“And what happened last week?” Braith asked softly.
“David’s daughter did not return as scheduled, and neither did one of his higher ranked lieutenants. It was confirmed that the girl had been taken. It is not confirmed if she is alive as a blood slave, or not. That’s why I risked blowing my cover to come back here now.”
“What good is any of this information?” Caleb inquired, but the anger was gone from his voice.
“Human’s tend to be very attached to their children. If David’s daughter is alive, and being kept as a blood slave, than we can use her against him. He won’t like the thought of his child being used in such a way, he will be reckless. If she is dead, then we will have to dig up a blood slave that looks like her, and try to use that girl against him. Either way, we have strong leverage over the rebels right now,” Jericho said softly.
“I want all of the blood slaves from the past few weeks brought forth tonight, Jericho will inspect them all,” their father said softly.
Braith’s hands were tight around the head of his cane. Sensing his agitation, Keegan had risen and begun to pace anxiously. “Perhaps it is your blood slave Braith,” Caleb said lightly.
“Perhaps,” he managed to agree.
“You have taken a blood slave?” Jericho inquired shock evident in his voice.
“Yes, Braith has finally sunken to the levels of depravity that the rest of us have enjoyed all these years. He did well for a blind man; she’s a pretty little thing, if you like redheads. Which, I do.”
Braith stiffened, close to ripping the head off of his cane as he waited for Jericho’s response. If David’s child was a redhead, they would all know shortly, and they would all be racing up to his apartment to get at Arianna. They would use her, and they would torture her, and they would kill her. He didn’t know how he was going to stop them from doing so, but he knew that he had to try.
Jericho gave a soft laugh. “No, fortunately for Braith’s newest addition, David’s daughter is not a redhead.”
Braith breathed a sigh of relief, but the tension did not ease in his chest. Something still felt off about all of this, something was not quite right. He wanted desperately to return to Arianna, to question her, but he had a feeling that no matter what had passed between them, she still would not tell him about her family. Especially if this David really was her father. And he also knew that he could not blame her for that, her family was probably far closer than his, humans tended to cling to their loved ones. Vampires did not.
But, if David was her father, than why would Jericho lie about her hair color? Maybe he did not consider her dark tresses red, but Braith doubted that. Maybe he had never actually seen the girl, but why would he lie about it? What did he have to gain by coming here and lying about this? Unless, Jericho had wanted to escape the woods and this was his excuse to return to the luxurious lifestyle he had left behind.
Neither of those things sounded right, but he couldn’t quite figure out this puzzle, not yet anyway. He just knew that he needed to get back to Arianna, and he had to keep her away from Jericho. She could not go to that banquet tonight. “Well, if she is not a redhead, then I will be leaving my blood slave behind tonight. I’d prefer to mingle amongst the crowd, alone.”
“Already tired of your treat?” Caleb taunted. “Funny, but it didn’t seem that way when I stumbled upon you earlier.”
“A change is always good,” Braith replied dully.
“So be it,” their father replied. “I still want Jericho to see the girl, just in case.”
“Of course,” Braith murmured in consent, trying hard to remain calm. “Whenever you wish to stop by Jericho. I will join the rest of you later.”
Braith strode swiftly from the room, Keegan following at his side as he tried not to race back to Arianna.
Chapter 11
Aria stood silently as Maggie slipped the beautiful dress over her head and began to tighten the strings that ran up the back of it. Aria stared down at the shimmering green material, stunned breathless by the striking color as it flowed gracefully to the floor. There were only two things she didn’t like about the dress; it’s low cut revealed far too much of her cle**age than she liked, and the strings that were even now cutting off her breath as they pulled tight about her ribs. Ribs still tender from her beating.
“Is it too tight?” Maggie asked softly.
“Just a little,” she admitted.
“I can loosen it, but it has to be tight so that it will stay up. This is the dress that the prince chose, but maybe you could be allowed to wear another if he knew that it was painful for you.”
Aria swallowed heavily, closing her eyes as she shook her head. She had to stay with this dress; no one could think that Braith was taking any kind of sympathy with her. If this was the dress he had chosen, than she would wear it. There were probably already questions about them; she could not allow any more to be raised.
“No, it will be fine and the prince will not allow me to change it if this is the one he chose.”
“I’m sure he might, he probably wasn’t thinking when he picked it. Men do not understand strings and their tightness after all.”
“It will be fine,” Aria murmured. Maggie sighed in aggravation but returned to pulling the strings tight again. Aria closed her eyes, trying to keep her face impassive as Maggie tried to be as gentle as she could. “Do blood slaves often attend the banquets?” Aria asked, more to distract herself than out of any real sense of curiosity.
Maggie shrugged absently, but she looked slightly troubled. “Not normally, and not when it is such a big celebration.”
“What are they celebrating?” Aria inquired. She had not seen Braith again after he had sent her to his room, but Maggie had appeared shortly after. She had explained that Braith had sent her, and that Aria was to get dressed so that she could attend the party tonight.
“The youngest prince’s return.”
“Return, return from where?” Aria asked in surprise. She hadn’t even known that he was not here, Braith had never mentioned it.
“No one knows, but he has been gone for six years.”
“Odd,” Aria whispered, mulling over Maggie’s words.
“Yes, it’s been speculated and whispered about for years,” Maggie said eagerly. “Some say that he left to fight the war on the western front, and others say that he left for the love of a woman that his father did not approve of. Of course, no one wanted to believe that one.”