«Let him go,» Ivory ordered. «Do it now, or I will retaliate.»
The Dragonseeker raised his eyebrow, his hands remaining firm around the wolf 's neck. «You seek to threaten me with bodily harm? I doubt there is much you can do that has not already been done. And if you desire to kill me, that is my wish, so I do not believe that it will serve your purpose to intimidate me.»
She spat out another curse. «Veridet peje-may your blood burn!»
He released the wolf a little warily, keeping his gaze fixed on the large alpha and not on Ivory, which only served to irritate her more, as if he thought the animal was more of a threat to him than she was.
«My blood has burned on many occasions, avio palafertiilam-my lifemate.»
Her breath hissed out of her lungs. «Do not ever say 'my lifemate' to me. I am not yours. I belong to no one. I trust no one, least of all the grandson of Xavier and a Dragonseeker on top of that.» She put every ounce of contempt and disgust that she could summon into her voice.
Before he could respond, Ivory switched her attention to Raja who, picking up on her mood, was baring his teeth again, low warning growls rumbling in his throat. Little brother, I have no patience now to deal with two males and their egos. Go to your mate who will soothe your nerves and leave me to deal with this… this… There was no word bad enough to describe him.
The wolf sent the Dragonseeker one last look of warning and then loped out of the room, leaving them alone in the bedchamber.
Ivory moved back across the floor until there was space between herself and the Dragonseeker. She pressed her back to the wall, fighting to maintain her composure. «It has been centuries since I have been alone in a room with another person,» she confessed. «I am no longer certain what one does.»
«You could start by telling me your name.»
He didn't smile. He didn't look at her as if the moon rose and set with her, as lifemates were reputed to do. He didn't even argue that she did belong to him as every cell in her body screamed at her was true.
Ivory moistened her lips. «I am Ivory Malinov, sister to the five raising an army and a rebellion of vampires. Sister to the ones in league with Xavier.» She took a deep breath. «And this is not my true form.»
«I am Razvan, grandson of Rhiannon and Xavier. I am a dealer of death and torture to any who dare come near me, especially those I care most for. I will never lay claim to you, so have no worries, Ivory. I will leave you as soon as I am able to do so.» He tilted his head to one side and studied her flawless body. «Do you fear showing me your true form?»
Her chin went up. «I do not fear much of anything, Dragonseeker, least of all you.»
«I can see that,» he said, faint sarcasm sliding into his tone. «Though, in truth, you should fear me. Not me: Xavier. He can find me wherever I am. You must believe me in this.»
«I believe you. I studied under Xavier, many years ago. Far longer than I care to remember. I know him well-too well.»
«You displeased him in some way.» Razvan made it a statement.
She found she could barely breathe in the close confines of the room with the Dragonseeker's hunger beating at her. Maybe it wasn't just his hunger. Maybe it was the way his eyes moved over her with a hint of possession, a male's intense look of interest. No one had looked at her that way since the prince's eldest son-and that hadn't turned out so well.
Her skin ached. Her bones. She'd forgotten that pain, or at least pushed it so far back in her memories that it was dull and faded. Now, looking at him looking at her, asking her questions, her body remembered the feel of sharp objects slicing through bone and tissue.
«Ivory,» he prompted, his voice gentle. «What did you do to displease him?»
She sank down along the wall, drew up her knees and clasped her arms around her legs, making herself much smaller. «I wanted to go to Xavier's school and learn from him. My brothers and five of their friends raised me. Ten strong warriors indulging my every whim. I learned how to fight, but was never allowed to use my knowledge. I could do things no other woman could do, yet was expected to sit home and wait for a lifemate to provide safety for me.» She shook her head, remembering the frustration of having an active brain desperate for knowledge, any kind, and running into a stone wall as her brothers refused to allow her any freedoms.
