“Yes.”
She nodded, not liking the strange pit that formed in her stomach as he confirmed what she had already known. What the hell was wrong with her? Just an hour ago she had been slapping him, now she was upset by the thought of him with his many women. She was losing her damn mind, she had finally flipped her lid, and she was surprised to realize that she didn’t really care. Not anymore.
“So then why me? Why did you choose me?”
He sighed softly, running his hand through his hair. It was already disheveled, now it stood slightly on end. He stood up, walking over to the window before moving back across the room. He looked like a caged animal as he paced restlessly back and forth. “Because I saw you on that stage.”
Aria frowned, stunned by his response, unsure of how to respond to it. What the hell did that mean? Of course he had seen her on the stage, as had everyone else that was present that day. “I don’t understand.”
“No, of course you don’t,” he said softly. He stopped before her, kneeling down as he took hold of her hands. “I brought you here because for the first time in almost a hundred years I was able to see something, and that something was you Aria.”
She frowned at him; her fingers limp in his as she stared at him in confusion. Her eyes scanned over his hard face, landing upon the thick glasses. Her mind flashed to the cane, and to Keegan who was ever present at Braith’s side. “You’re blind,” she breathed, stunned by this revelation, and the fact that she had not realized it until now. But, he couldn’t be blind. How could he have taught her to read then? And how had she always felt his gaze on her, how had he seen her connection with Max today if he was blind? “I don’t understand.”
He shook his head, turning slightly to look out the window. “I don’t either,” he said softly. “But for some reason I saw you on that stage, and once the shock of actually seeing something again wore off, I began to realize that I could also see things around you.”
“So your eyesight is coming back?”
“No.” He turned back to her. “I only see things when I am with you, when you are around. When I leave this room, when I am not in your presence, I can no longer see again.”
Aria’s eyes widened, her heart leapt wildly in her chest. She did not know what to make of this confession, did not know what it meant, what it signified. Her fingers were shaking, her lips trembled slightly as she leaned forward and gently stroked over the hard edge of his glasses. He did not move away from her, did not stop her as her fingers wrapped slowly around them. She bit her lip, excitement washing through her as she gently pulled the glasses away.
His eyes were closed, but she could see the faint white scars that outlined them. It had been a hundred years, plenty of time for a vampire to heal, but those scars were still there, still marring the otherwise perfection of his masculine beauty. Her fingers stroked lightly over the marks, compassion washed through her. Whatever had caused this had to have been something horrific to have left this type of lasting damage. Something horrific and painful.
“Let me see Braith,” she said softly, suddenly needing to see his eyes more than she had ever needed anything before.
His eyes remained closed for a moment longer before his long, dark lashes swept upward. Surprise flickered through her, but she found herself frozen, immobile within the grasp of that solid, fierce stare. His eyes were striking. They were a bright, stunning gray that robbed her of her breath and left her immobile upon the bed. Around the iris of them was a band of bright blue that was arresting. They dilated once the light hit them, once they focused upon her.
Aria could only gaze at those eyes, the slow comprehension dawning upon her that they were the most beautiful things she had ever seen, and that they were damaged. Though they had focused upon her, they seemed strangely unseeing and slightly dazed. Yet they scanned over her face, searching her slowly as she ran her fingers lightly over the soft scars encircling them.
“Beautiful,” she said softly. She saw the brief shock that rolled through him, but she didn’t care. They were beautiful, and she couldn’t stop touching them, couldn’t stop touching him. “What happened?”
“An explosion.”
“The war?” she asked softly. He shook his head in response, but did not elaborate and she sensed that he didn’t want to. She wasn’t going to push him either. It didn’t matter how it had occurred, it simply mattered that she was here, with him. “I’m sorry.”
“It was a long time ago, I had long since adapted to the loss. Until you.”
She stopped searching his wounded gaze, and focused fully on the man before her. “What does it mean?” she asked softly.
His hands encircled hers, his grasp tender upon her wounded fingers. “I don’t know what it means Arianna. I simply don’t know. I do know that I wasn’t going to let you go once I saw you, and I especially wasn’t going to let you go to Richard Ellis. That is all I do know, I wish I had more answers, but I don’t.”
She nodded, biting on her bottom lip. Her hands tightened briefly on his hard face, she leaned slightly forward, pressing her lips lightly against his forehead. She wished that she could do so much more, wished that she could heal the wounds that had been inflicted upon him so long ago, but she couldn’t. She could not undo what had been so cruelly imposed upon him all those years ago, long before she was born even.
“Braith,” she breathed, so completely lost and confused by everything that was happening to her. To them.
She pulled slightly back, surprised to feel tears burning her eyes again. She didn’t think that she could possibly have any more tears left in her, but she did. “Arianna, you must listen to me. I don’t wish to hurt you, I really don’t, but there are rules to being a blood slave, and there are rules about the relationship of a master and their slave.”
“I know my life is not going to be a long one,” she said softly. “I’ve known that for years. I’ve seen more death than people three times my age, and I’ve narrowly avoided it many many times. I understand the rules Braith; and I know there is nothing you can do…”
“But there is, or there could be, but you must do as I say Arianna. There have been other vampires that have kept slaves for a few years, even longer. But you must behave, you must stay quiet, and you have to stay away from your lover…”
“Max is just my friend!” she interrupted sharply; angered by the fact that he kept insisting upon something that wasn’t true. “I told you that already, and I meant it. We’ve been together since we were babies; he’s my brother’s best friend. If it wasn’t for me, and my recklessness and carelessness, Max wouldn’t be here. I can’t let him suffer because of me! I can’t let him suffer because I am a fool who never listens to orders…”