Dark Song

6

The call of the rain woke Elisabeta, a dark drumming that beat in her heart and lungs, forcing her to come to the surface regardless of her determination to stay safe beneath the soil. Above her, already, the earth had opened at her lifemate’s command and she knew she had no choice but to obey his summons.

She wanted to come to Ferro whole, her mind free of the vampire who had been her constant companion for centuries, but he had damaged her in so many ways, she didn’t know where to start repairing herself. She did know, and accepted, that her lifemate was a good man. A kind one—and he deserved her trust, although a part of her couldn’t quite believe she really was in good hands.

She lay in the earth waiting, but Ferro made no move to bring her to him, and she realized he wanted her to come to him. At once, familiar panic gripped her. Her heartbeat accelerated. Her breathing turned ragged.

You are afraid, minan piŋe sarnanak. Tell me what disturbs you.

His voice. Gentle. Velvet soft, sliding over her skin and into her bones. She felt him pouring into her mind, directing her heartbeat to slow to the steadier rhythm of his. Her breathing took on a calmer, much more even pace. Still, for all his gentleness, it was a clear order, and for that she was grateful.

I do not know what you want from me. I do not know what to do.

She felt him stroke a caress through her hair as if he were there with her. The touch of his fingers on her face. Barely there, but felt all the same. Her body reacted strangely to his touch, coming alive in ways she had never known previously. Little goose bumps rising on her skin. Her nipples tightening. Butterflies taking wing in her stomach.

When I call for you to rise, Elisabeta, and come to me, you will float to the surface, freshen your body and hair, and clothe yourself if you wish. I will call you after I have fed. I will take your blood and then feed you. I do not want you feeding from anyone else unless I am unavailable, and then one of my brethren will see to your needs in my absence.

She couldn’t think of him being away from her. The idea was terrifying. Sergey would come immediately. He would know. She would some-how send for him. She jammed her knuckles into her mouth and bit down to keep from letting a single sound escape. She’d used the trick often to keep the vampire from knowing he’d gotten to her.

You have forgotten I am merged with you, päläfertiilam, there is no hiding your thoughts from me. I am not going to leave you alone until you are strong enough to keep from summoning the vampire. I have woven a shield and that will keep his shadow worms from invading should an accident happen. For now, rise and come to me.

I have never clothed myself. It was humiliating to have to admit such a thing.

It is time for you to practice, sívamet. He sounded very matter-of-fact. Calm. Normal. Not at all judgmental or impatient. You are Carpathian and you are powerful. I want you to feel your power. The vampire could not steal it from you. By taking your control he could make you believe you were helpless. You were young, a child when he took you, but you are no longer that child and you will learn how strong you are with time. Think in terms of small steps. While I enjoy every aspect of caring for you, Elisabeta, to have you do this would please me.

She took a deep breath. She wanted to please Ferro. She had a nature that naturally needed to bring peace and comfort to those around her. She recognized that that was the biggest part of herself. It was a gift she had, and she actually had to control it in order to keep from giving Sergey too much comfort. She had been ashamed that she couldn’t stop herself when his brothers had cruelly taunted and made fun of him, acting as if they were so superior.

She knew Sergey retained some of his emotions because of her. He felt the vicious, derisive insults his brothers heaped on him. They had from the time he was young, even before he had followed them, choosing to give up his soul. Elisabeta knew Ferro would see that she had given Sergey comfort and it shamed her even more. There were so many terrible secrets she had that her lifemate would find out, merged as he was with her. Even the healer and possibly his brethren had already discovered some of her shameful secrets in her memories.

Elisabeta, you will stop this instant. Ferro snapped the command in a fierce, curt tone.

She instantly jerked to attention. She had never heard him sound like that, but it stood to reason when everyone around them seemed to regard him as the most dangerous man in the room that he could command with such a frightening voice.

