Refugee (The Captive Series Book 3) (23 page)

“They have to understand…”

“He’s my father Braith. I know you
don’t understand what that means, not in the same way that I do,
but he loves me. I’m his little girl. This is hard for him, it’s
hard for Daniel and William, but it’s especially hard for my
father.” She was right, he didn’t understand that. “You need to be
nicer, and more patient.” She tilted her head, peering up at him as
she smiled faintly. “Do you think you can do that?”

He grasped hold of the collar of her
shirt and pulled her closer. “I can try, for you.”

“Just for me?”

He grinned. “I sure wouldn’t do it for
anyone else.”

She laughed as he began to slide the
buttons of her shirt free. He slipped it from her shoulders and
tugged it from her arms. He touched her shoulders briefly and
turned away before he couldn’t. He listened as the rest of her
clothes fell away before she slid into the tub with a groan of
pleasure. It was excruciating torture. His teeth grated, he stepped
into the doorway, leaning against it as he fought the urge to turn
around and go back in there.

His body was so taught with strain from
not looking that he didn’t know she had approached until he felt
her fingers slip between his own. He relished the supple feel of
her skin against his as he pulled her against his chest and held
her close.

CHAPTER 14

She was sound asleep in his lap, her
hand curled against his chest, her head resting in the hollow of
his shoulder as she breathed slowly in and out. As she slept, the
tension of the day faded from her features making her appear even
younger, more vulnerable, which only made him worry for her more.
Max hadn’t appeared again since he’d rebuked her earlier and Braith
hoped that he never did.

Daniel was talking quietly, pointing at
some of the designs and drawings he had created. “These are all of
your cave systems?” Gideon inquired.

“Not all of them,” David answered.
“These are the ones closest to the palace. We had others, but some
have been lost to cave-ins, and others are too far from the palace
to be of any use.”

“Are there often people within them?”
Ashby inquired, glancing nervously at Braith.

“What do you mean?”

“The cave system where the troops are
hiding had a man inside of it.”

“That’s not unusual, many know about
the caves and the food supply,” David told him.

“It looked like he’d been there for
awhile.”

“I suppose some may stay below hoping
to avoid the king’s troops. It’s why we retreated into the
swamplands. The king’s raids have become more frequent and
aggressive since you left the palace.” Braith held David’s steady
gaze. “The man in the cave, what did he do?”

“He attacked Aria,” Braith
growled.

David’s eyes widened, he leaned forward
on the table. Braith lowered his head and inhaled her sweet scent.
The soap she’d been given smelled of honey. Beneath it he could
smell the faint hint of his blood as it flowed through her veins.
She was the most enticing thing he’d ever smelled, and he needed
her soothing effect right now.

“Why would he do that?” David
inquired.

Ashby glanced nervously at Braith, but
seemed satisfied that he would remain calm while holding Aria.
“Apparently he hadn’t seen a woman in awhile.”

“Did he harm her?” Daniel
demanded.

“He tried, but she’s fine.”

“And what of the man?” David
inquired.

“Dead,” Braith said unremorsefully.
“Anyone that injures her will meet the same fate.”

David sat back as he studied them.
“What exactly is it that you intend for my daughter? What do you
think you can give her?”

“Anything she desires.”

Gideon and Ashby shifted nervously,
well aware that this conversation was drifting into treacherous
waters. Xavier leaned forward, his dark eyes eager as he absorbed
the discussion. “I can see that she loves you, and though it’s
baffling and astonishing to me, I think you love her too. But I
don’t see how any of this can work. Will your people accept her? Do
you have plans to make her a vampire?” David nearly choked on the
word vampire but somehow managed to get it out. It was apparent the
man found the thought abhorrent.

“Most do not survive the change; I have
no intention of inflicting that upon her.” Gideon, Jack and Ashby
winced, Xavier quirked an eyebrow as he gazed at Aria.

David’s frustration was nearly
palpable. “Then what do you intend? To watch her grow old and die?
To have her be an outcast among your people? Tell me Braith, what
will you do when she dies?”

“I’ll find a way to die also,” he said
simply.

Gideon groaned as he shook his head,
dropping it into his hands. Ashby closed his eyes as Jack folded
his arms over his chest and sat back in his chair. Xavier remained
unmoving, he’d known there was a bond between them but he hadn’t
known the extent of that bond until now.

“But you have been voted the leader;
your people will follow you…”

“Or Jack,” he interrupted sharply.
Despite his every intention not to, he found himself leaning
forward as he met David’s incredulous gaze, and Jack’s completely
aghast one. “I will lead them into battle, I will lead you all into
battle, but I have not hidden the fact that I do not intend to lead
afterward. Not unless Aria is at my side. I will stay long enough
for whatever leader you elect to settle in, and then she and I will
leave. I will not expose her to a life of unhappiness.”

“I don’t want it,” Jack
blurted.

“Neither do I,” Braith snarled in
frustration. “I never have, but I accepted it, and I did it. I’ve
done my duty for the past nine hundred years, I’ve done everything
expected of me and I will continue to do it until this is over, but
someone else can step up afterward.”

“It will be difficult on her, to grow
old while you don’t,” David told him.

“I know that.”

“You could let her go.” Braith
stiffened as fury ripped through him. Aria’s fingers slipped
beneath the buttons of his shirt to press against his flesh in an
attempt to soothe him. They had woken her. “It would be best, for
both of you, for everyone involved if you let her go.”

“It’s too late for that.” He had
managed to regain enough control to answer without smashing the
table before him.

“I don’t understand why. I know it will
be tough, the last thing I want is to see my daughter unhappy, but
she’ll be hurt no matter what. There’s no way to stop that
now.”

