Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 141492 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 472(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141492 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 472(@300wpm)
Petru had thought that this time around, given a second chance, he would ensure her safety every waking minute. He would keep her by his side, and if he couldn’t be with her, his most trusted brethren would be. He could see that further soul-searching would have to be done for him to be a better lifemate to his woman. He couldn’t change who he was and wouldn’t want her to ask him to be different. That meant he couldn’t demand it of her.
She glanced up at him, her green eyes softening into a beautiful jade. “You’re really seeing me for the first time.”
“Not the first time. I didn’t want to see what I’m seeing now,” he admitted. “Carpathian women are rarely on the battle lines. It did not occur to me that you would need to be at the front of the battle.”
He let her finish her weave, and then while she was consecrating the ground and ceiling and all four directions, he finished his safeguards. Looking ahead to the chamber where he thought it was best to do their talking, he fashioned the room as a close version of her family room at the farm. He wanted her to be as relaxed as possible.
Petru led the way through the maze of tunnels to the chamber. It was wide and round with a high ceiling. He’d fixed sconces high up on the walls to light the room. The gems and crystals embedded in the rocks glittered, casting various colors throughout the space. The small rock fireplace with the low rolling flames was an illusion. There was nowhere for the smoke to go, and he wouldn’t want it to be released into the air to give their position away. Still, it would feel to her as if it warmed the room and give her comfort.
“This is beautiful, Petru,” Safia said, her eyes lighting up. For a brief moment, there was joy on her face as she looked around the chamber. She went straight to one of the chairs positioned in front of the fireplace. “Thank you for thinking of it.”
Amastan had mentioned to him several times that family and Safia’s home were very important to her. Her reaction to the small gesture of comfort proved her grandfather correct.
“I’m glad you like it.” He took the chair opposite her and regarded her over steepled fingers. On the small table beside her, he’d added a bowl of fresh fruit and a glass of clear water, although he knew she would have trouble drinking or eating. She would have to come to realize that on her own.
“Before we get started and you ask your questions, will you tell me how you were aware my brethren were with you? It’s important. If you could find them, it is possible a vampire or some other creature Lilith sends could as well. They are uneasy and your explanation wasn’t logical to them.”
Safia’s jade green gaze drifted over his face. She leaned her chin into her palm, one eyebrow going up. “Not logical? Everyone, even Carpathians, has electrical charges in them. Energy, if you will. Granted, all of you have the lowest energy I’ve ever come across, lower even than Aura has. Hers was even lower than her mother’s. Still, it’s there. Once I spend time with someone, I can identify them.”
She gave a little shrug as if that said it all. It didn’t. He was tempted to get inside her head and pull out the memory of the moment she had found his brethren, but he’d promised himself he would attempt to talk things out with her. She wasn’t trying to withhold data from him; she was trying to explain what came naturally to her.
“If you knew I was close but you couldn’t see me, do you think you could locate me?”
“Yes. It would be very easy.”
“Because of our blood tie?” He didn’t think she located anything through a blood tie.
She gave him that little frown he had fallen hard for. “No, I told you. Energy. I would follow the energy trail. I can feel you and connect with that trail.”
He was tempted to ask her what kind of energy he had but thought better of it. No doubt it was quite violent. “I would understand better if I could see the moment you found the brethren,” he admitted. He made no demands on her, just waited to see if she would voluntarily allow him deeper into her memories.
Safia’s green eyes moved over his face again, a slow perusal. He wasn’t certain what she was looking for, because he knew he didn’t give much away, but she nodded and immediately opened her mind, pushing the memory of becoming aware of the brethren in the grotto with Aura and her. He studied the way she had alerted to the presence of the brethren. Both women had become uneasy, but it had been Safia who had confirmed that his traveling companions were close. He moved in her mind, attempting to discern how she had identified they were close.