Dark Tarot (Dark Carpathians)

“I know you came here for answers, Adalasia,” Jaxon finally said. “But I have to ask you this. Do you have the absolute resolve to go forward no matter how difficult and terrifying the journey is? No matter where your path takes you?”

Adalasia’s heart went crazy, accelerating like a runaway train. She pressed her palm to her chest and took several deep breaths to calm herself. To slow her breathing. Sandu would notice if she kept it up, and she didn’t want him returning or monitoring the conversation.

“When I read the cards, they indicated more than once that my path, if I chose to take it with Sandu, would be extremely difficult and terrifying.” The admission came out a little strangled. Her hands were trembling so much she wanted to sit on them.

She looked around the library and took comfort from the old leather-bound books. She liked older things. She’d always been surrounded by antiques growing up. She knew them, their ages, their value, often their origins. Standing, she moved over to the bookshelves to the oldest-looking books kept behind glass. There were gloves sitting in a small jeweled case so fingers never touched those pages if one wanted to open the books.

“Yes, Jaxon, I’m resolved. I’m afraid of the truth, just as some of those coming to me for readings are afraid to hear what the cards say, but in my case, I prefer the truth. It might take me some time to fully get to a place of acceptance, but I will get there. I know that I stepped on the path willingly and began the journey with him. I have no intention of backing out. I was born for this, and I was trained from the time I was a child to be at his side when we get to the end.”

Adalasia turned to face Jaxon. “So, if you wouldn’t mind, please tell me what it is that Sandu isn’t telling me.” She knew it wasn’t fair to ask the other woman, but it wasn’t fair that she didn’t know.

Jaxon was silent for a long while. She sighed. “There are some things best to ask your lifemate. He can’t lie to you, Adalasia. He can try to sidestep answering you if you allow it, but he can’t lie to you. In the world I now live in, I have to abide by the rules. We can’t interfere in a relationship between lifemates. He bound you to him; that makes you his lifemate.”

Adalasia wasn’t going to put her on the spot any further. It wouldn’t be fair. She nodded. “Do you know much about vampires?”

“I was born human just as you were,” Jaxon said. “I was a cop with knowledge of serial killers but not vampires. And yes, such evil creatures do exist. No doubt, your lifemate would prefer you never meet one. I prefer to never meet one, yet I have, all too often. They can only be killed by extracting their heart and incinerating it. Believe me, it isn’t easy. Their blood is like acid. No matter what you do to them, they rise again and again unless the heart is incinerated. They’re hideous creatures.”

Adalasia wasn’t shocked in the least. That was another thing her unique deck of tarot cards had prepared her for. She knew there were monsters in the world. Not human monsters. She had never encountered one, but she knew there was more than one kind. She did know that Sandu had battled the undead for centuries. He’d told her he had, and she believed him. Having Jaxon confirm it only made his confession all the more real.

“I was taught to believe in demons,” Adalasia admitted. She turned back to look at the titles behind the glass case. The tomes were very old, and she was drawn to antiques, to anything old. “I trained from the time I was a child to fight them. Just in case. I also prepared just in case the stranger came. It was predicated with each birth of a daughter that he might come. If he didn’t by a certain age, I was to find a husband, a man of a certain bloodline, and we would produce a child—a daughter. She would be given the same legacy.”

“That’s fascinating,” Jaxon said. “Absolutely fascinating. The soul had to have been passed from mother to daughter at conception. Did you know? Were you always aware you were the keeper of his soul?” There was curiosity in Jaxon’s voice. “It would be such a heavy burden to carry.”

It was Adalasia’s turn to hesitate. Her family’s legacy was a secret, one she guarded carefully. Her fingers ached to stroke the cards in the pouch kept on her body at all times. They gave her comfort and courage. “I knew we were soulmates. He carried a piece of me with him, and I carried a piece of him with me. I don’t know if that makes any sense. I thought, when I heard him so clearly, it was because of that. Our souls reaching for one another.”