A bloodlink is something that happens between vampires, and apparently with humans also. It happened to my parents; that is how I knew about it, and what the signs of it were. Most vampires believe it is a myth because it is so rare, but I knew that it was true, I just never thought it would happen to me. My parents were fortunate enough to find each other, and not have any obstacles in their way. Unfortunately we weren’t, and neither are you.
“My parents saw the war as a chance to escape the tyrannical rule of your father; I saw it as a chance to break free of my wife. A chance to start anew, and build a better life with Melinda. I took that chance. You were caught in the crossfire Braith, but I really didn’t mean for you to get hurt. As retribution for our mutiny my family was killed, but your father thought this was a better punishment for me.”
“Thankfully,” Melinda breathed.
“What exactly is a bloodlink?” Aria inquired.
“It’s a deep and instant connection between vampires. Our blood calls to each other, it needs each other. We grow stronger off of it, feed off of it. The connection is instantaneous, as Braith well knows, and it is unbreakable. It will eat you alive if you’re kept from each other, something else that Braith seems to have discovered.”
“Stronger,” Aria mulled.
“Of course dear,” Ashby purred. “It’s why Braith can see again, but I’m guessing it’s only when you are near.”
“What?” Melinda gasped, her eyes widening, her mouth dropping. “Braith?”
Braith was silent for a moment; the tension in him was growing by the second. “Yes, I can see when she is near. What about the two of you?”
Aria swallowed nervously. Braith could see, and it was a miracle, but could they also perform miracles? Had she completely misjudged this situation, was Braith weaker than them? She glanced between Melinda and Ashby, and then turned slowly back to Braith. No, it was obvious who the strongest was, but if Ashby were to get free…
Melinda was frowning intently. “Ashby…”
“I know love.”
“Melinda, you may be my sister but if you don’t tell me I will rip his throat out,” Braith growled.
Aria shuddered, her hands tightened on Braith’s arm. She wanted to promise that she would never let that happen, the last thing she wanted was to ruin their love, but if there was any chance they might hurt Braith, she was not going to say anything. It was better that they were afraid of Braith, if that was the case. Melinda’s eyes widened in horror, she took a step closer to Ashby.
“We don’t have anything like that Braith. We’re stronger because we have each other; we’re stronger because the bond between us has made us stronger. We feed off of each other, which is something that most vampires will not allow to happen, our blood helps to enhance our power and speed. As a united front we will prevail over a lone vampire, and death is the only thing that will divide us. But you…”
“You are different,” Ashby finished for her. “Maybe because she is human, maybe because you are the prince apparent, the first born, and your blood is more powerful than your siblings but you’ve had a stronger reaction to the link than any I’ve ever heard of.”
“You’ve actually had a physical strengthening reaction,” Melinda said softly.