“No, but she definitely has a lot of power, and that power is gaining her support. I’d bet my life on her having made it out of Badwin with a good number of her followers. She will move on to other towns while leaving more monsters in her wake.”
Tempest shuddered; her hands rubbed at her arms. He rested his hands on her shoulders in order to offer her some sense of comfort. “She’s powerful,” William continued. “And old. She felt as powerful as you,” William took a deep, unnecessary breath before continuing, “perhaps more so.”
Braith’s eyes didn’t flicker at his assessment. Aria paled visibly, she rested her hand over the top of her husband’s. “Are you sure?” she inquired.
“Yes.”
Braith’s gaze slid to Xavier standing in the shadows of the bar with his hands folded before him. “What do you make of this?”
The light played over Xavier as he stepped forward. “I don’t know what to make of it,” he replied honestly. “You are the oldest known vampire on record. I do not know who this woman is, but if she does have the power William is implying, she is either a lot older than you or possibly a relative.”
“She is extremely powerful,” William insisted.
Xavier’s sable eyes were assessing when they met his. “You are young; you could be mistaken.”
“I can feel what is coming off of Braith now. I know he’s keeping some of it leashed, but it’s still not what this woman radiated,” William told him. “I don’t know who she is, or pretend to understand any of your complicated lines and histories, but she was missed somehow, or she’s been in hiding for centuries.”
“My father had no other children,” Braith murmured.
“Are you sure of that?” William inquired. “I didn’t realize it at first, but after thinking it over, I realize her coloring is very similar to your father’s. Her hair was black and her eyes the color of grass. She was beautiful, in a cold way.” His gaze flicked back and forth between Braith and Jack’s dark coloring. Their eyes were gray, with some blue in Braith’s, but their hair, especially Braith’s, and their aristocratic features did bare a resemblance to the woman. He glanced at Melinda, but with her far fairer coloring, she didn’t look like the woman at all. “There was a bit of a resemblance with you two,” he said as he focused on Braith and Jack again.
“If he had fathered another child, they could be near Braith’s age, perhaps even a little older, but they would not have your mother’s powerful lineage too,” Xavier replied. “You have to remember you and Jack are a product of two of the strongest vampire lines.”
What about Melinda? William wondered.
He didn’t get a chance to ask the question before Aria started speaking, “But Genny never had a child.”
“There were women before her.” Braith squeezed Aria’s hand. “But none that would have conceived a child within the aristocratic line; he would have been forced to claim the child as his if there was one. If there is a bastard out there, they would still have power if they are around my age.”
“Who is Genny?” William inquired.
“I’ll explain later,” Aria promised.
Braith looked pointedly toward Xavier again. “Do you know anything about a possible child?”
“I will have to check the records, but I’ve never heard even a whisper of a bastard child and after reading your father’s journals, I would say he never heard a rumor of one either. You would be stronger than that child would be if there is one. You must also remember your father’s war left the vampires scattered. There is no way to know who survived and who didn’t. She could be close to your age but marked as dead.”
“There’s something else,” William said.
Braith turned back to him, “What is it?”
William looked to Tempest; it would be best if she said what she had to say before he told Braith what the queen had said to him. “Go on,” he urged her.
Tempest threw back her shoulders and folded her hands in front of her before speaking. “Before she lit the vampires on fire the night I fled, she declared herself to be the most powerful vampire alive. She told her soldiers that those who follow her would know power and superiority once more. They would know wealth and be number one again. She said she is the one true leader.”
Braith’s jaw clenched. “Did she now? Then this woman is a fool.”
William took a deep breath, Braith had taken this well so far, but he knew what he was about to say would infuriate him more than anything else had so far. “She also told me she believes you are imposters, and that Aria especially is the imposter queen.”
Braith’s muscles vibrated with power when he flattened his hand on the table. The gray of his eyes faded away as crimson filled them. “My wife is no imposter,” he grated out.
Aria touched his arm in a soothing gesture. “She’ll say whatever is necessary to gain followers, and there are those who believe I shouldn’t be on the throne.”
“And I will kill every one of them,” Braith vowed.
Now William wasn’t so sure who had more power, Braith or that woman. He could never forget what Braith was like when Aria was threatened, but it had been a long time since he’d seen Braith’s barely leashed savagery. He probably could level the world if it became necessary. A tremor ran through Tempest’s shoulders but she didn’t step away from Braith.
“That’s not going to be possible.” Aria forced a smile as she leaned over to kiss Braith, but her movements were far stiffer than William had ever seen them, and the color had yet to return to her face.
The red faded from Braith’s eyes, but his body remained tensed. “I feel I would have met her if we were of an age.”
“I know what I felt,” William insisted.
“I believe you.” His gaze shifted to Jack and Ashby. “Does she sound familiar to either of you?”
“I think I would remember a black haired beauty who was older than me,” Ashby replied, then grunted when Melinda elbowed him roughly in the ribs. Ashby rubbed at his ribs, before wrapping his arm around her waist and drawing her closer.
