“Yes, we have been gathering forces and making plans to fight Sabine. Aria will wait for us to return before she carries out our part of the plan.”
Braith’s lips skimmed back. “Aria doesn’t wait.”
“For this, she will. She knows we only have one chance at this woman, and believe me, she is not going to blow it, not after what happened. She’ll have her revenge.”
Then there was a chance she was still alive, that she was okay and this emptiness within him could be eased. It had to be eased. Braith stared at Max as he tried to assimilate everything they were telling him into his chaotic mind. His gaze fell to the woman before Max. She didn’t take a step away from him as she held his gaze.
Max rested his hand on her shoulder. “She won’t tell anyone what she’s learned.”
“I won’t,” the woman said.
Braith turned away from them and broke into a loping run through the trees once more. He had to move, had to get to Aria. The ground slipped and slid beneath his feet as he pushed onward through the driving rain and whipping wind.
“We have to take a break,” Daniel panted from behind him after they’d covered a few more miles.
Braith spun toward them once more, causing them all to take a stumbling step back from him. “Tell me where she is. How do I get there?” he commanded.
“In a barn… about fifteen miles away… near the palace,” Max gasped loudly as he bent over to rest his hands on his knees.
“There are many barns near the palace!” he yelled. “I need more than that.”
“Easy, Braith,” Jack advised. Braith shot him a withering look that caused his brother to raise his hands in a conciliatory gesture. “I know you’re eager to get to her. Believe me, I know.” He looked at Hannah, standing by his side and shivering in the rain. “We will make it there, but they’re doing the best they can, and it’s better if we all stay together. If we can’t find the barn, or them again, we’ll be screwed.”
Braith stalked into the forest with Keegan at his heels as on the horizon the night’s black sky gave way to the slate gray color of a stormy dawn. He stared at the changing color as he tried to rein in his emotions. Jack was right, he knew that, but the clawing in his chest increased with every passing minute.
With a curse, he drove his fist into a tree. The bark and wood gave way until his arm burst free on the other side. The broken bones in his knuckles and his sliced-open skin were already repairing themselves when he pulled his hand free. Lifting his hand before him, he couldn’t help the wonder filling him as he examined the already healed flesh and bones. Pink rivulets ran over his skin as the rain washed away the remaining blood. Never before had he healed so quickly; he never would have believed it possible.
When he turned away from the tree, all of them were staring at him with the same mixture of fear and awe that he’d often seen on those who had been in the presence of his father.
That realization rattled him more than his accelerated healing ability.
“I will not be like him,” he vowed. “I will destroy Sabine. I will make her pay, but I will not become my father.”
When their eyes lifted to his, he saw the uncertainty in their gazes. Unable to stand the sight of that uncertainty, he turned away from them. He blinked and wiped the rain away from his eyes when, through the trees, he spotted figures slipping through the woods. He took an abrupt step forward, his lips curling away from his fangs as he watched those figures closing in on them.
“We’re not alone,” he said over his shoulder to the others.
Jack came to stand beside him, his brow furrowing as he searched the woods. “I don’t see anyone.”
“They’re there, and they’re coming,” Braith replied. “They’re wearing brown cloaks, not white though.”
“Those could be Sabine’s followers,” Max said from behind him. “They gave up their white cloaks when the snow melted, but many of the rebels also wear brown cloaks in order to blend in.”
“Then we’ll make sure that they deserve to die before they do,” Braith replied. Bloodlust surged through him, and he nearly licked his lips at the possibility of a fight. It would take more time to kill them all than he wanted to spend right now, but he’d gladly tear into the throat of any who dared to stand against him, or who could be a threat to Aria.
Another flicker of motion drew his eyes to the right as a woman ducked low in the brush. “No heartbeats,” he said.
“They could still be on our side,” Daniel said. “We have vampires working with us too.”
“If they come at us, we’re going to fight.”
“How many are there?” Timber inquired.
“A dozen or so,” Braith replied when he spotted more of them within the trees.