Unbound (The Captive #7)(16)

“William—” Aria started to protest.

“The peace must be protected at all costs,” he said. “We have always known that.”

“You have a choice,” she said.

“We haven’t had a choice since we were born, Aria.”

“Tempest needs you.”

“I’m coming with you,” Tempest said. “I’ve maneuvered through mountains and caves silently before.”

“We might be climbing through the trees too,” William said to her.

“I’m not staying here without you, and if I can climb a mountain, I can climb a tree,” Tempest insisted.

“It’s not safe out there.”

“It’s not safe anywhere right now, but I’m safer with you than without you.”

Her brother couldn’t argue with that logic and he knew it. William turned helplessly back to Aria, but she couldn’t help him on this one. She would have used the same reasoning with Braith if he’d tried to leave her behind. She didn’t like the idea of being alone, but she also didn’t want her brother or Tempest to think they had to do this.

“You can stay,” Aria told him. “I can lead them away on my own.”

“No,” he said. “I can’t stay. You need another set of eyes for your back, and if something happens…” His words trailed off as he glanced at Braith.

“There’s no telling what I’ll do,” she finished for him when he couldn’t.

“I am coming with you.”

“You may not want to be there to see what happens to me if he dies,” she said.

His blue eyes were steady when they met hers. “I wouldn’t be anywhere else.”

Aria’s shoulders slumped as she realized there would be no deterring him. William wouldn’t want her to see him if something were to happen to Tempest, but she wouldn’t be anywhere else either.

He took hold of Tempest’s hand and pulled her against his side. Aria turned away from them and squeezed Xavier’s arm. “Heal friend,” she said. “I’ll need you to protect me in the future, I’m sure. Braith needs you now.”

His brown eyes were unwavering as they held hers. “You can d-do this.”

She bowed her head before rising on her toes to kiss his cheek. “Watch over them all for me,” she whispered in his ear.

He placed his hand over hers. “I will. I think you’re ri…ght. I thi… think it is Sabine.”

Xavier was the wisest vampire she knew. If he believed she was right, it only further served to confirm her theory. She stepped away from him and hurried to Daniel next. Kneeling beside her brother, she took hold of his hands and squeezed them. “I love you,” she said and kissed his cheek.

“I love you too. Keep yourselves alive.”

“You do the same.”

Rising, she said a good-bye to the others before walking over to Melinda and Ashby. “Wait at least an hour, preferably two, before trying to go for the refugees,” she instructed.

“We will,” Ashby said.

Melinda gripped Aria’s hands within hers. “Braith will be fine, Aria, you’ll see. It will take far more than this to destroy my brother.”

“Yes,” Aria murmured.

She released Melinda’s hands and moved away from her. She didn’t look back as she made her way up the rocks and away from all those gathered below. Behind her, she could hear William and Tempest’s feet on the rocks as they followed her.

“Aria,” Jack called to her when she arrived at the top. Setting her shoulders, she braced herself before looking back at him. “What do we do if you don’t come back?”

“Keep him protected, even if he dies. Also, continue to give him blood even if he dies. It may help to keep him stronger or help him rise faster if he does come back.”

“Don’t let him awaken to discover you dead!”

“That will never happen,” she replied and turned away.





CHAPTER 7


Aria

Aria bit her wrist again as she slipped through the trees. She kept her arm against her mouth before allowing it to fall to her side where drops of blood spilled onto the leaves beneath her feet. The thick canopy of the pine trees above them didn’t allow for any of the moon or stars to shine through. Whatever snow had managed to fall to the ground during the last storm had already melted as winter gradually gave way to spring.

Beside her, William and Tempest did the same with their wrists, biting into them then letting their blood trickle to the ground. Aria paused to lean against a tree. She became completely still as she listened to the distant footfalls struggling to keep up with them. Curses and grunts sounded as their trackers became entangled in the thick briars they’d traversed a quarter mile back.

She’d had to take her cloak off in order to make her way through the thorny underbrush. Her thin undershirt had been sliced to shreds by the briars, but she barely felt the chilly air against her flesh. Every part of her not focused on leading these vamps away from everyone else without being caught was focused on her connection to Braith.

Still alive. For how long? She shuddered, but it had nothing to do with the February night and everything to do with the progressing weakness she felt in their bond.