Renegade (The Captive Series Book 2) (2 page)

“I suspected,” he said softly. “You
can’t blame yourself Aria, it was an awful time. Things were
twisted and wrong in there. It’s not your fault that you wanted to
trust him. Of course you did, it was frightening, and you became
confused. He had a month to twist you to his way of thinking, to
make you think that you could trust him, that you could love
him.”

“Oh Max,” she breathed, wishing that
the explanation was as simple as that, but she knew it wasn’t. The
prince had not twisted her; he had not turned her terror and
confusion against her. He had been kind and caring, and he had
needed her, she knew that. Though he’d had an unknown fiancée the
whole time, she knew that she had at the very least been a little
special to him. But she still should have fought against her
feelings even more, he was her enemy, he would always be her enemy,
and they had never had a chance at a future. She had known all of
that, and yet she had still gone to him willingly. Still offered
him her blood with no reservations, and no fear.

She had given him her heart willingly
also, it had not been twisted and distorted the way that Max
believed it had. She hated to pop Max’s bubble of her, but he could
not go about thinking such things. He had to know that she had not
been corrupted in there, but a willing, even eager, participant. He
had to know that she was a horrible person. He had to know these
things so that he would stop looking at her like that, so that he
would understand she could never care for him the same way that he
cared for her.

“I’m sorry Max,” she whispered. “But
that’s not what happened. He didn’t twist me, he didn’t corrupt me.
He was kind to me, he took care of me. I may have been his blood
slave, but he only treated me as such when it was absolutely
necessary. I wish I could say that I hadn’t come to care for him,
that I had remained loyal to you and everyone here, but I can’t. I
loved him Max…” She broke off, unable to speak through the pain
that clawed at her. “I still love him,” she choked out.

He stared at her for a moment, his eyes
wide in disbelief, and then he shook his head rapidly. His sandy
blond hair fell across his forehead, curling around his bright
eyes. “But don’t you see Aria that is how he twisted you. He knew
that you’d always had nothing, that your life had been hard and
unkind. He knew that by being kind, by giving you the things that
you’d never had, you would come to rely on him, need him, and trust
him. That way it would be more fun when he destroyed you, it’s why
he never told you he was engaged.”

Aria’s hands clawed into the edge of
the river bank, the moss dug underneath her fingernails. She wanted
to believe Max’s words, wanted to make them true and maybe, just
maybe, she could move on if she believed them, but she couldn’t.
Yes, the prince had kept his fiancée from her, yes he had been
dishonest, and yes he had broken her heart, but something between
them had been real. Max knew that the prince was blind; he did not
know that whenever the prince was near her, he could see again.
There had been a strange connection between them from the very
beginning, one the prince had recognized instantly upon seeing her,
one that she hadn’t acknowledged until later.

And though the prince had omitted
things about his life, she knew he had not been lying about the
fact that he could only see when he was around her. He had been
completely blind for over a hundred years, until he had seen her
standing on stage being auctioned off as a blood slave. The fact
that he could see her was the reason that he had claimed her, the
first blood slave that he had ever owned. No, Max did not know
about that, and as far as she was concerned no one ever would, not
even Jack, the prince’s brother. That was one secret that would
stay completely between the two of them. It was the one thing that
she clung to, the one thing that made her believe that it had not
all been a lie. The one thing that helped to ease her self disgust
just a little.

For although she knew she would never
see him again, never feel him again, and even though he had hurt
her so badly, she needed to believe that he had cared for her, at
least a little bit. That she had not been a complete and utter
idiot. It probably wasn’t the best idea for her to cling to that,
not when she needed to let him go, but she couldn’t help it. Right
now it was the only thing that was getting her through the awful
pain that clung to her every day.

“I don’t think so Max,” she said
softly.

“I do,” he replied with more confidence
than she had. “And one day you will realize it too. You just need
time for his psychological games to wear off, and when they do,
I’ll be here.”

Aria shook her head. “No
Max…”

Her words broke off as he clasped hold
of her chin, turning her so that she had to face him. He wiped the
tears gently from her face. Tears she had not even known she was
crying. “Yes Aria.”

Before she could react, he was leaning
forward and kissing her. Aria started slightly in surprise, she
didn’t know what to do, how to react, but before she could do
anything he was already pulling away from her. She stared at him in
wide eyed surprise, he smiled wanly back at her. “Just thought it
was time for our second kiss.”

She couldn’t have disagreed more, but
she didn’t say so. She was being selfish by not telling him that,
she knew, but she had already lost so much in the past couple of
months, she couldn’t bear to lose Max’s friendship as well. Yet she
knew that once he realized who she truly was, how little she
deserved his love, he would turn swiftly against her. “We should be
going,” she managed to choke out.

He nodded, climbing swiftly to his
feet; he wiped the moss and dirt from the river bank off of his
pants. Holding out his hand, he helped her to her feet. Aria
followed him back through the forest, her forest, listening
silently to the sounds of the animals surrounding them. She had
always taken solace, and refuge within these thick woods, but she
hadn’t been able to find either of those things as of
late.

***

Aria leaned against the wall of the
cave, staring out the entrance at the dark night. In the shadows of
the evening, she could just barely make out the figures of a few
guards, but she only saw them because she knew that they were
there. If she had not known, she never would have been able to see
them amongst their strategic hiding spots. The caves were good
shelter, but without fair warning that an attack was coming, it was
easy to get trapped within the thick walls. There were many escape
routes throughout the underground system, but there were just as
many dead ends.

