Aria
Stars twinkled against the midnight backdrop of the sky as Aria lay on her back, staring up at them. She propped her hands behind her head while she tried not to recall the dream that had woken her over an hour ago. She cursed herself again for falling asleep, but exhaustion had drawn her under.
Not even death will keep us apart.
How desperately she wished those words were true, but the emptiness inside her made believing in anything nearly impossible right now. She watched as the stars changed position in the sky and tried not to think of the many times she and Braith had lain out beneath the stars together. It was impossible not to recall those nights, his kisses, the scrape of his fangs against her skin, his body moving over hers…
Aria rolled over and shoved herself into a seated position. She shook her head to clear it of the memories. Recalling happier times did not make things better; they made it far worse. Lifting her head, her gaze fell on the trees. From within their dark depths, Braith stood staring at her, watching her in that fascinated way he had so often since she’d met him.
For a second, she swore her deadened heart gave a lumbering beat once more. She rose to her knees and almost leapt to her feet to run to him. Then the image faded away, as it had in her dream. She was left with nothing but the shadows of the trees and her encroaching insanity.
Her fingers dug into the earth, tearing away pine needles and leaves as dirt embedded beneath her fingernails and the world became filled with a reddish haze. Her fangs lengthened when bloodlust surged to life within her.
He could still be coming back for me.
Don’t think it. Don’t get your hopes up. You won’t survive the loss of those hopes.
That little inner voice was right and she immediately shut down any belief of Braith’s return.
Xavier lifted his head from where he sat against the trunk of an oak when she took a ragged breath, then another. She hadn’t required air in some time, yet she kept trying to draw it into her lungs now as her gaze remained riveted on where she thought she’d seen Braith standing.
Xavier rose and walked over to kneel beside her; he rested his hand on her back. She wanted to shy away from his touch, but she found herself unable to move enough to do so.
“Easy,” he soothed.
She took another rattling breath before closing her eyes and carefully reining in all of her unstable emotions. Lifting her glasses, she rubbed at her swollen and gritty eyes.
“I’m okay,” she whispered when she had herself back under control.
“If you’re not, that’s okay too,” he said.
She lifted her head to look at him. They’d come from two completely different worlds, yet he was her friend and protector. “No,” she said. “It’s not, and we both know it. Queens are not allowed to fall apart.”
He rested his cheek against her hair and rubbed her back. “That is not always true.”
“It is now.”
He kept his hand on her back as she rose to her feet and carefully made her way toward where Max was keeping watch over the house. He turned toward her when she knelt at his side. “Anything new?” she whispered.
“I haven’t seen her and none of the guards have changed,” he replied.
Aria settled in beside him. “If you want to sleep, I’ll watch.”
“I’m fine,” he replied as Xavier sat on his other side.
Aria peered through the thick underbrush before her. Thirty feet of bushes, vines, and trees separated them and the vampires who were most likely guarding the evil woman inside. If the vampires did smell them, there was little difference between their scent and the other vampires of their town. They were too far away for Max’s heartbeat to be detected.
Her gaze drifted around the woods behind them. She cautiously scented the air as she searched for any hint of a shift in their environment, but she detected nothing. Turning her attention back to the house, she carefully watched everything as the moon crept higher into the sky. She lifted her glasses to rub at her eyes again when a curtain above pulled back to reveal the white-haired vampire often at Sabine’s side.
“Goran,” she murmured as she recalled what William had said his name was.
Xavier and Max followed her gaze to the window. The man stared out it for a minute more before settling the curtain back into place. Aria restrained herself from jumping up and running to the building next door to climb to the roof.
If Goran was in there, then that bitch was too.
***
Aria