Adalasia found heat sweeping through her body. It didn’t help that the bed was right there, looming large, looking like it took up most of the room. Still, she liked that he felt he could tease her, that he had a sense of humor. That was another trait important in a partner. She had a feeling they were both going to need it.
He bent his head and brushed a kiss to her temple. His hair tickled her neck, but that made her nerve endings spring to life—made her very aware of him.
“Tell me what you need me to know. You feared Andre might find out.”
“The cards were able to hide the truth from him when he went seeking,” she said. She looked around the room. “Sandu, just like in the plane, we cannot be overheard. I know Andre placed safeguards on this cottage, but we both have to seal it as well.”
Sandu didn’t laugh at her or point out that Andre was a powerful Carpathian, or that he was and had added his safeguards to Andre’s. He merely inclined his head, suddenly as serious as she was. Just like before, she felt the difference in him immediately. He treated her opinion with just as much weight as he did the brethren from the monastery. His consistency meant a lot to her.
Adalasia told him the items she needed, and Sandu didn’t hesitate to provide them. She cleansed the cottage first with sage before she began her ritual of safeguarding against Nera’s army or any spies she might send or any demons Lilith might send. She had to seal the cottage against the smallest insect. The earth below them, the roof above them, the walls and mountain surrounding them on either side. She wove her guards as tight as she knew how. The rituals had been handed down for centuries from mother to daughter and added to as the pool of knowledge grew. She could only hope what she’d learned was good enough.
When Adalasia had finished, she was surprised that Sandu added his powerful safeguards to her weave as well. She watched him carefully, the graceful movement of his hands an artistry in itself. Everything about Sandu was graceful and flowing. She viewed him as a deadly poet, one of the fallen angels, all too ready to go to battle when necessary. Maybe too eager for the fight but not aware of it, because when he was in battle mode, all emotion was pushed so deep, he had no knowledge he felt it.
She could look at his face forever. An eternity. Those sensual lines carved deep. Those eyes of his, so dark they were black obsidian but burned with fierce red flames that took her breath and caused answering flames to roar deep inside her, like a runaway fire burning out of control.
He suddenly looked directly at her and smiled. The moment he did, her heart stuttered. She wasn’t certain how she managed to stay standing when he made her feel as if her knees had gone weak.
“I believe Nera and her spies will have to stay out in the cold this night,” he announced. “Tell me what you need to say. Let’s be done with secrets between us. We have too many enemies, minan ewal emninumam.”
Adalasia sank down onto the bed. She wasn’t going to fool herself into thinking she didn’t want Sandu with every breath she took. “The card. The goddess card. I told you how important that card is, that it holds the blood of your line.”
Sandu nodded.
“The card holds great power, Sandu. Much more than I explained to you. I carry it on my person at all times next to my heart. I told you that. She can ultimately determine life or death.” She spoke the last in a whisper, feeling as if she were betraying her family’s legacy. Mothers told their daughters what she was giving him. Wives never told their husbands. She counted on the fact that he was the one her family had waited for all those centuries. His soul passed from mother to daughter in the hopes he would continue to live.
Sandu stood by the window, his large frame draped casually against the wall, but suddenly he seemed much more alert. “Adalasia, I think it best if you tell me exactly what you mean by this power the card holds.”
“I told you my mother was murdered. She was, but . . .” Adalasia tried not to remember walking into her home and finding her mother’s body. The goddess card was exactly where it always was on her mother. Over her heart. “She allowed my mother to die. She could have kept her heart beating, but she didn’t. My mother had passed your soul to me when she gave birth to me. If for some reason you aren’t the one, Sandu, she will ensure that I will die. The cards will disintegrate. I don’t know what will happen at the gate.”
There was silence in the cottage. Absolute silence. Then she heard the wind. Branches scraping against the windows, making an eerie sound as if stick figures were trying to enter. She stroked her throat with nervous fingers.