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)
She thought it sweet that he didn’t ask her if she knew Dimitri or where his residence was. Clearly, he didn’t want her to have to give up a friend or deceive him.
Yes, I ran into a betrayer and three of his associates on my way to aid you. They are dead, and I’ll have to send someone to deal with their bodies. There are four government agents staying at the inn. I don’t trust them at all. They were making inquiries about my brother. One specifically asked me if I had a man.
You told him you did.
He made it a statement.
There was a perverse part of her that wanted to deny it. I did.
Thank you, my lady. I would have no problem challenging him to a duel or fighting for the honor and privilege of your hand, but I fear I am far too ancient. The years have not been kind to my soul.
She tried not to allow her heart to accelerate. If she could feel emotions through the earth, he might be able to. He was an ancient. That was bad—really bad. Sorina had spoken briefly to her about ancients and how they sometimes locked themselves away in a hidden monastery somewhere in the Carpathian Mountains. The monastery was covered in clouds and a mysterious fog that kept Carpathians and humans alike from going near it. The ancients entering the monastery were extremely dangerous men, and it would take multiples of their strongest experienced hunters to destroy them should they ever turn. She had paid close attention to the lore of Sorina’s culture—it had been fascinating to her. Now, facing the possibility of having an ancient as the man she would spend the rest of her life with was daunting.
She wasn’t a coward, and she refused to flinch away from what she had been raised from birth to be. Fate had destined them to be together. She wouldn’t run now. They were together for a reason. She had a certain set of skills, as did Afanasiv Belan. Those skills had to somehow mesh together. When they were somewhere safe, they could discuss how.
Why would you want me to leave if you are trapped with no one to aid you?
The trap is set to capture you. They are luring you here. There are vampires, and they have conspired with demons. They are after the other half of my soul. They know you guard it, and they intend to force you to give it up.
How would they force me to do that?
Torturing someone you hold dear is usually where they would start. They might torture me in front of you, but I doubt they would try. I have been subjected to torture many times over the centuries and did not break. You have not had such a pleasure, so they could decide to start on you. There was a distinct edge to his voice and mind when he introduced that possibility.
Vasilisa was caught on a couple of things. He had been tortured numerous times, and he made that sound as if it were nothing. And someone she cared about might be tortured in order for her to give up his soul. Now she did have to work at keeping her body completely in tune with the earth, matching the heartbeat, keeping her breathing even so there was no possible way even a demon created for the sole purpose of reporting movement on the surface of the earth would be able to detect her.
If I didn’t come along, what were you going to do?
I hoped to pull the image of you from the one they have prisoner and bring you innocently traveling along to rescue me.
He made it sound like she was going to be walking along the yellow brick road with a picnic basket. It took her a moment to realize he’d deliberately pushed the image into her head to make her smile—not to make her head explode. She needed a better sense of humor. How do you know about the yellow brick road?
One of my friends, Dragomir, reads to his daughter quite often. He thinks it is good for all of us to read to children. He claims it makes us sensitive.
He sent her the image of a bull in a china shop destroying shelf after shelf of very fine china. She found herself smiling in spite of the situation. Her smile faded when she realized the vampires and demons had another prisoner.
Who do they have?
He didn’t want her to know, obviously, or he would have informed her by now. She tasted fear in her mouth for the first time.
Do not react when I tell you. We will free him. Your brother Garald. The man you called a betrayer delivered him into their hands.
I will be walking along the path and allow them to think they can attack me.