Broken Aro (The Broken Ones) by Jen Wylie

her slowing heart beats, counting them.
    Prince removed his hand slowly. "There. They are
gone now," he said quietly.
    She took another small, steadying breath before
opening her eyes and peeking over her knees. It had grown darker. Hardly any
light remained causing everything to be thrown into shadows. "I hate them,"
she said without feeling.
    "I, too," Prince replied gravely.
    She leaned back and turned her head to look at him. "How's
your arm?"
    "Well enough. How are you feeling?"
    The question surprised her; that he would care. She
forced a small smile. "Good, I guess. Considering the situation."
    He regarded her thoughtfully.
    She scowled at him. "What?"
    "I think you are very brave, Aro," he
answered, his voice very solemn and serious.
    She stared at him for a long moment. He must have
gotten knocked in the head, too. "Brave? I'm not brave. I'm just
surviving...and trying not to get caught."
    He shook his head slightly. "Listen."
    She did. She heard the sounds of men and women crying,
pleading, and screaming, even after four days. She'd cried, but not like that.
Her tears had been silent and hidden in the shadows. She wasn't having
hysterics. Maybe that was what he meant? But then, he was a prince, he was
used to noble ladies and tittering maids .
    "Thank you. I think," she said. She stumbled
over what else to say but looked up and saw Kendric trying to get her
attention.
    "Aro, come over here," Kendric said quietly,
motioning to a position suddenly open beside him in his circle of men.
    Her stomach clenched and she swallowed quickly, trying
to not look afraid or nervous. She wasn't ready to meet everyone else, not at
all. But she had to, if there were only a few days left to plan their escape,
she had to stop hiding and get ready. She crawled over and took the open space
he'd indicated and looked up at him, mostly because she didn't want to look
anywhere else.
    He ruffled her hair with a little grin.
    "Bastard." She scowled.
    He chuckled and looked away from her. She forced
herself to look at the others, wondering if any of them suspected she wasn't
really a boy.
    "Men, this is Aro Mason. I've known him a number
of years." He looked down at her again and she clenched her teeth,
fighting the urge to hit him.
    Why he was smiling so much? Her eyes narrowed. "What's happened?"
    He chuckled again and grinned at the others, as if
making a point. Maybe that she wasn't a complete fool. "From what we've
been able to overhear from the slavers, the navy took out four of the slave
ships."
    His news shocked her speechless for a moment. They'd
been lucky. "And that's good?"
    He stared at her like she was a moron. "Four
ships worth of slavers are now at the bottom of the sea."
    Well yes, that was good. But… "I was thinking of the four ships worth of our
people down there, too."
    His face sobered. "Ah, Aro…"
    She shrugged and looked around the circle under
lowered lashes, quickly checking facial expressions. The smiles and grins were
gone. They looked at her with...was it pity? Yes, of course. They knew she hoped
her brothers might be on one of those ships. She stared at the floor in front
of her. "How many slave ships were there to start with?"
    "Only six ships," one of the others said. "The
rest had still been loading when we left."
    She looked up at the one who had spoken; the one with
the scar on his face. Though his face looked serious now, she still couldn't
bring herself to be afraid of him. She had good instincts with that sort of
thing. This man was kind.
    Kendric tapped her shoulder. "Meet Bo. He was
with the Palace Guard."
    Bo gave her a brief nod.
    "Next to you there is Cain, Jonathan Cain. With
the third. Our youngsters here are Avery Brennan," The blond across from
her flashed a charming smile. Youngster indeed, he had to be under twenty she'd
bet. "And Kei. They were both with the fifth."
    She looked at Kei, who was surprisingly even younger.
Not much older than she was from the little she could see of him. Even