He remembered her, although she might have been a dream, another hallucination. He considered that when he could get his mind to work through the waves of pain. He doubted he could have conjured her up even in his wildest imagination. He tried to picture her, but he found he couldn’t think, so he just lay listening, trying to hear her voice again.
Far off he could hear a chant, spoken in the ancient language, voices raised, both male and female. It was impossible to sort through them to find one single voice, and he was certain she wasn’t chanting with them. He felt her, not surrounding him, but merged with him, sharing his body. He didn’t like the idea. If he felt so much pain, was she sharing that as well? He didn’t know the answer.
Again his mind drifted, as if, because he couldn’t do anything to prevent her from feeling the terrible pain, he didn’t want to know if she was with him. He had spent too many years causing those he loved distress and he refused to think he was doing the same to her.
No, my love. I am with you by choice. I asked to be bound to you. I share your body willingly. Hear me, Dragonseeker, you must hold tight to me. Never let me go
.
If he could have smiled, he would have. Where was he going to go? He couldn’t move. He could only lie there, believing himself insane. The only consolation was her voice. He tried to remember if he’d dreamt it up when he was young.
After a while—and it could have been nights, or weeks, or even months—he became aware of a heartbeat. The sound was unusual, deep, echoing through his surroundings, so that it vibrated through his body, every muscle and organ, torn sinew and bone. Each beat shook him, yet soothed him. Each beat brought a twisting pain, but at the same time was strangely comforting.
After a long, indeterminate passage of time, he found he listened for that sound, enjoying the echo of it through his battered body. Now came a stirring of interest in his dark world.
What are you?
I am Mother Earth, my son. You have become a part of me. My daughter begged me to accept you, to heal you. You are hearing the heartbeat of the earth moving through your body, making you one with me, with all of nature
.
Now he knew he was insane. He was having a conversation with the earth. It was strange that it didn’t bother him that he’d lost his mind. The pain was no less, but he had grown used to it, and he found the darkness and warmth a peaceful, restful place. He drifted further out on the sea of pain, letting it carry him as he had done so many times in the past.
His mind turned to his woman. Ivory. His lifemate. She was so beautiful she took his breath away. He knew if he’d met her a few hundred years earlier, their lives would have been so different. He had never dared to dream of her—never wanted Xavier to know for a moment that somewhere in the past or the future, there was a woman who held the other half of his soul. It was such an intimate gift, the sharing of souls, and he would never taint that bond with Xavier’s evil.
Had he not died and been buried to suffer in this place, he would have taken her to his secret garden, the one place he remembered from his childhood where life had been good and filled with joy. He had played there with his beloved sister, Natalya. They had laughed together so often, running free through the fields of flowers and skimming stones over the placid waters of the lake. He would have brought Ivory there to share his one fond memory.
He felt the brush of fingers against his palm. Warm breath on his face.
Take me there, beloved. Show me this place you dream of
.
He had not expected that his desire for her was so strong that he could conjure her up. He skimmed his hand down her face, shaping the angles, tracing the pad of his thumb over her soft skin.
I would take you there for our first courtship. It is part of me, the best part of me. Long before Xavier took my soul
.
He no longer has your soul. You gave it to me, remember?
Razvan searched his memory. He remembered her face. So beautiful to him that when he closed his eyes she was still there. Her body, covered in those thin white lines, badges of courage, a living embodiment of the strength of will she possessed. He wanted to kiss every line, follow the map of them over her body until he knew each white jagged line intimately. Her skin, soft beyond all imagining, called out for him to simply touch her, to feel how extraordinary she truly was. He loved the way she moved. Just watching her, the sway of her hips and her purposeful stride, brought him a simple joy he’d never thought to feel. The way her face softened when she knelt to greet her wolf pack made him wonder how she would look when she held their child to her breast.
Dragonseeker
. She called his wandering mind back to her.
Do you remember giving me your soul?
Yes. To save me, Ivory. I have sinned lifetimes and cannot save myself, but I have touched you inside where no one else sees you, and you can do it. Put me on your wall with your brothers and carry my soul into the next life
.
You are already safe, fél ku kuuluaak sívam belső—beloved
.
Her voice poured over him like warm honey, and he lay quietly, listening to the beat of the earth’s heart and feeling every wound throb and burn in tune to the steady symphony. He thought about her words.
Fél ku kuuluaak sívam belső—beloved
. He wished he was truly her beloved.
I would have walked through the garden with you. I have always wanted to grow my own flowers. I know exactly what they would have looked like and I would have named them for you. Ivory. Hän ku vigyáz sielamet—keeper of my soul
.
Show them to me
, she entreated him.
Again he swore he felt those fingers moving against his palm, tangling with his own. He closed his hand tight to capture the feeling of closeness. He could drift along in the dream, or hallucination. Maybe he was on the other side, in a better place—although he could do without the agony rushing in waves over his body. He shoved the pain aside, settling deeper into the arms of Mother Earth and letting himself imagine the things he would show Ivory.
She looked carefree, with her long hair cascading down past her hips, a waterfall of silk that moved against his arm as they walked side by side. He liked that she was tall. He could see the length of her lashes, curling at the tips, two thick crescents that veiled her enormous eyes. He was thinking of leaning over and licking along the jagged seam of white that joined two pieces of her shoulder. Temptation was the way her skin was mapped into quadrants for him to explore.
I do not look like that
. Embarrassment edged her voice.
Like what?
He was puzzled that his dream woman could be embarrassed over his perusal. He could look at her forever—want to taste every square inch of her. He had a need to memorize every detail with the sensitive pads of his fingers, with his mouth and tongue, so he would forever remember the taste and feel of her.
As if these scars are sexy
.
She ducked her head as she walked beside him down the narrow ribbon of stones that was the path winding through his garden. The long fall of hair hid her expression from him.
