“I did.”
He thought he saw a flash of blue in her eyes, but it was gone before he could be sure. He’d once believed he was in love with her; he now knew he’d been lost and looking for someone to care for him when he’d never felt more dirty and unlovable in his life. The thing was, Aria had always loved him, just as he would always love her.
“I’m not ready to lose you,” he said honestly.
Her eyes darted toward the door to the hall, her fingers fidgeting in her lap. “I’m not ready to lose any of you, but without Braith—”
“I understand,” he interrupted. “No explanations. I don’t think either of us need to hear what we’ve experienced and are experiencing. I think we both know.”
Her gaze came back to him. Tears glistened briefly in her eyes before she wiped them away. “You’re right. Those kind of revelations aren’t necessary.”
He sipped at his wine, but he found that this time he far preferred talking with her to the silence. He didn’t know if he would ever get this chance with her again. “Remember when we all covered ourselves in mud along the riverbank and jumped out of it to scare your father?”
This time Aria actually did give a real laugh; it was short, but it was there. “Not even as a vampire have I ever run as fast as I did when he chased after us.”
“Neither have I,” he admitted.
CHAPTER 22
William
“Is she asleep?” William whispered in disbelief when he stepped out of the room and spotted Aria in the chair she’d been sitting in last night. He assumed it was morning because he’d awoken and felt somewhat rested, but couldn’t be sure of the exact time of day.
Max lifted bloodshot and bleary eyes to him. “She is,” Max whispered back.
“How did that happen?”
“We were up talking until late. She fell asleep about an hour ago.”
As far as he knew, that was the most she’d slept since Braith died. “Hopefully it will last longer than that,” William said as he soundlessly closed the door behind him. If he didn’t think it would wake her, he’d carry Aria in to sleep with Tempest, but there was no way she would sleep through being relocated. She couldn’t possibly be comfortable sitting in the chair with her chin on her chest, but he would leave her be. “How much did you drink last night?”
“Enough to kill my liver, but not enough to get me drunk,” Max replied.
“Will you be going with Daniel to retrieve Jack?”
“Yeah.”
William eyed the two empty jugs of wine and then Max. Despite the red veins encircling his blue eyes, he looked entirely alert as he watched William. “I think you definitely killed your liver.”
“Believe me, I know,” Max replied.
“What were you talking about all night?”
“Old times in the forest. I wouldn’t mind an hour or two of sleep myself.”
William knew when he’d been asked to shove off. “If Tempest wakes, tell her I’m in the barn.”
“Will do,” Max replied.
William made his way out the door, down the hall, and up the stairs. He checked through the peepholes, spotting Xavier, Daniel, and Timber standing with a group of humans from the safe house, talking amongst themselves. Undoing the lock, he shoved the door open and stepped into the early morning rays of sun filtering through the cracks in the roof above.
Daniel turned toward him as he emerged and closed the door behind him. William walked over to join them.
“How are Aria and Max?” Daniel asked.
William glanced at Xavier, wondering if he’d told Daniel what had happened while the three of them were out there. He seriously doubted it. If Aria and Max weren’t talking, the normally stoic vampire wasn’t about to either.
“Aria is actually sleeping and Max is trying to get some sleep now,” William replied.
“Will Max be ready to leave soon?”
“He drank two jugs of wine, looks like he’s been awake for two weeks straight, and smells like a brewery, but I’m pretty sure he’s good to go.”
“Good. The sooner we get this journey over with, the better,” Daniel replied.
The creak of the door drew their heads around as Aria pushed it open and entered the barn. Her glasses were back in place, but she still lifted her hand to rest it against her forehead to shade her eyes from the sun.
“At least she got a little rest,” William said as Max exited behind her and turned to offer his hand to someone else.
Tempest’s crisp, wintry scent reached him before he caught sight of her. William hurried forward to take her hand from Max and help her out of the safe house. She was still annoyed with him for pushing her back down into the stairwell when those vampires found them the other day, but she took his hand and gave it a little squeeze. The smile she gave him melted his non-beating heart and let him know the rest of her annoyance with him had faded away.
Leaning forward, he kissed her forehead. “What is going on?” she asked.