You will obey me at once and stop this nonsense. I will not have my lifemate ashamed of who she is. Your greatest gift is to bring peace to those of us without solace for centuries. Hunters live in the utter gray of nothingness and yet just your presence relieves that terrible burden. It matters little if you speak. Your voice adds to the length of time your gift lasts, but you were born with a trait few have. I will not have you in any way demeaning what is one of the most highly prized and rare gifts our people have. Do I make myself clear?

She knew he was right in that she couldn’t stop herself from reaching out when someone was distressed. In the room the rising before, when there were so many ancients without lifemates, she had felt their lost emotions when they had not. While they talked to one another, discussing her, she had huddled in Ferro’s lap most of the time, silent, but she had done her best to send out soothing waves to bring as much peace as possible to those in the room who would be receptive.

She wasn’t in the best of shape, weak from the long years of being kept half-starved. Her mind was fragmented, so scattered that at times it was very difficult to think for herself. She knew Sergey had deliberately tried to beat that ability out of her. He didn’t want her thinking. He wanted to control everything in her life. He was furious that she refused to turn over her lifemate’s soul to him, too afraid of losing her to push her beyond what he’d already done.

Elisabeta, I require an answer immediately.

Ferro wasn’t going to drop it. He didn’t sound angry, but she knew he bordered on something close to it. He really didn’t like her self-derision over her talent. They were connected, and she dared to touch his mind. He really believed that her ability to bring peace to the ancient hunters was worth more than any other talent others held. He took pride in her gift and took pride in her. The fact that she felt shame offended him in some way, as if her poor opinion of herself reflected on him. She didn’t like that at all.

You are very clear, päläfertiilam. I will always remember. I am coming to you now.

She would never forget that he took pride in her ability. She would do so as well. He was right in that she couldn’t control her need to soothe those around her. That energy radiated out of her without her consent whether she wanted it to or not. She had to accept that about herself and know that as long as her lifemate took pride in her, she would, too.

I want you to feel pride in yourself because you deserve to feel it, not because I feel it, Elisabeta. You are important on your own.

She wanted to be the woman he seemed to need as his lifemate, but deep down she knew it was impossible and she was always going to disappoint him. If he compared her to Julija, she would always come up short. The comparison would be laughable. She tried not to let herself feel as if there was no hope. She would learn the things she could. Rising on her own, cleaning her body and dressing herself couldn’t be that difficult—and yet it was.

She could float easily enough out of the ground. She made herself lighter than air. That wasn’t difficult. It took several tries to clean herself to her satisfaction, and she was very self-conscious, aware Ferro was merged with her and could see everything she did. She felt like a child attempting to do the same task over and over. At some point, when she was a toddler, her parents must have shown her how to do these things, but she had no memory of the lessons. Sergey had managed to destroy her memories of her earlier life with her family. The flashes of recollection were always accompanied by pain.

Ferro didn’t show impatience. In this instance, she almost wished he would. Her hair was thick and far too long. It fell nearly to her knees and weighed heavily on her head. It felt a tangled mess and she wanted to cut it and wear it short so she didn’t have to learn to manage it.

You will not.

That was a decree. Hard. Fast. A gut reaction that almost made her smile in spite of her frustration with the mass. Ferro definitely preferred long hair. At least she’d gotten that admission out of him. Not only had she gotten that out of him, but her hair was suddenly shorter, more to her bottom than to her knees, and now clean, untangled and neatly braided.

Thank you. It was a relief not to have to figure out how to do that task.

Now there was the matter of the dress. That long dress he’d shown her. It was a more modern style than she had ever conceived of wearing. She’d made the choice to wear the black-and-gray one the rising before because, although it did cling to her figure, it wasn’t quite as thin as this one was. She had the vision stored in her mind. She had set every detail of the dress in her mind so that she would be able to duplicate it when he asked it of her. Now, she was so afraid. How could she wear it?

May I ask you anything?

I have said so. There was no impatience in his tone, but his words implied that she should have remembered.

Will others see me in this garment?

Yes. Andor is bringing Lorraine to meet you. And Traian, your brother, is very impatient to see you.

