There was a small silence, and then Adalasia leaned forward toward Riley. “Congratulations, you must be so happy to carry a life in you.”
Riley’s smile was radiant. “I am. We’re having a little girl. The Old One is pleased and isn’t in the least bit worried, so I haven’t been, either, at least not until Sandu told us of the little girl taken by the mage and exchanged for parasites. Is it possible that was what caused my first miscarriage?”
“If you are truly that far along, although you do not look it, and you are not having trouble, then I would say you are free of parasites, but it is easy enough for Dax or the Old One to search.”
“We prefer to hide the pregnancy,” Dax said. “We have enemies. I wish to learn more of this child taken by the mage in exchange for the parasites.”
“That was centuries ago,” Sandu said. “I apologize to both of you for bringing up something that is distressing. It is from the past, Riley. No one has so much as whispered of the child’s disappearance, that I know of, in centuries.”
“Yet now you speak of it,” Danutdaxton pointed out. “The child’s disappearance is important to you.”
Sandu rubbed the bridge of his nose, all the while retaining possession of Adalasia’s other hand. He needed the connection—their mind merge as well as the physical connection between them. Having Adalasia’s strength with his made for a much clearer path to the thoughts forming in his mind.
“Yes, although I did not realize it at first, not when my lifemate first spoke of the child’s disappearance to me, other than I realized that the mage she spoke of had to be Xavier. Over the last few years, we discovered he wasn’t nearly as powerful as we thought. He always used someone else’s genius, their platform, to build his work on. In this case, the parasites were given to him in exchange for this particular child.”
Sandu stopped rubbing the bridge of his nose and began to rub along his jaw. “What was it about this particular child that made her so valuable to the demons? Why would they bother to exchange their parasites for her?”
“Carpathian blood,” Dax said, his voice grim. His look to Riley was wholly apologetic. “They wanted her blood. Demons sacrifice children. We all know that. Carpathian blood has to be more valuable than any species other than perhaps . . .” He broke off, tilting his head as if listening.
Riley hid a smile behind her hand. “The Old One is objecting to Dax’s statement.”
“I believe the Lycans would object as well,” Sandu said, trying not to smile.
“Fine,” Danutdaxton conceded. “I stand corrected. Carpathian is among one of the most valuable species whose blood might be something the demons would want from this child.”
“Much better,” Sandu agreed, “but she was so young, so little. If the demons truly wanted Carpathian blood, it would be better for them if they took a man or grown woman prisoner and used their blood. A child would never be able to give them any kind of volume.”
Dax nodded, frowning now. “That is true. But if they wanted a sacrifice, a child would be what they looked for, not an adult. They are evil. You know. You were in the shadow realm, and you experienced this for yourself. We were there with you and saw what they would do.”
Sandu tightened his fingers around Adalasia. They might have witnessed part of what the demons did, but they had no idea what a toll they had taken on him. Perhaps Luiz knew, but none of the others.
He nodded his head slowly. “I considered that she might be a sacrifice for them, but I dismissed it. There were other children closer, ones they could have acquired easier without making a bargain with Xavier. He lived far away from them, and he wanted something in return, something precious to them. Demons don’t share easily. So I kept coming back to the conclusion that this child had to have something they wanted. That to them, she was special. The more I tried to push the thought of her away, the more she stuck in my head.”
Adalasia nodded. “Like a compulsion. I thought of her as well. At first, it seemed often, but now, it’s all the time. She is part of our journey. At the time she was taken, she was a little girl with curls all over her head.”
“That is very unusual for a Carpathian. Most have very straight hair,” Dax said.
“And she had very light hair, not at all black like the majority of Carpathians I’ve seen,” Adalasia continued. “By ‘light,’ I mean icy blond, almost platinum. That would set her apart.”