Razvan took his natural form and signaled to the others to do the same. “She is using the revealing spell. Watch for Xavier’s dark spirit,” he warned them.
Ivory shimmered into her physical form, watchful, already singing the revealing chant, sending the notes scattering across the charred field and into the sky. It was still raining debris. Smoke and ash swirled together and drifted on the slight breeze. Snow drifted from the heavy clouds, mixing with the falling remains, nature already attempting to cover the signs of battle.
I call to me all that is good to aid me in my desperate plight
.
I plead for the song that I may sing to reveal evil stalking the night
.
Light of sky, burning bright, find that which is dark and bathe it in light
.
Evil one, I call forth the blight you left behind
.
Light spilled across the remnants of the battlefield, illuminating four dark shadows sliding among the dead toward the small group of Carpathians shielding Gary. Gregori threw out his hand, fingers spread wide, and lightning jumped, sizzling and cracking, toward the four fragments. Three burrowed into the ground, but the tip of the whip slashed into the fourth, incinerating it.
The ground rolled and pitched. A shriek rose. Black blood bubbled up from the ground and a noxious smell burst from the center of the ooze. The shriek rocked the trees, sent leaves trembling. Gary put his hand over his ears to muffle the hideous sound.
Gregori tried following the remaining shards with the lightning tip, sinking strike after strike into the ground, but with no results. There was no following them into the ground itself. Three small slivers would be impossible to track, and all of them knew they would eventually find their way back to Xavier.
Ivory swayed with weariness. “The dawn will break soon, Razvan. I need to rest. Do you come back with me or stay?”
It was almost a challenge, he decided, studying her face. She didn’t know if she wanted him to remain with her or join the others. He touched her mind and realized she had not been in company for so long that she found the contact with him—and so many others—overwhelming.
“We would be happy to provide you with shelter,” Mikhail offered. “We have several safe resting chambers.”
Razvan felt Ivory instantly recoil from the idea. She trusted no one that much. She would never rest where others knew of her sleeping chamber. Razvan was her lifemate. She recognized him and yet was wary still.
“I think it best that we return to our own resting place,” he said.
Ivory sent him a small grateful smile and nodded her head. “Xavier will not stop his hunt for Razvan. It is evident he has puppets in the area. I would make certain my children were protected both during the day and at night.”
Sara slipped her hand into Falcon’s. “We will double their protection.”
Falcon clapped Gary on the back. “You look a little worse for wear. Thank you for going after Travis for us.”
Ivory ducked her head, the color sweeping up her pale skin. “I did not mean to imply your friend was not valiant. I am certain he takes excellent care of your children during the daylight hours, but Xavier is desperate to find Razvan and get him back. He will need Carpathian blood. I doubt he can go long without a blood supply. No one is safe, least of all the most vulnerable.”
Mikhail’s piercing eyes moved over both Ivory and Razvan. “Perhaps our healer should take a look at your wounds before you leave us.”
Razvan took a good look at his lifemate. There were scratches and bite marks up and down her arms; a few on her face and her legs had blood running down them. He was certain he didn’t look much better. He didn’t want to stay any longer. He feared his sister or daughter might come to the aid of their prince, and he had been through enough without facing them. He didn’t know how he would feel or what he could possibly say to either of them, but when he looked at Ivory’s weary face, he refused to be selfish. She needed care, and her needs came first.
Ivory stepped back several paces. “These are mere scratches. My lifemate can attend to them. An inconvenience only.” She inclined her head, a regal gesture, toward Mikhail. “I am certain we will cross paths again.”
“Please do come and meet Raven, my lifemate,” Mikhail invited. “She cannot travel at the moment and will be sorry she was not here. You are truly an inspiration to our women.”
Gregori cast him a smoldering look before turning to Ivory. His strange silver eyes gleamed at her as she slid back into the shadows, and she knew he recognized the sudden dangerous stillness of a warrior in her. “If you have need, lady, call and I will come. I do not give my word lightly.”