She couldn’t help pulling back in horror, trying to distance herself from him. He refused to let go of their merging. She clenched her fists. This wasn’t going well at all and she’d promised herself she would do so much better this rising. Lorraine. The woman he felt affection for. How could she face her in such an indecent garment? And Traian? A brother she didn’t remember who would have expectations she couldn’t meet. She would hurt him without meaning to. It seemed she was doomed to fail everyone, especially her lifemate.

This wasn’t going to work. As much as she wanted it to, as much as she thought Ferro was the most heroic man in the universe, she couldn’t do this, not even for him.

“You are panicking for no reason, piŋe sarnanak,” Ferro said, his arms sliding around her waist from behind. “When you have need of me, you are to call out. Reach out. Hear our song. You have choices, Elisabeta, and one day you will remember that you have them. In the meantime, I will make your choice for you. Your choice is always me. I am your shield.”

He bent his head, his hair sliding against her bare skin, sending a shiver of awareness down her spine. His lips trailed over the side of her neck from her earlobe to the pulse pounding so temptingly there.

“You have not seen modern women and the way they dress. The dress I have chosen for you is extremely modest by comparison. You will look beautiful in it. I would not provide garments for other men to stare at your body. When we are alone, I can show you the types of clothing you can wear only for me.”

His teeth scraped over her pulse, and between her legs her sex clenched unexpectedly. Hotly. Her stomach did a slow roll.

“You must have more trust and faith in your lifemate, Elisabeta. I am ancient and I do not care for other males to be around my woman, especially those I do not know. I am more dominant than many of the other ancients. I was born that way and the centuries only amplified that trait in me. I worry that you will find me . . . difficult to live with.”

His teeth sank deep and she couldn’t stop the little cry of pleasure that escaped. His hands came up to cup the weight of her breasts, his thumbs brushing over her nipples. She felt as if flames flickered and danced over her.

You will wear the dress with confidence because I will find you beautiful in it. If you do not wish to meet Lorraine, you do not have to do so. I wanted you to have friends, but it is not necessary. Only if that is your desire.

His fingers and thumbs began tugging on her nipples, gently at first and then a little rougher, so that streaks of fire seemed to go straight to her center, which had turned to liquid heat. How could she think straight? There was no thinking when his mouth and hands were wreaking such havoc with her body. It felt to her as if every nerve ending in her body had come to life and was on alert, just waiting for him, desperate for his attention. She found herself wholly focused on him. Acutely aware of him as a male. A man. Her man.

She couldn’t see him, but knew he was dressed and she wasn’t. It seemed—decadent. There were images in his mind that came and went so fast she could barely keep up, but they were all erotic and seemed indecent, and yet she wanted them to slow down so she could see them more clearly. She knew each image had to do with Ferro and her. That sent a secret little thrill down her spine.

His tongue slid across the vein in her neck and he turned her around, opening his shirt, tipping her chin up as he did so. His lips brushed hers, the briefest of touches, but again, a spontaneous frisson rushed down her spine and spread through her body. Her nipples pushed against his bare chest as he locked her close to him, his tongue teasing at the seam of her lips.

“Open your mouth for me.”

She knew if she did, she would lose herself in him, but she couldn’t resist him. It wasn’t just his demand, made in that soft, commanding voice. It was Ferro. He mesmerized her. She parted her lips and his tongue swept into her mouth, bringing fire. Bringing chaos. Bringing a passion she hadn’t known existed in her. The emotion swept over her so fast and so deep, welling up like a volcano, colliding with his overwhelming feelings so that it seemed as if they would both go up in flames.

He kissed her long and deep, until a firestorm roared in her belly and the junction between her legs burned and turned to liquid. Her sex clenched emptily. Her breasts felt swollen and achy. Her entire body was suddenly restless and needy. Tension coiled deep and a different kind of urgent hunger awoke in her.

Ferro lifted his head, his hands tracing the curve of her cheekbones. “Feed, sívamet. You are pale and I hunted this morning to take care of our needs.”

She suddenly had other needs she knew little about but wanted him to take care of as well. She managed to lift her gaze to his, hoping he would see. He brushed a kiss over each eyelid.

