Dark Tarot (Dark Carpathians)

“You have no more information on the family that lived in the Russian area?” Adalasia asked. Each of the three other women—friends of your sister, according to the history book—had accents from a foreign land, Sandu.

“Not much. I believe they had a son and daughter, neither of which I met. The father gave me blood, and I was grateful for that. The exchange allowed for me to see glimpses of his home life. I tried not to intrude.”

That was very normal. An unmated male, even one as legendary as Gabriel, would have been treated as a potential threat. He was a risk and a very dangerous one, more so than most simply by being the legendary Gabriel. The unknown Carpathian who had given him blood had been courageous to do so.

“Do you remember—again, this would be long ago—a child went missing? A little girl of about ten. She must have been from one of the prominent bloodlines. Dubrinsky. Daratrazanoff. Dragonseeker. Matais. Any of the ancient brethren from the monastery. Perhaps even Danutdaxton’s bloodline. Those I cannot remember from my time.” Sandu studied Gabriel’s face, then looked to Francesca. “Do either of you remember such an occurrence?” Carpathian children were guarded like treasures. They didn’t simply just vanish.

“There was such chaos, Sandu,” Gabriel said. “But the loss of a child, a female child at that, would have been noted. All Carpathians would have been organized to search for her. I was often out of the country, but I did hear rumors of such a tragedy.” He scrubbed his hand over his face and looked to his lifemate. “She was never found.”

Francesca shook her head. “No, she wasn’t. Her brother had been gone for centuries when she was born, but he had returned when he heard of her birth. She was a beautiful child, intelligent beyond her years. She had a gift already, the sweet sound of her voice could calm a raging beast, some say tame it. I was told she stopped a wolf pack from tearing apart an injured human man, and she was only three. I have no idea if that story is true or not.”

Sandu glanced at Adalasia. Could Lilith have heard of this child’s abilities? Did she think the child could get the beast behind the gate to obey her?

Adalasia frowned. It was clear she had no idea of what Lilith might be contemplating, but Sandu could think of no other reason why Lilith would trade Xavier for that particular child. If she could get raging beasts to listen to her, she might be an asset to Lilith.

How would Lilith have heard of her and her talent? Adalasia asked Sandu.

In Romania, there are reports of the Striga from all kinds of sources and different areas of the country. Perhaps she has spies everywhere.

“You believe this little girl was taken for a purpose,” Francesca said softly.

“She must have been,” Adalasia said.

She was young. Was it possible, if Lilith was good to her, for the child to grow up feeling as if she owed it to Lilith to protect her? To do anything she asked?

The child would always be Carpathian, and she would grow powerful even if she didn’t understand the power she could wield. She would hear lies even from one she might consider her mother, Sandu pointed out.

“What lineage is she from?” he asked Francesca.

It was Gabriel who answered, pulling all information from his lifemate. “Bercovitz. She is Tiberiu Bercovitz’s baby sister, Gaia Bercovitz. He never speaks of her. Never utters her name. He holds to the old ways of never talking of the dead, although I believe he still looks to find who took her. He is like an old wolf who will never stop hunting. She was special to him. Important. A sign of hope. He believes if he speaks of her, it might draw attention to those who took her, and they might harm her if she still lives after all this time.”

Francesca nodded. “He never believed the story someone started that she just wandered off. She wasn’t that type of child. Had she wandered off, she would have found her way home. He believed someone took her and prevented her from calling out for help or coming home on her own. I believe the same way he does, that someone took her.”

“If you remember nothing of your past, Sandu, how did you know of this child’s disappearance?” Gabriel asked.

Sandu looked at Adalasia, who nodded her head. He would never tell anyone anything without her permission. “We believe she was taken, too. Adalasia’s family has a book, a kind of history of her family that an ancestor depicted with little pictures she drew with descriptive journaling. Adalasia was terrified of the parasites that were in my blood when I fought a vampire . . .”