“I know.”

His hands lingered against her sides, holding her lightly for a moment. If he gave her some of his blood she would heal quicker, but he knew that she would not take it, and though he was drawn to her more than anyone else he had ever met, he wasn’t ready to create the bond between them that sharing his blood would produce. He had never shared his blood with anyone before, never mind a human.

Her eyes came slowly toward him, bright in the light of the room. Her dark eyebrows drew sharply together as she studied him for a moment. He felt an overwhelming urge to kiss her, to know what she would feel like against him, what she would taste like.

Before he knew what he was doing, he moved slowly toward her, pressing his mouth lightly against hers. She stiffened beneath him, her heart lurched violently, and he could hear the rapid pace of her pulse as it raced through her veins. Excitement tore though him, hunger gripped him tight as the delicious scent of her blood assailed him. He struggled to keep control of himself, struggled to keep his teeth from elongating as the tantalizing desire to bite into her, and savor her, ripped through him. He would frighten her if such a thing happened though, and that was not what he was looking to do at the moment.

He pulled slightly away from her, waiting for her to shove him away, to tell him to stop, or to leave her alone. She did none of those things as she stared up at him in wide eyed wonder. She blinked rapidly for a moment, her head tilted slightly as she seemed to be trying to decide what exactly it was that he intended. And as long as she did not tell him to stop, he knew exactly what it was that he wanted from her.

He searched her crystalline sapphire eyes before bending down and kissing her again. Her surprise was palpable, he could sense some fear underneath it all as she remained stiff against him for a moment more. He believed that fear was more from the unknowing of what he wanted, than from the actual kiss or from him. Then, to his surprise and delight, her hard mouth yielded slightly and he could feel the heat of her breath against his mouth. He pulled her closer to him, careful not to scare her as he slowly deepened the kiss.

She was one of the most wonderful things he had ever tasted. She was sweet and giving, her body warm against his as she succumbed even more, pressing closer to him. He had not expected this from her, he had expected some resistance, a fight even, but there was none of that. In fact, she was far more yielding than he had ever imagined she would be, and she felt far better than he had ever thought she would. It felt right to hold her, to touch her. His hand entwined in her loose hair, it was as soft as silk beneath his fingers.

Her hands curled around his forearms, she gasped softly as he ran his tongue along her lips. He wanted to lift her up, to carry her from this room, but he knew he could not move too fast. And her ribs. He had to remember her ribs. He had to remember that she was injured, even as his control began to swiftly unravel.

He pulled away, before he couldn’t. Pulled away before he lost complete control and either hurt her, or rushed her into something that she was not ready for. She was breathing heavily, her eyes wide with wonder as he rested his forehead against hers. He was trembling, nearly shaking with the effort that it was taking for him not to touch her again, not to kiss her again.

Not to drain the wonderfully tempting blood from her.

“I didn’t expect that,” she said softly, her voice tremulous, her grip on his arms fierce.

“Neither did I.”

He brushed the hair lightly back from her face, cradling her cheeks gently within his grasp. What was this girl to him? Why did she affect him so? What the hell was going on here? The questions raced rapidly through his mind, but he couldn’t answer any of them. There were no answers from him. He could not deny that she was special, that he was supposed to have found her, because he knew both of those things to be true.

He was, however, beginning to doubt that he could keep her safe in this world, or even from himself. He knew that he could not keep her happy, she did not belong here. This was not her place, this was not her world, and she would never be safe here. If anyone even suspected that he might have feelings for her, they would kill her. Blood slaves were used, drained, tortured, and tossed away. They were not treasured, they were not taken care of, and they most certainly were not kept alive for extended periods of time.

What the hell was he going to do with her?

She peered questioningly up at him, her fear and hesitance evident. He forced himself to become expressionless; she had obviously seen something that troubled her on his face. “Prince?”

“Braith.”

She blinked at him, her forehead furrowing in confusion. “Excuse me?” she asked in surprise.

“Braith, my name is Braith. You never say it. I want you to use it.”

Her mouth quirked in a small smile, her eyes lit with amusement. “Forgive me your majesty; I am not used to being around royalty.”

Aggravation spurted through him at her words, until he realized that she was teasing him. He didn’t think he had ever been teased before, he wasn’t entirely certain that he liked it, but it seemed to make her happy. And he had to admit that he did enjoy seeing her happy. “I see. I would prefer if you said my name though,” he told her abruptly.

His brisk attitude did not seem to bother her as she shrugged her shoulders. The lack of fear she showed to him was truly amazing, he had never experienced it before. Even other royal vampires were fearful and weary around him. “Braith, why do you always wear those dark glasses?”

His hand darted up to the dark frames. For the most part he didn’t even remember that he was wearing them, they were like another extension of his body. He shrugged, unsure of how to respond, unsure how much he really wanted to reveal to her right now. This situation was strange enough without heaping even more strange onto it.

Thankfully he was saved from responding by a soft knock on the door. He released Arianna and took a small step away before inviting whoever it was to enter. The small brunette he remembered seeing before stepped slowly into the room. Braith bristled, his shoulders straightened as he prepared to take this girl on to.

Arianna rested her hand gently on his arm. He glanced at her, surprised by the calming affect such a simple gesture had upon him. “Hi Maggie,” she said softly, offering a small smile for the obviously frightened girl.

