Dark Tarot (Dark Carpathians)

Adalasia looked up at Sandu. “That’s a very interesting and memorable name.”

“Dax, as most who meet him now call him, is a very interesting and memorable Carpathian,” Gabriel said. There was the slightest hint of amusement in his voice. “He was locked in a volcano with his greatest enemy for over a hundred years. He became much more there in that volcano without blood to sustain him. He will be an experience for you to meet. His lifemate, Riley, was, at one time, human. He guards her with the jealousy of a dragon.”

Francesca nudged him when he laughed. “You think you’re so funny, Gabriel.”

Sandu tightened his fingers around Adalasia’s hand. “Gabriel is laughing because Dax carries the heart and soul of a dragon inside him. The Old One resides in him.”

Adalasia frowned. “I don’t understand. You mean he shifts into a dragon?”

Sandu shook his head. “He found a dragon in the volcano. It was nearly dead, but in the end, it entered Danutdaxton to flee the volcano as it roared to life and the master vampire was escaping.”

Her eyes met his. “I think I’m in just a little bit over my head. I can handle demons, but I’m not all that certain about dragons.”

The rain forest was beautiful beyond description. Every tree trunk wept with orchids and vines. Adalasia had never seen colors so vivid. Everything seemed larger than life. The vines hung in thick loops or streamed to the ground like great ropes. It was so much more than that. She hadn’t known there were so many shades of green.

Up high in the canopy, crawling up the tree trunks, were plants growing on top of plants. She could see that none of those beautiful, sometimes lacy and sometimes leafy, flora ever had roots in the ground. They grew high in the air, right off the trees, winding their way around the trunks, colonizing over the moss and lichen, the shrubs, flowering plants and vines. It was a different, diverse world and so beautiful, it was breathtaking.

Frogs were as diverse as the plants. She was fascinated by them. The colors, the sizes, the sounds of them. They seemed to be everywhere. The more she looked for them, the more she discovered. Sandu and the others found her highly amusing and kept trying to drag her along toward some destination she knew wouldn’t be nearly as beautiful or as captivating as what she was seeing.

“Sandu,” Petru said. “The only way you’re going to get that woman of yours moving is to throw her over your shoulder caveman style.”

Adalasia narrowed her eyes and gave Petru her best glare. She had never expected to grow fond of any of her guardians, but they all shared a bond with Sandu. That meant, since she shared that bond with them now, she also had come to know them somewhat. She was grateful she could lift their tremendous burden from them in a small way occasionally by sharing her emotions with them.

Petru could be mesmerizing with his odd mercury-colored eyes. Sometimes they would flash an eerie silver or darken to an almost stormy look that was just as scary as the silver one. His hair was that same silvery color as his eyes—platinum, thick and long—tied back like the others, with leather cords. She had been intimidated by him—by all of them in the beginning—although she’d pretended not to be. Now she saw inside them, caught glimpses of who they were, and they were honorable men. They might struggle, as Sandu had, but they had a strict code that had ruled their lives. She counted herself lucky they considered her a little sister.

“I know you aren’t suggesting he force his will on me simply because I’m enjoying my first time seeing the rain forest.”

“I did not suggest it, sisarke, I told him it would be a good idea. Now I am concerned that your hearing is compromised.”

She liked that he called her “little sister” in the ancient language. It was a term associated with affection.

“I have to agree,” Benedek chimed in. “The night is fading and we have much to do. You are stalling. It is unseemly of you.”

Adalasia drew herself up to her full height, which was considerable— unless she was surrounded by giants. It was just her bad luck that the Carpathians were unusually tall and broad-shouldered, making her feel much smaller than she really was.

“I am not stalling. You’ve seen the rain forest many times and clearly have never taken an opportunity to enjoy the gorgeous sights, but I have never had the chance. Look at those tiny little frogs. They are so cute. And they make the biggest sounds even if they’re so tiny. Their feet are almost as big as their entire bodies. So are their eyes. I love them.”

Nicu caught her wrist and turned it over so that her hand was palm up. He deposited a little frog right in the middle of her palm. “There you go, take it with you. That way you can stare at it all the way to our resting place.”