Refugee (The Captive Series Book 3) (13 page)

“I’m sure that it will all work out,”
Ashby inserted quickly. He shot Gideon a silencing look as he
stepped forward to break up what was sure to be a battle if it
continued. “We must win the war out there first, let us not start
one here.”

Braith waited for Gideon to say more,
but he finally just shook his head and took a step back. Gideon
turned back, opened his mouth to say something more, but Ashby
grabbed hold of his arm and pulled him back. William remained
silent as he leaned against the wall.

“This child thing, a baby…”

“I’m not sleeping with your sister!”
Braith’s temper had hit its boiling point, he’d had enough. The
remaining color drained from William’s face, and then it flared
bright red. Ashby and Gideon’s mouths dropped. “I don’t want to
hear one word from any of you again tonight,” he grumbled as he
stalked from the room.

CHAPTER 7

Aria stood silently in the corner of
the room. Thankfully they had not retreated to Gideon’s “study,”
but to a large dining room in the back of the house. Braith sat at
the head of the large table, his hands folded before him. He was
leaning forward, his tone low and fervent as he spoke with the
vampires gathered around him. They listened to him with rapt
attention, ensnared by his words and the aura of power he emitted.
A lump formed in her throat as pride bloomed in her. It was amazing
to watch him like this.

She knew he didn’t consider himself a
leader, but he already was. And they would follow him, she was
certain of it.

Her gaze scanned over the group
gathered around him. They were an eclectic lot. Gideon and Ashby
sat on each side of Braith, beside Ashby sat Barnaby, a vampire
even fairer than Ashby. His hair was nearly white, his eyes a
washed out watery blue. Tall and thin he possessed a regal air that
marked him every inch the aristocrat he was. Xavier sat beside
Barnaby; he was leaning forward as he listened to Braith. His head
was completely bald and his dark skin gleamed in the light
filtering through the windows. Tattoos marked the backs of his
hands and ran up his solid arms before disappearing beneath the
sleeves of his shirt. Strange designs and flames reappeared at the
side of his neck before ending at his right ear and the bottom of
his chin.

Xavier might have been one of the most
intriguing looking men she had ever seen, with his eclectic
tattoos, but it was Saul that she found her gaze drawn repeatedly
toward. Unlike the others, who all appeared to be under the age of
thirty, Saul had salt and pepper hair that fell around his sharp
face. His nose was hawkish, his eyes a darker shade of gray than
his hair. She knew that Frank was the human leader, but what was
Saul? He was the first vampire she had ever seen that appeared
aged, at least fifty judging by the lines around his eyes and the
corners of his mouth. Had he been human once? Had this man survived
the change? She wanted to ask Braith about it, couldn’t wait to get
him alone to find out the details, but it would be awhile before
that happened.

Calista sat regally beside Saul, her
head held high on her slender neck. Her skin was not as dark as
Xavier’s, but a soft brown hue that matched her eyes. Her hair was
cropped close to her skull, highlighting the intriguing angles and
planes of her features.

“He reminds me of father,” William
whispered. “People listen to and follow both of them.”

Besides being a little disturbed by the
association William had just made, Aria couldn’t help but smile as
she nodded in agreement.

“They will follow him.” Aria turned
toward William as she caught the hint of something in his tone. He
seemed to have come to some sort of realization, one that saddened
him. He smiled wanly at her, but it was forced, awkward and
uncertain.

“William, what is it?”

He shook his head, looking like he was
about to say something, but Braith interrupted him. “Arianna,
William.” Forcing her face to remain impassive, she straightened
her shoulders and appeared indifferent toward Braith as she moved
slowly toward him. She was well aware of the fact that they were
all watching her and William questioningly.

“Their father is the leader of the
rebel cause closest to the palace. David is gathering support there
for what we are about to undergo.” Aria met each of their gazes as
Braith continued on. “Jericho, who now goes by the name Jack, has
been working with David for awhile now and is helping with this
undertaking. Melinda has returned to the palace to be our eyes and
ears on the inside.”

“Will the humans follow this David?”
Xavier inquired.

“People will follow our father,”
William informed him. “They’ve followed our family in one form or
another for almost ninety years, and they will continue to do so.
Especially if there is a chance to end the fear, starvation, and
death we live with everyday.”

“I met your father once,” Frank said.
He rose slowly as he ran a hand through his dark hair. “It was
years ago but he was a good man and I remember being impressed by
him. I think your mother was pregnant with you both at the time. He
is right; David will be able to rally many to the
fight.”

“Are you willing to fight?” Gideon
inquired.

Frank was fixated on a spot behind
Braith’s shoulder. Then he slowly looked at William and finally
her. “I’m not sure how many of my people will be willing to jump
into this fray. We don’t know what you know; we’ve never
experienced the life that you have. Though, it would be nice to put
an end to the apprehension that the king may one day discover
us.”

“What about you Frank, will you join
us?” Braith pushed.

“I am willing to help. I can’t say how
many will come with me but my second in command, Marshall, can run
things while I’m away. I’d like to move the rest of my people into
the vampire towns until this is over, and I’d like to keep them all
together, if possible.”

“There will be room for them here,”
Gideon offered.

Frank nodded. “Thank you.”

“There will be the matter of the king
himself,” Saul said. “It will not be easy to remove your father
Braith. He’s the strongest one of us; he hasn’t managed to stay
alive and retain such an iron tight hold because he is weak. I
don’t know anyone who could take him out one on one…”

“Braith can,” Ashby
interrupted.

Aria’s breath froze in her lungs; every
muscle in her body went rigid. There was no love lost between
Braith and his father, but for the son to destroy the
father…

It was unthinkable. And she wasn’t sure
that Braith could do it, that he could survive the consequences of
it. Their probing gazes latched onto Braith. “Braith is powerful,
yes, but the king has years on him, experience and cruelty, and a
viciousness that none of us possess. Those are all driving
motivators that make the king the deadliest one of us,” Saul
continued.

