Captured (The Captive #1)(40)
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.”
“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.