Total pages in book: 182
Estimated words: 165649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 828(@200wpm)___ 663(@250wpm)___ 552(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 165649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 828(@200wpm)___ 663(@250wpm)___ 552(@300wpm)
I see into his mind sometimes, especially when he is calling to me. He had planned to take this woman—Lorraine, as it turns out. He bragged about it. He told me how he had harassed all of you, wore down the ancient hunters until they were low on blood and one among them was so far gone he would most likely die. I saw every move he planned and I told him it would not work. He was very angry with me.
Ferro found her assessment of Sergey’s battle plan interesting. She had been proven correct, but how had she known? She didn’t know any of the ancients, and Sergey had shown her that most of the hunters were wounded or had given large amounts of blood in order to keep Andor alive. She was belowground most of the time, sleeping, kept that way in an attempt to heal her body and mind after her centuries-long ordeal.
Sergey’s brothers were considered very intelligent by all accounts. I did not know them, but I had heard of them from Zacarias De La Cruz. Of all of them, the younger brother, Sergey, was not put in that same category of genius. He was considered of average intelligence by everyone, and his brothers, even while growing up, sometimes were cruel to him. At least, that was what Zacarias conveyed to the other hunters. Would you say that is a fair assessment?
There was a long silence as Elisabeta considered what Ferro had asked her. The longer the silence played out, the more he could almost feel her squirming. She didn’t like the conclusions she was coming to at all. She wanted to withdraw totally from him and yet, at the same time, she didn’t want to let go of the merge, afraid of losing him in the upcoming battle with the master vampire.
Below him, city lights were so bright it seemed impossible to see the stars as he circled around the tip of the city, making his way toward the mountain range and the lake to get in front of Sergey. He didn’t understand the need for so many artificial lights. All the technology that humans relied on so much—it just seemed to him that they tied themselves to it, and now, Tariq and the prince were asking all Carpathian people to do the same. Was that a good thing or a bad thing? He thought there should be more of a balance. Clearly, the Malinovs had learned to use technology while the Carpathian people hadn’t done so as quickly, and that had allowed the vampires to pull forward in the war between them.
Elisabeta. I require an answer.
He felt her sigh. Sergey’s brothers were very cruel to him, as often as possible. Throughout the centuries, from the first of my captivity, they would say ugly, demeaning things to him. He was pushed aside and treated as less than the others always. He had a place in their planning, but was not allowed to speak. If they did ask his opinion, they laughed at him when he gave it.
He knew she had deliberately skewed what he’d asked her. She’d jumped on Zacarias’s assessment that Sergey’s brothers were cruel to him, confirming that they had been. She knew that wasn’t what he was asking.
Ferro remained patient. Minan hän sívamak, is Sergey every bit as intelligent as his brothers? More so? Or far less so?
If the Malinov brothers were as smart as everyone said they were, how could they be so deceived by Sergey? The De La Cruz brothers were considered geniuses, and yet none of them had considered Sergey anywhere near the threat of his older brothers.
Elisabeta’s tears were unexpected, drowning him in sorrow. Please do not ask me these things, Ferro. What does it matter?
He stroked his hand down her hair the way he did to comfort her. Sang his song for her in their merged mind. You know it matters. I need this information. You know him better than anyone. I think you know him better than he knows himself. He has a vision of who he is. He has made that illusion in his mind his reality, but it is falling apart because you are not there to keep it real for him. I need your honest assessment of him, sívamet.
Again, there was a long silence. He had the impression of extreme anxiety. Of her chewing on her lower lip. Her fingernail. He heard Julija whispering softly to her. Elisabeta assuring her she was fine. He waited her out, knowing she was working up her courage.
Sergey’s brothers were very good at thinking far into the future. They planned every battle in minute detail. He reacted to everything they said and did, and they knew it. The only memories I have from my childhood were memories of our friendship. I did not know if he planted them, but I doubt that he did. They followed too closely to the way his brothers treated him. He would come to the house and sit on the porch. I would talk to him and soothe him after they were particularly ugly to him. He was already approaching a point where he was losing his emotions, but their barbs still struck. I was very young, not more than sixteen. A child, but I could bring peace to him. I felt bad for him.