“One lesson at a time, Elisabeta. You have to be very sure I am what you want. An ancient dominant ruling your life may sound good to you now, but in a few years, when you get your confidence back and know your own power, I will be a weight you would have to bear around your neck.”

He pressed her face to his chest, not giving her time to answer him. She wanted to protest. She knew herself better than he did. She knew how the centuries had shaped her, but right then the sound of his heart was like the drumming of the rain on the earth’s soil. Like the sound of it in their song when he woke her. Temptation, and so close. She already had the taste of him in her mouth.

She was a little obsessed with taking his blood just from the times he’d fed her. Now that addiction had grown worse. His taste was not just about his blood, but was wrapped up in him as well. His sheer personality. His sensuality. The way he made her feel about herself as a woman. As lifemates, the way his blood tasted was already an aphrodisiac to her, but she found it was so much more.

She stroked her tongue over his pulse and then bit down, sinking her teeth deep, her body clenching wildly as his unique flavor burst into her mouth and down her throat. She found it strange that the act of feeding was no longer just that, but more sexual in nature. She didn’t even know that much about sex, only what Ferro was slowly showing her with the images in his mind, but her body was already reacting to him and had been all along. It was as if her body had been asleep all those centuries and he had come along and woken it up. She moved restlessly against him even as she took his blood, her arms stealing around his waist.

He let her drink more than he should have, she was certain, but when he stopped her, she still felt deprived, although she obeyed him instantly. He bent his head to brush her mouth with his as if in reward for her obedience. He ran the pads of his fingers from her shoulders over the curves of her breasts to her nipples, raising goose bumps on her bare skin and setting her heart pounding all over again.

“Clothe yourself in the gown, Elisabeta.”

She blinked up at him. He was still going to make her put the dress on herself. It was so awkward. One moment she felt like a sexy woman, the next like a helpless child unable to do what any Carpathian could do. She moistened her lips and visualized every detail of the garment he meant her to wear and then pictured it on her body. She had thought to make it a little larger on her, but didn’t want to disappoint him and she knew it would, so she made it exactly as he had shown her.

To her absolute astonishment, the dark forest-green gown clung to her body, falling to her ankles in soft folds of material. The fabric felt amazing on her skin. Too nice. When she moved, it slid over her, rubbing sensuously, inflaming her already aroused body. She wasn’t certain that was a good idea. She wasn’t wearing any undergarments. She hadn’t thought to add them. She had never worn them and didn’t know what women wore, but Julija had once told her that women did wear them.

Proving he was still merged with her, Ferro shook his head and leaned close to catch her earlobe between his teeth. “You do not need to wear anything else to make you uncomfortable. You are properly covered, Elisabeta. When you are ready for different clothes, we can experiment to your heart’s content, or you can do so with your female friends. Right now, we do only a few things at a time so you are not overwhelmed.”

“I like the material,” she admitted. She couldn’t keep the shyness from her voice. Running her hands up and down her thighs so she could feel the softness of the exquisite fabric, she suddenly panicked. “What about tomorrow? What am I going to wear next rising?”

“We will look at Lorraine’s catalogue together and choose two dresses.”

She felt her throat start to close in her anxiety. He would expect her to make choices. There would be too many. She brought her hand up in an effort to rub away the coughing fit as it began. He caught her wrist and very gently brought her hand to his mouth.

“I will allow you to look with me and I will choose two of my favorites. Hopefully, you will approve of them. We will continue to do that until you feel capable of aiding me in choosing a gown as well.”

She nearly slumped against him in relief.

“We will go into the house and you are to look around the room we were in last rising. I want you to try your best to take in a little more than you did. If it is overwhelming, simply close your eyes and see only me in your mind. We will start with a small area and work our way around that room. It will be our entertaining room.”

She was determined not to detest that room. Eventually, it would represent something good to her, she was certain of it. Right now, it was just too big. She nodded.

“This is a good time for you to practice moving on your own from one area to the next. You floated from beneath the ground, so you know you can do that. I want you to practice walking once we’re inside the room. You have to be able to move both as a Carpathian and as a human with equal ease. No one will be in the house but the two of us, so if you have a misstep, no one will see.”

