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)
Nikolay’s eyes were sharp. Shrewd. A chill slid down her spine. This man was an adversary worth watching. He was most likely an interrogator. The worst of it was, she could smell treachery. The stink of betrayal. Someone in her village was talking to this man. That meant she would have to ferret out who they were being betrayed by and why.
She didn’t like the way his gaze moved over her face and down her body. “I’ll let Andros know you’re staying here at the inn and would like to visit with him.”
“Forgive me for asking a personal question, but I don’t see any evidence that you have been claimed by a man as of yet.”
Her stomach clenched hard. They were on very dangerous ground. She forced a pleasant smile. “I do have a man,” she said simply. “I really must go.” Vasilisa stood up decisively, dragging on her gloves and fitting her hat on her head. She pulled her white fur coat more closely around her, making certain the buttons were in place.
“You have no escort?”
“This is my home, Nikolay Sokolov.” She inclined her head to show respect to him. He was older, the same age as her brother. “I have no need of an escort, but thank you for your concern.” She turned to leave.
“You truly are a beautiful woman.” The compliment slipped out almost as if he couldn’t help himself and hadn’t been expecting it. “Your brother has hidden you away from the world.”
She smiled at him. “My brother knows I do not do well away from the forest and mountains. I can’t breathe in the cities. Here, he protects me.”
“And this man of yours?”
“He is the same.” She hoped she spoke the truth. She had no way of knowing whether she did or not. She knew nothing of the man whose soul had been handed down from mother to daughter and guarded so carefully for centuries. Only that he was close now and that he was in trouble.
She lifted a hand, gave Nikolay Sokolov an enigmatic smile and moved into the crowd. They parted to allow her through so she could get to the door. Behind her, they closed ranks, making it nearly impossible for Nikolay Sokolov or his three companions to follow her quickly. By the time they made it outside, she was gone. They couldn’t even find her tracks in the snow.
CHAPTER
2
Vasilisa raced through the larch forest going up the mountain toward the area she had always known as Drifter’s Point. It was a rocky, cavernous, treacherous overhang that dropped steeply into a deep gorge. She was fairly certain the man she had connected with was somewhere near Drifter’s Point. She had the impression of that terrain. She ran fast, her feet skimming the snow, making ten- and fifteen-foot leaps to save time.
Urgency was on her now. That whisper of conspiracy. She tasted a hint of betrayal in her mouth as she raced up the mountain. She was connected to all her people through her bloodline. If one fell, she was aware. If one turned, she knew. But which one, that was always the question.
A trap had been set, and she was running straight toward it. Vasilisa swerved off the trail, slowing to consider what to do. She needed to get to her destination, but she had to find those lying in wait for her and dispose of them first. She didn’t dare have them at her back.
Removing her boots, she plunged her bare feet into the snow, driving down as far as she could go, seeking a connection with the earth. She felt a disturbance approximately three miles up the mountain, close to the point. She took her time, letting the connection grow. Four men. All four were her kind. Her people.
For a moment, she felt anger flare, hot and bright, the rage that could take hold and destroy all discipline, destroy all thinking, reducing her from intellect to animal in one flash of fire. Her hands hurt, knuckles popping and fingernails burning. Her toenails sizzled in the snow, fiery, scorching, and she knew if she looked at them, they would be bright red.
She had a choice. She could annihilate her enemy—perhaps—or she could stay in control and know for certain she could do it by using her brain. They could simply shoot her if she threw herself at them like an animal, and she would never know whether or not she could have defeated them had she kept her wits about her. With effort, she pushed down the animalistic temper and regained control of herself.
Vasilisa shoved her boots into the larger inside pockets of her coat and once more began the approach to Drifter’s Point. This time, she stayed off the accepted path, using the cover of the trees. She called softly to the owls in the area to spy for her. There were several red squirrels in trees near the site where the conspirators waited to ambush her. The squirrels eagerly accepted her orders.