“Death. Blood. They’re the only things that will make the pain stop,” she murmured.
William turned to Tempest and took hold of her shoulders. “Go inside.”
“No,” she said.
“I have to know you’re safe. Please, go in.”
“None of us are safe anymore, William. I’m not leaving any of you out here.” She stepped closer to him. “Aria needs those who love her right now.”
He couldn’t argue with that, but how did he tell her he wanted her safe from Aria right now. Atticus had lost his mind and Aria was coming apart before his eyes. She was a new vampire, a turned vampire, but he didn’t think it would matter. If she attacked, she would be lethal and only death would stop her.
“We sent Daniel, Max, and Timber back to that cave,” Aria said. She tilted her head back to look up at him. “We sent them to their deaths.”
Xavier knelt before her. “You do not know that.”
“She had his head, Xavier,” she whispered. “She held it so… so proudly.” Her voice broke on a sob before she straightened up and dried her tears. “If it’s the last thing I do, I will cut that bitch’s head from her neck.”
The unpredictable sway of emotions had William protectively stepping in front of Tempest. Xavier rested his hands over Aria’s. She jerked her hands away with a hiss that caused the hair on William’s nape to rise. He’d never seen her like this before, not even when her bond with Braith had first been severed had she been like this.
“Easy,” Xavier murmured. “I won’t touch you again, but let us be here for you.”
“For me? Who am I anymore?” A strange laugh escaped her as she bowed her head and placed her hand against her forehead. “I’d really expected him to come back to me. I didn’t dare to hope it was possible, but I did hope, more than I’d realized, and now…”
Her shoulders shook with her sobs as she released a sound that tore at his heart and reminded him of a wild animal. William stepped toward her, but she recoiled as if he were going to strike her. Her hands flew up in front of her face to ward him off.
“What am I? Who am I?” In the next instant, she once again stopped crying. “Sabine will die.”
Madness, William could feel it seeping out from her as her thoughts became more jumbled and her emotions more chaotic. Xavier’s head bowed; he reached for her again before lowering his hands.
Releasing Tempest, William knelt before Aria. He didn’t rest his hands on hers as he wanted to, but kept his fingers on the ground before him. “You are a rebel, who became a blood slave, who became a queen. That’s who you are.”
Aria’s fingers rubbed at her temples, her nails scratching her skin until she drew blood. William grasped her hands, ignoring her snapping fangs as he held them firmly in her lap. “I won’t let you hurt yourself.”
Tears spilled from her eyes again. “There is nothing left of me to hurt. Don’t you understand that?”
“Yes, I do.” Sitting on the rock beside her, William draped his arms around her and pulled her close.
Aria stiffened in his hold, and her tears once again ceased as her fangs sliced into her bottom lip. His heart felt as if it were being squeezed in his chest. Aria hadn’t been the only one who believed Braith would come back to them. They’d all been trying to get her through the days until he returned, and now there was no more getting through, no more waiting. He was gone. It was over.
“I also understand that you want your revenge, and we will help you get it,” William vowed.
“Now, I want it now,” she said and began to laugh again.
CHAPTER 27
Max
Max’s stomach rumbled as the fading daylight filtered through the roots above them. They’d remained as unmoving as possible within the hollow throughout the day. Only rising to ease their bodily needs while they patiently listened for more sounds outside.
He didn’t speak with Maeve again, but when she drifted asleep a few hours later, she did so without the knife in her hand, though she remained tucked into a protective ball. She was a fellow blood slave, one who had also had it pretty bad judging by her scars and current sleeping position.
When she woke again after an hour of sleep, she blinked up at him and jerked back against the wall.
“Easy,” he soothed when she glanced wildly around the hollow. “You’re safe.”
“I’ve never been safe,” he thought she murmured, but couldn’t be sure as she’d spoken so low. “Any hint of them?”
“No. We may be able to make a move at nightfall.”
She brushed back a strand of her black hair. “Where will you go?” she inquired.
“We have a friend we must meet with.”
Her eyes slid toward him. “Sounds important.”
“It is, and judging by the vamps around here, we may already be too late.”
“Then why not turn back?”
“There is no turning back, not for us, and not for this.”
“Is this about the upcoming threat the queen has been gathering humans and vampires to defend against?”