Vengeance (The Captive #6)(96)

The woman claiming to be the rightful queen had said twins had a special bond and Aria was his closest friend, but he’d never been able to feel her pain or known when she was in trouble. Still, when he’d pulled the blankets away from himself and slipped free of Tempest’s arms he’d known he would find his sister here.

Pulling the chair across from her out, he stared at the numerous documents and papers spread out on the table before her. A wooden box sat on the ground near her feet. He glanced around the tavern but didn’t see anyone else in the shadows, and he didn’t sense anyone in the kitchen. “Where is everyone?” he inquired.

“Working on getting things ready to go,” she replied.

His eyebrows rose as he leaned back in his seat. “They left you alone?”

She carefully stacked some of the papers to the side, her attention focused on her task as she spoke, “I asked to be left alone.”

“Do you want me to leave?” Her head finally lifted; her eyes met his. For the first time in his life, he saw true fear in his sister’s gaze. “Aria…”

“No, stay,” she gave him a wan smile and focused on moving the papers around again.

Questions ran through his mind as he studied her, but he knew her well enough to know she wouldn’t open up until she was ready. “What is all of this?” he asked and gestured at the papers.

“These are Atticus’s and Genny’s journals,” she murmured. “I was going through them in the hope that maybe I had missed some mention of this woman you encountered, but nothing in them hints at her. Genny’s sister, Camille, could still be alive, but most records of her have vanished. Even if she is still alive, she wouldn’t have the power you described, and according to these documents, she was blonde with blue eyes.”

“You were going to tell me who this Genny girl was,” he reminded her.

She folded her hands before her and stared at her lap before finally lifting her eyes to him again. “I will. Tempest seems very nice.”

“She is, she’s normally not so quiet, but I think she’s overwhelmed.”

Aria chuckled and sat back in her chair. “If anyone can understand being overwhelmed by unknown circumstances, it’s me.”

“True.”

“You care for her.”

“I more than care for her.”

Some color came back to her face when she tilted her head to look at him. “You’re in love,” she teased.

Normally he would have told her to screw off or some other wiseass retort; instead, he couldn’t stop himself from smiling. “I haven’t admitted that to her yet.”

“She knows.”

“And how do you know that?”

“I see the way she watches you; she risked her life for yours, and you for her. She knows. She’s your bloodlink.”

He folded his arms over his chest. “I’m not so sure.”

And he wasn’t. He could feel the pull to return to Tempest’s side now, but a bloodlink? He’d felt a bond with her, but was it the strong mystical bond he’d sensed between his sister and Braith? When he was with her, the walls and indoors didn’t feel anywhere near as suffocating. She made them bearable, and he knew he could endure anything in order to be with her and make her happy.

“I’m sure,” she replied with the unwavering, stubborn insistence she could always somehow pull off, even if she was insisting the grass was red instead of green.

“And what makes you say that?”

“You climbed a mountain with a broken leg and a barely useable arm; you put her ahead of your desire to see Kane dead.”

He rubbed at the short beard that had regrown over the past few days. “I didn’t put her ahead of the peace. I had to learn more about that woman in order to try and protect what we’ve all established here, and I put Tempest at risk by doing so. I could have just taken her away from there or never taken her back in the first place.”

Aria’s chin jutted out; her shoulders thrust back as she sat up in her chair. The carefree, wild woman he’d always known and loved vanished before him. In this dimly lit tavern, he saw the queen she’d become. It had nothing to do with her attitude or her smile, and everything to do with her demeanor and the poise with which she sat so regally.

It hit him that she would be completely capable of doing what had to be done to protect her kingdom. Aria had always been strong, but she’d never been ruthless. He didn’t think it was because she was a vampire now that she came off fiercer, but because she’d also been through a war and would do anything to stop it from happening again.

“None of us can put anything above keeping the peace in this land,” she replied. “No matter how badly we wish we could.”

“You’re right,” he murmured.

“Have you shared blood with her?”

Unreasonable annoyance shot through him at the question. “That’s between us.”

Aria rolled her eyes. “It’s rather obvious, William.” Apparently, she hadn’t needed him to answer the question. He glowered at her as she smiled sweetly in return. “Serves you right. If you do recall everyone had a say in mine and Braith’s relationship, this is nothing compared to that.”

“True,” he relented though he still didn’t appreciate anyone knowing about what transpired between him and Tempest. “She saved my life.”