She glanced behind her, but the cave
was dark. The fires were lit much further beneath the earth, where
they could not be seen from the woods. She did not fool herself
into thinking that she was alone out here; her father had people
watching her like a hawk since she had been taken, but at least she
had a little sense of peace and quiet. Well, that was until she
felt William coming.

She turned as her twin emerged from the
dark of the caves. She would know him anywhere and often felt him
coming long before he arrived. He leaned against the wall opposite
her, his arms folded over his chest as he gazed at her. They both
had the same bright blue eyes, the same dark auburn hair. Though
they had come from two different eggs, they were even more similar
than most identical twins. Right down to their quick tempers and
impulsive actions.

Her impulsive actions had finally
gotten her enslaved, and though she’d like to say that they were
both more thoughtful now, she knew she would be lying. The only
thing that had changed was she was sadder and more mature than she
had been before going into the palace, and William was angrier. He
blamed himself for not being with her that day, even though he had
been hurt and unable to accompany her on the hunt. He blamed the
vampires for taking her, and he especially blamed the prince for
claiming her as a blood slave.

She had tried to explain to all of them
that she had not been hurt, that it was only her heart that had
been wounded, but none of them believed her. She supposed it didn’t
help that she was more like the walking dead, than a living person,
since she had returned. She most certainly wasn’t the same girl
that had been taken from the woods, and they blamed the prince for
that. They didn’t understand that he had saved her from a more
awful fate than the one she’d experienced. It had been another
vampire that had claimed her originally, if it hadn’t been for the
prince far worse things would have been done to her. She had been
lucky; they felt she had been tortured.

“Have you ever been in love?” she asked
quietly.

He turned slightly toward her, his eyes
bright in the dark. His dark eyebrows drew sharply together as he
studied her. “Is that what you think you were?”

She was silent as she thought over her
next words. She had never kept anything from William, they had
always shared everything, always been together, but he had been so
angry lately that she was afraid her words might send him over the
edge. But she could not lie to him, and she had started this
conversation because she needed someone to talk to, and William had
always been that person. “Yes.”

He swallowed heavily as he ran a hand
through his disordered, shaggy hair. She could tell he was trying
to keep hold of his temper, struggling to his fury from her.
“Arianna, things happened in there, things I can’t even begin to
imagine…”

“Don’t William. Max may want to believe
that, but you know better. You know me, you know who I am. Do you
really think I don’t know what I felt in there?”

“I believe that you think you do.”
Aria’s hands fisted in frustration, her jaw clenched tightly. It
seemed that no one wanted to listen to her; no one wanted to
understand her feelings. But she supposed that if it were William
telling her these things, she wouldn’t want to believe them either.
“And no, I have never been in love.”

“Oh.”

He moved away from the wall, striding
slowly to her, he threw his arm casually around her shoulders. He
grinned down at her, his straight white teeth bright in the
moonlight. She couldn’t help but grin back at him. For the first
time in their lives he may not understand her, but he would always
love her. No matter what. She dropped her head to his chest and
wrapped her arm around his waist. She listened to the sound of his
heart as they stared out at the night. She had been so intent upon
the reassuring beat of his heart that it took her a few moments to
realize that all of the animals, and insects, had gone
quiet.

Aria lifted her head slowly, her heart
thumped wildly as she gazed out at the darkness. She searched for
the guards amongst the trees, spotting their prone figures amid the
darkness. “William,” she whispered.

“I know. Come on.”

He pushed her deeper into the cave,
keeping his hand in her back as they made their swiftly through the
well familiar terrain. The guards still had not raised the alarm, a
low pitched whistle that could easily blend in with the chirruping
of the insects, but Aria strained to hear it. It had to be coming
soon. “Hurry!” she gasped, a sense of doom descending over her as
her breath came faster.

Her hand clenched upon William’s, when
they were far enough from the entrance, they broke into a run,
their feet flying over the hard rock of the cave. They might
already be too late if the vampires were already upon them. With
the vampire’s exceptional eyesight in the dark, and their rapid
speed, it would be almost impossible for her and William to escape.
They took a side tunnel on the right, ducking low as the ceiling
became lower. William turned back, grabbed hold of one of the heavy
iron gates that had been built into the wall.

“The guards!” she hissed, grabbing hold
of his arm before he could close the gate.

“It’s too late for them Aria,” he said
softly.

Her eyes widened, horror filled her as
the low pitched warning whistle pierced the air. William froze for
a moment; the gate was still partly open when they sensed, more
than heard, something approaching. William jumped into action,
rushing forward to close the gate as quietly as possible. There
were many other tunnels leading through here, it could take awhile
for the vampires to find the right one, and the gate should
withstand an attack for long enough to give them extra time to
escape.

They retreated, moving as quickly as
they could through the stooped tunnel. Aria’s heart pounded rapidly
in her chest, a crushing sense of time running out seized hold of
her as something large and heavy slammed into the gate, rattling it
within its frame.

CHAPTER
2

Aria was panting for air as the raced
forward. She could barely see William in front of her; they were
going on instinct and memory alone, to afraid of what was behind
them to grab one of the unlit torches from the walls around them.
There was no way to know where their pursuers were, it was too much
of a risk to light something right now. William led her around
another turn, the ceiling thankfully expanded again.

William paused, turning back to slide
another gate shut. They weren’t far from the main room now. He
pulled her forward; she stumbled over a loose stone, her ankle
rolling out beneath her. A soft cry of pain escaped, but she
hurried on, refusing to be hindered by the throbbing pain that
raced up her leg.