“I don’t understand.”
Gregori frowned and rubbed at his chin. “Usually when I heal, I can enter an entire body and flow through it with ease, moving through every part, but when I enter Razvan or Ivory, only a small part of their bodies are accessible. It changes with each night.”
“What could cause that?” Mikhail wondered.
“I don’t know, but I’d like to find out. The soil has always aided healing. And when we’re wounded and tired it rejuvenates us, but we’ve always used a healing spirit to go inside our bodies and repair from the inside out. Something is repairing their bodies, something other than me. It seems to be a slow process, but it is keeping them both alive. I think Ivory could have been saved, but she chose to bind her fate with Razvan’s. She is fully merged with him and wherever he is encased, so is she.”
“A type of magic? Something Xavier might have come up with?” Mikhail ventured.
Gregori shook his head. “There is no taint of evil. Rather it smells ancient to me, as if they have awoken something from long ago, before our time, and it works to save them. And you know me, I don’t trust things we’ve never encountered. We are a people who have seen much over time.”
“True,” Mikhail said, “but not all.”
“I need to understand how things work. I would like to speak with Syndil. She has been cleansing the earth of toxins for us and is very connected to the soil. I have never seen this, and I don’t understand how they are surviving, let alone healing. Nor do I have an explanation for how their bodies are segmented. Perhaps she can explain it to me.”
Mikhail frowned. “I don’t want her to feel the agony they suffer. It is difficult enough for the two of us.”
“She might speak to the earth and hear the answer. Perhaps if I understood, I could aid them, reduce the pain in some way.”
“I’ll talk to her,” Mikhail agreed reluctantly. “Both Natalya and Lara are anxious to help, but I’ve asked them to stay away until we are certain Ivory and Razvan will live.”
“I have no doubt they will live, Mikhail,” Gregori said. “I just do not know how.”
“You realize Ivory did this once before on her own, centuries ago. There was no one there to hold her spirit, to keep her safe as she keeps Razvan to her.”
“She must have been in the soil hundreds of years,” Gregori said. “Her body didn’t knit back together perfectly. I tried to ease the scars internally as well as externally.” He ran both hands through his hair in a gesture of weariness. “She took great care, or perhaps it was Mother Earth, to make certain she could have children. It is the one area where she has no scarring of any kind, and yet there was evidence that even across the womb, they had hacked her in half.”
For one moment the air around them crackled with energy and then Mikhail took a breath, bringing himself under control. “I can’t see how her brothers could ever have chosen to give up their souls knowing the vampires and Xavier conspired to kill her.”
“They blamed Draven.”
“It was an excuse and you know it. All of us have lived with betrayal and loss, with grief. They were not near the end; they made a deliberate choice. They have painstakingly pulled together vampires into a league to fight against us, and you know that has taken centuries of planning and even more time to implement. They have also allied themselves with our greatest enemy, the very mage who gave Ivory to the vampires.”
“We will know what really happened when Ivory chooses to tell us.” Gregori stretched and tried to stand. Dizzy from lack of blood he sank back down. “In the meantime, we can only hold to this course we are on and work to help the pair survive.”
“They may be the key to destroying Xavier.”
“I think you may be right, Mikhail.”
The prince offered his wrist to his son-in-law. “Take what I freely offer. And Gregori, this time you heed what I tell you. You go home to Savannah and you rest. I have already sent her a message that you are on your way. I’ve asked Syndil to meet with you there.”
“You sent word to Savannah?” Gregori glared at the prince. “She’s going to fuss over me, and you know she’s pregnant with the twins and needs to rest.”
“She needs to feel as if she’s helping her lifemate. Go home and rest. You said it yourself: these two will survive. Perhaps in talking with Syndil, she will find a way to enrich the soil even more in order to lessen their suffering.”
Gregori made his way home, avoiding the two women and their lifemates waiting to speak with Mikhail. He didn’t want to try to reassure them that Razvan and Ivory would live. He believed they would, but he didn’t understand how, and he could barely function with the amount of pain washing over him each time he touched them. There would be no speaking to them, no getting answers, maybe even no recognition from Razvan for those women—he was too far gone. On top of the couple’s pain, he didn’t wish to feel the pain of a sister and daughter for the suffering of a loved one.