I guess you might want to rethink your position on women in battle
, Mikhail sent telepathically.
The women are with this one for five minutes, old friend, and it will be anarchy
.
Mikhail sobered.
What of Razvan?
The boy has more honor than good sense
.
That boy is older than you are
, Mikhail was compelled to point out.
He has suffered greatly and he is no traitor. Less so than I am
. There was a small silence and Gregori lifted his silver eyes to his prince and oldest friend.
When the woman, Lara, was so terrified of my eyes, I knew she had seen Xavier. We share the one lasting testimony, branded always for meddling with things best left alone
.
It was an apology and they both knew it.
Mikhail clapped Gregori on the shoulder, affection in his gesture.
It was long ago, as many things were, and in the end it came to good
.
That is what Razvan said
.
Gregori stepped close to Ivory. She didn’t back away, but her eyes went as watchful and as still as her body, as if she half suspected he might attack her. He clasped her arms in the greeting of highest respect, one warrior to another. “
Kulkesz arwaval—joηesz
arwa arvoval
—go with glory—return with honor.”
Without waiting for her hesitant reply, he gripped Razvan’s forearms in the same respectful clasp. “
Kulkesz arwa-arvoval, ekäm
—walk with honor, my brother. We have only recently learned of Xavier’s existence, and probably know far less about his ways than either of you, but if you wish to pool our information, we would be grateful.”
Ivory’s uneasiness was more apparent to Razvan than ever. She edged away from Gregori and looked to the sky several times. Razvan took her hand and began moving a distance from the others with her.
“We will meet again,” he said, knowing it was true. Right now, Ivory didn’t want to face the fact that they had inadvertently become part of the Carpathian world when she had saved the child. Gregori and the others would look toward her, a warrior of their own, as an immense and invaluable vault of knowledge on their greatest enemy.
He could feel her withdrawing into herself. Her expression didn’t change, but remained serene and distantly friendly. Inside she was quaking. He kept moving across the snow, leading her away from the others, making the responsibility for choosing to leave his alone. He cared nothing for what others thought. Long ago he’d learned to accept condemnation from everyone. He was the most despised Carpathian alive, worse than the vampires, and although Mikhail and Gregori chose to welcome him, he saw distrust in the eyes of the others. He didn’t want nor need acceptance from them—only from Ivory.
Keep walking away from the direction of our home. The snow will cover our tracks, but anyone will be able to track the blood scent. Just up ahead, we will have to close all wounds
.
Razvan almost couldn’t hear past
our home
. His stomach tightened. Home. Our home. The idea of it was comforting and frightening at the same time. He glanced at her through the thickening snow. Her face was turned away from his. She looked ethereal striding through the snow, like an ice princess, not the warrior he knew her to be.
They stopped beneath the shelter of several large trees. The high canopy kept the snow from falling on them while they examined themselves for poisonous parasites and took a few minutes to close every wound and scratch. The ones on their legs were the worst.
“The bats are more effective attacking from the ground,” Ivory explained.
Razvan glanced at her. She studiously avoided his gaze. His heart gave a funny little wrench. She was nervous. The slayer, a warrior beyond measure, was nervous being alone with him. He hadn’t considered that she might be more nervous than he was.
“Xavier wanted them to bring back blood,” Razvan explained. “That was his original purpose, but they were so vicious he began to expand his ideas.”
When they were both finished, Ivory insisted they look one another over a second time.
“You are very thorough,” he commented.
“It is how I stay alive. How we will stay alive. You have to learn if you are going to stay with me. And you are free to go, if you wish.”
Her lashes lifted and she flicked him a quick gaze. He couldn’t tell from her expression whether she hoped he’d choose to go. He shook his head. “I will stay, and Ivory, have no fear, I am a quick learner. I can play dumb if need be, but I am not.”
