Unbound (The Captive Series, Book 7) by Erica Stevens Page B

suck her in and never let her go again. She gritted her teeth against it, tore her hand away from her chest, and gripped her thigh.
    “I will not become Atticus,” she grated.
    William knelt before her and grabbed her hands. “We should go back, Aria.”
    “She has to die, William. We need to learn more about her. We need troops who will fight her and her followers, and we have to gather them now. She has to be squashed, completely .”
    “What if the troops we try to gather decide to follow her instead?” Tempest asked.
    “There are many vampires and humans who want to keep the peace too. Things have been good between the species since Atticus was defeated,” William said. “Humans don’t have much of a chance against vampires if the vamps decide to turn them into slaves again. There are many cruel vampires out there, but there are more of them who aren’t cruel. Many of Sabine’s followers are scared, and that is why they’ve joined her. If they think she can be defeated, they’ll turn on her or run.”
    “I saw what they did in Badwin, William. They destroyed my town and there were a lot of them who enjoyed doing it,” Tempest replied.
    “Yes, but I’m sure some of them didn’t.”
    “I have to get close to her,” Aria said. “Somehow.”
    “That’s impossible,” William said. “Believe me, I know. The only way I got close to her was to be captured by Kane and taken to her. If she captures you , she’ll kill you.”
    “Not if Braith is still out there,” Aria murmured. “She would keep me alive until she had his body. If she believes there’s any chance he will rise again, she would use me to control him, but I can’t let her capture me.”
    William gripped her chin and pulled her head toward him. “I won’t let you sacrifice yourself.”
    She took hold of his hand, a hand she had known since their creation. Distress etched his features. She couldn’t imagine the sorrow she would feel if their roles were reversed. She would have done everything she could to keep him safe, to stop him from destroying himself, but there were few other options for her anymore.
    “If Braith doesn’t wake, I have already been sacrificed. You must know that.” Her brother winced at her words as his blue eyes glinted like steel. “Dying for this cause would be the way I’d want to go, but I won’t willingly let her capture me. No, we have to learn more about her, but we also have to be able to relay whatever we discover about her to the others. Rotting in a prison cell would make that impossible. We also have to start quietly gathering recruits.”
    “How will we ever get close enough to learn anything about her?” Tempest asked.
    Aria gazed out the cave and to the night beyond. “We’ve always been good at going unnoticed within these woods. She’s in our territory now.”
    “True, but that can be discussed later.” William rested his hands on his knees before rising to his feet once more. “First, let’s hope there are some clothes in here, somewhere. And some sunglasses.”
    Aria glanced down at her dirty bra beneath her cloak. She didn’t care if she wandered around like this for the rest of her days, but it wasn’t exactly regal and many would be a little hesitant to follow the queen wearing a bra and looking as if she’d just rolled around in dirt. The Mad Queen; she almost laughed aloud at the realization they would call her that. Atticus had kept his insanity hidden; right now, she wore it for the world to see.
    “Sunglasses?” she asked.
    She lifted her head to look at William. Dirt streaked his rugged features, and his auburn hair stood out in a hundred different directions from the wind. He didn’t look much better than she felt, but somehow she knew he appeared far more stable than her right now.
    “Your eyes are redder than rubies,” he said and clasped hold of her arm to help her rise. “I have a feeling they won’t be changing back anytime soon either.”
    “Me too,” she