Broken Aro (The Broken Ones) (21 page)

"Aro," he whispered, his voice full of
sadness. "I'm sorry. I'm dangerous. I could hurt you." He growled
again. "I can't calm down. I can't make it go away." His teeth
flashed again. "When I saw what they were doing to you...I've never been
so furious in my life. I've never lost control so quickly, so much."

She choked on a sob and rubbed at her eyes. "You
won't hurt me," she insisted.

"I will. It's what I am."

Troublesome Fey. He just didn't understand. He was
family. He was all she had left, all she would ever have. She knew she'd never
see her brothers again. She was all he had, too. They needed each other. Why
couldn't he understand that? She sniffled and wiped her nose on her sleeve
before taking a deep breath and looking up at him. She stood closer to him now.
Only a few steps away. She could see he didn't like that by the way his body
had become so very tense, as if it would shatter at any moment.

"Liar," she finally said loudly, making him
start.

His brows drew together and his body shifted to spring
away as she started closing the distance between them. She jabbed a finger at
him before he could move. "Don't you dare move! You will stay right there!"
He swayed again and her words snapped out like a whip, "Stay. There."

He froze in place, not moving a muscle until she stood
right before him, and then the trembling started.

"I don't want to hurt you." His words came
out quiet, choked, afraid.

She reached out slowly, ignoring his flinch, and put a
hand on his shoulder. She stared at his face but he wouldn't look at her,
keeping his head bowed.

She moved her hand slowly across his shoulder and up
to curl about the back of his stiff neck. "You won't hurt me," she
told him quietly. "You won't ever hurt me, Kei."

She pulled him gently to her as she slowly moved even
closer, drawing his head to her shoulder. "You protect me. You take care
of me. You won't ever hurt me." She kept up the quiet litany as she
brought her other arm up and held him as she leaned her head against his. "You
are my Fey. My Kei. You won't ever hurt me."

His rapid breathing slowed and the trembling subsided
as she gently stroked his hair. He still remained rigid in her arms. He did not
embrace her back, but kept his arms stiff to his sides.

He turned his face slightly, took a deep breath. "Aro…I
can't…"

She kept her voice firm, "You can. You will."
She gently pushed him back a little, moving her hands to cup his face, fingers
forcing his chin up so he had to look at her. She stared into his eyes, noting
they were still red, but not burning as wildly as before. "You are mine,
Kei. And I am yours. You will never hurt me. Do you understand? Never."

"Aro…"

"Never," she said determinedly

He sighed and closed his eyes for a moment, and then
opened them and nodded.

A faint smile crossed her lips and part of her
rejoiced at that. He was hard to get through to, but she could see now he'd
given up fighting her. Good. She wasn't done yet. Her hands tightened slightly
on his face. "You will never leave me again."

His jaw clenched under her hands, the red eyes
brightened.

"I said you will never leave me again. Ever. Do
you understand?" She had to make him understand, because she didn't think
she could survive being alone without him again. "Even when you are wild,
you will not leave me. Because you will not hurt me, you will protect me. You
will not leave me," she said again.

He stared at her, fighting something within himself. His
body began to tense again.

"Kei," she said warningly. "Don't start
this nonsense again. You will stay with me. I can't be alone again. I can't
stand it."

His face crumbled at her words and his head bowed
again. She moved her hands up his face, pushing back his wild hair as he
nodded.

"I understand." He looked up suddenly and
she dropped her hands to his chest. "We will stay together. I will stay
with you. You will stay with me."

She nodded solemnly. "Yes. Together."

"Forever."

She nodded again as he let out a deep sigh. He surprised
her by gently wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. She could
feel his claws rest carefully across her back. She wasn't afraid. She believed
her own words. She relaxed against him and let him hold her.

This was right. She was safe now. Protected. She
closed her eyes and tried to let the fears inside of her go. Only normal
darkness greeted her. She smiled against him in relief. Kei had been what she
needed. He had brought her back to herself.

"We should go back to the camp," she whispered
into his chest.

He stiffened slightly and pulled back just enough so
he could look down at her. He shook his head. "I can't. I may be safe with
you. But not with the others."

She grimaced. He was probably right. She sighed. An
idea came to her and she raised her hands to his face again, holding him steady
and looking into his red eyes. "Then we'll make you safe. Understand?"

"I don't–"

"Give it to me," she said firmly, not taking
her eyes from him. "Give it to me, the anger, the hate, the rage."

He didn't look away from her, perhaps he couldn't, but
he frowned. "I–"

This was right. She could feel it. More than anything,
she needed him and would do anything to keep him by her side. "Please,
give it to me. I'll take it from you."

His eyes bored into hers, searching for something, and
then he nodded. "How do–"

"Just let it go…" she whispered.

Her words had hardly left her lips before she felt him
do it. A prickly, buzzing sensation came over her, into her. Anger and rage and
fear and hate suddenly poured into her, burning through her and she gasped at
the shock of it. Not at the feelings, those she had been living with, but that
they were so strong, and came from Kei.

Kei's arms tightened around her, but she didn't mind.
His embrace helped, supported her as his wild Fey power flowed into her. It
didn't hurt. Much. Once she knew not to fight it, to let just let it flow and
wrap itself around everything inside of her. It filled the empty parts before
the rest slid away, dissipating inside of her. Strange.

She could see it was working. It wasn't just coming
into her, but draining from him. She watched in amazement as she saw his eyes
start to change. The red faded into orange, then into yellow, and finally the
light itself faded away until only his golden eyes remained.

