Dark Tarot (Dark Carpathians)

Benedek hastened to explain. “We did it to lighten her mood and distract her from having to read the cards for us. We knew she was upset and didn’t want to do it.”

Sandu deliberately frowned. Adalasia. Are you awake?

Yes. I am lying here with Mother Earth’s arms surrounding me in warmth. It’s a beautiful night. I managed to light the sconces, and the gems in the walls are glittering as if they have been polished. It really is quite lovely in here.

Have you been following the conversation? Sandu persisted, enjoying the intimacy of having her in his mind.

Mm-hmm.

Her laughter was sweet. Tugged at him low, a fist of desire forming into a relentless calling. He savored his ability to feel such a force of nature.

They are becoming suspicious.

Her laughter burst over him. Through him. Leapt from his mind into each of his brethren. Her joy of that moment. Teasing them. So happy she was able to get them back for their little prank on her.

Right under your ancient collective noses, she bragged, her laughter contagious.

There was a moment of silence, as if the rain forest itself had to come to terms with the idea that a newly turned human might actually outwit four ancient Carpathian hunters. They stayed in Sandu’s mind, sharing his amusement. Sharing her laughter. Her enjoyment of playing her prank on them, her ability to get them back for their teasing.

Sisarke, Benedek whispered into her mind. Leeches attached to one’s body on rising is quite . . . He stopped searching for the correct term in her language.

Vile, Nicu supplied.

Disgusting, Petru said simultaneously.

Beyond the foulest of the undead, Siv added.

Her laughter continued. Surely all of you realized the leeches weren’t real.

Again, there was that collective silence. It was all Sandu could do not to roar with laughter. He had to turn his head away from the stoic ancients. They were without expression. Their faces refused to show any kind of shock, but their minds, firmly entrenched in his, reverberated with disbelief. Amazement. A kind of delight that she was able to actually trick them. All four were bringing up that initial waking, finding the weight of the leeches attached to them. They’d gotten rid of them quickly as they hurriedly left the sanctuary of their resting places, none of them checking to see if the leeches were real or illusion. Petru, Benedek and Nicu believed Siv had pranked them. Siv believed the others had done so. None considered the leeches could be illusion.

Sisarke, Siv said, you do astound me. Why you have been wasted on the likes of Sandu, I have no idea.

Sandu didn’t bother to take exception. He was just grateful Adalasia was his lifemate. “I want to spend a little time with her before we seek Dominic and Solange. I sent word to him we would be coming for a brief visit. Just to talk. He was amenable.”

At once, the four guardians were all business, pulling abruptly away from their bond with Adalasia.

“The Dragonseeker is careful of his lifemate. Both are lethal, Sandu. When you have an audience with one, you have an audience with both, even if you do not see the other,” Petru advised. “If he invites us to his lair, it will not be a home he often uses. It isn’t that Dominic necessarily sits in judgment of others, but he holds strictly to the old ways.”

“I have heard that his lifemate was royalty, a Jaguar princess, before the mages destroyed their species and brought them to extinction,” Sandu said, mostly for the sake of Adalasia. She might not be able to hear the entire conversation, but she could hear him. “My understanding is she can walk in sunlight. If she gives him her blood, doesn’t that mean he can as well? That is not the old way.”

Nicu shook his head. “I have visited with Dominic often, and he has been kind enough to offer his blood when I have been wounded. His lifemate was somewhere in the trees holding a weapon on me the entire time, I might add, but even with his blood, I could not take the sun. I know that Zacarias De La Cruz has often exchanged blood with Dominic, and he has told me he can spend perhaps an hour but uncomfortably. He builds clouds or his skin burns and blisters.”

“Is Dominic able to walk in the sun?” Sandu persisted.

“That is the question, isn’t it? As we aged, and as we continued to destroy the undead, we became something else. Dragonseeker did not,” Nicu said.

“How do you know?” Siv asked.

Nicu shrugged. “I know every beast in the forest, the mountains. They call to me, and something in me answers. Dragonseeker does not have the beast in him. He is the same, calm and steady. He is resolute. Although he is ancient, he is not like we are, and he is very aware of the difference.”