Unbound (The Captive #7)(66)
“I’m sure it’s not all that easy to pull a Lazarus, and it might have been as long as a month before Atticus rose again!” Ashby retorted.
“Stop it!” Melinda interrupted harshly. “There is nothing we can do but defend ourselves and those fighting with us. Fighting with each other is not going to help! Braith has a bloodlink. He will rise sooner than Atticus did. Aria is plotting something. We have help out there, and Jack will come. All we have to do is hold them off until they are ready to make their move.”
“How do you know Braith will rise sooner?” Gideon inquired.
Melinda bit her bottom lip before turning to face him. “He stayed alive with an arrow through his heart for hours, and it was for Aria. Because of her blood within him making him stronger and their link, he’ll come back earlier than Atticus did and he’ll do it for her. If he doesn’t, we are all doomed.”
Sabine stopped at the edge of her followers and lifted her hands into the air to command everyone’s attention. All around Melinda, a ripple of shock ran through the guards on the wall as Sabine’s gesture held each of them riveted upon her. Even from this distance, the pull of the woman’s power could not be denied.
“I am not here to fight!” Sabine called in a clear, girlish voice that floated to the residents gathering nervously near the gates to hear what was about to unfold. “I am your rightful queen! Your true ruler. I am of the royal line, older than your king, or I should say, your ex-king. I’m also more powerful as I’m sure you can tell.”
More murmurs went through the crowd; Ashby took hold of her hand, squeezing it as her skin became clammy and sweat beaded across her brow. The breeze blowing down the mountains and causing tendrils of hair to tickle her face should have cooled her. It didn’t.
“I say ex-king because I have killed him,” Sabine continued.
Melinda’s heart plummeted into her shoes as cries of distress echoed throughout the town below them and sobs filled the air. The king’s guard dipped their bows down, their gazes darting nervously to the three of them as the other members of The Council shoved their way through the crowd to the gates. Melinda couldn’t meet The Council’s gazes when they made it to the front of the crowd and stared up at them with distrust in their eyes.
“Maybe we should have told them,” she whispered.
“No, we shouldn’t have,” Gideon said. “They have no idea when he was supposedly killed.”
Gideon turned away from her and thrust his shoulders back as he faced Sabine. “Anyone can claim to have killed the king. Do you have proof of this?”
Sabine’s smile grew as her eyes narrowed on Gideon. Melinda was certain he’d just signed his death certificate, but if these walls were breached, none of them would be walking out of here alive anyway.
“I do,” she replied and turned away. Her blood-red, pointed nails shone in the sun when she waved her hand toward someone at the back of her following.
Melinda took an involuntary step forward to watch as the white haired vampire made his way down the street toward Sabine.
***
Aria
From her vantage point in the tree, Aria’s fingers dug into the bark, tearing it away beneath her nails. Her fangs pierced her bottom lip as she leaned forward to watch Goran making his way past the rows of vampires who had spread out to allow Sabine to pass. It had been over a day since Daniel and the others had left. They should be returning tonight if all had gone well, but what if something had gone wrong?
Proof! Sabine had proof of Braith’s death. How? When?
Oh, Aria knew when he’d died, she could still feel that wrenching of her soul deep within her, but when had Sabine gotten proof of such a thing? What was the proof? Had Jack and Braith been discovered?
Please no.
William rested his hand on her shoulder, drawing her back when she perilously leaned too far over the limb. Her stomach pressed flat against the branch, and her arms and legs were twined securely around it as she tried to make herself as small as possible. William clung to the branch above her, his knuckles white from his grip. He’d always been able to move through the trees, never with her ease, and it had never been his favorite thing to do, but since he’d fallen over the cliff in Badwin, his dislike of heights had grown. He’d followed her into the branches of this tree to keep watch over the palace with her.
“Maybe you should go down,” he suggested.
“I have to see,” she whispered.
“It might be best if you didn’t. I’ll let you know.”
Cold seeped through her body as her fingers dug deeper into the bark. “I have to see. I’d know if she’d found him.” She turned to him, her tone more pleading than she would have expected. “Wouldn’t I?”
In his eyes, she saw the truth she felt within herself. She’d already known the second Braith had left her; there was nothing else for her to know anymore.
Terror rolled so rapidly through her mind that it caused her head to spin, and for one disconcerting moment, she thought she might actually fall out of the tree.
A sob lodged in her throat as Goran stopped at Sabine’s side and handed her something. Aria couldn’t tear her gaze away as Sabine turned back to the palace walls and lifted something in the air. It took her a minute to realize that Sabine held a brown cloak. On the back of it was the golden wolf insignia of the king that the king’s guard wore, but this one also had a crown above the wolf’s head. Aria didn’t have to see it up close to know it had belonged to Braith.