Her heartbeat had increased; the scent
of her fear assailed him. “Ashby can explain it to you,” he said
bluntly. Aria gasped as he rose swiftly from his chair. Staying
here was only going to annoy him further and he had promised her
that he would try to be nicer. “Does it matter what room we
take?”

David’s jaw dropped. Aria’s lashes
flickered against his neck as she opened her eyes, he could feel
the heat of her skin against his neck. He bit back a groan, he
didn’t understand these human customs, or perhaps they were simply
family customs, but he was becoming increasingly frustrated with
them.

“I’ll sleep on the floor,” he grated,
hoping that would help to ease some of the tension that filled the
room. He swore that once this whole mess was over he was going to
build her a house that no one else would ever be invited
to.

“Third room on the right, there’s a
small cot in there,” David responded in a choked voice.

“I’ll get you some blankets,” Daniel
volunteered.

“You can put me down
Braith.”

He held her for a moment longer before
lowering her feet to the floor. She hurried to her father, pecked
him on the cheek and gave him a hug. Braith was fascinated by the
look of love on David’s face as she spoke with him. He sure as hell
had never seen it on his own father’s face. David patted her arm
reassuringly as she kissed him again and rejoined
Braith.

“I would like to retire also.” Xavier
rose to his feet, his fingers rested briefly on the table as he
surveyed the room. “I am aware of the baffling vampire bond
referred to as a bloodlink. I assume that is what Ashby will speak
of as I am well aware of his relationship with Braith’s sister, and
not the one he married.”

Apprehension flashed briefly across
Aria’s face, but she remained immobile at Braith’s side. She didn’t
trust Xavier, not yet. Braith wasn’t even certain he completely
trusted him yet. “How do you know about that?” Ashby demanded, his
carefree demeanor vanishing at the mention of Melinda.

Xavier moved away from the table. “My
job in the palace was to pay attention, to record the histories, to
take note of things and see the things that no one else saw. I’m
not blind Ashby, the two of you tried to hide it and you succeeded
with most.” His gaze was pointed on Braith. “But not
me.”

Ashby looked wary. His eyes were hooded
as he studied Xavier with annoyance and distrust. “Ease up Ashby, I
never told anyone that you were having an affair with the youngest
daughter while still married to the oldest.”

“Watch what you say Xavier,” Ashby’s
tone was low, deadly.

Xavier didn’t look the least bit phased
by Ashby. Braith pulled Aria back a step as Xavier stopped beside
her. “But a human.” He shook his head, something flickered in his
eyes as he studied her. “That is unheard of.” Aria’s eyes narrowed,
her chin tilted defiantly. Xavier smiled at her in amusement.
“Quite a conundrum.”

“I’m not Ashby. War or no war,
followers or no followers, I will kill you if you touch her.
Remember that Xavier, I am a real threat to you.”

“I am well aware of that fact Braith. I
have no ill intentions toward her.”

Braith was not appeased by the words.
He pulled Aria further back as Xavier stepped closer to her.
“Don’t,” he snarled thrusting himself in between them.

Xavier held his hands up as he took a
step back. “Easy Braith, I said that I would not hurt her, and I
meant it. I’ve seen what you are capable of when it comes to her,
and I have a feeling that cave was only the tip of the iceberg. We
need her if we are to win this war.”

“And after?”

“After will be up to you, and her. Now,
where are those blankets, I’m exhausted.”

Aria pressed closer to Braith’s side,
he stood for a moment, trembling with suppressed anger and
uncertainty. Xavier had always been a little odd, or at least he
had always seemed that way as he stood in the shadows calmly
watching everything. He suspected Xavier knew more than he was
letting on as he stared curiously at Aria, but exactly what his
secrets were, Braith couldn’t even begin to guess at.

“Uh, this way,” Daniel awkwardly
interrupted.

He stepped back as Xavier moved past
him to the stairwell. “Are these things going to hold me?” Xavier
pondered as he eyed the stairs.

“Yes.”

Daniel led them upstairs, handed out
blankets and hugged his sister goodnight. Braith wasn’t pleased to
see that the room really did hold just a tiny cot shoved against
the wall. He wasn’t even certain Aria would fit on it as he spread
the blanket out.

“Xavier is strange.”

Braith sat on the edge of the cot and
pulled her into his lap. She wrapped her arms around his waist as
she rested her head against his chest. “He is,” Braith agreed,
lightly rubbing her back.

“He’s baffling but I don’t think he
would harm me. I think he’s just as confused by me as I am by
him.”

He was glad she thought so, but Braith
wasn’t convinced that Xavier wouldn’t do something. Xavier had
never been power hungry before, but there was no way to know what
was going on inside of his head, or any of the others they had
aligned with.

“I’m glad you’re not scared of
him.”

He felt her smile against his neck.
“I’m not scared of anyone,” she said laughingly.

He would have laughed too if it wasn’t
so true. For someone so frighteningly mortal, she was strangely
unafraid of anyone or anything. It was terrifying. “I
know.”

“Don’t get all bristly.” She sought to
calm him as she caressed him. “You must be hungry.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re stubborn.”

“As are you.”

She was grinning as she tilted her head
back to look at him. “Yes, but it’s been awhile, I’ll be fine
Braith.”

He dropped his head to hers. “I know, I
just…”

Her fingers were against his lips, and
then her mouth replaced her fingers. “There is no, “I just”, not
now. I crave the connection Braith, just as much as you crave my
blood. I want to feel you inside me.” He shuddered at her choice of
words, his arms constricted around her. A low groan escaped him. He
would never get over how swiftly and easily she could unravel his
composure. “I would love to satisfy you in every way, but with
everyone in this house, especially my father…”

“I understand,” he grated through
clenched teeth. “Not here, not on this cot, and not with your
family surrounding us. Not for you Arianna. I want better for you,
it will be better.”