Refugee (The Captive Series Book 3) by Erica Stevens

the
scent of Aria’s blood on the rags covering her arms.
    She was wearing William’s cloak now,
the hood pulled over her bent head shadowed her features and hid
her hair. He felt that simply touching her might help to ease the
fire inside him, but he didn’t dare touch her in front of the woman
that obviously held some loyalty to Gideon. Gideon may very well
have been one of the strongest, and most human rights friendly
aristocrats that Braith had known before and during the war. He’d
fought adamantly against the enslavement of the humans, but Braith
had no idea what a hundred years of living in these Barrens had
done to him. He wasn’t entirely certain what to expect from Gideon,
but Braith sure as hell wasn’t going to alert Gideon to the fact
that Aria was his biggest weakness. Not until he knew if he could
trust the once powerful aristocrat.
    They rounded the top of another dune
and like a beautiful mirage a town came into view. Heat rose from
the sand in waves that made everything shift and blur. But the town
was there, green and lush for as far as the eye could see. “How is
this possible?” Awe laced Aria’s voice as she gazed over the
town.
    “At one time all of these lands were
lush and fertile.” Braith forced the words out. “It was the war
itself that left everything so desolate. Gideon must have found a
water supply out here, probably deep within the earth.”
    “Amazing, simply amazing,” she
whispered to herself.
    He gazed at her for a moment before
turning his attention back to the town before them. There were
already vampires lining the streets, waiting for them as they moved
down the dune and onto the main thoroughfare.
    For a moment he hesitated. He should
have fed. It was too soon for Aria, and the thought of feeding off
the woman was enough to make his stomach turn, but he was in no
condition to fight if that was what this became. Aria went to touch
him, but her hand fell limply back to her side. He almost grabbed
hold of her hand to make it abundantly clear that she was off
limits to everyone in this town. He didn’t want any more talk of
someone possibly buying her, or her brother. However, he also had
to keep her alive and there was no way to know what they were
walking into.
    He shouldn’t have brought her here, but
in the end there had been no choice. They would need help if they
were going to take down the king, and there was no one that hated
the king more than the aristocrats that had stood against him
during the war. Aristocrats that had power and followers of their
own, or at least they used to, and judging by the growing crowd,
they still did. The people and vampires all appeared healthy, the
buildings were in good repair, and it was obvious that they had
established some sort of unbiased system here as human and vampire
stood side by side. There was astonishment on some of the faces
surrounding them, a couple of which he vaguely recognized from the
years before the war.
    They were almost to the end of the
street when a figure separated themselves from the crowd. Braith’s
growing need for blood diminished under the shock of seeing a face
he had never thought to see again. Uneasiness twisted through his
gut. It took everything he had not to grab hold of Aria and shove
her behind him, but though there was no surprise on Gideon’s
features, there was also no hostility.
    “Braith,” Gideon greeted
blandly.
    Braith stepped in front of Aria as
Gideon’s gaze slid over them. He didn’t miss the flicker in
Gideon’s hazel eyes as his attention momentarily focused upon Aria
and William before moving swiftly away. His eyes gleamed with
amusement as they landed on Ashby, and a disbelieving smile curved
his thin lips. He shook back his light brown hair and studied them
over his hawkish nose.
    “Well, if nothing else, it looks as if
I’m in for an interesting story. Come along.”
    They followed silently behind as Gideon
led them down the streets and into a home that, while it was