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She dashed to the side The king hadn’t been expecting the movement, nor had he expected her to be as quick as she was She sprinted forward, deteruards She was briefly reminded of the time she tried to allude Braith and Jack, she’d stayed free froer than she’d expected, but she was drained noeaker than she’d been then

She felt so at her, a dark presence She tried to switch direction, tried to get her body to s wouldn’t cooperate Caleb hit her with the force of a sledgehammer The breath was knocked from her as she tu with a chair, and one of the things in the chair Dry bits of flaky skin broke off beneath her hand Its eyes followed her as she scra

"It seee noises filled the air; it took Aria afrom her Merle’s jaundiced blue eyes rolled in his head as Aria was hauled back to her feet She didn’t even care who held her, didn’t even care what they did to her, she simply yearned to be out of here One way or another, dead or alive, she wanted free of this night it, she knew, but she wasn’t entirely certain how to keep it together anyht wildly against the king as he wrapped his arm around her waist and carried her back to the abo wrist, and held it above the thing as it issued eager, enthusiastic sounds A single drop of blood fell, not on Merle’s mouth but on the center of his forehead, where it quivered and shook It was one of the cruelest things she’d ever witnessed as Merle’s eyes continued to roll crazily with hunger and he twitched violently in the chair

The king lifted her wrist and gently licked the blood that beaded there "And all Merle did was vote against me when I decided to start the war That was over a hundred years ago dear Iine what I will do to my son, my heir that betrayed s I will do"

Revulsion twisted through her as he pressed a kiss against her cheek, and briefly nuzzled her before he dropped her uncereed to catch herself in tie doors across the hall were thrust open and a tall, beautiful blond strode inside She never even looked at the bodies surrounding her, but bee-lined straight toward the king and Caleb Her eyes, however, did scathingly rake over Aria Thrusting her shoulders back, Aria defiantly lare She’d only encountered Braith’s sister Natasha once before, when she’d first been brought into the palace as Braith’s blood slave

"It’s true then," she said flatly "She has been recaptured"

"Obviously," Caleb retorted dryly

Natasha chose to ignore Caleb "And Braith?"

Aria’s gaze darted toward the doors as another tall, y blond walked through them She didn’t stride forith the sah the shadows as she moved to stand behind her older sister For a moment Aria’s heart leapt at the appearance of Melinda, Ashby’s bloodlink, Braith’s youngest sibling, and Aria’s only ally within this place As swiftly as her hope rose though, it fell There was nothing Melinda could do to help her, not noay, not without being caught She was on her own for now Aria kept her face iray eyes met hers briefly before they prouards to search the woods I ah Aria; it took everything she had to remain outwardly calm Of course they would search the woods, and the town She hoped the others had retreated back into the caves, but even then there was a chance they would be found A sleamed as he perused her "He’ll come for her"

A cruel smile twisted Natasha’s mouth Apparently Natasha was just as twisted and sick as her father and brother were "Wonderful" It took everything Aria had not to look to Melinda in order to see her reaction She re to draw any more attention to herself "And Jericho?"

"I’m sure he’s also soly," the king infor its prey as Natasha rubbed her hands eagerly together "I can’t wait"

"Make sure she is returned to the dungeon Caleb, and don’t take too much of her blood I have more questions for her, questions she will eventually answer You may have your fun, but she is not to be broken, not yet anyway I want her to be alert and screa when Braith arrives, and she is not to be raped" Aria started in surprise as her eyes swung to the king "Oh it will happen my dear, but it will not be Caleb," he replied with a smirk "I suspect that it will kill my son to watch me take you, and I intend for hiether You ed to s back the bile that such a thought caused to burn up her throat She was rapidly beginning to change her ladly welco thisBraith be forced to watch

There was a sadistic gleahtened her as he ca far ed her from the hideous rooainst the bark of the tree, a shadow that Braith could barely differentiate from the woods He’d spent a hundred years in the dark, had thrived in it when others would have failed, but the near darkness noas a stark re that mattered to him And he’d lost her because he was an idiot, a fool He’d lost her because of so Aria in the first place He should have killed Lauren instead of allowing her to live

In truth, he was the one that had caused this awful mess He knew that, he despised hie it now no ot her back he would spend the rest of their lives trying to alleviate the impact of his sins He would ive him, and if they didn’t destroy her first The red haze of his vision darkened as he fisted his hands in frustration

Stay in control, he reet her back alive Stay cal her back, of winning this war they had to be prepared, or they would fail

It was nearly i, there was a fire boiling in his belly He knew that he was on the verge of co the e to drive them into the necks of his father, his brother, and every other person that ever touched her He craved their deaths with a ferociousness that he had never experienced before He wanted their bodies littering the ground at his feet, and he wanted it now

If he wasn’t certain he would be killed before he could get to her, he’d have gone after her without the rest of thee for hiates and hand hiladly die for her, but his death would do nothing to save her fro they had worked so hard for Truth be told, he’d never forgive himself either There were too many lives at stake, too much was at risk There were people that he cared about…