A sly look came over Olga’s face as she turned her head to stare with venom at Vasilisa. “This is about the child. You care, Carpathian, and you have already displayed a self-sacrificing trait, so no doubt you will do whatever is needed to get this horrid child returned.”
His warning system went off again, the dragon blazing with fire, wings extended as the steady stream of fire poured from the muzzle before the small birthmark subsided. Where was the danger coming from? He felt it all around him, but that cunning look of Olga’s and the way she said “self-sacrificing” reminded him of Lilith’s taunting in those days following his parents’ death.
Vasilisa, do not respond for any reason. There is a trap here, and I believe it is one with wordplay.He and his father had been so careful of every word and how it could be interpreted in the contract with Lilith. A lifemate bond could not be broken, but he had a code of honor, and it was well known to Lilith.The brethren are here and will protect your family if anything goes wrong. I am going to attempt to access her mind to see if she really does know where the child is.
Wait.Vasilisa stopped him.They would be expecting you to do that. If they know you can just take the information, they would be prepared for that move.
Afanasiv had to concede that she was right. He would have done so already had he not wanted to observe Olga. The moment she’d walked in with such supreme confidence, he’d felt something was definitely off.
What are you thinking, sívamet? I have to try before she attacks Andros. She’s building up to it.
We should do it together. Or I should be the one to try. They wouldn’t expect that. You most likely are the trigger to the trap.
He didn’t like the idea of Vasilisa taking any chances. He wasn’t about to let her into Olga’s rotting brain.
Something else resides within her. I will merge with Petru, and they will be unable to feel my presence or his. You, I think they would notice immediately.He included his brethren in his assessment.
Let us do this, then,Petru agreed.
Afanasiv didn’t wait, merging with the other ancient. Petru had a light touch. Afanasiv had known him for centuries, and in that time, he had learned many things about the other ancient. He was lightning fast, decisive, a brilliant strategist; he was intrigued with weapons as they were invented and used throughout the ages, so he always became an expert at using them.
The moment Petru slipped into Olga’s mind, it was evident she was not alone. Both Petru and Afanasiv had been on the earth for far too long. Both had souls that were scarred deeply, which meant they fought their own demons, ones that would rival the beast locked behind the gates in the underworld. Still, it was the first time either had ever encountered a live host being used as a Trojan horse.
Petru and Afanasiv began to swiftly move through Olga’s memories in an effort to find where she had taken the child. They didn’t look at any of the newer retentions; that would come after they found what they needed the most if there was time. There was no saving Olga even if they wanted to. There was little of her left. She had willingly traded her wolf, her royal blood, everything she was, for the promise of becoming immortal. For the promise of having every dream she ever wanted. She had sought out Lilith, calling on her night after night, until finally Barnabas had come to her to aid her in bringing the royals to Lilith in a “fair” exchange.
There was the moment when Rudlof brought her Alyona. The little Lycan child fought back, tooth and nail, refusing to go with any of the captors quietly. The moment Rudlof was out of Olga’s sight, she had beaten the little girl until she was quiet. Olga took her to the old abandoned oil field and tossed her down one of the larger boreholes, knowing the little body would be coated with oil and dirt, and most likely she would die there.
Petru and Siv hurried back to the most recent memories to see just how the army of demons and vampires had been planted in Olga’s body, since they’d never seen such a thing. Xavier, the high mage, wasthe one most Carpathians were familiar with. He had run a school when they believed mages and Carpathians were allies and friends. No one was aware he was plotting to exterminate the entire Carpathian species. Nor were they aware he was one of triplets. His brother, Xaviero, Barnabas’s father, had been tasked with wiping out the Lycan species. The third triplet and the only one left alive, Xayvion, had, for all intents and purposes, brought the Jaguar species to the brink of extinction.
There had been a growing concern for some time that it was Xayvion who was the most powerful of the three brothers. He never seemed to have anything to prove. He was rarely seen. He slipped away when he assessed the danger as being too high. Xayvion seemed to create his own spells from painstaking trial and error, while his brothers often piggybacked their spells on the foundation of their brightest students—students they eventually murdered.
This spell had been created by Xayvion. Had anyone told Afanasiv it was possible to do what the high mage had done, he would have said they were living in a fantasy world. He had shrunk living vampires and demons until they were shadows, and placed them inside Olga’s body. The vampires had never been in the underworld. The demons had been caught aboveground when Vasilisa had consecrated the soil, and they could not return to the underworld.
What does Xayvion want?Petru asked, pushing the query into Afanasiv’s mind so gently and softly, Siv nearly missed it.
Olga would be programmed to acquire what the mage was after. So would the army waiting inside her for the word to emerge into battle.
We need to count them anyway,Siv said.We both have demons within us. Mine is dark and thoroughly entrenched in me, and if one of them feels my presence, he will only see me as another demon. I do have my lifemate as my anchor.He was essentially asking Petru if he could embrace his demon and not fall after so many centuries of honor.
I would not leave you to defend your lifemate when I have given myword to you. Adalasia told me my lifemate is alive. She would never lie. In any case, I ensured that she did not. You know I can hear lies. I would not betray my lifemate after waiting so long for her.
Petru wore the oath to his woman carved into his back. As before, he didn’t hesitate once they made up their minds. They counted the shadows planted in Olga’s body. At least six vampires and as many demons. Petru moved through her body a second time to ensure they didn’t miss any of the shadows clinging to bone, muscle or organs. Two more vampires were revealed.
There must be guidance. One in charge. In her brain, whispering orders.Afanasiv was certain they would find a tiny shadow watching the royals, making certain that Olga did exactly what Xayvion needed her to do.
A splinter, then. Like Rudlof carries in him,Petru agreed.
Rudlof does not have a splinter of Xayvion. If there is one in Rudlof, it is no doubt Xaviero. He is locked in the underworld. This is getting to be very, very dangerous, Petru. I believe Xayvion has his sights set on annihilating the Lycans, as he did the Jaguars. To do that, he must remove the royals. All of them. He has gathered them here in one place. He has an army waiting to take them out. We need to see what his plan is.
Afanasiv was grateful Petru was with him. If there was one ancient who was excellent at strategizing, it was Petru. It was not going to be an easy task to find that sliver in the folds of the brain and slip into it without detection. The only way they could know how the mage planned to kill the royals and wipe out the Lycans was to access his brain. He wasn’t actually present at all times in the sliver he had placed in Olga. That would require too much energy to span the distance, but the small piece of himself allowed him to use her sight. He could hear. He could instruct her. Ensure she carried out his orders. He was a powerful mage, and there was no doubt that he could kill given the right circumstances. But it was a two-way path. That sliver of Xayvion, the tiny slice of himself he had planted in Olga’s brain, was a direct path to the mage’s mind.
There were telltale colonies of microscopic parasites around Olga’s organs and quite a few wiggling in her veins. Her heart wasn’t blackened as of yet, but it was shadowed, already discolored.
My lady, you know where the child is? You know the army of vampires and demons you will face when word is given for them to attack?
Petru had begun the search for the tiny bump amid the folds and crevices that made up each quadrant of the brain. Afanasiv wanted to make certain that Vasilisa understood what they were facing just in case something went wrong. Xayvion was extremely dangerous and powerful, but Siv and Petru were betting their lives it would never occur to the mage that anyone would be so foolish as to try to access his memories, using his sliver as a portal while he was using it as well.
Yes.She sounded tense.Siv, don’t do it. You have enough information. We can fight them off. We know he wants to kill us all, and he’s brought his army to do it.