“That’s cryptic,” Riley said.
“Domizio was said to have precog,” Dax said with a shrug of his broad shoulders. “Years later, there was a rumor that he was gone, and with him, Madolina. No one knew what happened to Liona. She disappeared. The family of di Berdardo was no more.”
Sandu was quiet for a long time, turning the information given to him over and over in his mind. “Do you know if anyone looked for Liona after my parents moved on to the next life?”
Dax shook his head. “I was traveling fast, hunting Mitro. He was destroying humans and Carpathians alike in his path. Arabejila was growing weary of finding the vicious, brutal kills her lifemate had made. No matter how often I told her she wasn’t responsible for what Mitro did, she took that burden on. She believed she should have been able to keep Mitro from turning vampire, that she should have somehow been stronger. When we realized Domizio and Madolina had moved on to the next life, she was certain Mitro had killed him, and Madolina followed him.”
“Was that a possibility?”
Dax nodded. “It was, but I have never believed it to be true. Mitro was a braggart. He liked to tell everyone who would listen how he killed and how often. He even would tell hunters he engaged in battle with of the lesser vampires he made into pawns. He would have bragged about killing a hunter such as your father.”
“Mitro was that experienced in battle that he always managed to kill his pursuers?”
“He was a master at concealing himself and then running before he was found. He concealed himself in the tiniest of insects or the largest mammal. He did not mind running as long as he was able to live. He hated like no one I ever met before or since,” Dax said. “He struck at Arabejila over and over, but although he was undead and he deliberately chose to give up his soul, he could not kill her. He sent others after her so many times I would have to make the choice to save her or chase after him.”
Adalasia frowned. “If she died, wouldn’t he?”
“He was already vampire. He would not die,” Sandu said. “If lifemates are not tied together, the male can rise vampire, or he can follow his lifemate into the next life. Clearly, Mitro would not choose to follow Arabejila.”
“Why was it so important to him that she die?” Adalasia persisted, her hand going defensively to her throat. She stroked the pads of her fingers there in the way she often did when she was nervous.
“No matter where Mitro went or how far away he got from us, Arabejila could always find him. She was his lifemate and he couldn’t hide from her. When she went on the actual hunt with me when I had him cornered, even his concealment spells didn’t work for long. She had a kind of magnet for finding the direction he had taken. Once Mitro realized Arabejila was the one responsible for tracking him, he devised plan after plan to get rid of her.”
“That’s horrible,” Riley said. “I can’t imagine how she must have felt.”
Danutdaxton nodded, his thumb sliding over Riley’s knuckles. Sandu couldn’t decide whether that gesture was to soothe Riley or himself.
“It was a terrible time for her and very wearing. By the time we got to the territory the di Berdardo family guarded, Arabejila was very worn and looking forward to the company of the di Berdardo women. Both women had a soothing quality and were easy to be around. They had welcomed her, and I think Arabejila needed to feel as if Carpathian women didn’t condemn her for the sins of her lifemate.”
Dax studied their faces and then their joined hands. “This is a difficult path you walk, and very dangerous. I am not a seer, but yet I can see clearly that it is very necessary that you go forward with absolute clarity, without hesitation between you or the brethren. You have chosen your brothers wisely, Sandu. I will confess, when I first heard your call and knew you traveled with four ancients without lifemates, I thought you had lost your mind.”
“I do rely heavily on my intuition,” Sandu admitted. “I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that Benedek, Nicu, Petru, and Siv had to come with us. I was not altogether certain whether they were to come for our journey to be successful or whether they would discover something along the way that would lead them to their lifemates.”
“Perhaps it is both,” Adalasia said.
“What is it you hope to find?” Dax asked.
“My past,” Sandu said simply. “My sister if possible, or at least what happened to her. I do know she is alive now, where before, I didn’t even know that. I have no memories of my family or where I come from. They seem to be deliberately wiped away. I want to know why that is.” He threaded his fingers through Adalasia’s. “More than anything else, the threat to my lifemate has to be stopped. To do that, we have to know why they keep coming after her.”