Page 22 (1/2)

"No, it doesn’t I’ to leave him Jack" The words were blunter than she’d intended, but they had to have it out There couldn’t be any e and plans between them

"I know"

"I can’t I ood, but…"

"It won’t," he finished for her when her voice trailed off "I know that now, so does Gideon You’re the ying to his yang"

"The what to his what?" she asked in confusion not sure if she should be insulted by the strange words

Jack smiled, but it did little to ease the sad resolve in his eyes "It’s an old saying; you’re the light to his darkness, the good to his bad You teh I believe you can be separated, it won’t er to do so After what happened they may very well decide to accept you as a human It will be your choice if you stay or not, even Braith knows that now This isn’t exactly the life you’ve prepared for Aria, or even one that you ever wanted For all of its opulence, in so behind if you choose to stay"

That was for sure "What will beco to tell hilanced at her sideways from under lowered lashes His rese’s had been, but farThere was a carefree air to Jack that seldom showed in Braith, but on those infrequent occasions when Braith let his guard down, he resembled Jack the most

"If you feel you must"

"I don’t knoill become of us, but no matter what, it has to be a fresh, open start There can’t be any secrets between us"

"I understand Youthe part where you and Gideon had a secret agreement about your possible death"

Aria winced at the harsh tone of Jack’s voice "He told you?"

"Yes He also told your brother’s, Max, and your father"

She couldn’t stop the sh her "My father, he didn’t think I wanted to die did he?" she ed to croak

"He understood Aria, believe me, he understood"

She couldn’t stop the flood of tears that poured from her eyes "I hope so"

Jack wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to his side "I know so He was unbelievably proud of you and your brothers He didn’t like the course you had chosen but he understood it, just as you must understand that his death wasn’t in vain He also knew that I wasn’t going to let what you and Gideon agreed to do, happen I would have taken you away in order to separate the two of you, but there is no way I would have agreed to your death"

"That’s why I went to Gideon"

Exasperation flashed over his features, his steel gray eyes narrowed; that was a very Braith look "It wouldn’t have happened Arianna, it was foolish of you to think it would It was foolish of Gideon It was bad enough that I was going to take you away fro your life never would have happened"

She bowed her head and pressed her face to Jack’s chest as she strived to regain some control of her tears After awhile she was finally able to take a steadying breath and pull away from him "The trophies," she choked on the word "Where are they?"

His eyes hardened "There are times when death issome souls noallies, it hy they were torone These poor souls had been trapped and starved for far more years than those creatures you encountered in The Barrens Even a vampire cannot recover frohts turned to the pitiful creature the king had tormented with her blood "Hoful, what he did to them…" She shuddered as she broke off "Why wasn’t Ashby kept here?"

Jack gestured around the rooant in a way that Ashby appreciates and craves Ashby was kept in a separate, stronger dungeon for vaht it was a far worse fate to place his he loved so ed it He could have left Ashby in the dungeons, but that wasn’t as rateful for that "Lucky for Ashby Did Braith send you after ood"

Jack sh"

He grinned at her as he turned her away from the empty trophy room and led her toward the doors They slipped back into the hall as Max reappeared "I personally think we should have taken her into The Barrens and left her there" Max candidly informed her as he stopped before theht not be any better," she told the back to your rooms?"

"Yes"