Maggie nodded at her, but her gaze lingered over Arianna’s hand on his arm. Braith pulled slowly away from Arianna, not wanting to hurt her feelings, but knowing that they had to play it safe. He had to be careful with her. “I was told to come up,” she said softly.

“Yes,” Braith responded coldly. “Your friend has been dismissed. Permanently.” The girls brown eyes widened as the implications of those words sank in. “The same will happen to you if you step out of line in anyway. You will take care with her ribs.”

The girl looked slightly stunned, and more than a little confused. “Of course, yes your highness, of course I will,” she stammered out.

“Good.”

Braith moved swiftly past the woman. Grabbing hold of his cane, he left the room with Keegan trailing behind.

***

Aria popped the grape into her mouth, chewing the sweet fruit eagerly as she picked at the tray of food. She was starving from not having eaten yesterday. She heaped more fruits onto her plate, then some breads and meat. There was so much, and it all looked so good that she didn’t know where to start. She popped a handful of grapes into her mouth as she made her way to the window seat. She had not read in over a week, she’d missed it and was eager to continue with the story, but she wanted to wait for Braith to come back. She was afraid that she would miss something, or would get something confused whenever she read on her own. Though, he said that she was making good progress, and was doing well on her own.

Truth be told though, she simply enjoyed curling up next to him and listening to the deep rumble of his voice as he slowly read with her. She stared out the window, slowly rolling the fruit around in her mouth as she thought over the implications of that admission. What the hell was the matter with her? Had becoming a blood slave caused her to completely lose her mind?

Was she actually beginning to have feelings for a monster? Feelings for one of the creatures that she had hated, and fought against her entire life? That was crazy, it was simply insane. It could not be possible, it really couldn’t.

But she truly believed that she was, and she didn’t understand any of it. She had thought that he had turned against her. That he had purposely set Lauren on her in punishment, but he hadn’t. And not only had he not known that Lauren was hurting her, but once he had found out about it he had been attentive, caring, protective of her and worried about her safety.

And then he had kissed her.

And that damn kiss had almost been her undoing. She thought back to the kiss she had shared with Max, it had been sweet and kind and it had left her feeling safe and warm. Braith’s kiss hadn’t left her feeling any of those things. It had left her shaken, torn, bewildered, on fire, and longing for more. Longing for so much more. She wanted him to hold her, and kiss her, and touch her forever. Yet it wasn’t possible, none of it would ever be possible.

She was a blood slave; she was supposed to die eventually. What was going to happen to her?

She chewed on a piece of cheese as she watched the light play over the gardens. Though she didn’t think he was, she knew there was still a possibility that he could be playing with her. That he was toying with her emotions only to make her emotional breakdown even more pleasurable in the end. But if that kiss was a sign of anything, she thought it was definitely a sign that he would not purposely be cruel or mean to her.

She just didn’t know exactly what he was going to be to her. She was far from certain of anything these days. A few weeks ago she would have been terrified by this realization; she was surprised that she was not terrified now. And she felt that it was because of him. It was hard to be terrified when he was there, looking out for her, taking care of her, protecting her.

Aria frowned as she realized that she had never really been sheltered before. Her family loved her, and had always tried to keep her safe, but she had been on her own far more often than she had been under their wing since the time she was a young child. In her life, children could not be sheltered, not once they were old enough to start helping out. Every hand was needed in order to try and feed the many hungry mouths, and to help keep everyone safe.

Hunger, it was a foreign concept to her at the moment, as she munched on some more cheese and fruit. But it was not a concept that was foreign to her family, to her friends right now. Guilt tugged at her, for a moment she could not swallow the food as it stuck in her throat. She was daydreaming about something that could never happen, a life she could never have, and her family and friends were still struggling, still fighting for their lives every moment of every hard day.

Arianna managed to choke down the food, but she dropped her half full plate back on the tray. Her appetite was gone now anyway. Though she had been given this brief moment, this reprieve from the hunger, death, and struggle that had constituted most moments of her life, she knew that it could not last. It could never last. His world would never allow it to last. And she was a foolish child for even thinking that it might. A foolish child for not realizing the futility of this whole situation.

Aria touched the leather binding of the book, her fingers trailed slowly over it as she admired the simple beauty of the thing. “Do you need me for anything else?”

Arianna lifted her head; she had forgotten that Maggie was here. She had been working on Arianna’s dresses; some of them had needed to be let out as she had put on weight. “Oh no, thank you though. Would you like something to eat?”

The girls brown eyes widened slightly, her mouth curved in a small smile. Though she had not commented upon the bruises marring Aria’s skin, Aria had seen the shock and dismay in the girl’s tender gaze. Aria had wanted to tell her that the bruises were not from Braith, that he had not done this to her, but the words stuck in her throat. It was probably best if people began to believe he was mistreating her, though Lauren’s dismissal might negate that fact. She imagined rumors and gossip were already flying around, and she found that she didn’t care.

“No, thank you, I have other things I must attend to.”

“Oh,” Aria said softly, feeling a twinge of guilt over taking the girl away from her work. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to keep you.”

“Oh no, it’s fine,” Maggie assured her. “You are my number one priority. The prince has seen to that.”

“I see.”

“I’ll see you later.”

“Yes.”

Maggie was at the door, her hand upon the handle before she turned back to Aria. “The prince has never had a blood slave before, did you know that?”