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Chapter 1

Aria didn’t have to look up to know that Max had arrived He had been joining her here, at the same time, everyday for the last month Even if he hadn’t settled into that routine, she would have detected his presence by his subtle sround beside her, re silent as he picked up a rock and skipped it leisurely across the lake Aria handed hi pole beside her, the hook was already baited and ready for hi it easily into the center of the lake

Aria swung her feet slightly back and forth, her toes ski the lake It was early suainst her overheated skin Using the back of her ar her forehead They sat for a long ti in fish They kept the ones that were good to eat, and tossed back the ones that were too small

Aria had started retreating to this spot soon after her escape fro a blood slave, and her return home Max had found her here two days later They rarely spoke, they didn’t need too They had both been inside that place, both been owned and used, and hurt by the vampires that had possessed theh, decidedly, Max’s experience had been far worse than hers

She had been owned, led around by a leash, and used, but the extent of her use was her own fault She had willingly given the prince her blood,in love with the deceptive bastard, but that had been before she’d learned that he was engaged Though she hated the prince now, she could not deny the sharp stab of pain that pierced her at the thought of hiht, horrendous, and it brought tears to her eyes every time it crossed her mind Which was far more often than she cared to admit

But, no matter how badly she’d been hurt, no matter how much she’d been betrayed, her experience hadn’t been anywhere near as awful as Max’s Though they did not talk about it, she kneas done to blood slaves They were used, abused, and discarded when their owners grew tired of the sleeves, every once in awhile his shirt would ride up and she would catch sight of the scars and burns that marred his fair skin She would see the haunted look that soht blue eyes when he didn’t think anyone was looking

She had suffered abuse while within the palace, but it had come from a human servant, and not the vampire prince He had broken her heart, but he had never intentionally inflicted bodily harm to her that she not asked for In fact, he had been unfailingly gentle with her

Though she hated to acknowledge it, she knew that if the prince had not taken soher incoherent, she would have given hiiven him her body, and her last piece of self respect It was a fact that she hated herself for, and tried not to think about Especially since the thought still left her oddly shaken and longing for so that had been unfulfilled, and alould be

The prince may not have been physically cruel to her, but Max’s owner had been just as cruel and brutal as they had always heard the vampire’s were to their slaves Aria’s neck was only marred by one bitehad ached for it A bite that had nearly stripped her soul from her, and left her a far different person than the one she’d been before he fed fro faster than she wanted it to, and yet nowhere near as fast as she wanted it to She didn’t want to lose the mark, it was her last connection to the prince, and no matter how much she hated him, she could not deny that he would always own a piece of her heart But it could only be a s the rest of it

She wanted the one Wanted it off of her skin She hoped that once it was gone she would be able to forget about the prince That once it was gone, she could move on with her life, and not hurt so much all the time That she would not ache constantly, that the drea, and actually start living again She wanted to take pleasure again in the woods again, but since her return she had found little joy in the wilderness she’d once loved so dearly

Max reeled his line in, deftly unhooked a decent sized bass, and added it to their growing catch Aria pulled her dark pants up s to her knees She squirs up to her shins in the water She wanted to go swi soon, wash her hair, and clean herself One of the few things she missed about the palace, besides the prince, was the wonderfully hot showers and baths she had taken Diving in the lake was not the sah she did it far more often now than she had before she was captured and clai clean every day while in the palace had left her with the same desire now that she was home

After about an hour, Max finally spoke ??You had another bad dreaht”

Aria sat silently, she didn’t kno to tell hihts and torture Her dreaht she’d had with the prince, the wonder she had felt, the joy and love that had suffused her His feeding fro, that she had never wanted to end It had been painful for Max when his owner had drank from him, but for her, it had been a moment of pure ecstasy that had touched her profoundly It was the loss of that joy, the loss of hiht For her, the night was not a reliving of tor of heartache

She had never deluded herself into thinking that anything between herself and the prince could last She would have had to die eventually, the rest of the royal family, his wife, would have seen to her death eventually She had deluded herself into thinking that he h But that was before she had learned that he was already engaged to soht still caused a bolt of fury, betrayal, and pain to jolt through her

Max wrapped his hands lightly around hers, trying to steady them as they shook on the pole “The fish will know you’re here”

She led to breathe, struggled to regain control of her wounded pride and broken heart “I don’t think htmares are as bad as yours,” she said softly

He squeezed her hand gently before slowly releasing her They had never spoken about their experiences, though it was obvious that they had both been changed forever But Aria had gained weight while in captivity, Max had grown even thinner, his bones were still sharp against his pale, drained skin He exhibited far h her scars were mainly inside His experience had been far , and just as mentally abusive, and toxic, as hers had