Dark Illusion (17 page)

“
Sívamet.
Do not cry for me. You are worth every moment I spent alone.”

Julija shook her head and pressed her fingers to her lips. “I can’t believe that’s what you think of me. I’m not like that at all.”

“You are. I see you more clearly than anyone else ever could. I am in your mind. I know you better than you know yourself. I will never look at you another way. You’re perfect to me.”

“I have a really bad temper,” she confessed.

He smiled at her. “I like your temper. I am not a man who would go through life with a woman who always told me yes. I enjoy putting her over my knee, remember?”

She wiped at the tears running down her face and then laughed, just as he hoped she would. “I’m quite capable of turning you into a toad.”

“And you would take great pleasure in it.”

“I would,” she admitted without hesitation.

Isai deliberately floated from the pool to the chamber floor, dried himself off and clothed himself. He didn’t help her. He waited, both cats circling his legs.

“You did that on purpose. You’re such a show-off.”

He smirked and rubbed Belle’s head. “You can do the same.”

“You could just help me out and do it for me.” She looked all around the pool as if it would give her answers on how to float out.

“I could, but what would be the fun in that? Try.”

“I have to know what I’m doing before I can try,” Julija said. “Instructions would be helpful.”

“I suppose that’s true,” he conceded. “But not nearly as much fun for me.”

He folded his arms across his chest and waited in silence as she walked
around the pool and then looked up at him. There was determination on her face, exactly what he had hoped for.

“You have been doing this kind of thing since you were a child.”

“They were
illusions
.”

“Julija.” He said her name gently in reprimand. “They were not. I call you
odam wäke emni
because you truly are mistress of illusion in the mage world. So much so that your own father, rather than encourage you and want you to be the best at it, downplayed your ability. Who are you going to believe? Your father? Or me? It all starts in your mind. You know that. You have power beyond your imagining. Use it.”

He kept his arms folded and his expression implacable and just looked at her. He thought she made some very foul gesture under the water, but he couldn’t be certain. The thought made him want to smile, but he refused to give in, even to humor.

Julija walked around the perimeter inside of the pool for a second time and then stood in the exact center. She raised her arms.

I call to the element of air, surround me.

I call to the element of light, transport me.

Lift me up like a feather high,

Transporting me to the floor within my sight.

She rose easily and ended up on the floor right in front of him. She flung her arms around him and hugged, rubbing her wet body all over his dry clothes like a cat, and then she sprang away laughing. He caught her arm before she could get away from him.

“Show me.”

The smile died instantly, and she gave a half shake of her head. “Isai.” It was cautionary.

“Show me.”

She turned back to him, almost defiantly, her arms sliding down the sides of her body as if she was disrobing. Instantly he could see the white slashes dissecting her flesh along the curves of her breasts and down her stomach. There were more on her thighs. She turned around and showed
him her back, buttocks and upper thighs. There were no raised ridges, only those white and sometimes red lines, some wide, others narrow. All bit deep.

He ran his hand down the curve of her back. “Never hide these, Julija. I will not hide mine. You are infinitely beautiful. Not just to me, but to anyone who sees you. You know I do not lie to you.”

“I don’t know what to do with you when you say things like that.”

Isai gave her a faint smile. “Give me my way in all things.”

She rolled her eyes, but she didn’t cover the scars with illusion. “I suppose you want me to dry myself off and clothe myself.”

“I do not mind you walking naked with me, but I doubt we will get very far. I like looking too much and my body reacts when I do.” He was very honest.

Her eyes dropped low on him. “I see that.”

She took her time to once again lift her arms, this time a little sultrily, but there was no shame in facing him with her true body, scars and all.

Air encircle me, blow me dry.

Cloths of cotton, weave and tie,

Allowing me to stay warm and dry.

She gave him a faint, triumphant grin. “I’m ready to go, although I really do like this little cave.”

“We’ll close it up and come back when we are able,” he assured.

