“Why not?” Aria asked softly.
Maggie was silent for a moment; her gaze darted swiftly around before she bent closer to Aria. “The young prince is very handsome. No one wanted to think of him with another woman. They all hoped that they would snag him.”
“Oh,” Aria said dully. “I see.” But she didn’t see, she didn’t see how anyone could be more handsome than Braith, and she also didn’t want to think about the women running around here trying to snag a prince for themselves. Especially when it could never be her.
Aria closed her eyes as her ribs began to scream in protest. She was so intent upon trying to ignore the pain that she did not hear the prince arrive until she heard his growled command. “Leave us.”
Aria’s eyes flew open, her heart leapt wildly as she caught sight of him standing in the doorway. He was striking, magnificent, and he seemed very angry and tense right now. Aria stood slowly as Maggie glanced wildly between them. Maggie didn’t seem to want to leave Aria by herself, but when Braith barked at her to leave again she scurried swiftly from the room.
A slight shaking began to work its way through Aria, she had never seen Braith look like this. There was a strange cross between anger and fear clinging to him that left her breathless. “What is wrong?” she whispered.
“If I am going to keep you safe, then I am going to need to know more about you. Do you understand me Arianna? There can be no secrets.”
Her eyes widened, her gaze darted behind him. She could see very little of the rooms beyond him as his shoulders seemed to encompass the entire doorframe. “I don’t understand Braith, what is this about? What happened?”
“My youngest brother has returned.”
“I heard,” she said softly. He moved slowly forward, his hard body taut, his jaw clenched fiercely. “Is he ok? Is everything alright? He is safe isn’t he?” she gushed out, uncertain as to what was going on.
“He’s fine, Arianna, but he has come back in search of someone.”
Aria’s eyes widened, her heart sputtered, jumped, and leapt wildly within her ribcage. She could only assume who it was that he had come back for, and she imagined that it was her that he was probably looking for. But how was that possible? How would he know who she was? Until her capture, and Braith, the only vampire’s she had encountered had been killed.
“I don’t understand.”
“Don’t you?”
Aria shook her head, trying hard not to seem panicked, but she knew she was failing. Then, a flicker of movement behind his back caught her attention. Her eyes widened, terror coursed through her as adrenaline slammed into her veins. She could only gape in silent horror as the man behind Braith moved slowly forward. She didn’t understand though, her mind would not comprehend what her eyes were seeing. It was impossible. What she was seeing was completely impossible!
She took another step back, the overwhelming urge to flee consuming her. She didn’t know what to say or what to do. She was trapped, cornered within these rooms with two vampires, one of which she was greatly afraid she was falling in love with, and the other one a man she had once trusted with her life. She was certain that he had come here to end it. She was trying to breathe, but the dress and her panic was making the simple task exceptionally difficult right now.
And then, she gave into her instinctual urges. Braith’s loud curse followed her as she darted through the door of his bedroom, flew over top of his bed, and raced for the door to the library. She didn’t look back, didn’t hesitate in her heedless rush forward. She didn’t even stop to think about where she could possibly be going. She just knew that she wasn’t wearing her leash, so there was an unbelievably small sliver of a chance that she could escape if she just stayed free of them.
She fled through the library. She didn’t kid herself into thinking she could truly escape, part of the reason they had lost the war was because the vampires were exceedingly fast, exceptionally strong, and so damn hard to kill. But she had to try at least, she wasn’t going down without a fight; she simply wanted to stay alive for a few minutes more.
She threw things behind her as she ran, tossing a chair here, an end table there in an attempt to knock them off of their pursuit. She wasn’t even entirely sure they were still behind her, that they hadn’t gone another way, until she heard a reassuring grunt of pain behind her.
She grabbed hold of the library door, slamming it shut behind her as she leapt forward. Out of the corner of her, she caught a rushing blur coming at her. Aria ducked low, darting to the side as the blur dove at her. A small gasp escaped her as a hand skimmed over her back, but she dove forward, just barely managing to escape its seeking grasp. It was not Braith that had leapt at her, for she knew his touch anywhere, but his brother the traitor. She scrambled back to her feet, lifting the annoying hindrance of her dress as she leapt onto one of the sofas, jumping over the back of it in an easy, graceful motion.
There was a frustrated growl behind her, but she ignored it as she bounded forward. The door was right there, just feet away from her. For the first time since the chase had started, true hope bloomed in her chest, excitement pounded through her. She had managed to avoid two mature vampires in an enclosed space, surely she could get free. Surely she would escape this never ending nightmare.
Her fingers scrambled over the doorknob, she worked swiftly through the locks that had been thrown. Locks that were rarely ever in place, as she had learned earlier when Caleb had walked in on them. Locks, she realized, that Braith’s brother had put into place. The door was almost a foot open when a hand slammed hard against it, banging it shut with a resounding crash that echoed throughout the room, but did little to drown out the shattering of her heart. She tugged uselessly on the handle for a few moments more, feeling like a fool, feeling like a helpless idiot as frustration, despair, and anger filled her.
She wanted to scream for help, but there would be no one to come to her aid. No one to save her, she was trapped, and she was discovered. There was no escaping that fact. Not with Jack here now. Except his name wasn’t Jack, was it? No, it was Jericho, and he was not one of her allies, but a member of the damn royal family. And he had come here to root her out, hand her over, and use her as a weapon against her own family.
Well the joke was on him then wasn’t it? Because no matter what they did to her, her family would not come here. It would be a suicide mission, they knew that, and there were far more other people’s lives at stake, than just hers. She was willing to accept that fact. She just wished it hadn’t come to this. The sense of betrayal was sharp, she had always liked Jack, she had trusted him, enjoyed spending time with him, had learned from him, and in return had taught him a few tricks of her own. Her father had liked the man, had trusted him, and brought him into his confidence. And the entire time Jack, no Jericho, had been planning to betray him. She was shaking, her body trembling with the anger radiating through her.