She rubbed her chin on her knees. «At that time, Vlad Dubrinsky was the prince.» She was giving him a very convoluted explanation, rambling on instead of making it short and succinct. She pressed her fingers to her eyes. «I think it has been so long since I have carried on a conversation with anyone but my pack that I have forgotten how.» She rubbed her palm up and down her thigh.
Razvan's gaze jumped to her hand and lingered there, recognizing the sign of nerves. She was wild, like her pack, uneasy with his presence, not because he represented danger, or because he was her lifemate, but simply because she was inherently wary of everyone.
«Be calm, Ivory,» he said softly, crooning as he would to tame a cornered wild animal. «I seek nothing from you. I do not believe that Xavier will hunt for my body this soon. He has grown weak and old without Carpathian blood to feed on. He will need to find his strength before he can strike at me. Lara escaped his prison first and then my aunts. So for the moment you are safe, but never turn your back on me. Consider killing me.»
She ignored his last statement. «How did you escape?»
«Xavier took my body out of the ice caves when his fortress was destroyed. He needs blood now to survive and be strong.» He looked down at his worn, torn body with a brief, humorless smile. «He had used my blood until little enough remained. I believe he had it in his mind to kill me, but when the aunts escaped, he needed my blood to keep him alive. He is determined to gain immortality. As you can see, there is little left of me, and he grew weak trying to build his new fortress.»
Ivory took a deep breath and let it out. He could see she struggled with herself before she made the offer.
«You need to feed.»
Her voice was low, trembling, and his heart turned over in his chest. It had been long since another had offered a kindness to him.
«I thank you for your offer, but I must regretfully decline. I have taken enough blood from those I should have protected and I will not take yours.»
She frowned at him. «I can feel your hunger.»
«I know. I cannot control the needs spilling into the close confines of this room. I am truly sorry for causing you distress.»
He didn't want her dwelling on the hunger crawling through his body, every cell crying out for sustenance. He could smell her blood, rich and hot and flowing in her veins, calling to him. He could barely think with his teeth already lengthened and his saliva in his mouth. Her heartbeat matched the irregular beat of his own, and that worried him.
He knew little of lifemates, and the last thing he had ever wanted to do was feel real emotion. It was bad enough to remember what it was like to love and feel remorse for the vile things he had done, even under another's compulsion, but she had brought it all into his mind and heart and made it real again. Where before he had been numb for hundreds of years, now every terrible, brutal act-the violation of women, feeding from his own children, stabbing his aunt, betrayal of every single person he loved and cared about-all of it was in front of him, filling him with self-loathing and disgust.
His soul was so black. The emotions poured into him with his memories. His beloved sister-he'd fought to save her, but in the end he'd betrayed her. His aunts-he'd tried so hard to save them, yet Xavier had controlled his body and he'd been the one to plunge a knife into his aunt's chest. He couldn't breathe, couldn't find air to drag into his lungs.
His throat felt raw and he choked, closing his eyes, trying to shut out the guilt and horror of his actions. It mattered little that he had not been in control-that in itself was a terrible guilt-or that he hadn't been strong enough to stop Xavier. Fighting him every inch of the way hadn't been enough, and now this stranger, this woman, br
ought every horrifying, vivid and disgusting detail into his mind and branded his soul unredeemable.
«Razvan.» Her voice was soft. Gentle. «Look at me.»
He couldn't move. Couldn't face her. No, not her-himself. He cursed his body's resistance to death. How could he ever face anyone after the terrible crimes he'd committed? Bile rose and he choked on it, a bitter, metallic taste. He wiped at his face and his palm came away smeared in blood.
He scented her, although she made no sound as she drew closer to him, as silent as her deadly wolves. He shook his head. «Stay back. Don't come too close.» Because hunger turned him savage, while guilt made him a little insane. Now it wasn't Xavier he feared; it was himself. He knew what even the best of his kind could do when starved, and he was so far from the best. He was damned-cursed, even-cunning and… so hungry. Ravenous.
Ivory crawled toward him. «You need to feed. I feed my pack often, it is truly of little importance. Just take the blood from my wrist.»