Savannah waited at the door for him, her beautiful face smiling, welcoming, her eyes so compassionate that for a moment he wanted to weep with joy that he’d been given such a miracle. He just gathered her silently into his arms and held her tight to him.
Savannah walked him inside. “You look tired.”
“I am tired.”
She tried not to be alarmed. Gregori never admitted to being tired, but this couple, so torn and mangled, fighting valiantly to live when anyone else would have chosen to go to the next life, had captured far more than his attention as a healer. She knew her lifemate well. He respected that couple, wanted—even needed—to find a way to end their suffering.
Savannah put her arms around him and held him, laying her head against his chest. Gregori’s hand came up to stroke her hair.
“How are the girls behaving this evening?”
“Kicking a lot. We’re getting closer. I don’t think they’re going to wait much longer.”
“Maybe I should talk to them,” Gregori suggested. “It is not yet time. They are too anxious and need to stay where they are safe.”
Savannah laughed, the sound happy and bright, dispelling some of his tension. “I don’t think you should talk to them again. You always sound gruff and stern, and the little one is a rebel. Whatever you order, she does just the opposite.” She glanced mischievously up at him. “I have a feeling she’s going to be a lot like you.”
“Don’t say that. I was a very bad child.”
Savannah laughed again and Gregori found himself smiling. He dropped several kisses on her nose. “Have I told you that I’m madly in love with you?”
“Not recently.”
“Well I am. I haven’t quite forgiven you for twins, especially that they’re female, but I’m so in love with you, sometimes I can’t think straight.”
The smile faded from Savannah’s face. “Each time we go into the ground, I worry that the microbes will attack the babies again. And Lara is exhausted.”
Xavier had found a way to use extremophiles to attack the Carpathian females and babies, very effectively reducing the population over hundreds of years so they were now on the brink of extinction. The pregnant women were terrified of losing their babies, and Lara, Razvan’s daughter, could not be fully brought into the Carpathian world because, while the extremophiles could detect the Carpathians hunting for them, they could not detect Lara, as she was mage.
“She does a sweep on all the pregnant women each evening, and yet there’s always a recurrence. Even though she makes certain the men are without the microbes, it doesn’t take long before we’re all infected again. She has to be converted soon. Neither of them complain, but it is difficult for Nicolas.”
Gregori’s fingers settled around the nape of Savannah’s neck. “She has years before she will be in trouble, but yes, it is difficult on her lifemate. And if she gets pregnant . . .” He trailed off with a small sigh. “I am hoping Ivory and Razvan are the answer.”
“How can they be?”
“I don’t know, but I think your father does. He was too calm, too certain that Razvan wouldn’t drive that knife into his throat.”
“He is sure of his skills, Gregori.”
“That is true, although he should take more caution with his life. Still, it was more than that. He trusted Razvan when he shouldn’t have.”
“You can’t know everything, Gregori,” she said gently.
His brooding silver gaze slid over her. “When it comes to your father, I should. He is my greatest responsibility. Without him, our species would fade away, lost as so many others have gone.” He spread his fingers over her rounded womb, holding his children to him. “We have to safeguard their legacy, Savannah.”
“We will,” she replied, leaning into him.
Gregori lifted his head. “We are about to have visitors. They’ve spared our daughters another lecture from their father.”
Savannah’s laughter warmed him. She hugged him. “They are very grateful to our visitors, especially the little one. She gave the equivalent to rolling her eyes.”
His silver eyes slashed at her. “You are not encouraging them, are you? I thought I would not have to deal with that behavior for another twenty years or so.”
“She thinks you are very bossy.”
“I am bossy because I know what’s best for her.”
Savannah laughed again. “You argue with her and she isn’t even born yet.”
Gregori huffed out another breath, a man driven beyond endurance by his stubborn unborn child, but his fingers lingered with loving strokes. Savannah laid her hand over his and they stood quietly a moment, feeling the presence of their daughters, surrounding the twins with love.
