“Is this card capable of stopping your heart, Adalasia?”
There was something in his voice that frightened her. Protectively, she placed her palm over her heart. “Don’t think about trying to take her from me. She would fight you, Sandu. She might try to kill you. I don’t exactly know what would happen.”
“Show her to me.”
She had known he would make that demand. It was one of the reasons she hadn’t told him about the exact power the card wielded. Sandu was a law unto himself. He seemed every bit as powerful as the goddess card. She was positive Sandu was Liona’s brother. Would they recognize each other through their bloodline? Was she wrong? The pull between Adalasia and Sandu was so strong she couldn’t imagine that she was wrong.
He didn’t repeat his command, but it was a command. He didn’t take his gaze from her face, but those red flames began to burn over her.
Adalasia sighed. “No one has ever seen this card but the women in my family, Sandu. This isn’t easy for me.”
“I am your lifemate, Adalasia,” he said gently. “You are my world. If this card is a threat to you in any way, I have to know.”
She would only be a threat if Adalasia had chosen unwisely. If she was making a terrible mistake by agreeing to take this last step into Sandu’s world. She knew she had entered Andre and Teagan’s guesthouse with the intention of at least consummating her physical relationship with Sandu but, more than likely, also agreeing to that last blood exchange. It was a terrifying but, in her opinion, after everything that had been said, a necessary move. She couldn’t allow her fears to in any way give Nera and her army the advantage.
“If we’ve made a mistake, Sandu, this could be disastrous.” She had to warn him.
“There is no mistake, Sivamet.” He placed his hand over his heart.
It was that gesture that gave her the courage to reach under the hem of her shirt and find the card always attached to her skin. Most times it was unseen, always unfelt. Now, surprisingly, it was very prominent, as if the goddess card had been waiting. The moment her fingers secured the card and she withdrew it, she felt the familiar confidence the cards always gave her when she had them in her hands.
She held the card to her for a moment and then out to Sandu. He came to her, and for the first time ever, as he prowled toward her, power crackled in the air around him. There was no doubt that he was fully Carpathian and he ruled supreme. Dominance and control were in every line of his body—in every step he took. Confidence and cool assurance flowed through him. His eyes meeting hers, he reached out for the card.
At once there was a burst of light. Adalasia looked down at the goddess card. The torch in her hand was suddenly lit with bright red-and-orange flames. Silver gleamed off the blade of her knife. The serpent twisted and writhed. The skull’s eyes opened to stare at Sandu. The goddess peered at him with her silvery blue eyes, those brilliant blue flames burning in them. Her hair, streaked so much like Sandu’s, crackling around her head. The two stared at each other for what seemed an eternity to Adalasia.
Sandu took the card from her, cradling it in his large palm. The pad of his thumb slid over the surface in a reverent, loving caress. “Liona,” he whispered, “are you alive?”
The liquid being poured from one chalice to another turned dark red, like blood. The dress seemed to flutter. The two heads facing in the other directions turned toward Sandu to look at him. The roses and vines on the goddess’s dress suddenly lit up in vivid color, and then it all began to fade.
Sandu looked down at the card for a long time before he handed it back to Adalasia. “I asked the wrong question and she didn’t answer.” His eyes met hers over the card.
Adalasia placed the card against her heart. “She answered.”
“She did?”
She nodded. “She indicated she was alive. The blood flowing from one chalice to the other. The dress fluttering as if in the wind. Her attention turning directly to you. She recognized you. More, you recognized her.” She hadn’t expected that. Clearly he hadn’t, either.
Sandu sank down onto the bed beside her. “I felt her through our blood connection. It was so strong. I didn’t get a lot of memories, only strong ones of her. Of being with her, laughing with her. How could I not remember her? I still don’t when I reach for memories of us together as children. There is nothing there. My mind remains blank.”
Adalasia heard the frustration in his voice. He hadn’t felt that particular emotion before. He’d accepted that he didn’t have a past, just like he’d accepted that he would battle the undead until he was eventually killed. Now that he had a memory of his sister, he wanted more.