Between his fingers he could see her now, in front of him, concern on her face, although she was smart enough to be wary. She didn't trust him-it was there in her eyes. One fingernail lengthened, razor sharp, and she reached down toward her wrist.
Razvan caught her hand, the rush of fear and adrenaline combining to give him strength when he really had little left. «No! I will not.» The thought sickened him. Her offered wrist conjured up a vision of a greedy mouth tearing at a small wrist. He choked again and turned away from her.
How do you tell someone you are damned? He shook his head. «You have to take me to the surface and let me go.»
«Why won't you feed? Perhaps if you tell me . . .»
He didn't tell her. He showed her. She had to see-know-the monster she'd brought into her lair. He seized her mind, flowing into her, shoving the memories into her head, forcing her to watch him tear at a frightened child's little wrist while she pleaded with him, letting her see the mother of his child rotting while he screamed and fought and wept blood, raging at the monster who imprisoned him. He made her watch as he betrayed his twin sister, Natalya, and as he plunged the knife into the breast of a dragon desperately trying to help his daughter escape.
She paled, but she didn't pull away from his mind. He felt her move inside of him, alert, the way she was naturally, but soaking up his memories, reading his life. And he fed it to her, hundreds of years with Xavier, watching him torture and kill. Xavier had used his body over and over to commit horrendous acts, to breed with chosen psychic women, slowly taking him over, and then later, using him as a puppet to do his evil bidding. She should have recoiled, should have plunged her fist into his chest and extracted his heart there on the spot, but she stayed, looking at everything, unafraid, quiet, giving nothing of her own thoughts away.
After a while he became aware that he was weeping, deep inside, for those years of torment and regret, for the arrogance of a young man who thought he could single-handedly defeat an enemy who'd eluded warriors and minds far older and wiser than his. He realized he was lying with his head in her lap, her hand stroking his hair, the blood of his tears smearing her thighs.
«Do you see what I am?» he asked. It was a plea. He had spent the last twenty years planning to escape, planning to let the sun cleanse his soul, to take his chances in the afterlife. But here she was, the one woman who could stop him-and she refused to let him go. If he'd had the strength, he would have fought his way out, but he couldn't risk hurting her, and with his mind so shredded and his body so weak, he doubted he could reach the surface without a major battle between them.
«I see more than you think I see. You have forgotten, Razvan, that I had my own experiences with Xavier.» Her fingers stroked his hair and began to make small circles over his temples. «And you have revealed far more of Xavier and his spells than you know.»
He didn't like the speculation in her voice, but her hands worked magic, holding anguish at bay along with physical pain.
«You cannot best him. Believe me, I have tried over the centuries and I've always failed.» He should have pushed away from her, but found he could not. Her hands were inducing a magic all their own. How long had it been since someone had touched him with such gentleness?
«As did I,» she replied. «I knew Rhiannon and her lifemate. And when Xavier cast a holding spell over me and dragged me into the deep woods, he told me of his plan to kill her lifemate and force her to breed with him. He already had everything in place. Of course I knew the Carpathians would defeat him; we were too strong.»
She paused. Her voice had gone singsong, lower pitched, almost velvet. He felt the soft notes sliding inside of him, stroking at the painful memories, pushing them back ever so gently. Everything about Ivory seemed soft and smooth and so peaceful.
«No one defeats Xavier.»
She leaned close to him and whispered in his ear. «Because he has help. He always has help. Every memory you have shown me, a lesser mage first found the platform for the spell he cast. When he took me, and then later took Rhiannon's lifemate and murdered him, it was not Xavier who committed the actual murder-although I have heard he took the credit. It was Draven, Prince Vlad's eldest son. He betrayed our people to Xavier. He delivered Rhiannon's lifemate, dead, into Xavier's hands.»
