Unbound (The Captive #7)(42)
“When he is able to,” Aria managed to get out.
“Will it be before we approach the palace?” another asked.
Daniel stepped forward. “We will be leaving soon to carry word back to the king about the advancements we have made in gathering troops. We will have a better idea of what will happen then.”
Aria cast him a grateful look; she’d had no other answer for them. Technically, Jack was the king now, so Daniel hadn’t lied to them. If Braith wasn’t awake by the time they returned to tell Jack about what was going on, Jack would have to leave him in the cave. She may be the queen, but a member of the royal family had to be there when this fight started. One who could assume the rightful role of king if they defeated their enemy and Braith didn’t rise, because she wouldn’t be here to do it.
She fought the urge to rub at her temples in frustration. It could be construed as a sign of weakness or stress. Right now, she couldn’t afford the smallest chink in her armor to show through. Not when they were asking these humans to follow her into battle, to lay down their lives. Everything they’d worked for would vanish like dust in the wind if she did.
Murmurs ran through the crowded room. “We can defeat her,” Aria said loud enough for her voice to carry over theirs. “We will defeat her. I will not let my father’s death be in vain—” or Braith’s “—and I will not allow us to be returned to a time when humans lived in fear and violence was an everyday way of life. William and I may be vampires now, but we have never forgotten our roots, nor will we ever forget them, and we will fight for every one of your lives. I will die to give your children the better lives they deserve.”
The crowd nodded excitedly as they talked eagerly with one another. They were going to touch her again; she knew it before the first woman stepped forward to approach her. Xavier made a move to block the woman from coming closer. Aria subtly waved him away before she forced her hands out from behind her back to take hold of the woman’s hands.
Won’t break. Won’t break. Then why did she feel as if she would shatter into a million pieces right now?
Person after person came forward to clutch her hands and thank her for standing by them, for protecting them. Aria almost laughed out loud. If they knew what she was truly thinking, how she was battling back the impulse to tear every one of their throats out and drown all of her misery in their blood, they would run screaming.
Instead, they saw her as a savior.
She’d never felt like more of a fraud in her life.
CHAPTER 17
William
“It’s bad, isn’t it, with Aria?”
William adjusted his hold on Tempest, settling her deeper into his lap as Daniel leaned across the table toward them. Tempest’s lashes tickled his neck when her eyes fluttered open.
“I don’t know how she’s still going,” William admitted honestly. “I’m not sure I could, but revenge is a powerful motivator.”
“You would know,” Tempest murmured.
“No, not like this. I sought revenge on Kane, yes. I would have died to get it, but that was a drop in the bucket compared to what is driving her.” Tempest leaned back to stare up at him. “I understand that only because I have you now. If it had been you who had been taken from me…” The concept of such a thing caused his fangs to lengthen. “I would have destroyed everything in my path.”
Tempest’s fingers played with the hair at his nape as she leaned forward to kiss him. “It’s not me,” she murmured.
“But it is Aria.” His gaze went to the room Aria had disappeared into hours ago. “I shared a womb with her. We hid together and listened while our mother was killed. She’s always been stubborn and strong, but I can feel her slipping further away from us. She didn’t go in there to sleep. She doesn’t sleep more than a few minutes at a time anymore. She went in there to get away from the humans.”
“I’m sure it’s overwhelming for her,” Max said as he leaned across the table toward them.
William glanced around the room before moving closer to them. They were the only ones still within the main room. The rest of those staying here had retreated into the rooms lining the hall, but he still didn’t like saying this out loud. “She’s fighting not to kill the humans.”
“Don’t think that,” Tempest said.
“I don’t think it,” he replied and clutched her to his chest. “I know it. I feel the insanity creeping closer around her, feel the emptiness engulfing her, and there’s nothing she can do to get away from it. I’m not sure how long she can keep going before she cracks just like Atticus did.”
Tempest shuddered against him. Max and Daniel leaned away from him while Timber and Xavier remained staring at the wall across from them. “Atticus kept it together long enough to complete his goal,” Xavier finally said.
“How many did he slaughter before that happened?” William asked. “How many did he slaughter because that was his goal?”
“Too many,” Daniel said.
“She’ll keep it together until Sabine is defeated, or at least I think she will, but as soon as this is done…” William’s voice trailed off, and his gaze returned to the closed door Aria was behind once more. “She’s my twin. I feel her anguish here”—he rested his hand over his heart—“and anguish is such a completely inadequate word for what she is experiencing. It’s deeper than that. It’s a complete twisting and destruction of the soul. She’ll die when this is done, or she’ll lose her mind.”