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)
You believe the person directing this abomination is someone who is or was close to my family? Someone who knows all of us intimately?
They would have to, wouldn’t they? They trapped your brothers. They know the very thing that would get to them.
How would they know about me? I have never discussed guarding your soul with anyone, not even Sorina until this evening. She hadn’t. That secret had been a sacred charge. Even as she tried to dismiss his more-than-valid inquiry, her mind began to go through a list of suspects. At the same time, she began to search her surroundings—the sky, forest and landscape—to see where the conductor might be hiding.
All vampires know Carpathian males have a lifemate and that lifemate is the guardian of the other half of their soul. I was taken into the underworld and subjected to torture. I could not have told them about you because I did not know who you were. Someone from your line had to have known. Perhaps someone who has passed. Someone female whom your mother might have confided in.
Dread began to gather in Vasilisa’s stomach. Hard knots formed. Someone in her family, not a family friend. Her mother would never have confided in a friend. She would have kept their legacy a secret from everyone, just as she had drilled into her daughter to do. Vasilisa couldn’t imagine a scenario in which her mother would have broken her word unless there were dire circumstances. What would those be?
She would have to think she was dying and unable to pass my soul to her daughter. She would want to entrust it to someone she thought would pass it to her child. Did she have a difficult birth with you? You were her last. What were the circumstances of your birth?
“Garald, you must answer, or I will think you do not want this wretched woman,” the demon intoned.
“Why would you bring me a gift? What have I done to deserve it? I know nothing is given freely.” Garald was careful in his choice of wording. He didn’t accept or reject the offering, and he was also cognizant of using a droning tone so that there was a distinct lack of inflection of interest.
The demon waved his hand at the woman trussed up and bleeding from dozens of places. She shivered continuously. When he did, all of the demons waved their hands as if they were all on the same wavelength. The arms rose and fell together in perfect synchronization. Where had she seen such a thing?
Sívamet, you know who this is. I see the knowledge in your mind. You reject the answer.
The betrayal hurt. Her own flesh and blood. Why would she do such a thing? Olga? Her aunt? Her mother’s sister? She had always been loving and kind. They had been close, all of them, her brothers protective of her. Why would she turn on them? She shook her head, rejecting the idea, ashamed she’d even considered her as a suspect. There was no possible way Olga would be in league with demons.
Afanasiv didn’t try to convince her. He remained silent when she wanted him to argue with her so she would have an excuse to lash out at him—at someone. Betrayal at such a level was soul destroying. Her brothers had always defended and loved Olga. They would do anything for her. All of them treated her as a second mother, particularly after their parents had been murdered.
“Come close and see what we bring to you. She is special. A woman you like.”
The demon chanted, a low droning sound. It couldn’t penetrate the shield she’d put on the earth, so there was no way those low notes could produce tremors and shake open cracks that would allow more demons to escape.
“What is your price for this hapless woman you have dragged here?” Garald repeated, using his same careless droning tone. He sounded almost bored.
“A small one. A very small price.”
“You see,” Garald said. “Always you act as if you are doing a favor, yet you are not. Your price is never small. I do not recognize this woman. She looks old and haggard. I think she is one of your many illusions. The times you have managed to escape the underworld, you delight in playing tricks. I have no time for playing games with you at the moment.”
There was a small silence, as if the conductor didn’t quite know how to react to Garald’s statement. She was proud of him for acting so disinterested. She knew it was difficult. She felt the strain on him, the heartache. He hadn’t looked at the bundle of misery. He’d looked over the top of it and at the surrounding snow, but not actually at the woman.
Vasilisa floated close to her brother. “I am going to check Taisiya for damage, to see if she will survive what they have done to her. Then we will take her back. We have to know if they have made it so they intend to kill her if we make a show of aggression.”