Broken Aro (The Broken Ones) (27 page)

She nodded and sucked in a startled breath as his eyes
shifted from golden to orange.

He smiled encouragement. "Ready?"

She nodded again, forcing her eyes to stay open. Happiness
and excitement filled her. A knot formed in her belly and her throat grew dry.

"As family I shall bind my heart and soul to
yours. Forever beside you I shall stand. Together or apart, always will I be
with you. Your Eternal brother I shall ever be."

She smiled at the words as he said them, remembering
to keep her eyes locked with his. She repeated the words slowly, struggling to
remember them and get them right.

As before their hands grew warm and heat rushed
through her whole body. This time she felt a strong tingling sensation too that
was not at all unpleasant, and followed the warmth as it traveled.

The little lights came again as well, lighting the
area around them, but this time they were much larger and brighter. It seemed there
were many more dancing around the two of them. It was hard for her to tell, as
she became lost in Kei's glowing eyes.

As the lights settled over her and Kei and then faded
away she let out a little sigh. "Did it work again?"

He leaned forward and brushed his lips across her
forehead. "Yes, sister. It worked again."

She smiled and let her eyes drift closed. "I'm
glad." Her smile grew a little larger as he settled down next to her and
took her hand. Drifting off to sleep she realized she could breathe easily
again.

Chapter 21

On the Road Again

When she opened her eyes she smiled to see Kei
sleeping beside her, facing her and holding her hand near his cheek. What
surprised her was she could feel a body behind her, a familiar arm across her
waist.

She bit her lip, suddenly remembering she had been
sick. Sick like Avery, but she hadn't died. Her eyes flitted over Kei's face as
she remembered the magic they had done. Had it saved her? She felt perfectly
fine, if a little stiff. Her breath caught at the thought he had only done the
magic with her to save her life.

"Aro?"

She lifted her eyes to look at Kei. He hadn't moved
but was watching her, a small smile on his face. "Did you do it to make me
better?" She searched his face, looking for the truth. "Is that why?"

The smile grew a little and he squeezed her hand. "Silly
human," he taunted. "I've wanted to do it for a long time. I just
didn't know how to ask."

She grinned back at him, the weight of her worry
lifting and making her almost giddy. "Thank you, brother." She
flushed, a silly happiness washing over her.

He chuckled quietly.

A question occurred to her suddenly. "What's the
last one?"

His grin twisted into a smirk. "Ah. Yes. That
would be the one for love, for mating." He laughed as her cheeks reddened.
"It's similar to marriage. Our version."

"I see." She managed to choke out. "I
don't think...um..."

He grinned and squeezed her hand. "Two is enough."

She nodded quickly. Marriage. Mating. She wasn't ready
for such things. Even if she had been, unfortunately Kei wasn't the person she
thought of that way. "Do the others know?"

He grimaced. "They know I used Fey magic. On you.
Only Prince knows what I did."

She nodded again. Since she really didn't know what he
did either, she didn't say anything. "Are they angry, that you didn't save
Avery?"

He blushed. That she didn't expect. "I said...it
wouldn't have worked on him."

"Would it have?" She hated to ask, but she
needed to know.

He shook his head. "If we'd shared the first
binding, yes. But we didn't. It takes a lot of power to do, I don't have enough
to do both bindings one after the other."

"So they know this is the second–"

"No," he interrupted. "I didn't want
them to know. Not anything about the bindings."

"Then what did you say?"

"I could use my magic on you because I love you,"
he admitted, blushing furiously.

She gaped at him and pressed her lips together as
laughter sputtered out of her. "You are such an idiot. They believed that?"

He shrugged a shoulder a little. "Yes, they did."

She shook her head, not believing it. She sighed
though, as she saw things from their view. She and Kei had always been
together. He had gone into a fury because of her, and returned for her. Perhaps
it was believable after all. "Well, thank you. For whatever reason you did
it."

"I wasn't lying," he said. "I do love you.
You're my family."

A smile spread across her face and she didn't try to
stop it. "Exactly. I love you, too."

He smiled in return, his eyes slightly glowing with
his happiness.

"Are you two done yet?" Prince muttered in
her ear. "I'm trying to sleep."

She bit her lip trying to hide a smile as Kei
chuckled. "Cranky prince."

"Troublesome child," he replied.

She elbowed him in the ribs, making him grunt in
surprise. "I'm not a child."

Kei sat up and she did the same. It was time to get up
and start cooking. As she stood it surprised her to see both Bo and Cain
starting to get up as well. Everyone had stayed home.

Stretching sore muscles, she headed to the bucket of
water and splashed herself awake. When she turned around Bo surprised her by
pulling her into a tight hug.

"Glad you're feeling better, pup," he
mumbled.

She wasn't quite sure how to respond but hugged him
back briefly before smacking his arm. "I'm not a pup!"

Everyone laughed and she glared at them all. "Well
I'm not. I'm sixteen now. Legally I can join the army or get married, or...well
do whatever I want!"

Bo frowned.

"The laws may differ here," Cain began,
clearly grasping at whatever he could.

Prince shook his head. "Actually, in most cities
a child it considered legally mature at fourteen."

She swung to glare at him. "And you're just
telling me this now?"

His lips twitched.

Clenching her teeth she tried not to laugh and instead
turned away. "Cain you're going to be late for work."

The men exchanged glances and she sighed. What hadn't
they told her this time? "What now?" She paused as her mind suddenly
began to work. "Are we leaving?"

