Dark Tarot (Dark Carpathians)

“Which means?” Adalasia prompted.

“I command you to leave this place now.” Sandu and Danutdaxton interpreted simultaneously.

Adalasia frowned. “If it was this girl—woman now—how would she have learned the Carpathian language? How could she possibly remember it after all those centuries? Do you think the demons speak it?”

Sandu shook his head. “No, I think she speaks this language with another who resides there. The one you guard against, Adalasia. I think the demon you hold back and refuse to allow loose on the world is a Carpathian male, an ancient who has not turned vampire but has gone beyond the point of no return. He is lost. She can communicate with him because she speaks to animals, and he is more beast than man. That is my theory.” He had already told Adalasia of his belief that a demon was behind those gates, a demon who had once been a Carpathian hunter.

Again, there was a long silence. Sandu couldn’t look at Dax. The women wouldn’t condemn him for his actions, but another Carpathian male would. Should. He had left a female Carpathian woman alone in a terrible situation.

Danutdaxton sighed. “Sandu, there was nothing you could do to remove this woman from her fate. She is locked behind a closed portal we cannot open. I do not talk of the gates this Carpathian male lives behind. Any opening between our realm and the demons would cause untold damage on the world. The few demons who do escape cause enough destruction. She had an opportunity when the portal was open to leave, yet she did not. Perhaps this beast behind the gates is her lifemate.”

Sandu didn’t absolve himself so easily. He pressed Adalasia’s palm into his thigh. “I did not get that impression. I know when I recited my oath in the Cave of Fire, he joined with me. He knew the sacred oath. It was clear to me that he still will call upon his oath in an effort to keep darkness at bay. If the Bercovitz child had been his lifemate, he would have recognized that she was.”

Adalasia poured into his mind, a gentle loving warmth that filled the tears and rips still present from the ordeal he’d gone through. Once she was there, he didn’t want her to leave. She had a way of making him feel whole when he’d been torn apart.

I couldn’t find a way to save her—or him.

I looked into your memories, Sandu. I felt her as well. She pushed you from that place and made no effort to follow you. She didn’t want to leave. Whatever is holding her there is a powerful force, and it is her choice.

It is my duty to make certain she is all right.

She felt all right, didn’t she? When I searched your memories, I didn’t feel pain in her. Did you? The male behind the gates was frightening, but she was calm and composed. Purposeful. You cannot take on the world, Sandu. You were close to death. She helped to save your life, and you have to allow her that victory.

Sandu considered what his lifemate was saying. Always, a male protected a female. In this instance, Adalasia and the unknown woman had protected him. He had identified with the beast behind the gate—maybe too much. He wanted a different outcome for him. A way to save him, not keep him there. He wanted the Bercovitz child to be that beast’s lifemate, to have been the keeper of his soul. Sandu identified strongly with him, felt he was that feral beast, the demon he knew Adalasia feared.

I feared what I did not know, Sandu. I know you now. I know that beast protects you when you battle the undead. I welcome him because in the end, he will bring you home to me safe.

There was honesty between lifemates. He could hear the honesty in her voice. Feel it in his mind. She had seen him fight the undead. She had seen the demon rise.

Sandu, I love you. You have to feel the way I love you. All of you. Not just pieces of you. You are not divided. That feral beast and the charming, sweet man are one and the same. No person is just one-dimensional. You have many facets to you, and I love all of them. Well . . . your bossy side could tone it down.

That little teasing note stroked over him gently. Playfully. Her palm moved under his hand, fingers pressing deep into his thigh muscle, little points of flame.

“Perhaps you are right, Dax. Adalasia assures me that she searched my memories of the incident and as closely as she was able, inspected the woman’s voice and manner. She doesn’t believe she was in pain.”

“Or under undue duress,” Adalasia supplied. “She could have followed Sandu out of the portal, or even used it without aiding him, but she did neither.”