He slipped his hand into hers, pulling her against him. His hand wrapped around the back of her head as he cradled her gently against him. She held him for a long moment, simply relishing in the feel of his hard body against hers, simply relishing the feel of being in his arms again. She gasped, shock racing through her when he bent and scooped her easily into his arms. She stared down at him in wide eyed wonder as her fingers lightly stroked the nape of his neck. His eyes were intense and burning as he watched her for a long moment before striding easily from the room.
He navigated the dark hallways with ease; until he reached a door that he thrust open. He didn’t bother with the light switch as he strode over and placed her lightly upon the bed. Aria watched him as he moved around, drawing the curtains shut and blocking out the light of the fading moon. Her heart hammered with excitement, her mouth was dry as uncertainty claimed her. She didn’t know what was going to happen, what he expected, or what she was even willing to give to him. She wanted to pretend that they had forever, but they didn’t. Yet, it was Braith. Even if she never saw him again, she knew she would never love anyone the way that she loved him. This was more than likely their last night together, if she was never going to see him again, didn’t she want to give him everything she could?
He was as silent as a ghost as he came back to her, slipping onto the bed beside her. He pulled her against him, kissing her softly. All doubts and fears vanished; she didn’t want to think, not now. And he made it so very easy to forget everything, except for him. His hands stroked over her face, her hair, as he pushed her gently upon the bed. His eyes were bright in the dim light of the room. He stared at her for a long moment, his hands lightly holding each side of her face.
“You are beautiful.”
Though it may not be entirely true, she felt beautiful when she was with him. She felt as if she were the only woman in the world, and in some ways, to him, she was. She was the first woman he had seen in years. She lowered her lashes as tears burned her eyes, she didn’t want to think about anything else, but she couldn’t help it. This was it. This was all she would have of him.
“Arianna?”
She lifted her eyes to him, forcing a smile. “It’s ok Braith, I’m ok.”
He kissed her nose softly, pulling her against his side as he rolled off of her, cradling her tightly. “There are some other things I need to tell you Arianna. I don’t want you to be hurt again; I don’t want you to be surprised by anything you hear about me.”
She frowned, lifting her head to look at him. He looked troubled, his eyes were distant, haunted. “What is it?” she asked softly.
His fingers stroked through her hair, running it lightly through his grasp. “Before you, I never had a blood slave.”
“I know.”
“After you…” his voice trailed off for a moment, his fingers tightened briefly in her hair. “There were many.”
Aria stared at him in surprise, and then hurt curled through her. She had thought that she was special. No, she was special to him. She couldn’t start thinking like that, couldn’t let herself start to doubt that. It would ruin this small bit of bliss they had managed to find together. She was special to him, he did care about her. She just had to keep believing that it was true. He wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t. “Why?” she choked out.
His gaze was hard upon hers; there was a defensive air about him. “I wanted to forget.”
“Forget what?”
“You.”
Her eyes widened, she bit hard on her bottom lip. She knew how that felt, the driving need not to think about anything, not to feel anything anymore. “Did it work?”
“That’s why I’m here.” She managed to smile wanly at him, but she couldn’t shake the lingering hurt that clung to her. “I never gave them my blood Arianna; I’ve never done that with anyone else.”
She managed a small nod, trying not to show how upset she was. She knew that she was failing. “It’s ok.”
“Arianna, I thought… I don’t know what I thought. That’s the problem, I didn’t want to think.”
“I know Braith, I know how you felt, how it hurt to think, to breathe even. I know because I didn’t want to think or feel anymore either. It’s ok, I don’t like it, but it’s ok. It’s… It’s what you had to do.”
She could barely speak by the time she was done, hurt clogged her throat, but she couldn’t find any anger. She couldn’t be angry now. She hadn’t been there for him, she had thought that he had lied to her, and he had thought that she’d betrayed him. She couldn’t be angry now when he was looking at her with such a hopeful, needy expression. He may not have given them his blood, but she was sure that he had done other things with them. Things that they had not done together. Aria quickly shut the thought down. It had no place here, this was their one night, he wanted to be honest, and she could not fault him for that. But she was not going to ruin this night, she couldn’t.
“And what did you do to stop from thinking?” he asked softly though she heard the tight tension in his voice.
He had buried himself in women, and blood. She had buried herself in the woods, in the wild, in the solitude. “Went fishing.”
He lifted an eyebrow in surprise, his head tilted slightly to the side. “You went fishing?”
“Yes, I’d go to the lake almost every day and go fishing. It was quiet, peaceful; I could lose myself in the nature and serenity of it. Even when Max…”
“Max?” the name was almost growled at her.
She frowned at him. She had taken his shocking news relatively well; he owed her the same respect. “Yes, Max. He is my friend. He was also a blood slave, though his experience was far worse than mine. He needed the solitude, the peace, the company of someone who understood at least a little of what he had gone through. He would join me most days, and we would just sit silently together.”
“I think Max wants to be more than a friend,” his voice was low, gravelly. She heard the displeasure in his tone.
“Braith…” She didn’t know what to say, what to do. But he was being honest and she should too. “Yes, he does. And at one time I had a big crush on Max. He was older, my brother’s best friend, and my first kiss.” Braith’s hand tightened on the back of her head, he fairly vibrated with anger. “But even before we were blood slaves, even before I met you, I had decided that it could never be between us.”