Unbound (The Captive #7)(88)

There had been many times Braith had envisioned throttling William over the past couple of years, but staring at him now, he knew William was a big part of the reason Aria still lived. He could never again imagine thrashing his brother-in-law.

“We’ll send the runners tomorrow and make our move against her to end this soon.” Braith glanced around the mostly empty room. “Where has everyone gone?”

“There are fifteen rooms down here. The humans spilt off into them, and some have gone to keep watch in the woods. Aria has rarely slept in the room you were just in, but they continue to let her have it to herself,” William replied.

“Has she slept at all?” Braith asked.

“Here and there, but not much.”

Braith’s teeth ground together as he contemplated what he would do to Sabine once he got his hands on her. He would thoroughly enjoy destroying the woman for what she’d put them all through.

Tilting his bead back, he gazed at the beams running across the ceiling. “Ingenious place this is,” he commented.

“Daniel designed it years ago,” William said. “We never had the chance to implement these safe houses before the war, but the rebels did after the war was over. Good thing they did too.”

“Why did they build them?”

“There may have been peace, but for a people who have been abused and mistreated by vampires for a hundred years, distrust isn’t easily buried. They felt they were better safe than sorry, and if Sabine wins, they’ll have been right.”

“She won’t win,” Braith said. He focused on the girl between Daniel and Max. “What do we do with you?” he inquired, and she lifted her chin.

“Nothing,” she replied. “Your secrets are my secrets.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

Braith continued to gaze at her as Max rose to his feet. “I’ll keep an eye on Maeve, but I do believe we can trust her.”

“What makes you say that?” Braith asked.

“She hasn’t told anyone what she’s seen and heard yet, and it’s not like she couldn’t blurt it out before any of us could stop her.”

“They’d all think I was crazy anyway,” she said. “Who would believe me?”

“There are those who would,” Braith replied.

“Perhaps, but you have all worked to give us freedom. Why would I betray that? I’m a rebel.”

“Hmm,” Braith murmured. “We shall see.”

“You will see.”

He wanted to believe her. He admired her spirit, but he’d break her neck at the first sign she might betray them. Maeve held his gaze unwaveringly, refusing to back down at the same time she tried to convey she spoke the truth.

Braith turned from her. Only time would tell with her, and for now, he intended to trust Max. Max had helped to keep both him and Aria safe; he’d more than earned that trust. “Aria told me about what happened with Sabine’s stable man,” he said to Max and Xavier.

“The man was very stubborn,” Xavier replied, and Max paled.

So it was bad then. Braith rested his fingertips on the table as he rubbed his neck with his other hand. They’d done what was necessary; he just wished Aria hadn’t been a part of it. “It needed to be done,” he said.

“It did,” Xavier agreed.

The others all exchanged looks and he got the impression they didn’t know the extent of what had happened. Even with everything Aria had revealed to him, he wasn’t sure he knew the full extent of it.

“You appear more in control,” Jack said quietly.

“I am,” he replied crisply.

“I’ve been informed we have an uncle too,” Jack said, seeming to realize he was walking into treacherous territory and deciding to steer the conversation elsewhere.

“We’ll welcome him to the family by killing him,” Braith replied.

“Killing family members has become a tradition.”

“That it has. How many troops have been recruited?” he asked.

“There are well over twenty-five hundred now,” Daniel said. “There will most likely be more as those people are also recruiting others, and by now word has spread of the missing humans and the villages where vampires are brutalized and tortured. Where the children are murdered in cold blood. More will join the fight.”

“They will,” Braith murmured as he studied the x’s on the map.

They’d all been busy while he’d been dead. Fury slid through him at the reminder of all he’d missed and all they’d been left behind to try to accomplish.

So many things could have happened to Aria while he’d been gone. So many things had happened to her while he’d been dead. She’d been beaten and her soul battered, yet she’d also been steadily working to create an army.

“Easy, Braith,” Jack said.

His head shot up; he stared at his brother as his muscles flexed and his fangs pricked. He was far more in control of himself now that their bloodlink was reestablished, but the reminder of what Aria had endured rattled him. However, he hadn’t realized his control had slipped to the point where they would notice it. They all looked between him and the door to where Aria slept as if they were debating on waking her.

“If anyone wakes her, I’ll kill them,” he promised and their eyes shot back to him. He removed his hand from the table and stepped back. “Who is going to gather the rest of the troops here?”