He stepped in front of her, effectively halting her, catching her chin in his fingers and lifting her face so he could hold her gaze captive with his.
Everything about you is incredibly sexy, especially the way you fight. You take my breath away
. The pad of his thumb rubbed over her full bottom lip.
Sometimes I spend far too much time thinking about each of those lines on your body and wondering where they lead. What pleasures they can take me to—take us both to
.
She blinked, her eyes going warm, then sultry.
You think of me as a woman, then, not just a warrior
.
How could I ever separate the two? Your traits make up the whole of who you are
. His voice roughened with emotion. He searched in his mind for words to describe her, the way he saw her, but he could find little to express the way he felt, the beauty and light she brought to his soul, so empty and hollow and gutted by Xavier’s evil.
Tell me. I need to know
.
Words are not enough to explain a miracle, but I will do my best. You are tough, strong and skilled. Gentle. Kind. Compassionate. Fierce and formidable, with a will of iron. Sexy. Soft. Beautiful. Mysterious. Gentle and magnificent. You are all of these things. A miracle to me. A gift beyond any price
.
Her lashes fluttered as she veiled her expression. The temptation of her mouth, the curve and soft texture, was too much to resist. It was a dream, nothing else, and it was
his
dream, the first one he had dared in a long time—since the betrayal of his sister. He hesitated, suddenly afraid. Could Xavier be tricking him? Was he now betraying the one woman who held his heart and soul?
No!
The warm honey poured over him again, stirring his body. His heart jumped, beat for a moment out of tune with the heartbeat of the earth. Pain slammed into him from every direction, taking his breath, his ability to think, his very sanity. He thought he screamed when he’d been so stoic, but he had concentrated more than he knew on the natural rhythm of the earth, allowing the heartbeat to keep the pain at a distance so he could tolerate it. For a moment he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. It was impossible to live with such pain.
Do not leave me!
Her voice was panicked.
He’d never heard Ivory sound anything but cool and under control. The note of alarm in her voice steadied him. He realized he was drifting away from the scent and feel of her, distancing himself to prevent Xavier from discovering her, but there was need in her that he’d never seen before. She’d been injured. He remembered that much. Horribly injured. He didn’t feel as if he had much strength left, but what he had, he would gladly give to her.
Ivory?
I am here, Razvan, with you. In you. I hold you tight, my heart to yours, my soul to yours. Do not leave me. Give me your word. No matter how terrible it gets, give me your word of honor that you will stay with me
.
If you need me
.
I will always need you
.
He could barely conceive of the pure honesty in her voice. Could she really have need of him? He would never, no matter how difficult the circumstances, turn away from her should she need him.
I will be with you always, Ivory, if it is within my power
.
Her voice came again, close, gentle, that warmth that seeped into the coldest marrow of his bones and heated from the inside out.
Rest, then, fél ku kuuluaak sívam belső—beloved. Gain strength, but hold strong and endure for me
.
It was no small task she asked of him. He allowed the pain to consume him, to wash over and into him, to become part of him. It was the only way to survive. His will—and acceptance. He would survive for her.
He woke again after an indeterminate amount of time had passed. Like all Carpathians, he knew the difference between night and day; even deep beneath the earth he knew it was dark and the moon was full and high. Sound had awoken him. Summoned him. Voices raised in the ancient tongue—the healing chant rising and falling with both male and female voices lifting toward the night sky, burrowing deep into the richness of the soil to find his shattered body to surround him and provide strength and healing power.
He felt the presence of a male, white-hot energy surging through him, burning together parts that had been torn apart. Excruciating pain burst through his body and he heard his own cry, the sound strangled and anguished. Ivory echoed his cry, her voice resonating with suffering. He tried to move, to get to her, and at once gentle hands stopped him.
You cannot move. Stay very still or you will undo what small repairs have been made
.
Ivory?
Razvan recognized the healer’s voice.
Save her first. I heard her distress
.
She is merged with you, holding you to this earth, and she feels what you feel. Do not move, just let yourself sink into her, hold tight to her
.
Gregori came back into his own body swaying with weariness. Small droplets of blood beaded on his skin and he actually slumped against Mikhail, unable to hold himself upright after the healing session. “How is it they live?” he asked the prince. “It is impossible, yet they survive. Each night I come to them, I expect to find them dead, yet they still live. How is it they endure? No one can live through such pain, yet this is not the first time for either to suffer such torment.” He opened his eyes and looked at his friend. “It is difficult for me to feel and see the absolute suffering the two of them endure.”
Mikhail laid his hand gently on the healer’s shoulder. No healer could be of Gregori’s caliber without being empathic. Each time he shed his body and joined the couple to speed the healing of those terrible mortal wounds, he felt what they did.
“You are saving their lives.”
Gregori shook his head. “I am aiding the swiftness of recovery, Mikhail. There is a difference. They have wills such as I have never seen in any Carpathian, male or female, in all my years of healing. Believe me, it is only their sheer will keeping them alive, not me.”
Mikhail’s voice was comforting. “Take my blood to revive you and then go home to Savannah and allow her to soothe you. Night after night, subjecting yourself to their agony is wearing on you. You cannot continue without some respite.”
“As long as they continue, so will I.” Gregori looked up at his father-in-law, his face lined with weariness. “His body is actually knitting itself back together again. Three of the six spear wounds should have killed him, along with the sheer volume of blood loss, but somehow the earth itself is putting them back together.”
“Along with your blood and care.”
Gregori shook his head. “I do not understand what I am seeing when I attempt to heal them. It is as if most of their bodies are encased in mineral, hardened and impassable, while I have access only to a single part each night. Some nights it is the same part. I can enter an arm or leg and concentrate there, but the rest of their systems are blocked off to me.”