He signaled to the cats and led the way over to the stone where the thin crack was. He slid through without hesitation. The cats followed him. It took several minutes, but his woman emerged right beside him, a large grin on her face.

“How do you feel about
flying?”

The world looked very different when one was soaring through the air in the middle of the night. Julija found herself laughing, elated, exhilarated.
I love this.

Pay attention to what you are doing, kislány hän ku meke sarnaakmet minan. Stay focused.

Was there panic in his voice? Julija thought there might be and that made her laugh all over again. The stars were brighter this far up. Everything below her seemed very small. The cats were running flat out on the rocks below, Carpathian blood calling to them. They would find Julija and Isai before dawn when Isai found a place for them all. In the meantime, she could do a few crazy tricks, like try to do somersaults in the air.

Julija. You will behave yourself. Pay attention. Do you have any idea of all the things that could go wrong?

I want to kiss you right now.
She did. Kissing him sounded wonderful. Completing. That was exactly what she needed to make flying the best thing that ever was. She thought about his face. The lines etched deep. The strong jaw. Aristocratic nose. That long hair, pulled back in his braid with cords tying it every few inches. Always neat. Never ruffled. She
laughed all over again.
Your feathers seem a little ruffled now.
Her laughter grew. That was true—and funny.

The larger owl dropped down to cover the female with one widespread wing.
I think you have truly lost your mind, woman. Stop laughing.

There was no stopping, not when she was this happy.
Are you crazy? This is—wonderful. Perfection. I can’t believe how flying feels. I could do this all night.

It is your first time, sívamet.
There was a hint of a smile coming through the panic along with resignation.
You will tire easily. Please keep your mind focused on what you are doing. If you lose the image, even for a moment, you will fall from the sky.

She knew that, and it should have scared her, but it didn’t. She’d always had the ability to give details her full attention. She was aware of everything around her. She’d had to be. Her father was very exacting of all of them, but of her in particular. Her stepmother was very cruel; knowing where she was in the house at all times had saved Julija from many beatings. She wasn’t going to think about her. Nothing was going to mar her enjoyment of flying through the air on silent wings.

Stay with me. Your owl has excellent hearing and vision. We are looking for Iulian’s trail. I was searching for him when I discovered you. I tried reaching out to him, but he didn’t answer. Neither, when the theft was first discovered, did he answer the prince, Gregori or Tariq.

I felt him up until about forty-eight hours ago. He felt . . . sad. Very sad. His sorrow weighed him down.

You said you connected with him when he was with his lifemate.

She was very tired. She must have been in her eighties or nineties and alone in a nursing home. He held her until she passed.

Isai was silent for so long she was becoming alarmed. In the body of the owl she twisted her neck, although the eyes could see his owl very clearly.

What are you thinking, Isai?

The entire time he was close to you, you could connect with him?

Yes. I felt his emotions, even though he could not.
She settled into a pattern, flying close to him, allowing the larger bird to keep her nearly beneath his wing.

Was that common for you? Feeling the emotions of others?

Automatically, her owl observed everything going on below her. For the most part, there was little movement of humans or even mages on the vast acreage laid out below them. Twice she’d seen hikers, but when Isai had dropped low to ensure they were truly hikers, both times they’d been legitimate.

To feel others’ emotions, yes. To connect so strongly with a Carpathian male? No. That was the first time and it was extremely strong. I was shocked that he didn’t seem aware of it.

You were behind him by several days and yet you were able to pick up his trail again once you were here in Yosemite?

Yes. The pull was extreme again. There was no getting away from it. He was broadcasting sorrow so deep, at times all I could do was weep for him.
That was the truth as well. His brother, Iulian, had moved her beyond all self-centered thoughts. Beyond anything. His sorrow was that deep.

Then suddenly that trail abruptly ended?

Again, she twisted her neck to look at him. His voice had been pitched exactly the same, but she listened for any little inflection. Something was off. He was going somewhere with his inquiry, not just trying to find a detail she missed.