Jack glanced at Hannah who was watching him from narrowed eyes. “I don’t recall anyone like that,” he replied.
Braith’s fingers tapped on the table; his gaze shifted to the far wall. “All of the outer towns are to be evacuated and moved toward the palace where they can be better protected, including this one.”
“The sun,” Lucas said as he stepped forward. “Not all of us in this town can travel during the day.”
“Some of us may not be up for the travel,” Abe said. Though a vampire, his genetic defect had made him continue to age until he was sixty-two. He was still spry and active, but there were two other vampires in Chippman who had aged into their nineties before stopping, and they weren’t as agile.
“We’ll have carriages built to carry anyone who needs it and to protect those who require it from the sunlight,” Braith said. “It’s a chance you’ll have to take until whoever this is, is stopped.”
“They’re not leaving survivors,” Tempest murmured.
Braith’s gaze shifted to her, William could almost see the wheels turning in his mind. “We will start building the carriages now. I’ll send word back to the palace; The Council must be warned to be on guard.” Rising to his feet, he adjusted the lapels on his jacket. “I’ll start the evacuations of the towns immediately. We’ll leave for the palace as soon as everyone here is ready to travel.”
Hannah stepped closer to Jack, her uncle Abe slid into one of the chairs and bowed his head. “When will we come back?” Ellen inquired.
“When we know it’s safe,” Braith replied. “Jack and Daniel gather some men to have them start building the carriages. Ashby and William you will come with me to divide the guards and send them out to start rounding up the surrounding towns. We’ll have the guards move on after each town to spread the word of the impending danger. I don’t think this woman planned to do anything until after the winter, but those plans may have changed. What
happened in Badwin has probably left her scrambling; that should buy us some time.”
“There are still ten guards out there looking for stragglers from Badwin,” Daniel said.
“Good, we will leave them there until their mission is complete.”
“You should keep the guards with you,” Xavier advised.
Braith’s gaze slid to him. “Those towns, vampires, and humans have to be protected first.” Xavier opened his mouth to protest but clamped it shut. He gave a brief bow of his head. Behind Braith, Aria rose to her feet and threw back her shoulders. Braith held out his hand to take hold of hers. “We should all be prepared to leave as soon as possible.”
“What about those starving and twisted vampires out there, hunting in the snow?” William inquired.
“The guards will put down the ones they come across. After this threat is dealt with, I will send more to hunt them down. They cannot be left to roam free,” Braith replied.
William’s hands tightened on Tempest’s shoulders; he pulled her back a step and hugged her against his chest.
- CHAPTER 32 -
William stepped off the last stair and stared across the empty tavern to where Aria sat. Candlelight flickered over her, illuminating her pale skin and turning her hair a vibrant shade of red. Normally she had a tan; it had faded a little due to her time in the palace, but her skin had still held a golden hue that caused the brush of her freckles to appear fainter. Now her skin could make glue look tan, and her freckles looked as washed out as the rest of her when she lifted her head to look at him.
The woman claiming to be the rightful queen had said twins had a special bond and Aria was his closest friend, but he’d never been able to feel her pain or known when she was in trouble. Still, when he’d pulled the blankets away from himself and slipped free of Tempest’s arms he’d known he would find his sister here.
Pulling the chair across from her out, he stared at the numerous documents and papers spread out on the table before her. A wooden box sat on the ground near her feet. He glanced around the tavern but didn’t see anyone else in the shadows, and he didn’t sense anyone in the kitchen. “Where is everyone?” he inquired.
“Working on getting things ready to go,” she replied.
His eyebrows rose as he leaned back in his seat. “They left you alone?”
She carefully stacked some of the papers to the side, her attention focused on her task as she spoke, “I asked to be left alone.”
“Do you want me to leave?” Her head finally lifted; her eyes met his. For the first time in his life, he saw true fear in his sister’s gaze. “Aria…”
“No, stay,” she gave him a wan smile and focused on moving the papers around again.
Questions ran through his mind as he studied her, but he knew her well enough to know she wouldn’t open up until she was ready. “What is all of this?” he asked and gestured at the papers.
“These are Atticus’s and Genny’s journals,” she murmured. “I was going through them in the hope that maybe I had missed some mention of this woman you encountered, but nothing in them hints at her. Genny’s sister, Camille, could still be alive, but most records of her have vanished. Even if she is still alive, she wouldn’t have the power you described, and according to these documents, she was blonde with blue eyes.”
“You were going to tell me who this Genny girl was,” he reminded her.
She folded her hands before her and stared at her lap before finally lifting her eyes to him again. “I will. Tempest seems very nice.”
“She is, she’s normally not so quiet, but I think she’s overwhelmed.”
Aria chuckled and sat back in her chair. “If anyone can understand being overwhelmed by unknown circumstances, it’s me.”
“True.”
“You care for her.”
“I more than care for her.”