“They are,” Braith confirmed. “We’ll
just have to make sure that more than one of us goes after him when
the time comes.”

“Even then…”

“Braith can take him,” Ashby cut Saul
off firmly. Aria shot him a dark look, irritated that he kept
pushing the issue. She ground her teeth, clenching her jaw as she
bit back a sharp retort.

“It’s his father,” William
blurted.

“And he wouldn’t hesitate to strike
down his son,” Ashby reminded him.

William looked sickened by the thought.
“First we have to worry about getting into the palace, and then we
will worry about my father.”

“There is also the matter of The
Forsaken Ones,” Calista inserted, her hooded gaze was wicked as she
stared at Braith. “They have to be stopped before we can leave our
towns. We cannot leave the ones that remain behind susceptible to
them.”

“Yes,” Frank agreed
emphatically.

“We’ll try and group these creatures
together and destroy them. It needs to be done quickly before they
cause more damage.” Braith spoke the words flatly, but his muscles
flexed briefly beneath his shirt. Anxiety trickled through her; no
matter how many went out there after them, those things were
unsafe, deadly. “I would like to do this tomorrow, if at all
possible. We’ll move out as soon as we can.”

Aria kept her face as emotionless as
possible. She was acutely aware of the fact that Xavier’s deep
brown had fixated upon her. His dark brows drew sharply together
over his broad nose. Something slithered down her spine, something
cold and numbing as his eyes slowly swung toward Braith.

“Why now?” Xavier inquired a little too
loudly. “Why do you desire to overthrow your father
now?”

The coldness spread to her belly, she
couldn’t breathe. “I have learned of my father’s plot against my
mother.”

“How did you come to learn of
this?”

“Melinda, fearing for her life after
Jack’s defection to the rebellion, came to me and told me the
truth. I was able to find Jack afterwards, and was finally led to
David and his children. I may not have known my mother well, but
such a deception cannot go un-avenged. I’m sure you all understand
how I feel as most of you are here to avenge your own families,
though none of you were ever close with them. It is the principle
of the matter.”

They all nodded eagerly along to
Braith’s very abridged and not entirely true version, Xavier
remained unmoving as he stared at her.

***

Aria was beginning to hate The Barrens
with its endless sun and sand. The woods were cool even on the
hottest of days and shady when the sun was at its brightest. She
missed the smell of them, that invigorating blend of earth, fresh
air, and wilderness. There was nothing like that here.

Sweat trickled down her back, her
forehead, and in between her breasts. The thin, tan shirt she wore
adhered to her back and shoulders. She pulled it off her skin,
fanning herself with it as she pushed her braid over her shoulder.
Shielding her eyes, she stared across the endless brown, searching
for any sign of life, all she discovered was a dizzying sense of
unreality and a slight headache.

“How will we ever find them out there?”
she asked.

“We won’t,” Braith confirmed. He tugged
lightly on the end of her braid, smiling for a brief moment as he
wrapped it around his finger. “They’ll find us.”

That didn’t sound like a better option.
The desolate town was depressing, but she would rather be here than
left behind as she had greatly feared Braith intended to do.
Instead, he had been uncharacteristically reasonable about taking
her with him, a fact that astounded her until she realized that he
didn’t feel Gideon’s town was any safer than here.

Aria wiped the sweat from her brow,
wrinkling her nose in disgust at the smell that wafted from her. “I
miss the woods.”

She hadn’t meant to say the words out
loud, hadn’t meant to reveal her melancholy to him, but they popped
out before she could stop them. Braith’s hand stilled in her hair,
his body was still as stone. “I know. I’ll get you back to
them.”

She grabbed hold of his hand and
squeezed as she forced a smile. “I know.”

He brushed his finger over her cheek,
trailing it down her throat, pausing briefly upon the marks on her
neck. She felt his rising thirst, but he swiftly buried it. “You
won’t ever have to leave them again when this is over.”

She frowned as she pressed his hand
more firmly against her face. “But you’ll need to be in the palace
in order to rule.”

“I don’t plan on ruling anything
Aria.”

Shock shimmered through her, her
fingers convulsed on his. She didn’t understand what he was saying.
Of course he was going to rule, who else would do it? The people
would follow him, he was the next in line; it was obvious that it
had to be him. “But you have to.”

He shook his head, opened his mouth to
respond but a shout interrupted his words. Aria wanted to pull him
back, wanted to demand that he explain his statement to her but he
was already releasing her, already moving out of the small room
they had been standing in. There was a large group of men outside
the door, most of them were vampires, but a good amount of them
were also humans armed with bows and stakes. Sadly, stakes would be
a last resort, if a vampire was that close it was more than likely
the human would not survive the encounter.

There were other women with them, but
she didn’t think any of them were human, and in all honesty she
wasn’t entirely certain if they were there to fight, to keep the
men entertained, or to try and get their hooks into Braith. She was
acutely aware of the fact that they watched his every move with
interest. They wore make-up, had their hair styled, and smiled
flirtatiously at him whenever he was near. Many of them believed
her to be the meal that the prince had brought along with him for
the journey, even if her father was the rebel leader, she was of
little consequence to them. Vampire or not, they were making her
mad enough to take them down.

She refused to look at any of them as
she followed Braith to the door of the house they had taken shelter
in. She needed a thicker skin if she was going to have to deal with
these people for the rest of her life or eternity? Either way it
was going to be a long time, because no matter what Braith thought,
she knew he was the one that was going to lead them out of this
mess. He would be the one to end all of the brutality and
oppression they’d experienced for the past hundred
years.