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)
At once, a howl of joy went up from the demons, and they began to dance and sway in a circle around Garald. Vasilisa was certain it was to distract him. Taisiya lay at his feet in the snow, broken and bleeding. That would be a distraction as well.
Did she injure you or your brother?
Neither. I inserted a thin coating of armor and made it appear as if she drew blood into the tube. Garald will see to her while we track whoever is going to take the blood back to the source of all of this.
Nice plan, my lady. There was pride in his voice.
In their family, even though they tapped into one another’s emotions, she had never been praised for her fighting abilities or her looks or anything else. She hadn’t had a sense that her parents were particularly proud of anything she did. Andros disapproved of her most of the time because she didn’t adhere to his commands. Grigor and Garald spoiled her but, like Andros, wanted her to settle and produce babies. They didn’t understand why she wouldn’t do as Andros insisted. Having her lifemate praise her and mean it might seem a small thing to others, but it meant a lot to her.
“Garald, I will hunt the traitor, you take care of the demons.”
Her brother was just waiting for the go-ahead. His sword glinted with a blue light in the slim silver of the crescent-shaped moon. That blue flame was necessary to kill anything from the underworld. The demons rushed to meet his attack. Others tried to murder Taisiya, but Garald stood over her, his lethal sword swinging, the blade beheading the demons so that unnatural black blood stained the snow alongside Taisiya’s crimson-colored blood.
Vasilisa had to leave her brother to his fate and chase the one demonic creature racing across the snow-covered surface to bring the prize to his mistress. She became aware that once again she was sending out mindless prayers to the universe that the betrayer was not her aunt Olga. It would be so devastating. She and her siblings had so much heartache and trauma already in their lives, so many betrayals. She didn’t want this one for them, either.
Andros had grown cold and withdrawn. He’d built a cage around his heart. It felt as if icicles, sharp and lethal, guarded that cage, which had no lock and key. As the years went by and more pressure was put on his shoulders, more icicles filled the cage and gathered on the outside of it.
Grigor and Garald hadn’t fared much better. Too much responsibility was put on their shoulders too fast. She knew because it was the same with her. Sometimes it felt as if she would break under the tasks of helping so many people, of running herself thin to help the elderly and keep the young from dark, dangerous roads.
Now she followed the demon as he rushed across the snow into the heavier woods. He wove in and out of the brush, heedless of the low rocks and broken branches weighed down with snow that had cracked and given way under the assault from the freezing temperatures. The demon stumbled and picked himself up, slowing down again and again until she wanted to shake him.
Patience, sívamet. This is a waiting game. You have endless patience as a rule. Why are you so eager to begin this hunt?
That was a good question when she really didn’t want to see to whom the demon was bringing the blood. She moistened her lips. They were speaking mind to mind on a chosen path between lifemates, but she didn’t want to chance any energy spillage. There were too many Lycans around and far too many vampires.
I don’t honestly know. I don’t want to see if it is true that this is my aunt Olga. She is my mother’s sister. We all love her. My mother adored her. Aunt Olga trained in ballet, and when she injured her foot and could no longer perform, she wrote plays and choreographed many of the dance and singing routines. I don’t want the traitor to be her. It wouldn’t make any sense. Why would she ever choose to do something like that?
There are many reasons for betrayal, Vasilisa. It is better to step back and wait for information than to speculate. You cannot change what already is. If your aunt has been working with the demons, she has been doing so for a long time. How they were able to trap your brothers wasn’t something they discovered overnight.
That much was true. She did her best to follow his example. He was somewhere close, acting as her guardian, giving her the lead position. That was another thing she really liked about him. He was an ancient Carpathian. Everything she’d heard about Carpathian males had prepared her for an arrogant, overprotective, demanding man she would have to learn all kinds of compromising for.