“Yes.” Adalasia didn’t look at Sandu, but he felt her stillness. She gave the barest nod of assent.
“Do you know how they have managed to stay intact without disintegrating with age and use? With your fingers and others’ touching them daily? Our ancient books have to be kept under glass and temperature controlled, yet you use those cards and allow others to touch them.”
Again, there was a brief silence while Adalasia made up her mind. She moistened her lips. “The cards were sealed with blood,” she whispered. “They had a strange reaction to Sandu. He believed it a reaction to power meeting power. I thought it was me being fearful of what the two of us faced together, and they saw my fear. Now I know the tarot cards recognized him specifically and reacted to him.”
“I would like to see the cards, Adalasia. Perhaps they would react to me,” Andre said. “I am Carpathian. An ancient. It would be an interesting experiment.”
Sandu. The protest was almost a wail. Frightened. Almost like a child.
Keep your heartbeat in tune with mine, Adalasia. Sandu rubbed the pad of his thumb along her inner wrist. Keep in mind that Andre is aiding us.
What if I should see something in the cards he wouldn’t like? Adalasia pressed her lips together as if to keep silent.
Andre might see something we won’t like. He wants to help us and intends to. Do you feel he is our enemy?
No, not at all. I just feel . . . out of my depth. Lost.
Then use the cards. When they are in your hands, you have an anchor.
Adalasia straightened her shoulders. Took a breath. She looked out the window into the darkness and then at the dancing shadows on the wall. He saw the moment when she took a leap of faith.
“Sandu, you are my anchor.” She said it aloud. Sandu could tell she meant it, and his heart did a weird clench in his chest. He found himself smiling at her.
Adalasia smiled back and then pulled her hand free of his so she could reach inside her shirt. Sandu watched carefully. There hadn’t been the slightest lump or bulge in her clothing to show that she had anything hidden under that smooth material clinging to her narrow rib cage. Why would that be? Did the deck hide itself on her person? Now that he thought about it, he had never seen evidence of it, yet she carried it on her at all times, and it wasn’t small.
The cards fell easily into her palm. Her demeanor changed subtly. She was in charge. She held the tarot cards between her palms for a moment and then offered the deck to Andre. “Shuffle them.”
Andre reached for the cards. Sandu watched closely, as did Teagan and Adalasia. The room had gone silent, as if all of them were holding their breath. Andre’s long fingers settled around the cards. Grayish white puffs almost like sparks floated around the cards and then settled into them. Andre simply held the cards. For a moment, his eyes were vacant. His body a shell. Once again, the double fireplaces reacted, flames flaring high, casting those ominous dancing shadows. Sandu went on alert.
Carpathians often went outside their bodies to heal others. It seemed as if Andre had done so in order to find the secret of Adalasia’s tarot cards. He glanced at Teagan. She was fully Carpathian in that moment. She had always been very small and sweet. Now she was a warrior guarding her lifemate. He had no doubt she was ready for anything that might threaten Andre, and she would fight to the death. She’d been with Andre long enough that he would have taught her many things. A woman who would climb boulders when she could float would learn how to fight the undead, even if she had the Ghost to protect her.
Then Andre was back. His piercing eyes were pure steel as he studied Adalasia. “Carpathian blood was spilled, not on these cards, but they were exposed to what was infused with the blood. So there is no doubt these cards carry the blood of the Berdardi family, although what I feel is subtle but extremely powerful and feminine.”
Sandu was grateful that Adalasia had told him. He had felt the reaction of the cards to him, those sparks sinking into his skin, trying to move through him to his bones. It had felt like a million needles, but at the same time, familiar. All too familiar, something he should recognize. Power meeting power. His own blood.
“You are not surprised, Sandu,” Andre said.
He felt Adalasia in his mind, holding her breath, trying to keep her faith in him. Beside him, she trembled.
“I held the cards,” Sandu said. “I know very little, Andre. What can you tell us?”