I don’t believe he was selfishly looking to keep the book. It didn’t feel that way to me at all. What are you thinking?

The same thing you are. He took the book to protect it. He had to have had a plan. My blood calls to his, yet it goes unanswered. The book was sealed with the blood of sacrifice. To keep that blood sacrifice from calling to any member of the high mage’s family—
He broke off.

Julija knew what was coming. She’d entertained the idea she knew was moving through Isai’s mind. She wanted desperately to stop him from voicing it. Already she could feel the beginnings of sorrow in his mind. She couldn’t stop herself. She had to delay the inevitable, even if it was just for a few minutes.

How close were the two of you?
She wasn’t close to her siblings at all. She’d tried. They hadn’t wanted her, other than to use her for blood. More than once, she was told she was worthless to the family. As she got older,
she knew that wasn’t true. She had what they wanted most—an abundance of Carpathian blood.

He was born nearly a thousand years after me. I met him twice and only by chance. For a long time, before I entered the monastery, I kept tabs on him. From everything I gathered about him, he was a very good man and an excellent hunter.

Isai’s voice was strictly neutral, but she could feel his emotions. The sorrow was growing stronger. She decided to just get it over.

You believe he is dead.

Yes. You lost the connection with him. I cannot feel my connection with him.

They flew together, Julija pressing closer to Isai in an effort to comfort him. The wind ruffled over her wings, but rather than producing turbulence and noise, the effect was an eerie silence. The construction of the owl’s feathers allowed it to be a silent, deadly predator.

Do you think Sergey got to him? Anatolie?
She didn’t want to think it was Barnabas, but it was possible.

I think he sacrificed his life,
spilling his blood over the book to hide it. He
believed me dead. He thought himself the last of our
lineage. No one else would have his blood or a
connection to him. His lifemate was dead. He knew he
would meet her in the next life cycle. He wanted
his death to count for something.

Julija turned the idea over and over in her mind. A blood sacrifice to hide the book? It might work. The book was still in existence and someone could stumble across it, but if Iulian had taken his own life, spilling his blood over the book as he’d died . . . She didn’t know.
It might work.

He would know no one other than the prince would be able to track him,
Isai mused to her.
Would that do it? Would that successfully hide the book?
From Sergey? From your father? From any with the high mage’s mark?

She wanted to tell him it would. She wanted him to believe that his brother sacrificed his life for all of them and that his sacrifice would count. Be legendary. She remained silent, trying to believe that the book couldn’t call out to the slivers in Sergey’s brain with Iulian’s blood over it. Or that her father couldn’t find a spell that would get past the lock Iulian’s blood put on finding the book.

The book was magic, and magic left a trail. Those who wielded magic were sensitive to that trail. She thought it was a great idea Iulian had had. His scent would successfully drown out the others, but that didn’t mean the magic inside those bloodstained pages would remain there. Over time, the entrails could leak out and once again call to Sergey or Anatolie.

Julija?
Isai prompted, looking for an answer.

It would be so much better if the book was destroyed,
she said carefully.

She felt Isai’s sudden weariness. She wanted to reach out and touch him to comfort him. In the body of the owl, she couldn’t do that, so she stroked a caress in his mind.

Do you know how it can be destroyed?

No. But I haven’t thought much beyond trying to catch up with Iulian and make certain he wasn’t using the book to get something for himself.

Such as?

Bringing his lifemate back.

Isai’s owl pushed into her, turning her toward the west. They began quartering the area, looking for backpackers, campsites, any place an enemy might be.

I will admit I had not thought of that,
he said.
It makes no sense.

Of course it does, Isai. He waited a thousand years for that one woman and she’s dying when he finds her. Why wouldn’t he think he could bring her back?

Carpathians do not think like that.

You don’t think that way, Isai,
she corrected.
You do not know how he thought.
She detested pointing that out to him, but it was the truth. Still, she didn’t believe Iulian had betrayed his people for selfish reasons. It wasn’t in him any more than it was in Isai.