She swallowed hard. “You will see.”

His smile was slow in coming. It stole over his face, heating the iron in his eyes to a bluish-silver warmth that took the air right out of her lungs, leaving her unable to catch her breath. The way he looked down at her made her feel as if she were the most important person in his world—and for that moment, she believed she was. His hands cupped her face with such exquisite gentleness that her heart turned over. The pad of his thumb slid back and forth over her chin, mesmerizing her as his eyes looked down into hers.

“I will always see you, minan piŋe sarnanak, and everything you do. The way you try the things I ask of you pleases me. There will come a day, maybe soon, maybe a century from now, when I will have to hunt the vampire and you will be left to watch over our children, and I will go with confidence because of the tenacity and bravery you show me right here. You are terrified each rising, and yet with determination, you tackle every task put before you. I could not ask more from our greatest warriors. You humble me.”

She heard the sincerity in his voice, saw it in his mind, and it gave her the determination to learn the things needed to exist in the new world she was in. She wanted to do that for him, but also, because he was right; she would have to be alone with their children at some time and she needed to know she could do whatever was necessary. It didn’t seem possible, but Ferro was an ancient hunter and he seemed to have every confidence in her.

She nodded. “It is easier to walk without shoes,” she said, to try to cover the emotion welling up like a terrible raw burning sensation in her throat and eyes.

He bent his head and brushed her lips with his. It was a brief, barely there contact, but heart-stopping all the same. She felt the butterfly wings fluttering in the pit of her stomach and pressed her hand hard over the sensation.

“Nevertheless, since it is an accepted practice to wear shoes outside, it would be better to practice in the privacy of our home with them on.”

He lifted her into his arms, cradling her close to his chest. He felt enormously strong and, although she was tall like most Carpathian women, he made her feel delicate and small. He was a very big man. She knew Sergey had purposely kept her starved to prevent her from possibly growing too powerful, which was silly when she’d never had the chance to learn anything. Now, it seemed, her lifemate was just the opposite. He was willing for her to learn everything. He wanted her to have confidence and feel her own power. She was both exhilarated and terrified by that because she knew Ferro had expectations of her and she wasn’t as certain as he was that she could meet them.

Ferro set her down inside the front room of what would eventually be the home base they would live in when they stayed in the United States; at least, she could see that was in his mind at the moment. She kept her eyes closed tightly, afraid of getting too dizzy. She needed to put the images from the rising before solidly in her mind as a reference.

“You are in front of the chair where I sat with you,” he said, his hand sliding from her waist to her hip.

The gesture felt . . . intimate. He was never heavy-handed. His palm barely skimmed her body, so light over the thin material of the formfitting gown, but she felt that touch all the way to her bones. She felt branded. His.

“I am not facing the window, am I?” She felt very daring to ask him. In a million years she would never have asked such a question. Elisabeta still wasn’t certain whether she was testing her freedom or his reaction.

“No, sívamet, I would not make such a mistake with the one who is hän ku vigyáz sívamet és sielamet. I cherish you, Elisabeta, and protect you.”

She liked that Ferro called her the keeper of his heart and soul. She had kept his soul safe for so long, struggling against Sergey’s continual assaults, his trickery and tortures over the centuries, that she felt she truly had been and still was the keeper of his soul. She wanted to be the keeper of his heart as well. That was much more difficult to believe. His soul had been entrusted to her by fate. By destiny. But his heart . . . if she held it, that was given to her by him and all the more treasured for the freely given gift.

His hands slid back up to her waist. She felt him grip her there. Steady her. He was there in her mind, adding to her courage. She could do this for him. He had that ink on his back, the one that said he had kept his honor for her. She could become brave for him. Maybe, eventually, it would be for herself, but for now, if she could do it for him it would be enough.

Elisabeta took a deep breath and forced her eyes open. She expected to feel sick and disoriented but she should have trusted in her lifemate. He had her facing a corner wall. A sconce was lit, the light flickering dimly, casting shadows over an area larger than she’d really taken in the night before. It seemed, at first, a sweeping space, but she made it a grid in her mind, viewing it as if she were seeing the wider corner through bars.

