Adalasia pushed both hands through her slicked-back hair in agitation. “He’s suffering.”
“Carpathian hunters endure, sisarke,” Nicu reminded.
She did jump up then, no longer able to contain the restless energy pulsing through her body. There was nowhere to put the sorrow that weighed so heavily in her chest. She did her best to maintain a balance. These men, her guardians, were doing everything they could at the risk of their own lives to save Sandu. She had assured them they had lifemates alive somewhere, and yet they hadn’t abandoned Sandu in his worst hour of need. They stood by him in their stoic manner, and they expected the same of her.
Adalasia paced away from the fallen body of Sandu. “What happens when we go to try to retrieve him, Nicu? We can’t just leave his body exposed. There are wild animals here.”
“All of our bodies would be exposed if we were to make our try from here. We attempted the healing of his body here in order to push out the poisons so we could incinerate all traces of it. We will go to a cave nearby where there is rich soil. It is a place Danutdaxton has told us of that holds many elements for healing. He will guard our bodies for us while we make the trip to the shadow realm.”
She frowned. “All of us are living, Nicu. We don’t belong there, right? That’s my understanding. Won’t it make it so much easier for our enemies to find us with so many of us going to this place?”
“You will go with one guide, Adalasia. Most likely me. Perhaps Benedek. The others will be with you in your mind. Together, the power you have will be immense. Should Sandu not recognize you or be able to move on his own, when we join our energy, we can pull him back with us to this realm.”
“That’s the plan?” She faced him, raising an eyebrow. It sounded far too simple to her.
Nicu nodded. “It is the only one we have.”
“What if I can’t find him?”
“You will. That will not be the problem. I believe he will be taken to the Cave of Fire.”
“He’s freezing. Wherever he is, he’s alone, sick, disoriented and freezing.” Adalasia knew she should be grateful he wasn’t in the Cave of Fire already. The fight to save Sandu’s body was taking an enormous amount of time. Too much. She didn’t want the night to pass. They would all have to go to ground, and Sandu would be lost to them.
“He is a hunter, sisarke,” Nicu explained. “An ancient. His instincts will be to survive no matter the cost to him, especially if he is aware of you.”
Adalasia turned that information over in her mind. “Why wouldn’t you want me to reach out to him? That would give him hope. He would know I would come for him.”
“He would never consent to you coming for him. The land of the shadow realm is too dangerous. It is reputed to be a place where souls go after death to repent their dark deeds. They are given a chance to see the error of their ways. Most do not want to accept responsibility. Those who turned vampire continually try to find a way back to this realm.”
“I could perhaps provide that way?”
“It is possible they would think so. It is possible that you might even be able to,” Nicu added. “We discussed the shadow realm at great length when we gathered together in the monastery. It was an intriguing subject. Manolito De La Cruz and two other Carpathian ancients are the only ones I know of personally who managed to come back from that place. All information on that realm came from them.”
“Luiz might have more details than we have,” Adalasia said.
“Perhaps. He was Jaguar before he was Carpathian. He was turned when he was dying because he was a good man, and he’d saved the women under the De La Cruz protection. When he woke, he would forever live a half life with no lifemate, as he wasn’t a true Carpathian male.”
“I was given this information.”
“But you have to understand it. Jaguars are solitary creatures. He was a Jaguar man, and he went against Brodrick, the ruler who was systematically destroying their species. Luiz tried to tell the other males that they needed to provide for the females and protect them. It didn’t make him a popular man. He was shunned by his kind. That made him even more alone. When he rose Carpathian yet not, he was once again on the outside.”
“The De La Cruz family don’t sound like the kind of people to cast one out because you aren’t perfect. They might boss you around, but from all the glimpses I caught in Sandu’s mind, that is a very feared but respected family that is tight knit.”