His blood was an aphrodisiac, created just for her. The scent of him surrounded her. She didn’t hesitate but sank her teeth into his chest. Immediately his cock hardened more. Swelled more. Pushed against the sensitive tissues, straining her capacity to take him, triggering an expected series of rolling waves all over again. He moved in her, driving through her contracting sheath over and over until it was too much, and she was forced to slide her tongue over the marks on his chest just to breathe. His release was explosive, and she fragmented, taking him with her.
They lay together for a long time, content to hold each other as their heartbeats returned to normal and the fierce heat cooled a little.
“The sun is coming up, Vasilisa,” Afanasiv murmured against her breast. “We will have to wait for the bath until next rising.”
“I was supposed to do all the exploring.” She pretended to grouse.
He laughed softly. “I promise you can have all rising tomorrow to explore as much as you want. We need a few days to ourselves.”
“And you need to heal, Siv,” she said firmly. “And let me take care of you. I’m sending word to my family not to bother us for several days. Sorina will meet us at the cave of crystals when I put out the call to her, and we can discuss how best to handle the situation with the gates deteriorating then.”
Afanasiv nuzzled her throat and then slowly, reluctantly, allowed his body to slip from hers. She felt a little bereft. He reached for her, lifting her into his arms as she waved aside the bed and floor to reveal the stairs leading to the sleeping chamber. Once below the bedroom, she gave a silent order to have the floor and furniture return to the normal position.
Arms around his neck as they floated into the welcoming soil, she decided maybe a week was needed to heal him properly. At the very least. With her overseeing every aspect of his care.
CHAPTER
20
Do you have any idea why the gates are breaking down?” Afanasiv asked Vasilisa as he followed her through the underground tunnel leading deeper into the labyrinth of caves.
“Both Sorina and I have speculated on that. According to Sorina, the gates were made of ancient wood and protected by safeguards considered the best at the time they were set,” Vasilisa answered. “It’s Sorina’s blood on my tarot cards that allowed them to stay vital and be handed down from mother to daughter until your lifemate was born. She’s very powerful, and she watched as the gates were constructed and the safeguards put in place. You can ask her yourself. She’s waiting for us in the cave of crystals.”
Afanasiv knew ancient wood didn’t break down on its own. Insects couldn’t penetrate it. It was nearly impossible to burn. He glanced at Petru, Benedek and Nicu as they moved carefully through the cave system following Vasilisa. It was easy to feel the powerful energy in the walls of earth as they passed through narrow openings and long halls and caught glimpses of shockingly beautiful gems gleaming occasionally as they moved through chambers with vaulted ceilings.
“In those times,” Petru said, “Xavier was the instructor for all Carpathians learning how to weave safeguards. If those safeguards put into the gate were of his creation, he could easily unravel them.”
“Not all Carpathians relied solely on Xavier,” Afanasiv disagreed. “We are ancients, far older than Xavier. The safeguards I learned as a child from my father came in part from the earth itself.”
“Your safeguards have always been different from ours,” Petru admitted.
“You had safeguards long before those attending Xavier’s school ever had them,” Afanasiv pointed out. “Where did you learn yours?”
Petru was silent for a moment, trying to look back too many centuries. Finally, he shrugged. “The memory is so far away from me, I cannot find it.”
Vasilisa reached for Afanasiv’s hand. He felt the instant welling of compassion in her. It was useless to tell her Petru couldn’t feel sorrow for his lost memories. He now knew the emotions were somewhere inside each of the ancients. Even though they couldn’t acknowledge them, others like Vasilisa, with her sensitive nature, felt the emotions in the ancient Carpathians.
As they walked together, Siv brought her hand to his mouth to kiss her inner wrist.Do not look so sad, sívamet. Petru cannot feel sorrow the way you do.
Before Vasilisa could answer him, Petru spoke again. “Sisarke,I know my lifemate exists in this time. In this century. Adalasia read the cards for each of us. I will find her, and she will restore my ability to feel the emotions that are buried as deep as many of my memories. It is the same for Benedek and Nicu.”
Afanasiv watched Vasilisa closely. Her free hand had crept to her heart. She laid her palm almost gently over it as if protecting something precious. “Perhaps I should give you a reading as well, Petru, in the hope of providing information that may help.”
This is not something you have to do,Afanasiv assured her.
The cards wish to feel each of them before they leave this place to hunt for the woman who can restore the light to their worlds.
To judge them?For the first time, a hint of the anger he was capable of slipped out. Wind rushed through the chamber they were in, picking up dust and debris from the floor and swirling it around to create mini towers of stalagmites.
At times the men had to turn sideways in the halls, their shoulders scraping either side of the carved-out earth. Those times, to Afanasiv, it felt much like touching Vasilisa’s ancient deck of tarot cards. The cards judged one. He feared what would happen if the system they were going through saw only the demons in them and couldn’t detect that they had a code of honor they strictly followed.
To help them, Siv. Do you think I have not seen their struggles? And yet they aided us time and again. She looked up at him from under her long lashes.They are your family. That makes them my family.
Vasilisa owned his heart. It was that simple. His woman could disarm him with her gentle nature and then become a fierce guardian in the next heartbeat. He loved every trait. When he was certain it was impossible to feel more, the emotion he had for her became even more overwhelming, growing when she said something so simple, yet eloquent.
“Who wove the safeguards for this labyrinth beneath the earth,” Benedek asked.
“Do you feel the power? It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Vasilisa said. “Sorina and Aura together wove the safeguards. Sorina guards the gate here, and Aura guards the gate in Algeria. Both are Carpathian. Aura has a special affinity with the earth.”