am a real threat to you."
"I am well aware of that fact Braith. I have no ill intentions toward her."
Braith was not appeased by the words. He pulled Aria further back as Xavier stepped closer to her. "Don't," he snarled thrusting himself in between them.
Xavier held his hands up as he took a step back. "Easy Braith, I said that I would not hurt her, and I meant it. I've seen what you are capable of when it comes to her, and I have a feeling that cave was only the tip of the iceberg. We need her if we are to win this war."
"And after?"
"After will be up to you, and her. Now, where are those blankets, I'm exhausted."
Aria pressed closer to Braith's side, he stood for a moment, trembling with suppressed anger and uncertainty. Xavier had always been a little odd, or at least he had always seemed that way as he stood in the shadows calmly watching everything. He suspected Xavier knew more than he was letting on as he stared curiously at Aria, but exactly what his secrets were, Braith couldn't even begin to guess at.
"Uh, this way," Daniel awkwardly interrupted.
He stepped back as Xavier moved past him to the stairwell. "Are these things going to hold me?" Xavier pondered as he eyed the stairs.
"Yes."
Daniel led them upstairs, handed out blankets and hugged his sister goodnight. Braith wasn't pleased to see that the room really did hold just a tiny cot shoved against the wall. He wasn't even certain Aria would fit on it as he spread the blanket out.
"Xavier is strange."
Braith sat on the edge of the cot and pulled her into his lap. She wrapped her arms around his waist as she rested her head against his chest. "He is," Braith agreed, lightly rubbing her back.
"He's baffling but I don't think he would harm me. I think he's just as confused by me as I am by him."
He was glad she thought so, but Braith wasn't convinced that Xavier wouldn't do something. Xavier had never been power hungry before, but there was no way to know what was going on inside of his head, or any of the others they had aligned with.
"I'm glad you're not scared of him."
He felt her smile against his neck. "I'm not scared of anyone," she said laughingly.
He would have laughed too if it wasn't so true. For someone so frighteningly mortal, she was strangely unafraid of anyone or anything. It was terrifying. "I know."
"Don't get all bristly." She sought to calm him as she caressed him. "You must be hungry."
"I'm fine."
"You're stubborn."
"As are you."
She was grinning as she tilted her head back to look at him. "Yes, but it's been awhile, I'll be fine Braith."
He dropped his head to hers. "I know, I just..."
Her fingers were against his lips, and then her mouth replaced her fingers. "There is no, "I just", not now. I crave the connection Braith, just as much as you crave my blood. I want to feel you inside me." He shuddered at her choice of words, his arms constricted around her. A low groan escaped him. He would never get over how swiftly and easily she could unravel his composure. "I would love to satisfy you in every way, but with everyone in this house, especially my father..."
"I understand," he grated through clenched teeth. "Not here, not on this cot, and not with your family surrounding us. Not for you Arianna. I want better for you, it will be better."
When he opened his eyes to look at her, he was surprised to find her watching him with a look of absolute love that nearly shattered him. She unwrapped her arms from his waist and ever so slowly pulled the hair back from her neck. Marks from his other feeding were still visible upon her porcelain skin. He pulled her shirt slowly down to reveal the nearly invisible marks from the first time he'd fed from her. His fingers brushed over it as she pressed against him, her breasts firm against his chest.
"Do you remember this?" His voice was tense.
"How could I forget?"
"I almost killed you that night."
"Braith..."
"Yet you continue to give yourself to me."
"I love you."
"Is it so simple then?"
"Yes. This is not an easy life."
It wasn't, but he hadn't once wished that he was back in that hideous palace with its vast supply of blood and every imaginable luxury. He would wade through a thousand swamps before he ever let her go again.