Some color came back to her face when she tilted her head to look at him. “You’re in love,” she teased.
Normally he would have told her to screw off or some other wiseass retort; instead, he couldn’t stop himself from smiling. “I haven’t admitted that to her yet.”
“She knows.”
“And how do you know that?”
“I see the way she watches you; she risked her life for yours, and you for her. She knows. She’s your bloodlink.”
He folded his arms over his chest. “I’m not so sure.”
And he wasn’t. He could feel the pull to return to Tempest’s side now, but a bloodlink? He’d felt a bond with her, but was it the strong mystical bond he’d sensed between his sister and Braith? When he was with her, the walls and indoors didn’t feel anywhere near as suffocating. She made them bearable, and he knew he could endure anything in order to be with her and make her happy.
“I’m sure,” she replied with the unwavering, stubborn insistence she could always somehow pull off, even if she was insisting the grass was red instead of green.
“And what makes you say that?”
“You climbed a mountain with a broken leg and a barely useable arm; you put her ahead of your desire to see Kane dead.”
He rubbed at the short beard that had regrown over the past few days. “I didn’t put her ahead of the peace. I had to learn more about that woman in order to try and protect what we’ve all established here, and I put Tempest at risk by doing so. I could have just taken her away from there or never taken her back in the first place.”
Aria’s chin jutted out; her shoulders thrust back as she sat up in her chair. The carefree, wild woman he’d always known and loved vanished before him. In this dimly lit tavern, he saw the queen she’d become. It had nothing to do with her attitude or her smile, and everything to do with her demeanor and the poise with which she sat so regally.
It hit him that she would be completely capable of doing what had to be done to protect her kingdom. Aria had always been strong, but she’d never been ruthless. He didn’t think it was because she was a vampire now that she came off fiercer, but because she’d also been through a war and would do anything to stop it from happening again.
“None of us can put anything above keeping the peace in this land,” she replied. “No matter how badly we wish we could.”
“You’re right,” he murmured.
“Have you shared blood with her?”
Unreasonable annoyance shot through him at the question. “That’s between us.”
Aria rolled her eyes. “It’s rather obvious, William.” Apparently, she hadn’t needed him to answer the question. He glowered at her as she smiled sweetly in return. “Serves you right. If you do recall everyone had a say in mine and Braith’s relationship, this is nothing compared to that.”
“True,” he relented though he still didn’t appreciate anyone knowing about what transpired between him and Tempest. “She saved my life.”
“I know.”
“No,” he said and leaned toward her. “I feel like she brought me back to life, after the change…” he looked at the wall behind her head. “I felt hollow, devoid of all emotion except for a thirst for death. I originally wanted her to take me to Badwin to destroy Kane, but somewhere along the way that changed.”
“She became far more important.”
“She did,” he confirmed.
“She is your bloodlink; you wouldn’t share your blood with anyone else. Unless they were your brother,” she added with a half-hearted smile.
“The rules may be different for us. We’re not exactly pure vampires, or at least not according to some,” he reminded her.
“True, but Tempest is.”
William bowed his head in agreement. “You’re right.”
“You’d die for her.”
“I would.”
Wordlessly, she rose to her feet, picked up one of the piles of journals and papers, and placed them before him. “I think it’s time you met Genny and found out what really happened to turn Atticus into the man he was.”
She tapped her hands on the p
apers before turning away from him. His upper lip curved in a sneer at the idea of touching anything of the insane, murderous king who had tried to destroy them all. “I’m not sure I care what turned him into the bastard he was.”
“Trust me; you want to read what is in there.”
He stared at the massive pile, feeling more than a little daunted by the amount of them. “I’m not the best reader,” he reminded her.
“Timber managed to get through them, so can you. Some of the writing is difficult to read at times, I’ll help you with those if you need me too, but read them.”
“Is that your queenly command?”
A small snort escaped her. “Like I could command you to do anything.”
“You always try.”
“Not this time. This is important, William.”
He glanced back at her before heaving a sigh and pulling a journal from the top of the pile. Aria sat again and began to shuffle through some of the papers still before her. He had no idea how much time passed before he set the last journal aside and lifted his head to look at his sister, but the candles were almost nubs and their flames flickered weakly against the walls.
He sat for a few minutes, thinking over everything he’d learned from the documents. His gaze went to the ceiling. He wished he could see Tempest now. He’d give anything to pull her into his arms and hold her close.
“So you forgive Atticus for all he did?” he inquired after a few minutes, uncertain of how to respond to what he’d read.
Aria’s head was bowed, her gaze focused on the hands in her lap as she spoke, “For some things, I do. I understand him better now; I know what drove him to become the monster he was.”
“I can understand that,” he said, his mind going back to Tempest. What would he do if something happened to her? His fangs tingled; he’d tear someone apart limb from limb if they ever tried to hurt her. He would do whatever it took to give her the happiness, security and love she deserved. “I’ll kill anyone for her.”
Aria lifted her head to look at him. “I told you so,” she whispered.