Turning back, Aria knelt before Braith and cupped his chin in her hand. She couldn’t stop the tears flowing down her face as she leaned forward to kiss him again before resting her lips against his ear. “I’m going to do everything I can to keep you safe. Please, come back to me. I love you.”
Closing her eyes, she rose and stepped away from him again. She never thought she would be separated from him again in her lifetime. Now she didn’t know if she would ever see him again at all. The bleak possibility shredded her heart. Her fingers bit into her palms, drawing blood as her nails tore into her skin.
She had to get moving. Those vampires would be swarming up there, lost in the woods, likely to stumble over the caves any minute now, but her feet wouldn’t move. Turn away. Do it. Now or he’ll die!
With a cry, she wrenched her gaze away from Braith and spun on her toes. “Take care of him, Jack,” she choked out. “Make sure he stays safe.”
She couldn’t look at anyone in the room again as she made her way forward. “I am co… ming with ya,” Xavier said, the words garbled and difficult to understand when he moved to block her.
Despite the blood covering him from head to toe, his face was resolute. Xavier had become more than her bodyguard over time; he was also her friend.
“No. You’re barely standing and you’ll leave a trail of blood behind you as you go. You won’t be able to make it and I can’t lose you,” she told him.
“Yer not goin’ a…lone.”
“She’s not,” William said and stepped forward when Daniel tried to rise to his feet.
Daniel slumped against a rock but straightened himself and rose. He swayed for a second until Xavier’s hand shot out to steady him. Xavier helped to guide Daniel down when his legs gave out on him and he slumped to the ground.
“William—” Aria started to protest.
“The peace must be protected at all costs,” he said. “We have always known that.”
“You have a choice,” she said.
“We haven’t had a choice since we were born, Aria.”
“Tempest needs you.”
“I’m coming with you,” Tempest said. “I’ve maneuvered through mountains and caves silently before.”
“We might be climbing through the trees too,” William said to her.
“I’m not staying here without you, and if I can climb a mountain, I can climb a tree,” Tempest insisted.
“It’s not safe out there.”
“It’s not safe anywhere right now, but I’m safer with you than without you.”
Her brother couldn’t argue with that logic and he knew it. William turned helplessly back to Aria, but she couldn’t help him on this one. She would have used the same reasoning with Braith if he’d tried to leave her behind. She didn’t like the idea of being alone, but she also didn’t want her brother or Tempest to think they had to do this.
“You can stay,” Aria told him. “I can lead them away on my own.”
“No,” he said. “I can’t stay. You need another set of eyes for your back, and if something happens…” His words trailed off as he glanced at Braith.
“There’s no telling what I’ll do,” she finished for him when he couldn’t.
“I am coming with you.”
“You may not want to be there to see what happens to me if he dies,” she said.
His blue eyes were steady when they met hers. “I wouldn’t be anywhere else.”
Aria’s shoulders slumped as she realized there would be no deterring him. William wouldn’t want her to see him if something were to happen to Tempest, but she wouldn’t be anywhere else either.
He took hold of Tempest’s hand and pulled her against his side. Aria turned away from them and squeezed Xavier’s arm. “Heal friend,” she said. “I’ll need you to protect me in the future, I’m sure. Braith needs you now.”
His brown eyes were unwavering as they held hers. “You can d-do this.”
She bowed her head before rising on her toes to kiss his cheek. “Watch over them all for me,” she whispered in his ear.
He placed his hand over hers. “I will. I think you’re ri…ght. I thi… think it is Sabine.”
Xavier was the wisest vampire she knew. If he believed she was right, it only further served to confirm her theory. She stepped away from him and hurried to Daniel next. Kneeling beside her brother, she took hold of his hands and squeezed them. “I love you,” she said and kissed his cheek.
“I love you too. Keep yourselves alive.”
“You do the same.”
Rising, she said a good-bye to the others before walking over to Melinda and Ashby. “Wait at least an hour, preferably two, before trying to go for the refugees,” she instructed.
“We will,” Ashby said.
Melinda gripped Aria’s hands within hers. “Braith will be fine, Aria, you’ll see. It will take far more than this to destroy my brother.”
“Yes,” Aria murmured.
She released Melinda’s hands and moved away from her. She didn’t look back as she made her way up the rocks and away from all those gathered below. Behind her, she could hear William and Tempest’s feet on the rocks as they followed her.