Dark Tarot (Dark Carpathians)

She tried to keep her mind and expression blank. Sandu was adept at reading her and, unfortunately, so were his brethren—now hers. That small wisp of meaning that drifted into her mind was something she didn’t want to share. It wasn’t strong enough. She wasn’t certain—and it wasn’t good. She wanted good. She moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue.

“Would you please do it one more time? Shuffle, divide the deck into thirds. Choose one of the thirds, put the other two aside and then fan out the cards facedown on the table from the one you chose.” She placed her hand over her heart, over the goddess card, pressing hard, sending up a prayer to anyone who would listen. Let this be good. Let this be right. Nicu was such a good man.

The brethren moved closer. Nicu didn’t take his eyes from hers. He didn’t look at the cards, but he did exactly what she told him to do. He shuffled and he shuffled well. He divided the tarot deck into thirds and set two of the thirds to one side, fanning out the remaining cards face-down on the table.

“Choose three and turn them faceup, Nicu,” she instructed quietly. Her heart pounded out of control. She knew the men were predators, hunters, and they couldn’t fail to hear. She couldn’t stop her reaction. She waited as Nicu chose a card from those in front of him, drew out of the fan and turned it faceup. A second followed. Then a third. The devil. The lovers. The chariot.

“I’m consistent,” he said.

She closed her eyes briefly and then looked up at him. “You are,” she agreed.

“What does it mean?”

“Your lifemate is alive in this century. You have a journey and will need those you trust to aid you in retrieving her. She is not where she can easily be found.” She didn’t know anything for certain. She could surmise. She could guess. But she didn’t know.

Nicu’s gray eyes slid over her face. “You do not tell me everything, Adalasia.”

“When I do a reading, I try not to put anything of myself into the reading. Speculation or guessing shouldn’t be done. I might have intuition, but that isn’t the same thing. We can try again another time to get better answers.”

“You know for certain she is alive.”

Adalasia looked down at the cards. She was exhausted. She wanted to rest. “Yes. She is alive, Nicu. That I can say for certain. I’m really tired, and I still have to make sure Nera’s spies can’t come in through the ground, walls or ceiling.”

She gathered up the cards and returned them to their ancient pouch. She would cleanse them the next rising. Sandu helped her up, and strangely, her legs felt weak, as if she’d run a long race. He wrapped his arm around her waist.

I watched how you sealed the cottage against Nera’s spies, ewal emninumam. I can do this for you. You are much too tired.

It has to be me.

Sandu caught her chin and tipped her face up to his, his dark eyes searching hers. You are up to no good.

She stroked gentle laughter into his mind. Perhaps.

The brethren watched her as she sealed the above, below and all four sides against any harm Nera’s army or her spies might bring. They didn’t notice the little illusion she carefully wove afterward, the one including breeding leeches, as well as egg sacs, and hundreds of leeches rising to attach themselves to the unsuspecting sleeping Carpathian. Since it was an illusion and she was already inside before they set their own safeguards, they would merely seal her illusion in with them. More than satisfied, she went with her lifemate to find their place of rest for the night.

It was always this first moment, when Sandu became aware that he was not alone as he had been for as long as he could remember. He waved his hand to open the earth but remained very still, feeling the now ever-present ache of desire that rose when he awakened. It was part of him, that craving for her body, that sometimes was just a comfortable longing and other times intense and nearly impossible to ignore.

He allowed his gaze to sweep over her. Adalasia. His. A small smile tugged at his mind. She wouldn’t like to admit she enjoyed when he thought so possessively about her, but he did it all the time. He always would. He didn’t mind when she thought the same thing about him. She looked so feminine curled next to him. He loved just looking at the shape of her. The long line of her back. Her generous hips and breasts. Her long legs. The way she wrapped them around him when he was moving in her.

The thought of that made his cock thicken more, gave him a pleasant ache. He needed to find blood for them both. It wouldn’t be too difficult. This cave system wasn’t far from a few of the smaller villages. Just taking a few minutes to savor this first waking, knowing she was with him, that he really had his lifemate after two thousand years of searching.