The knock on the door was expected and Gregori opened it to Syndil and her lifemate, Barack. One was never far from the other, he’d noticed. He welcomed both of them with a traditional Carpathian greeting. “
Pesäsz jeläbam ainaak
—long may you stay in the light.”
Syndil and Barack responded in kind and stepped into the house. “How are you feeling, Savannah?” Syndil asked.
“Very pregnant,” Savannah replied with a small smile. “If I get any bigger I might pop.”
“It is good to gain, especially with twins,” Gregori said. “You are right where you’re supposed to be.”
“He monitors me carefully to make certain the babies are growing properly,” Savannah explained. She leaned in to kiss Barack on the cheek, ignoring Gregori’s sharp reprimand.
There is no need for kissing
.
Savannah laughed again and rubbed her cheek against Gregori’s shoulder affectionately.
“Mikhail sent word that you wished to talk to me.”
Gregori indicated for her to sit. Barack sank into the seat beside her and took her hand.
“I am certain you’ve heard the news, that Razvan has escaped Xavier and that Ivory Malinov is alive. You were not raised in the Carpathian Mountains, and did not know the rumors of these two, but suffice it to say it is a shock to everyone to find out all we believed of them is wrong.”
Syndil tangled her fingers with Barack’s. It always surprised Gregori to realize this one woman who wielded so much power was so shy and humble. She walked on the ground and new life sprang up after her. She danced and sang and toxic soil was restored to health. They had chanced on the knowledge, the prince spotting her healing an entire battlefield destroyed by vampire venom. She had been so quiet about her talent, so modest, no one would have ever known had Mikhail not seen her gift with his own eyes.
Syndil merely nodded her head, shifting just a little toward Barack. He moved closer to her, slipping his arm around her shoulders.
Gregori sighed. “I have no right to ask this of you. Indeed, it may be risky.”
Barack frowned.
“The pair encountered a master vampire and took him on in order to save a family. While Razvan has little or no experience fighting, Ivory is an extraordinary warrior. Together they managed to hurt him and run him off, but at great cost to their bodies.”
“You know I would aid you,” Syndil said, her soft voice musical, “but I am no healer.”
“I would disagree with that statement, Syndil.” Gregori leaned forward. “You understand the earth better than most. You hear her talking to you, crying out when she’s wounded, and you’re able to fix every injury.”
“That’s different.” Syndil waved a dismissing hand. “Not at all like healing a wounded Carpathian.”
“I cannot do what you do,” Gregori said. “I do not always hear our mother speaking to us. This couple, what is happening with them, I do not understand—and I’ve tried. I listen to Mother Earth, but she whispers and I can’t comprehend what she is saying. They are suffering. In agony. Both of them.” He hung his head and ran both hands through his hair in agitation. “I’m helping them, yes, but so slowly, and each night that passes and I go to them, they feel untold pain.”
“What would you have Syndil do?” Barack asked.
Gregori shook his head. Savannah perched on the arm of his chair and slipped her arm around him, her fingers sliding into his hair to soothe him. “Just tell them, Gregori. Let them decide.”
“I have never seen anything like what is happening. Razvan’s body was hacked up, literally. He had his arm chopped off and in pieces. He had six spear holes, three fatal. His wounds were horrendous. Slices all the way to the bone, in many cases cutting through the bone. The blood loss was unbelievable. Instead of attending his wounds, he aided her in the battle.”
Barack sat up straight. “And he survives?”
“So far—yes. I don’t know how. She also had many wounds, and yet she managed to merge with him in some way; I do not know how. They are separate bodies, but their hearts beat as one, their minds are one. Even that is not the issue. If I have access to his arm, the rest of his body is encased completely in mineral, as if he is part of the earth itself. When I share their bodies, I hear the earth whispering. I can hear the rhythm of its heartbeat, but I can’t understand what she is saying to them. Could this be? Could Mother Earth be healing them? Not just rejuvenating them?”
Syndil was silent, turning his words over and over in her mind. Barack said nothing, waiting for his lifemate to give her advice. It was her realm of expertise and he was inordinately proud of her. He never ceased to be shocked that his quiet little Syndil was consulted by every Carpathian, and the prince and Gregori often asked her counsel.