Dark Tarot (Dark Carpathians)

“I understood, through the cards, that I was to undertake a very dangerous journey with this man, a stranger.” She touched her tongue to her lips to moisten them.

“So, you spoke to him,” Lucian persisted.

“I didn’t want to,” she admitted. “I’ll admit I was a little freaked out, but more importantly, my mother had been murdered, and the people I was certain had been responsible were watching me. They seemed to be waiting for someone. I had the feeling they might be waiting for Sandu to show up. I had no real reason to think that, but I rely heavily on intuition, and mine told me he could be in danger if he came near me. Still, I couldn’t stop myself from reaching out to him.”

Lucian nodded as if it made perfect sense to him when it didn’t make sense to her. She didn’t know why, when she was such a disciplined person, but she hadn’t been able to stop herself from connecting with Sandu and possibly putting him in front of Castello’s murderous guns. At the time, she didn’t know the first thing about Carpathians.

“We spoke for a short while,” Sandu said. “During that time, I became aware she was my lifemate. I could see color again. Emotions were restored, although I have been too long without them, and it is in my nature to act without feelings. Too often, emotions disappear, and if I am not close to Adalasia, colors dim.”

Adalasia knew all about his emotions disappearing. She hadn’t realized his ability to see in color dimmed. Perhaps I am not your true lifemate.

You are my lifemate, ewal emninumam.

Adalasia’s chin lifted. She clenched her teeth at the whisper of male amusement she heard in her mind. Too bad I’m not feeling it. She gave him her haughtiest voice.

His thumb did another slide over the back of her hand. Slow. Intimate. Then I will have to make certain I do a better job of making certain you do when we are alone. There were all kinds of promises in his voice.

She ignored the little shiver that went down her spine and lifted her gaze once more to Lucian’s. His eyes saw too much. She knew he was waiting for an explanation. “I broke the connection between us. I’d like to say it was strictly because of Castello and my fears for Sandu, but I read the cards. I’d been reading them. I knew Sandu was . . . more. There is a legend in our family, and I feared he was part of that legend from all I was reading in the cards. A stranger would come who was not a stranger but my other half. Soulmates. A passionate, intense relationship would follow, but dangerous. A life-threatening journey. Danger surrounding us every step of the way. A path once on, there would be no turning back. I saw all that and it was terrifying.”

Adalasia looked at the floor, determined to be honest in this, when she refused to trust these people, knowing they were risking their lives.

Look at me. It was a command, nothing less.

She was ashamed, but not for the reasons she knew Sandu would think.

I can’t. I should have had the courage to tell you about Castello so you could have known what you were walking into. About what the cards said about our journey together. It wasn’t just your journey. It was mine. In our family, we knew one of us eventually would have to make it. I thought I was prepared. Trained. But when the time came, I faltered. That much was true, and he would hear that truth in her voice.

You are much too hard on yourself.

“Adalasia,” Lucian said. “Any human woman who might have an inkling they are a lifemate to a Carpathian male would want to make a run for it. That just shows you have good sense. Especially if Sandu is that male.”

“Did you know him as a child?”

Lucian gave a slow shake of his head. “No, Sandu is from an ancient lineage, very powerful and not from our region. His family guarded not the Carpathian Mountains but another range altogether.” He pressed his fingers to his eyes as if going inward, trying to pull up long-forgotten memories. “I am sorry, I know you came here for answers, but as to your childhood, Sandu, I don’t have any knowledge to share.”

The flames from the fire threw shadows on the wall, where they took odd shapes that danced and stretched across the paneling, reaching toward the ceiling one moment and then toward the walls on either side of the room the next. The crackling seemed overly loud in the silence that followed Lucian’s declaration.

“That’s not exactly true,” Adalasia countered. “Already, we know Sandu isn’t from the same region most of you are from. We didn’t have that information before. Is his surname correct?”