“Very clever.”

His breath was warm on her ear. He transferred his hands to her shoulders and began that slow, soothing massage she was coming to really enjoy. He had big hands with strong fingers and he got every tense knot. With just the two of them in the house, it seemed so much easier to let herself have a panic attack if that was what had to happen in order to see the room.

“Think of this as your home, piŋe sarnanak. It is only this one room. This space. This is what we have together. A fireplace to keep us warm if the weather turns cold on us and we do not want to go to the trouble of regulating our body temperatures.”

She liked the way his lips brushed her ear when he spoke to her. The way his breath warmed her and yet teased her senses at the same time, making her so aware of him. He had come even closer to her, so that she rested against his chest. She could feel his groin pressed tight against her. The long, thick columns of his thighs.

“We will have warm rugs in front of the fireplace. We will have furniture. Chairs to sit in for us and for our visitors. What do you envision in your home? Just in this space for us?”

Her heart pounded against the thick bar of his forearm. She moistened her lips several times before she dared to speak. “I have never been in a home. I do not know what one looks like. If you could show me what you mean . . .” She trailed off, uncertain if even then she could envision what she wanted.

To her utter astonishment, she felt amusement fill her mind. Not at her—at him. He laughed at himself and then shared it with her. “It has just occurred to me, Elisabeta, I know nothing about this subject, either. I avoided humans as best I could for centuries, using them only for sustenance. I certainly did not go into their homes. I did not enter into any homes of Carpathians other than Tariq’s and Dragomir’s, and then only briefly for meetings. I did not walk through their home but went straight to the meeting room in another form.”

Elisabeta found herself relaxing completely, his shared laughter at himself turning what had been stressful into something altogether different. She had never known a sense of fun. Merged as she was with him, even though she wasn’t moving very far into his memories, she knew he didn’t really remember having fun, either. Together, they were discovering that even the things neither of them really had knowledge of could be amusing if shared.

She let her body rest against his. Immediately a feeling of tranquility and peace flowed into her. She had never known anyone could have his strength, either physical or spiritual.

“Lorraine has catalogues with clothes. Perhaps . . .”

She tried not to feel the annoyance at the other woman’s name. He relied far too much on the unknown Lorraine. “I do not know what a catalogue is.”

“A magazine. A book with pictures in it.”

There was that same amusement in his mind, but this time, she was certain, the humor he felt was directed toward her irritation at the absent oh-so-perfect Lorraine.

“Lorraine is anything but perfect, piŋe sarnanak, and I thank the stars that she is Andor’s problem and not mine. She is minan sisar. To save Andor we bound our souls together. She was not Carpathian at the time and yet, knowing she could die, she still allowed us to bind her to us in order for her to go into the netherworld to find Andor. It took Sandu, Gary, Lorraine and me to be strong enough to bring him out, so yes, I respect her. She is a warrior. She is Andor’s lifemate, his problem, and he is ekäm.”

By claiming Andor as his brother and Lorraine as his sister, he was telling her that the couple were his family and, therefore, family to her.

She turned over every word he had said. She could find no lie. No inflection that would tell her he felt any differently than his words implied. “Why do you say you thank the stars she is Andor’s problem when you clearly respect and admire her?”

“She would not suit a man like me at all, nor would I suit her.”

That told her nothing at all. He was still, giving her the choice to search his memories, but she couldn’t go that far. She was taking one small step at a time. He wanted her to look at this space and make it a home for them. She didn’t know what was in a home. He wanted her to meet Lorraine and she would do so as graciously as possible, even though she felt at such a disadvantage. She shied away from thinking about meeting with her birth brother, but knew she had that to do as well. Even if Ferro took her far away, Traian could appeal to the prince and Ferro would be forced to bring her back. He couldn’t shield her forever.

“I can, you know. I care little for what others think of me. I have not sworn allegiance to the reigning prince. He cannot order me to do anything, as I am not under his command. Most of the brethren have not sworn allegiance to him, either.”

