She glanced away from him, uncomfortable with the reminder of those dismal days. Their bond had been renewed, but she could still feel the madness dancing at the edges of her mind. She’d never forget what the impending insanity had felt like. If something happened to him again, she would snap in a way that would make Atticus look like he’d been a completely rational, caring man.
“I couldn’t have done it alone,” she said, uncomfortable with his praise when she’d spent a lot of that time trying not kill anyone who walked by her. “And I didn’t. This never could have been accomplished without the others.”
“No it couldn’t have, but one could ever doubt you are meant to be a queen,” he said.
The hungry look in his eyes caused her toes to curl as heat crept through her body. “You keep looking at me like that, and I’m going to jump you in a completely unqueenly way.”
He laughed as he rested his hand on her shoulder and drew her against him. The heat of his body warmed hers and made her sigh in relief and joy. She still couldn’t believe he really was back from the dead, standing beside her. She kept expecting to wake from a dream, but with every passing second she became increasingly convinced he was with her again.
Across the way, she spotted William and Tempest slipping through the crowd to enter the barn. Tempest had a leaf sticking out of her disheveled hair. William pulled the leaf away and tossed it aside as his gaze scanned the barn. He stopped searching when his eyes fell on her and Braith.
Taking hold of Tempest’s hand, he led her through the crowd toward them, a big grin on his face. Aria couldn’t stop herself from smiling at the joy radiating from him. “What is it?” she asked when they reached them.
“I asked Tempest to marry me and she accepted,” he said proudly.
Aria did a double take. She’d known this was coming, but still she couldn’t quite picture her brother proposing. She released a delighted cry as she threw her arms around him before turning to embrace Tempest. “Welcome to the family!”
Tempest hugged her back. “Thank you,” she said as Aria released her.
Braith clasped William’s hand and shook it before turning to Tempest. “It’s not too late to change your mind and run,” he told her when he took hold of her hand.
William scowled at him, Aria elbowed him, and Tempest laughed. “I have no plans of running,” she said.
Braith released her hand as Jack, Hannah, Daniel, Timber, Max, and Maeve walked over to join them. For a minute, Aria could almost pretend she stood with her family, celebrating William’s good news and simply being happy. Then, she glanced at the growing crowd around her and reality returned. They could celebrate now, but some of them would not survive the night.
CHAPTER 36
Braith
Braith kept Aria close to his side as they crept through the woods toward the palace. Despite the large number following behind them, he barely heard any movement within the trees. These people had been born into a world where stealth was their main mode of survival, and they were good at it.
Although they were natural predators, the vampires were louder than the humans, but their movements were still barely discernible amongst the creaking of the trees and the reverberating crashes resonating from the direction of the palace. He slowed as they neared the town bordering the palace walls. Flames flickered from the torches lining the walls and within the town itself. The storm had finally broken late last night, but clouds still obscured the stars and moon, helping to keep them hidden.
There were a hundred of Sabine’s vampires positioned to watch the woods. The humans who had scouted the area had reported their locations. Their plan wouldn’t work unless all of Sabine’s followers watching the woods were taken out at the same time.
Braith stopped when he spotted some of Sabine’s followers through the trees. All down the line, the vampires and humans with him also halted. Through the flickering shadows of the torches, Braith studied the vamps fifteen feet ahead of him. They were completely unaware of how close they were to the end of their lives.
Lifting his hand into the air, he made a fist that he pulled down toward his side. The gesture was taken up by others within the woods, spreading all the way down the line before Braith raced forward.
The three vamps closest to him spun toward him with their bows raised, but it was already too late for them. He had the one by the throat and the heart of the other within his hand before they could do more than squeak. He drove the last one into the ground and dispatched him quickly.
The bloodlust pulsing through his veins was stronger than it had ever been before he’d died. He struggled to keep himself from rushing through the trees to slaughter more of Sabine’s followers. He couldn’t leave Aria unprotected though. That thought helped to calm him enough to keep him where he was, but his body still thrummed with the need to kill.