Razvan tried to stir, but his limbs were heavy. He felt his mind drifting a little as she built up doors, then slowly and gently pushed them shut to trap the pain and guilt where it couldn't reach him. One by one, the memories of his defeat and his crimes were slowly blocked until his mind could accept, from a distance, the centuries of failure, of torture and of self-revulsion. Her voice was the most beautiful thing he'd ever heard and he concentrated on it, on that soft, sweet melody that seemed to take him somewhere far away from the stark brutality of his existence.
«I remember Draven. He is a distant memory. A murderous, treacherous man who demanded young mage women from Xavier in return for his information. He disappeared one day and Xavier was furious, spewing vile curses on Gregori Daratrazanoff for weeks after. I assumed Gregori had finally found out his betrayal and administered justice.» He tried to open his eyes to look at her, but his eyelids were too heavy and he didn't want to disturb her soothing fingers. «Why would Draven kill Rhiannon's lifemate?» He choked a little over his grandmother's name. He had his father's memories of her, the soft-spoken woman Xavier had fed off of until his children were old enough to take her place.
«Draven was obsessed with me. I was not his true lifemate, but he wanted me. He had the sickness in him that some of our males get, and he believed, because he was in line to be prince, that he should have any woman he wanted. My brothers refused him when I told them I knew I was not his lifemate. When they were gone in battle, Prince Vlad sent me to Xavier's school, I think to keep me away from Draven.»
«So Draven bought you from Xavier with the body of Rhiannon's lifemate.» Razvan made it a statement.
His mind seemed at peace, drifting with the stroke of her fingers and the soft melody of her voice. It mattered little that the subject they discussed was abhorrent, his mind could process without fear or guilt or the overwhelming emotions that had poured into him at the sound of her voice. Now, his mind simply accepted and for the moment he was at peace. He didn't want that ever to end. He imagined this moment must be close to heaven, a haven where nothing bad could happen, even for just a brief interim.
«Yes, but Draven didn't count on the fact that I had ten strong warriors who had spent my lifetime teaching me to fight in battle. My five brothers and the De La Cruz brothers.» Ivory rubbed the strands of his hair between her fingers and then shifted him, just the slightest of movements, turning him so that his head was facing upward toward hers.
Razvan's eyelids fluttered. He opened his eyes to narrow slits and looked up at her. His breath caught in his throat and he stared at the woman above him. Her face was still that of an angel, skin so flawless and pure, but now he could see the scars-terrible scars that started on her throat and ran down he
r body as if she'd been pieced together by barbed wire.
«He did this to you?» He breathed out the words in shock, knowing Carpathians didn't scar-not as a rule-yet her body was covered with lines, the disfigurement a patchwork of skin sewn back together almost haphazardly.
«Draven did not like a woman defeating him, the mighty, soon-to-be prince, if his plans with Xavier succeeded. He could not resist bragging, telling me how he was going to kill his own father, because it never occurred to him that I could fight and defeat him in battle. He was so furious.»
Her voice sounded far away, a distant song of peace and warmth in spite of the chilling tale she told. He found, try as he might, that he couldn't experience the horror of her words, the extent of Draven Dubrinsky's betrayal of not only his people but his own father. Xavier was the devil himself, a monster unrivaled, and yet Draven had deliberately sought an alliance with him.
«I was caught by four vampires on my way back to my people,» Ivory continued, shifting him again, cradling his head to her.
Her body felt warm and soft and so giving against his. She smelled of the forest, of the wilds, deep and green and secret. There was a touch of snow, distant and compelling, an ice princess yielding to no one, yet giving of herself to him. It was fanciful. He'd long forgotten fanciful and his wayward thoughts didn't belong in the midst of her retelling such a traumatic event in her life. Everything seemed so dreamlike, yet he'd ceased to dream, knowing Xavier extracted information from his sister when he dreamt. He hadn't even been able to stop that and save Natalya such grief. He knew she'd been attacked by Xavier, but four vampires? Four?
Dark Slayer 20 Page 4
