Unbound (The Captive #7)(103)
He didn’t try to quiet her, but only held her as she shook against him and her tears wet his chest. He’d give anything to take her sorrow from her, but though there were so many things that could be taken from someone, the worst of them never could be. Grief had to be endured.
CHAPTER 40
Aria
Six months later
William paced anxiously from one side of the room to the other, running his hands through his hair as he muttered to himself. Aria bit on her inner lip to keep from laughing at his nervous movements. “You’re going to wear yourself out,” she told him.
“What is taking so long?” he demanded.
“You know how women are when it comes to getting ready,” Jack replied, and Aria shot him a look.
Jack met her glare with an innocent smile as he adjusted the lapels on his black coat. His hair was brushed back from his face, emphasizing his handsome features. Beside him, Braith wasn’t bothering to hide his amusement over her brother’s frantic behavior. He grinned as he stood with his arms folded over his chest. Like Jack, his hair had been brushed back from his face to emphasis his gorgeous features. Her heart melted when his eyes met hers and he winked at her.
Stepping away from the wall, Braith strode across the room to her. He drew her into his arms as William started cursing. She melted against his chest, inhaling his crisp, masculine scent. Her fingers dug into his back as she closed her eyes and allowed herself to drift for a minute.
The past six months had been difficult to get through. It had taken them months to sort through the mess Sabine had created, to find any humans and vampires who had survived her imprisonment, and to check on all of the existing border towns. Some of the towns had managed to escape her wrath, others hadn’t been so lucky.
They’d discovered the humans Aria had seen with Sabine in the forest had been locked in the basement of one of the homes within the town. They’d been able to get them out before the building had been consumed by the fire. Some of the people had been too far gone to save, but the others had all been set free. The vampires Sabine had imprisoned, starved, and turned into monsters incapable of being saved, had all been hunted and destroyed.
They had increased the amount of the king’s guard in every town and recruited more humans and vampires to join the guard. She and Braith were determined to make sure that what had occurred with Sabine would never happen again.
Now they had double the amount of men and women working for the king’s guard and received weekly reports from every town. If something were to happen with any town again, they would know as soon as one of their representatives failed to arrive with an update. Before Sabine, they had been confident Braith was the eldest vampire, that there were no more threats out there against them. Despite the fact Sabine had denied any others of their line lived, they would not be caught unawares again if a new threat rose.
Throughout everything that had happened, they had somehow managed to keep Braith’s ability to rise from the dead a secret from almost everyone. There was no denying he was more powerful now, everyone could feel it, but most attributed this newfound power to his destruction of Sabine. Though most vampires didn’t feed from each other, some believed he’d consumed some of her blood before killing her.
Xavier had told anyone who would listen that Sabine had most likely faked her own death all those years ago, so she could freely roam the earth with no restraints placed on her by vampire society and so she could kill freely. Maybe some doubted this explanation, but no one was willing to question him or Braith about it.
“Perhaps a drink would help,” Max suggested to William.
Xavier shook his head when Timber lifted his silver flask into the air. “Here, here!” Timber declared enthusiastically.
“No drink,” William muttered.
The Council and humans who resided in and near the palace had unanimously elected Max to fill Daniel’s place last month when they’d been able to hold the election. The other human and vampire Council members who had been elected from the border towns over the years had all survived the war and retained their seats on The Council. There were now nearly a hundred members of The Council and the number would continue to grow as the population flourished once more.
When everything was completely settled, Aria had a feeling Max and Maeve’s wedding would be the next one they’d all be attending.
Aria released Braith and stepped away from him. As William’s best woman, she had to do something to calm her brother; she just didn’t know what.
He spun toward her. “Aria, go make sure she hasn’t changed her mind,” he said.
“She’s not going to change her mind,” she replied.
“Go, please,” he pleaded.
She kept a lid on her impatient reply. It was her role to do these things for him after all, but he had to realize how ridiculous it was to think Tempest would change her mind about marrying him, she was helplessly in love with him.
“I’ll go,” she assured him.
She kissed Braith’s cheek before walking over to take Timber’s flask away from him. “Hey!” he protested.
She shoved the flask into William’s hand when he paced by her again. “For crying out loud, relax!” she told him, earning her a lethal look before she slipped out the door.
She made her way swiftly down the hallway to the room where Tempest was getting ready. Glancing out the wall of glass on her left, she smiled when she saw the colorful blooms of the peonies, hydrangeas, and roses lining the walkways of the garden and spilling into them.