Unbound (The Captive #7)(101)

“It’s too late, Aria,” he said again.

She knew he was right; it would be all or nothing for him now. He’d lost too much blood to reverse this. “You can be one of us,” she whispered as she brushed the blond hair from his forehead. “I know you said you didn’t want to be, but you could be.”

He’d said he didn’t want to be a vampire when he’d been healthy and far from death. Now, she could see death creeping through him, steadily taking him over. She opened her mouth to plead with him to change his mind, but the words died on her lips. If he’d changed his mind, he would have said yes to her blood.

Her hand stilled on his forehead as she leaned forward to kiss his cool cheek. There was so much he still had left to do, children to have, laughter to enjoy, plans to design, and life to live. She wasn’t ready to let him go, but he’d said he would accept his fate. No matter how badly she wanted to cling to her brother, to plead with him to say yes to trying to change into a vampire, she had to respect his wishes and let him go.

“Daniel…,” Max started as realization settled over his features and his lips parted. He closed his mouth against any further protest though.

Aria settled beside her brother and took hold of his limp hand. Tears burned her eyes when she rested her head on his shoulder and her chest squeezed with grief. She refused to shed those tears, not yet. Daniel would go peacefully, knowing they would be okay. There would be plenty of time for tears later.

“The world is a far better place because you were in it,” she told him. “We are all better for knowing you, for loving you, and for having you to love and protect us.”

Her gaze slid up to her twin as he came toward them. The last of the vampires were falling away before Xavier and Timber. William gazed at her, then her wrist before looking to Daniel again. He opened his mouth, then clamped it shut when he realized arguing would be pointless. William’s bow fell to the ground as he walked over to Daniel’s other side and knelt beside him to rest his hand on his shoulder.

“William and I never would have lived this long,” Aria continued.

Despite the increasing rattle of his breath and the slowing of his heart, Daniel gave a choking laugh. “Tr-true,” he stammered as his fingers twitched within her grasp.

“You’ll see Mom and Dad again,” William said.

“They need one of us there,” Daniel murmured and Aria bit back a sob. “Max will lead the humans now.”

“I will,” Max said and settled his hand on Daniel’s leg as tears slid down his cheeks. “Everyone will be safe now.”

“Safe, loved,” Daniel said and his heart stuttered again.

Aria lifted her head to kiss his cheek. “We all love you so much,” she whispered.

“Love you all too,” Daniel said, and this time his heart did not beat again.





CHAPTER 39


Braith

Braith kept his arm around Aria’s waist as he led her through the bloody streets of the town toward the palace. Smoke wafted around them, and the cries of the dying filled the air before they were able to be put out of their misery. Aria kept her shoulders back and her chin up, but he felt the small tremor in her muscles against his side. Though she tried, she couldn’t hide her sorrow from him.

William carried his brother’s body in his arms, his expression almost identical to Aria’s as they neared the palace gates. The last of Sabine’s troops were falling beneath the onslaught of the palace guards and the fighters who had ensnared them within the town.

“Braith! It’s Braith!” Melinda shouted from the wall when he stopped before the gate and tilted his head back to look up at them. She clapped her hands excitedly and bounced on her toes before spinning away and disappearing from view.

Gideon and Ashby gawked down at them. He lifted Sabine’s head into the air to show them she’d been eliminated.

“Open the gates!” he commanded.

Gideon blinked at him before turning away. “Open the gates!” he bellowed, and the cranking of the mechanism within sounded as the battered wooden drawbridge lowered with a groan.

The wood hadn’t fully hit the ground before Melinda was running through the gates toward him. She ignored the head in his hands as she threw her arms around his neck. Unwilling to release Aria, or to have Sabine’s head touch Melinda, he turned his chin into her shoulder. “It’s good to see you too, sister,” he told her.

She pulled back from him, her hands staying on his shoulders. “She had your head,” she whispered, her lower lip trembling as her gaze ran over him.

“Not mine, but I do have hers.”

Melinda grinned at him and slapped him on the shoulders. “Good.”

She stepped away from him as Ashby and Gideon emerged from within and strode out to meet them. Behind them, Braith spotted the rest of The Council making their way outside of the palace walls, along with a large grouping of humans and vamps who surveyed the wreckage around them with wide eyes.

“We have to put the fires out, now!” Braith shouted at the milling group.

The command snapped many of them out of their stunned stupor. They ran back inside the walls to gather the hoses and pumps that would funnel water from the nearby lake to the fires.

Melinda’s gaze ran over all of them before falling on William’s arms. Her hand flew to her mouth and the color drained from her face. “Is that…?”