Elisabeta didn’t know if the relief sweeping through her was a good thing or a bad thing. She only knew she didn’t want to start a war. Still, the idea of so many demands on her when she was barely able to open her eyes without placing imaginary bars in front of her sight was daunting. It was impossible for others to understand.

“I am proud of you, sívamet. You have already come such a long way. You do not realize how much you have accepted me into your life. It humbles me that you do so.” He rubbed his chin on the top of her head.

“Why have you not sworn allegiance to the reigning prince?”

“I have not sworn allegiance to a prince I have never had the chance to get to know. His father betrayed his people by keeping his eldest son alive when he knew he should destroy him. He set many things in motion that should not have been just to please his lifemate. His duty was to his people, to all of us. His hunters were doing all we could to live with honor, and yet he chose a path knowing the Carpathian people would come to the very brink of extinction if he didn’t kill his son. He left a mess to his son Mikhail.”

“How could he possibly know that?”

“Vlad had precognition. He knew. He might not have wanted to know. He might have tried to tell himself that what he saw in the future didn’t have to be, but he knew. He was a ruthless leader until it came to his own children. The rules he applied to everyone else he didn’t apply there. I will not make the mistake of following a leader blindly.”

She heard the ring of absolute truth in his voice. Ferro had gone his own way for so long, relying on himself and then his brethren, becoming such a force to be reckoned with, that even seasoned Carpathian hunters were wary of him. She understood him better and his reasoning made sense to her. He had been betrayed by someone he had believed in, just as she had been betrayed by her childhood friend. She understood betrayal and the long-term consequences.

“He is still the prince, Ferro, and unless I am misunderstanding what I overheard from the Malinov brothers, he is capable of wiping out anyone with his power. That is why he is the prince. He is the vessel for all power of the Carpathian people.”

“That is true, sívamet. Tariq is appointed to stand for him, but he is not a prince and cannot do what Mikhail can do,” Ferro admitted. “Sooner or later, the brethren will have to decide if the reigning prince is worthy of our support and defense. We have not had time to meet him for ourselves, but when we do, we will make that decision as many have done before us.”

Elisabeta thought that was fair. If one was going to fight to save a prince, or go to war for one, they should believe in him.

“So, I am looking at our space here,” she said, hoping to once again lighten the mood between them. “I like the chair we had last rising. We both fit nicely into it. Was it comfortable for you?” She felt very daring asking. She had no idea what the chair looked like. She hadn’t seen any of the furniture.

He bent his head until his lips were once again against her ear, where she could feel his warm breath. The way he did that turned her insides to melting butter.

“Are you going to drop the bars of your cage, minan piŋe sarnanak? You are my little songbird, but you can fly free in our home with me by your side.”

She liked being his songbird, although she’d never sung for him. She heard his song playing in her mind when she was nervous or upset. He had a beautiful and soothing singing voice. “I’m not quite ready to fly. I have not learned to walk that well.”

She realized she had covered his forearm with her hand and was stroking his bare skin over and over. He hadn’t protested, but she still forced herself to stop. She was taking more liberties with him than should be allowed. Worse, if she relied on him and then lost him . . .

“Elisabeta, you are my lifemate. Unless you decide you cannot be with me, I will stay by your side in this life and the next one. You will grow in confidence as you are each rising, and we will work together on building a relationship that works for the two of us regardless of what other couples think we should be.”

Ferro was always so steady, so calm and matter-of-fact. Some of that was beginning to make its way through her seemingly endless fears. He gave her the impression that he could always be counted on. That he was unchanging and no matter what happened around him, he would come through. She wanted desperately to believe that. She needed to in order to let go of terror, get out of survival mode and learn to live.

Very slowly, keeping her eyes open, she removed the bars one by one. At first, she took the ones in the middle off, allowing just a little more of the open spaces in. She waited a few heartbeats to see if she became disoriented or sick to her stomach. The outer bars helped to keep her feeling as if she were still in a smaller space.