She gasped. "See?" She still felt dizzy and
buzzing from the Fey power that had coursed through her.
Was it still inside
of her?
She had no idea and didn't really care.

He frowned down at her, his teeth worrying his lip.
She saw his teeth had returned to normal. She noticed she could no longer feel
claws around her either, only his hands. "How are you?" He sounded
worried.

She nodded and lowered her head. She was getting a
crick in her neck from staring up at him. "Fine."

His hand moved under her chin and forced her face back
up and she got worried as his eyes searched hers. She panicked. "What?
What is it?"

He let out a breath suddenly and smiled slightly. "Your
eyes turned red. But it's starting to fade now."

Her eyebrows visited her hairline. "My eyes?"

"Mm hmm," he said and his smile grew and he
hugged her close again. "You're the strangest girl I ever met."

She punched his chest lightly. "Troublesome Fey."

He chuckled and pushed her back, putting his hands on
her shoulders and bending a bit to look at her eyes. "Just about back to
normal."

"Normal? Who's normal?"

He grinned again. "Certainly not either of us,"
he agreed.

"Let's go back." She sniffed. "You
stink."

He glared over at her and scrunched up his nose. "I'll
walk you back, then go and clean up."

They walked hand in hand through the clearing and her
mind wandered, peaceful and quiet for once. Kei had come back to her.

"Aro."

She nearly jumped out of her skin. She stopped
abruptly to stare at Prince who had appeared suddenly at the edge of the
clearing. He looked from her, to Kei, and back again, a slight frown on his
face. "Are you coming back to camp?"

She nodded quickly, hopefully she wasn't about to get
yelled at for leaving the camp on her own.

Prince looked over at Kei. "Are you safe now?"

Kei nodded stiffly and looked down at her. "Return
with Prince. I'll go and get cleaned up."

Before she could answer he was gone.

Chapter 17

To Have a Purpose

She did
not
like watching him leave again, even
though she knew he'd be back. Well, she was pretty sure he would be. If not,
she'd hunt the Fey down and drag him back by his little pointed ears.

Nervously worrying her lower lip with her teeth, she
walked toward Prince. How much he had seen? She stopped in front of him and
winced. The moonlight reflected off his pale drawn face. He wasn't happy.

"Don't do that again," Prince said. Though
he kept his voice down, his words came out slow and stiff.

She sucked in a sharp breath. Had he seen what she had
done with Kei?

"When I woke up and found you gone again..."
He looked away, his lips tightening into an angry line.

Gah!
She
hadn't even thought of that! Impulsively she stepped forward and wrapped her
arms around his waist, laying her cheek on his chest. "I'm sorry."

He stiffened in surprise at her action, but after a
moment he relaxed and put his arms around her, too. He let out a heavy sigh. "You
are such a troublesome child."

She smiled slightly against his chest. "I don't
know why you put up with me."

He chuckled and reached a hand up to ruffle her hair. "Sometimes
I wonder myself."

She looked up at him. "I still need you. If
you...I mean...even with Kei back." Her cheeks flushed as she fumbled to
say what she felt inside. Prince and Kei were completely different, however
both of them had grown to mean so much to her. They truly had become the family
she had lost.

"I told you before, I am here if you need me."

Looking down at her, a small smile formed on his lips.
She hoped his smile meant he was glad she still needed him. Whatever the
reason, it certainly looked better than his customary frown. She reluctantly
pulled out of his arms. "We should get back."

They picked their way carefully through the trees and
she found her mind wandering in circles. "Prince," she said as she
followed him. "I won't be able to stay with you forever will I?" She
winced at her choice of words and stopped as he turned to face her. "I
mean, when you get home. We won't be able to stay together will we?"

He sighed and gave a slight nod. "I'm sorry."

She bit her lip. "Is that the reason why you
haven't said anything? About us all taking you home?"

He raised his eyebrows slightly. "I didn't–"

"Because we should," she interrupted. "That's
what we should do. We're lost here. Taking you home would be a good thing for
us."

"It is very far away," he said evasively.

She shrugged. "It's not like we've any pressing
business to attend to. How far is your city?"

"Very."

She frowned at his short response. "Good. I mean,
that means at least you aren't from Franua."

His eyebrows went up again and he looked shocked. "I
am not."

She started walking again. "Well, I'm glad that's
settled."

He muttered something under his breath.

She managed not to smile, but was happy as she was
pretty sure she could have if she wanted to.

When they reached the camp they quietly found their
spots by the fire and waited up for Kei. He returned not too long after them,
damp and shining in the moonlight. When he hesitated at the camp's edge she
held her hand out to him. With a blush he hurried over and took her hand as he
sat beside her. "Welcome back, Kei," she whispered.

A faint smile crossed her lips as she sat between
them. Kei had returned, certainly she could get better now. The memories and
nightmares wouldn't dare to haunt her with both a prince and a Fey watching
over her.

Prince rested a hand on her shoulder. "Time for
sleep."

She nodded and lied down, facing Kei. He still held
her hand and didn't let go as he gracefully slipped next to her. She smiled at
him a little. The smile grew when he grimaced over her shoulder as Prince
settled in behind her. He was not quite touching but very close, his arm
sliding over her waist. Kei clearly wasn't happy with the situation.

"Silly Fey," she murmured. She wondered if it
was jealousy, or if it was just his dislike for Prince making him unhappy. She
squeezed his hand. "I need you both," she whispered very quietly. "Keep
the nightmares away?"