Unbound (The Captive #7)(34)
She couldn’t help the hot wash of tears flooding her eyes. How badly she wanted those words to be true.
“We will defeat this woman just as we defeated Atticus,” Gideon assured her.
“You didn’t see her, Gideon. She was terrifying.”
“And from what you said, she had you greatly outnumbered, yet only one of you fell. Next time, if he is prepared for her, and with a bloodlink to fuel him, Braith will be more than a match for her.”
“You’re right,” Melinda agreed.
She thought she heard Gideon whisper, “He has to come back. He’s the only friend I have,” as she walked out the door, but she couldn’t be sure.
CHAPTER 14
Aria
After a week, Aria still couldn’t get her eyes to return to normal, but at least no one questioned her about the ever-present sunglasses she wore, or her short periods of sleep. The only time she slept was when exhaustion took over and her body gave her no other choice but to rest. Often times that happened when she was sitting in a chair, but then her chin would hit her chest and she’d jerk awake again.
She hated sleeping for any length of time as she always dreamed, and all of her dreams were of Braith and what they had once shared. Most times, she woke crying from the dreams of Braith holding her.
Either from lack of sleep, or because she so badly wanted him back, she would often think she saw him somewhere too. When she turned to look, he would be gone and she would once again be left with her emptiness. Sometimes, she would smell him and the scent would be so vivid she could almost believe he was there. Then the smell would fade away to be replaced with whatever surrounded her.
Madness threatened to consume her in those moments when reality became almost too much to bear. It took a concentrated effort for her to wrap her mind around her mission to destroy Sabine.
Now, she stood within another one of the safe houses, talking with the humans who had been brought in to hear what was going on and what they should prepare for. This was the fourth safe house they’d been to, the next one would be the last one, and the one closest to the palace. Those gathered within listened raptly as she outlined the new threat they faced. Many of the faces paled, but all of them assumed a resolute expression. They would fight; there had never been any doubt in Aria’s mind about it.
“Do you plan for all of us to go to the palace now?” a man inquired.
“No,” Aria replied. “Weapons must be gathered or forged first.”
“We already have many weapons stored away, Your Highness,” a woman said to her.
“Please just call me Aria,” she said for what felt like the thousandth time. “I am simply Aria.” Now. But she always kept that word to herself. “We also need time to recruit more fighters for our cause, and to learn more about this woman and her troops. We have to be careful about gathering so many in one place right now. We can’t take the risk of our forces being slaughtered because we don’t fully know what we’re up against yet.”
They nodded enthusiastically as they looked around the room at each other. Aria pulled on the collar of her shirt as sweat slid down her back. Despite the cool dirt pressing against the walls, the heat of so many bodies within made it nearly unbearable to stand in here. Not to mention all of those annoyingly alluring heartbeats and the blood pulsing through their little blue veins.
Saliva rushed into her mouth, her fangs tingled with the need to sink them into someone and ease this turmoil inside her. Blood, it would center her, it would make her forget if only for a minute everything her world had become.
Atticus killed, and when he did, it eased the agony.
She craved a second of peace from her reality, and often wondered how long she could hold out for. How long could she keep going when the only thing driving her was death and vengeance?
For as long as it takes! I will not harm another!
Before, she’d only fed from Braith. Now she fed from animals, but the lure of human blood was becoming more and more enticing with each passing day.
Though it was tempting, she couldn’t retreat further into the shadows of the room in order to put some distance between her and the heartbeats calling out to her. She had to be strong, had to present an impeccable fa?ade of leadership and stability no matter how volatile she felt.
William glanced over at her as she rubbed her forehead. She was keeping it together, but she feared her brother sensed her unraveling. Of course he did. She would sense it in him as well, even if he acted as if nothing was wrong.
“How will we know when it is time to gather and move?” another man inquired.
“We will be sending runners out to the safe houses when it is time to move,” William answered. “Most likely it will be in seven days.”
“Plenty of time for us to recruit more to the fight,” a woman said and everyone in the room gave a brisk, decisive nod.
“I know of some vampires we can bring in,” a man near the back of the room declared. “Ones who can be trusted.”
“I don’t expect you to bring them here, but I would like to speak with them,” Aria said. “Soon.”
The rebels at the other safe houses had been willing to bring vampires in too, but none had offered to divulge their newest locations. Aria didn’t blame them for keeping the safe houses a secret. If she hadn’t once been human, the daughter of the fallen rebel leader and the sister of their representative on The Council, they most likely wouldn’t have revealed the locations to her either. The title of queen didn’t matter to these humans; it hadn’t mattered to her either.