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gain support from for this upcoming battle. That was, if they could ever find these mysterious vampires amongst the vast expanse of emptiness that unraveled beyond this last border town. The town was frightening enough, the lands beyond were overwhelming. Aria wasn't used to such emptiness, not after being surrounded by trees and caves for most of her life.

Anxiety twisted within her belly. Sweat trickled down her back as she kept her head bowed and the hood pulled low over her brow. She could feel the curious stares burning through the dull gray cloak of the servant's class covering her. Braith was stiff beside her, his shoulders squared as his body thrummed with tension. She didn't know what to do with her hands as they walked silently down the street. She ached to reach out and touch him, to somehow connect with him but it was a move she knew she couldn't make.

She had to fight against the urge to look up. She itched to see the town they had entered, to take in the details of it, but she had been told repeatedly not to make eye contact. No matter how badly she wanted to look, she wasn't about to endanger the men surrounding her by disobeying.

She started as Braith suddenly grasped her upper arm, swallowing it within his massive hand. Immediately her skin heated to his touch, and though they were in this awful place a low sigh of pleasure escaped her. Her heart leapt in her chest, longing spread through her as her toes curled in her battered shoes.

"Keep your head down." Braith seemed to have sensed her wish to look around.

Her shoulders slumped, her gaze focused on the dusty, pitted road. Beside her, she could feel William's growing resentment at being ordered around and having to maintain a subservient demeanor. From the corner of her eye she could see more people moving to the side of the road. Well, at least some of them were people. The others, they were something else entirely and not at all who Braith and Ashby were looking for. These were the more lawless vampires, and therefore more unpredictable than those living within and around the palace, even though these vampires still lived under the king's laws here.

She had seen far too many of these beaten and broken towns with their battered and starving occupants lately. Sometimes she feared that they would never find what Braith and Ashby sought, and that perhaps the legends and rumors of the surviving aristocrats were just that, legends and rumors. Though it felt like they'd walked forever, it had in fact only been two days since they had turned the horses loose at the edge of The Barren's. Aria refused to bring the animals with them if there was no guarantee they could feed or water them, so after riding for two weeks, they had been forced to walk.

If she was honest with herself, two weeks wasn't that much time, she had spent far more time away from home than this. It only seemed so awful because she was never given a moment alone with Braith, they were never allowed to be on their own as either William was standing protectively close, or Ashby was quick to intervene.

Aria understood her brother, it annoyed her, but she understood his determination to stubbornly try and protect her virtue. It was actually a little amusing coming from William, the man that had left broken hearts in every corner of the forest. However, Ashby's interference was beginning to grate on her last nerve. It was most certainly annoying Braith as he'd completely lost his temper with Ashby when he had unapologetically followed them into the woods yesterday. It had only been Aria's interference that had kept Braith from completely losing control.

He hadn't even had a chance to feed from her since they'd left Ashby's rambling tree house. Aria ached for the renewal of the bond, ached to establish that connection with Braith again. She hoped that once they arrived at their destination they would finally be rewarded with some time alone again, but until then she was well aware that her two guard dogs, as she now thought of them, were not going to be shaken.

Oh well, there were many things she wished were different right now. She missed her father; she'd barely had time to speak with him before they had been separated again. He had been uneasy and somewhat uncertain as to what was going on between