Perhaps, but there is no harm in adding to your protections.
“Stop talking telepathically,” Andros snapped. “The buzzing in my head is adding to my headache. If you have something to say, just say it.”
“We were discussing how better to defend the palace against an attack,” Afanasiv said. He lengthened his strides until he walked beside Andros. The man was holding his pain in, refusing to allow it to spill out where his sister or Afanasiv could feel it. This wasn’t just an ordinary headache.
“Wait, Andros,” Afanasiv ordered. “Let me examine you. Gaia made certain Lilith no longer had you under her control—she did that with each of you—but Lilith may have been able to plant something else in you.”
Andros halted immediately. He pressed both hands to his head. “I feel like my skull is too tight, and any minute, my wolf is going to emerge and go rogue. I feel him raging. Snarling. He isn’t like that and yet I can’t seem to control him.”
“Lilith managed to get your blood, Andros,” Afanasiv pointed out. “I need to examine you. I must have your consent.”
“Yes, just do whatever you need to, but fast. My wolf is very agitated. Every time I look at Vasi or think of her, my wolf becomes enraged.”
Afanasiv didn’t wait.Nicu, I have need of you. I do not think Vasilisa is safe. I believe her brother Grigor, Lada and Karine will target her. Grigor most likely will come at her as a wolf. I am searching Andros now in the hope of finding what was placed in him that has been activated to create such hatred for my lifemate.
“I have asked that my brethren join us. If there is something in you, Andros, there could also be something in your brother and the women, all targeting Vasilisa. My lady, Nicu is closest, right outside. Please allow him in to guard you. Once he is inside, I will see to your brother.” He didn’t give her an option, forestalling any argument by simply stating he would wait to help Andros until she was protected.
Vasilisa went to the nearest exit and opened the door. Nicu strode in. He was a tall man, all muscle, sleek and powerful. His facial features appeared angular. A scar curved from his left temple to the corner of his eye. His eyes were gray. He had long black hair he kept braided with leather cords. He appeared every bit as dangerous as the feral wolves who howled for his return.
He nodded to Afanasiv and leaned his tall frame against the wall behind Vasilisa, chewing on a toothpick. Afanasiv shed his physical body and all ego to become a white-hot healing spirit entering Andros. He moved through the royal’s body, examining the bloodstream first, then the vital organs, bone marrow, and lastly, he traveled to the brain.
All along, Afanasiv feared whatever had been planted within Andros must be in his brain. That would make the shadow very difficult to find. Not impossible, but difficult.
Siv.Vasilisa spoke quietly, making certain her telepathic connection to him didn’t spill over so her brother wasn’t bothered.Lilith was trying to acquire me this entire time. I have the blood of the royals in me, too. Why would she wire all of my relatives to murder me if she believed she was going to have me under her control? I don’t think these orders came from her. Do you?
He didn’t want to speculate, not with Vasilisa. She was too intelligent and asked all the right questions.I doubt that Lilith programmedyour brothers to kill you.He agreed with her because one never lied to his lifemate.
There it was. A tiny angular dot clinging to a spot under one of the folds in the frontal lobe.This is the work of a mage. There is a small sliver of him here.Afanasiv looped in Nicu.
Xavier cannot travel to this realm. He is sealed in the underworld,Vasilisa objected.I was very thorough, Siv. He cannot cross into this plane.
He is one of three—a triplet. One of his brothers, Xaviero, is in the underworld, as well. If he put a sliver of himself in each of those returning to the surface, he would have eyes everywhere eventually. The fact that he decided to turn your family against you is most likely an order from Xavier and Olga. They both are very vengeful.
Nicu took charge, no longer leaning lazily against the wall beside the door. “When Siv drives the sliver from your brother, it will seek a host. I must destroy it before it manages to do that. Vasilisa, you must stay hidden and far from this abomination. I have to bring in a lightning fork to destroy it. That means opening the door and possibly allowing it to escape if I’m not fast enough.”
“I can open the door without being detected,” Vasilisa offered. She shimmered for a moment, became transparent, hovering above the door so Nicu could see for himself where she intended to be.
Nicu sized her up and then nodded curtly.The storm is overhead, Siv. We are ready.
Afanasiv immediately turned his white-hot spirit on the sliver, blasting it with pure light. The sliver shuddered, the edges curling, smoke rising as it raced away from the light. Afanasiv was faster, pursuing the tiny piece of Xaviero as it raced to desert Andros’ body in the hope of finding a new host.
“Now,” Nicu commanded Vasilisa.
She yanked open the door, and Nicu called down the jagged spear of lightning, aiming at the dark sliver as it slithered so quickly across the marble tile, racing toward the door and freedom. Lightning sizzledand cracked, the bolt of pure energy slamming into the tiny sliver so precisely the spear pinned the dark shadow dead center.
At once, a foul stench permeated the hallway. On the far wall, a figure in a long robe appeared in shadow form, his head thrown back in agony. He extended a long arm, bony fingers outstretched as if he might be able to grab Vasilisa before he was consumed by the flames licking at his feet and legs. The robe went up in a fiery display, and then he was gone in a flash-fire of orange and red.
Andros stared at the smoke and ash and then looked up at Afanasiv. “That thing was in my head? In my brain? It was telling me to kill my sister?”
Afanasiv nodded. “I fear your brother Grigor has one in his brain, as well. It is possible Lada and Karine are hosts to these slivers. If so, Xaviero has spread himself thin. Each piece lost diminishes him. They seem small, but they add up.”
“We should check Grigor first,” Andros said. “He can be very dangerous.”
“So can I when it comes to my lifemate’s safety,” Afanasiv warned.
CHAPTER
12