“I have kept my lair safe for hundreds of years, even when I was slowly carving out the passageways. There are no traces of anyone around or near my resting place. I do not hunt close by. I never leave tracks. I am careful there is no scent. I do not go out every night. I live quietly and avoid people as much as possible.” She looked at him, for the first time meeting his eyes. “When I do go out it is for one purpose only: to gather information on Xavier. If it takes a hundred lifetimes, I will find a way to destroy him.”
He nodded his head. “I understand.”
“I am not certain you do. It is my sole purpose for existing. I care nothing for society. I do not want friends. I do not know how to be civil other than for the purpose of obtaining information. Are you prepared for that?”
A slow smile welled up from the pit of his stomach and settled on his mouth. He saw her catch her breath, and then she looked away from him.
“I do not have friends, nor will society welcome me. I have more reason than any other to want to destroy Xavier.”
“If you truly want to learn from me, then heed this. You cannot let this become personal. It is a duty, a sacred duty. You must pray and meditate until you are absolutely certain that you are on the right path. Will you give me your word of honor that you will do that?”
Razvan waited until she looked at him. “You have my word. Let us go home.” He dissolved before she could find another reason to protest.
She led the way, choosing a route high enough that they were a part of the dark clouds moving in silence across the sky.
Razvan took note of the landmarks, the rising mountains, the lakes and streams and surrounding countryside. The snow was dazzling white, the air crisp and clean, refreshing after so many centuries of smelling blood and death, yet the wide-open spaces were disorienting. His life had been underground, confined to a small prison room unless Xavier was using his body.
Ivory’s voice interrupted his thoughts.
We are coming up on the lair. Always approach it from a variety of directions, never the same one. Scan carefully. Better to sleep elsewhere for one night than lose our fortress to the enemy. There is a warning system in place. I have to reprogram it to allow you entrance. This system is made of gems
, Ivory explained.
I called the gems and asked for aid. Once I embedded them in rock, each about three feet apart, zigzagging down the crack, from one side to the other, the gems not only bring light to the lair, but they act as a warning system for me
. She hesitated and then corrected herself.
For us
.
He felt the rightness of her words, joining them together, but also the reluctance, as if she couldn’t quite get around the fact that they were meant to be lifemates.
The safeguard is actually the way the gems work. They measure the weight of my molecules, with the wolves on me of course, as I am drifting down through the crack. If the weight is too heavy, or too light, the crack would close below and stop the intruder. If I am in the lair, I would hear the rocks closing and could prepare for an attack. Nothing can penetrate the rock from below us or either side—it is too thick. Not even the worms can drill through. In order to carry you in, I had to change it once already, and it was difficult with the sun so close on my heels
.
How was I able to get out?
It only works in one direction; a warning system is not needed in both. I would not keep anyone a prisoner
. Again there was that slight hesitation.
In truth I have never thought to bring anyone down here
.
He thought it best to ignore her nervousness, and he did not have to feign his interest in her system. It was as unique and brilliant as the inventor. He waited while she disappeared into the crack and added a few more of her gems. The light worked much like an ancient mirror system, one prism working off another. He realized she used the gems for her weapons as well, that her experiments were sophisticated.
It is safe for you to come and go as you please
.
Ivory floated down, avoiding the light spreading slowly across the sky, screened by the now-heavy snow. Once she hit the living chamber, the wolves leapt from her back and padded after her to the bed of soil.
“I do not do well, even under the ground, when the sun has risen.” Again Ivory appeared uneasy. “I spent too many years in the soil trying to heal.”
“I spent many lifetimes in the ice caves,” Razvan assured, watching her curl up, the wolves surrounding her. He waited for an invitation.
Ivory gestured toward the side of the large basin. “There is plenty of room.”
He envied the wolves pressed close to her, but said nothing, knowing she was being more than generous. He closed his eyes and allowed the breath to leave his body, his heart to slow and then stop while the soil poured over them like a living blanket. It was the first time he could clearly remember being totally relaxed and infinitely happy.