I want to explore the theory that he took his life, spilling his blood to hide the book. He was alone, and he believed his lineage had ended. How would anyone find that book?

The obvious answer is accidentally. But there are a few other ways, magic being the most evident. What’s that below us?

The male owl broke away from the female and circled the area below. It appeared devoid of all life, just flowers and shrubs clinging to rocks, living out the last of their cycle before winter set in fully.

I do not see anything.

Look in the shadows.
Inside the female owl’s body, she shivered.

The male made another lazy circuit. Sharp eyes inspected the deeper shadows thrown by large boulders in the silvery moon and multitude of stars.

Let’s go,
she whispered.
Right now, Isai.

As the owl passed over the largest boulder, a streak of gray shot from a crevasse in the granite and hooked savage claws into its body. The cat was that fast. Its weight pulled them both to the rock as it sank razor-sharp teeth into the bird.

As the bird fell from the sky into the hungry cat’s jaws, a steady stream of what appeared like fog rose back into the sky as Isai escaped into the air.

Do not panic, little mage. I am perfectly fine. This cat is starving. He is one of your brothers’ cats, and he’s very hungry.

The shadow cat was enormous, the size of a large panther. The animal was very thin, and its hair was patchy, as if nutrition had been an ongoing problem. A second cat crawled up over the top of the large boulder, slinking toward the feeding cat. The larger cat lifted his head, looked around suspiciously and then backed off its kill. As the female approached, the male made a soft chuffing sound and took another step back.

Clearly, he’s starving, yet he gives up his food to his hunting partner,
Julija said.
See why I wanted so much to help them? They’re mostly good to one another. It isn’t their fault that my brothers use them to harm people.

Those two look far more vicious than the two we have,
Isai stated, circling the shadow cats.

The female crouched down and began to eat. Her eyes had been glowing red, but that vivid color receded, and she looked around her with jeweled amber. Her fur was more black than gray, and the wind ruffled it slightly.

Those two are called Comet and Phaedra. They are the biggest and most dangerous of his cats. I couldn’t get near them. The female in particular would have taken my head off if she could have.

She looks docile enough now.

Julija’s breath caught in her throat. He wasn’t going to listen to her.
Isai, please, let’s just get out of here. Anatolie can lay traps in places like this. The cats are programmed to find Carpathian blood. They crave it. Anatolie craves it. So do my brothers, and now, especially Barnabas. It is only a matter of time before they recognize that Carpathian blood is in close proximity to them.

Do you believe they are looking for you? Me? Or my brother?

Panic was beginning to fray the edges of her mood. She’d been so ecstatic, now she wanted to run for her life and take Isai with her.

We cannot leave these two with your brothers. They will harm human life as well as mage or Carpathian. If they are left to run free without direction . . .

Their direction is to kill. You. Me. Anyone they find. Come on, Isai. Let’s leave here.
She directed her owl to circle above the cats, looking for anything that would tell her this was a trap Anatolie or her brothers—or worse, Barnabas—had set for them.

Take a breath, sívamet, they do not know anything about us. They cannot know we are lifemates.

She wanted to curl up inside the owl, small and frightened. She wanted to demand Isai listen to her. Mostly she wanted to gather up every molecule that could possibly be her lifemate and force him to leave whether he wanted to or not.

He knows, Isai. Anatolie knows everything. What he knows, Barnabas will know. I believe he has chosen Barnabas as his right hand. He directs and Barnabas carries out whatever it is Anatolie tells him.
She kept a wary eye on the feeding cats.

Then Barnabas is not nearly as powerful as they want you to think. He needs your father’s direction and approval. Had he been intelligent, he would know, like your father, that you were the one with the power.

Isai kept telling her that. Over and over. He clearly believed that the Carpathian DNA in her body coupled with the mage had given her some advantage over everyone. She wished it was true. She was beginning, in the back of her mind, to believe him. Just a little.