Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 145341 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 727(@200wpm)___ 581(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145341 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 727(@200wpm)___ 581(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
Petru was silent for a moment, trying to look back too many centuries. Finally, he shrugged. “The memory is so far away from me, I cannot find it.”
Vasilisa reached for Afanasiv’s hand. He felt the instant welling of compassion in her. It was useless to tell her Petru couldn’t feel sorrow for his lost memories. He now knew the emotions were somewhere inside each of the ancients. Even though they couldn’t acknowledge them, others like Vasilisa, with her sensitive nature, felt the emotions in the ancient Carpathians.
As they walked together, Siv brought her hand to his mouth to kiss her inner wrist. Do not look so sad, sívamet. Petru cannot feel sorrow the way you do.
Before Vasilisa could answer him, Petru spoke again. “Sisarke, I know my lifemate exists in this time. In this century. Adalasia read the cards for each of us. I will find her, and she will restore my ability to feel the emotions that are buried as deep as many of my memories. It is the same for Benedek and Nicu.”
Afanasiv watched Vasilisa closely. Her free hand had crept to her heart. She laid her palm almost gently over it as if protecting something precious. “Perhaps I should give you a reading as well, Petru, in the hope of providing information that may help.”
This is not something you have to do, Afanasiv assured her.
The cards wish to feel each of them before they leave this place to hunt for the woman who can restore the light to their worlds.
To judge them? For the first time, a hint of the anger he was capable of slipped out. Wind rushed through the chamber they were in, picking up dust and debris from the floor and swirling it around to create mini towers of stalagmites.
At times the men had to turn sideways in the halls, their shoulders scraping either side of the carved-out earth. Those times, to Afanasiv, it felt much like touching Vasilisa’s ancient deck of tarot cards. The cards judged one. He feared what would happen if the system they were going through saw only the demons in them and couldn’t detect that they had a code of honor they strictly followed.
To help them, Siv. Do you think I have not seen their struggles? And yet they aided us time and again. She looked up at him from under her long lashes. They are your family. That makes them my family.
Vasilisa owned his heart. It was that simple. His woman could disarm him with her gentle nature and then become a fierce guardian in the next heartbeat. He loved every trait. When he was certain it was impossible to feel more, the emotion he had for her became even more overwhelming, growing when she said something so simple, yet eloquent.
“Who wove the safeguards for this labyrinth beneath the earth,” Benedek asked.
“Do you feel the power? It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Vasilisa said. “Sorina and Aura together wove the safeguards. Sorina guards the gate here, and Aura guards the gate in Algeria. Both are Carpathian. Aura has a special affinity with the earth.”
Afanasiv raised an eyebrow. “Not another Dragonseeker? I think we’re taking over.”
Vasilisa chose to take him seriously. “I don’t believe she’s Dragonseeker. She doesn’t talk much about her past. For that matter, neither does Sorina. I consecrated the ground against demons, so anywhere throughout this cave system, Lilith would be unable to establish a portal for her army to slip through.”
Afanasiv had wondered why the earth beneath his feet felt so like home to him.
They moved from that chamber into another narrow hallway. The constant dripping of water reverberated through the hallway as they made their way to the end of it. The dirt walls were streaked darker in places where the water trickled down and dropped to the floor. They’d been steadily going downward, heading deeper beneath the earth.
The hallway made a sharp bend and then opened up into an enormous chamber. On one entire side, there was a drop-off. The other three sides of the chamber were lit with candle sconces. The lights reflected off the gems and crystals embedded in the walls.
A woman leaned against the rail surrounding the drop-off. She was tall and slender with thick, long blond hair—unusual for a Carpathian. Her eyes were a dark brown. Her features were delicate and very feminine, but Afanasiv could see the warrior in her. She looked them over, taking in every detail. Her gaze moved over his face as if judging the heart of him for her friend. Her smile welcomed them, but it didn’t go to her eyes. She still regarded them warily.
“It is long since I’ve spoken to a Carpathian male,” she greeted. “I’ve seen Dimitri and his brother Fen in the distance but never had the occasion to talk with them. I am Sorina Vad.”