Ferro’s arm, locked around her, tightened just a fraction, reminding her that he was there. She felt his warm breath against her ear. He stayed quiet, allowing her to work at her own pace, something she was beginning to value in him as a partner. He never hurried her, nor did he seem impatient with her. That trait in him gave her more confidence.

She drew in a deep breath as, for the first time in centuries, she was able to look at an open area without bars in front of it and not feel as if she were going to be sick or fall forward into space. It was exhilarating. A small step maybe, which no one else would even acknowledge, but for her it was huge, and Ferro had given that to her.

Elisabeta turned her head up toward his, looking over her shoulder. “You really are rather wonderful.”

His smile was slow in coming, but when it did, it lit his ever-changing eyes to that bluish-silver she loved. He bent his head and brushed her lips very gently with his. “I am honored you think so, as I believe my lifemate is rather wonderful.”

Heart beating fast like the little songbird he always called her, she turned back to examine the area in the corner, now much wider without the bars in the middle. She didn’t want to fail at the last minute, but she really wanted to take the outer bars of the cage down and be totally free of Sergey’s captivity. The vampire had done that to her. Forced her to look at everything in her life through bars. She was never a participant but always a watcher. Ferro gave her the opportunity to become a participant but only in what she wanted to do and at her own pace. She might be frightened, but he stood with her, giving her courage.

Gripping Ferro’s forearm tight, she brought down the last of the bars, the two on the outer edges of the cage she’d constructed in front of her eyes. First the one on the right side. With that curved bar down, far more space was allowed into her line of vision, or at least it seemed that way. She forced air through her lungs and pressed as close as possible to Ferro, refusing to close her eyes.

Her stomach lurched just for a moment but Ferro leaned down, his hair sweeping over her bare neck, sending delicious little shivers of awareness through her body, totally distracting her. His teeth scraped back and forth over the pulse pounding in her neck.

“You are so incredibly brave, sívamet. I think you should be called kont o sívanak instead of me.”

Strong heart. He thought she should be entitled to such a name. Her heart soared. Every time his teeth slid over the pulse in the side of her neck, she nearly forgot her own name, let alone to be disoriented by the space in front of her. Every nerve ending in her body was alive and entirely aware of him.

“I think we will leave that title for you,” she murmured. Encouraged, she brought the last of the bars down.

The view of the room in front of her opened wide, spreading out so she could see so much more that it seemed enormous, far larger than anything she’d ever been in that she could remember. Her first inclination was to close her eyes and turn to hide her face in his chest. Before she could, pain and pleasure burst through her simultaneously, so close together the two sensations couldn’t be separated. Then it was the most erotic feeling she’d ever experienced in her life, so much so it was overwhelming. She could barely think straight, let alone worry about what she was seeing.

I could not resist tasting you again. You are . . . exquisite. Ferro stopped himself and immediately closed the wound with the healing saliva from his tongue. You are such a temptation, lifemate. Your blood calls to me. Your body calls to mine. If you have need, I will give you my blood. I was careful not to take too much.

She wouldn’t have cared if he’d drained her dry. He made her feel so beautiful and sensual, things she hadn’t known were possible. She liked that her blood called to him, but the fact that he said her body called to his made her want to hug that statement to her and hold it tightly to examine later.

“Now that you have looked at the space, Elisabeta, what do you think we should do since neither of us has a clue what a home should look like?” His chin moved back and forth over the top of her head.

She froze, unable to give him an answer. It didn’t seem to matter to him.

“Perhaps you can practice your walking and I will call Andor and his she-devil lifemate, Lorraine, to come meet you. She can bring us some ideas to look at as well. I will warn you, do not take anything she says as something I would have you do other than when it comes to house decorating. Her lifemate gives her free rein; I would not be so lenient.”

He sounded stern, but she was merged with him, and although he believed Andor should take a firmer hand with Lorraine, Ferro felt unfailingly gentle toward Elisabeta.

“That sounds like a good idea,” she agreed, feeling his hint of amusement and letting it wash over her, knowing it was just for her alone.