Refugee (The Captive #3)(60)

If he had asked her that question four hours ago, she would have given him a resounding yes, that despite everything that was going on, she was happy. She was frightened of the future and the possibility of losing a loved one, but happy. “Yes.” It was the first lie in the web she was now creating.

“That’s good.” He rocked back on his heels again. The awkward tension was enough to make her want to scream. “I’m sorry about what happened the last time we saw each other. I lost my temper, I never meant for that to happen.”

“It’s ok.”

He shook his head, his forehead furrowed as his clear blue eyes turned turbulent. “It’s not ok. I still feel this is a situation you shouldn’t be in. That’s he too old for you, too different, it’s not natural…”

“Max,” she whispered. Her heart ached and her body felt as if it were starting to shred into a thousand pieces. She knew they were all valid points, but to her they had never mattered before. They certainly didn’t matter after the conversation she’d just had with Jack and Ashby. She couldn’t stand here and listen to even more reasons why she shouldn’t be with Braith, why she couldn’t be with him.

He seemed to sense this as he nodded slowly. “But even so, what I did never should have happened. I could have killed you. I feel awful about it, it really made me rethink everything, made me look at what I was becoming and I didn’t like that person.”

“You’re a good person Max. You had some terrible things happen to you, any person would be different after.”

“I suppose.”

“It’s my fault. You were in there because of me…”

“No. I could have escaped being caught; I chose to go in there with you. I chose to let myself be captured. That’s not your fault.”

“But it didn’t go the way you expected.”

He finally looked at her again, finally met her eyes head on; finally seemed to see her for the first time in awhile. “Does anything?”

She pondered that for a moment. “No.”

“I thought I’d be the one that rescued you, but then neither of us knew what Jack was, and I honestly didn’t know how awful it was going to be in there, how drained I would be.” He shied away from her touch as she squeezed his arm. Feeling as if she had been slapped Aria went to pull away but he seized hold of her hand. “It’s not you; it’s been awhile since someone touched me. I don’t like being touched much since being in there.”

For the first time since she had spoken with Jack, she felt something else unraveling inside of her, something strong and determined. She realized then that no matter how devastated she was, no matter how much she was going to hurt Braith, it was the right course to take. No one should have to go through what Max and countless others had been forced to go through. “What happened to you in there, it will never happen again, to anyone, if we win.”

Max’s smile was tremulous. “That’s the only thing keeping me going.”

“Max…”

“It’s ok Aria.” His eyes had become distant again. His fingers tightened briefly around hers before he slowly released her hand. “I’ve come to accept it. I can see that you love him, that he loves you. I’ll move on, I didn’t think I would, but there are things I never thought I would get over and I’m already starting to come to terms with them. I’ll get over this too.”

“You will,” she assured him. “I never meant to hurt you.”

“I know. You tried to tell me how you felt; I just didn’t want to hear it. It’s my fault too.” He nodded toward the target. “How bout we forget some of this for a bit and I kick the crap out of you in some target practice.”

“As if,” she snorted, chuckling as she handed her bow over to him. For the first time a semblance of normalcy settled over them as he grabbed an arrow from her and stepped to the line she had created in the dirt.





***





Braith followed her laughter around the corner of the building. The sound of it caused his lips to twitch involuntarily upward. Stepping around the corner of the house, he froze at the sight of Aria standing in front of Max, smiling smugly as she handed the bow over to him. For a moment Braith was too stunned to move, and then rage tore through him. Beside him, Jack groaned.

“I thought you were watching her!” Braith snarled.

“Braith.”

His brother went to grab his arm but he was already storming across the field toward them. Aria turned toward him, the smile on her mouth froze in place, apprehension flashed across her features but she remained otherwise immobile. Max dropped the bow to his side, but Braith was well aware that the boy would like nothing more than to fire one of those arrows into his heart.

Aria’s paralysis broke. She grabbed hold of the bow as she stepped in front of Max. “What is going on?” he demanded, never breaking eye contact with Max. Even without the bow he was a threat.

“We’re just taking target practice,” she answered.

“You shouldn’t be with him.”

“He’s my friend, Braith.”

“He nearly killed you the last time you saw him.”

“It was an accident. A mistake, we’ve talked about it.”