Bo nodded. "Rent here is up for the month in
three days. We figured we might as well get moving. Been seeing travelers
coming in the last few days, so roads mustn't be too bad." He glanced at
the spot where Avery used to sleep. "It's a good time."

She stared at the empty rumpled blankets as well,
words catching in her throat. She nodded in response, not trusting herself to
speak. She moved over to the stove and set water to boil for tea. "We've a
lot to do then."

* * *

Preparing for their journey took time. Not only did
they have to find and buy supplies, they also had to sell off everything in
their room they wouldn't be able to take with them to help pay for said supplies.
What exactly they should take and sell caused a few arguments. What made the
decision in most cases was the fact they could not afford a horse or mule to
carry everything. Anything they took they would be carrying themselves,
therefore the less the better.

"Do we need this?"

She looked over and saw Cain holding out a black knit
wool sweater. Her breath caught in her throat and she reached and took it,
nodding and bowing her head so he wouldn't see the sudden tears in her eyes. "I
could use it," she managed to mumble as she turned away, holding it to her
chest.

She nearly bumped into Kei and didn't fight him as he
took her arm and drew her aside. He stared at the sweater for a moment, his
eyes sad.

She raised her eyes to his. "Do you want it?"

He shook his head. "It fits you better."

She smiled a little at his lie, but didn't call him on
it.

He held out his hands, a knife in each. "These
were his, too. I thought..." He grimaced and winced, struggling for words.
"I thought we could each have one. To remember."

Streaks of tears ran slowly down her cheeks as she
nodded and Kei handed her one. It was smaller than her others and she was
pretty sure she could rig up something to tuck it into her boot. "Thank
you," she said softly.

He just nodded and took her hand, squeezing it
tightly.

* * *

She had assumed she would feel more when they finally
set out. Anticipation, excitement...something. Instead there was only relief.

She found it easy to leave behind the horrible room
they had called home for so many months. The hardest part was leaving the city,
actually walking past the too large area of turned earth a short distance
outside the gates. She couldn't stop staring at it as they walked.

Avery had been buried there. He was there. He...

Cain rested a hand on her shoulder. "Do you want
to stop?"

Shaking her head vehemently, she quickened her pace
instead and forced herself to stare at the dirt road. It took a lot of effort.
However, not crying did as well. She had cried enough already. She had to keep
going, move on with her life. She wasn't a child anymore.

Luckily the day was clear and crisp. The men chatted
about how they hoped they would be lucky and not run into any bad spring
storms. It was a risk they all willingly took so they could get moving again.

The roads had become messy with melting snow and mud.
She concentrated on not falling on her face. One of her men would have caught
her before she did. They had hardly left their old building before she found
them surrounding her, protecting her. Even on the sparsely traveled road they
did the same.

It didn't really bother her. They had become family.
After everything they had been through, all the time they had spent together,
they truly were. She didn't mind overly much if they wanted to look out for
her. Over the months she had grown stronger, she could take care of herself if
she needed to. She would take care of them too, even if it was in her own way

* * *

Spring slipped into summer as they journeyed south.
The road weaved its way through fields and pastures, gently rolling hills, and
expanses of moss and lichen covered rock. Sometimes it cut inland, mostly it
ran close to the sea at the edge of a beach or occasionally along the top of
high cliffs.

The distance between cities was always at least four days,
sometimes a week or more. Occasionally they would walk through ruins, most of
them so old and crumbling, barely anything remained. Only one city had fallen
within her lifetime.

The further south they traveled the news of fighting
between southern cities became more common, more detailed.

Pulling her hair back and tying it with a bit of
string she looked off toward the mountains in the east. They seemed so far
away, and yet were still so very large. Mountains weren't strange to her,
they'd surrounded Kingsport, but they had seemed so much smaller. Maybe they
had been.

Kei tugged on the ponytail she'd made. "Your hair
is getting long."

She smiled a little and nodded. Kei had trimmed it a
little a few times over the winter, trying to even out the bad cut her brothers
had given her as best he could, however it still hung to just past her
shoulders. She certainly couldn't pass for a boy now. She glanced down at
herself and frowned. She couldn't really even if she did cut her hair. She'd
grown too many curves.

She looked over at Kei and reached over to tug the
black wool cap further down over his ears. Soon they would enter another city
and the last thing they needed was for him to be recognized as anything other
than human. Along with the stories of a lot of fighting south of them, there
had also been talk about Fey and the elusive Were.

For the most part people respected and avoided the
Were. Easy to do as long you stayed out of places you weren't supposed to be,
like their forests. The Fey had become more troublesome. Stories told of wild
ones attacking travelers and even the few farmsteads that dotted the fields
outside of the city.

She fidgeted as they rested before making the last
hike to the city. Judging from the size of it even at this distance, it would
be the largest one yet. For some reason she wanted to be safe within its walls.

Damon's words of people invading her mind continued to
haunt her. She even dreamed of it, along with a number of other strange things
she never remembered. At least these dreams weren't as bad as her regular
nightmares. Being in chains and the slaver attack, the beating and near rape,
had scarred her. Since the attack she hadn't been comfortable around strange
men at all. At least she had finally stopped pulling away from her men. Still,
she wanted the safety of the city walls...without all the people. She didn't
know if they would try to hurt her, or if they were all even human. She didn't
even know if the defenses she had created within her mind would be good enough.
All she could do was keep working on them.