She took a breath and then, keeping her hands in her lap, leaned into his wrist. Her mouth moved over the ruby line, her tongue touching the ancient blood. He pressed his wrist deeper into her mouth and then, as if because he’d given his permission or made a demand, she fed. Her movements were almost childlike, delicate and slow.

Dragomir watched her, worry clouding his mind. It was Gary who told her to stop and she did instantly. Once again she sat without moving, her eyes downcast. He looked to Julija for answers.

After hundreds of years of being his prisoner, she’s trained to do as she’s told. The consequences of not obeying were severe. Julija sighed. She fought him for me. To keep me alive. He hurt her, but she didn’t stop. She’ll come back from this if I can get her out of here. The holding spell was one Xavier created and it was extremely complicated. I tried to reverse it several times when Sergey and the others weren’t around, but I couldn’t.

Dragomir narrowed his gaze, studying her face, the lines of strain there, the signs of torture. “You could have gotten free at any time, couldn’t you?”

She shrugged. She told me to leave, to get myself free, but I couldn’t leave her. Everyone she ever cared about is dead…

“That isn’t true,” Dragomir denied. He turned toward the woman in the cage. “Look at me,” he commanded her, using his firmest tone. He waited until Elisabeta raised her gaze to his. Again, she didn’t look him in the eye directly, instead fixing her gaze just below his eyes.

“It isn’t true that everyone you love is dead. Your brother, Traian, still lives and he has found his lifemate. He searched for you, but there has been no trace. Others have searched. Your gifts are needed now more than ever, Elisabeta. Many warriors have waited centuries for their lifemates and cannot find them. We have no women. It is difficult to continue hanging on. With your gifts, you can bring comfort to those waiting, extend their ability to hold out against the darkness. Your people need you. They want you home. We want you home with us, Elisabeta.”

Her gaze flicked from his face to Julija and then back again. She took a deep breath and nodded, but she didn’t speak. Once again, tears tracked down her face, tiny ruby drops of blood. The sight made Dragomir’s stomach knot.

“Show me,” Gary demanded of Julija. “In your mind, let me see the spell he cast to keep her locked in this place. Every detail in your mind. Dragomir is connected to me and I will be able to see what you picture.”

Julija didn’t hesitate. Dragomir’s head was filled with images of Sergey walking back and forth in front of the cage holding Elisabeta. His feet tracked a complicated arrangement around the cage, while his hands moved in an extremely difficult configuration in the air. To do both, one had to be extremely coordinated. All the while, Sergey uttered commands of dark magic, words that should never have been made, let alone spoken.

“A sacrifice was made long ago to seal this spell,” Gary said. “In Xavier’s chamber, he sacrificed a young mage.”

How could you possibly know that? Julija demanded, her suspicion back.

“When it was discovered that Xavier had turned against our people, one of my ancestors took part in the investigation. They uncovered many disturbing things in Xavier’s home. He left hastily and in doing so, left behind years of memories within the walls of the ice caves where he conjured most of his spells. That image, because he sacrificed a human being, was very vivid.”

Are you saying that the things we do in this room can be imprinted on the walls? Julija asked, shocked.

Gary nodded. “Of course. The more violent, the deeper the etching. These walls are screaming with their burden. Someone gifted would be able to read all that was done here.”

For the first time, the skeptical suspicion left Julija’s face. We really might be able to do this, Elisabeta, she said, jumping up, forgetting how weak she’d been before Dragomir had given her his blood.

Dragomir found himself smiling. “You exchanged blood with Elisabeta. That’s how she’s included in our circle. All this time I thought you were afraid of a blood exchange.”

I know how this Carpathian lifemate crap works. I’m not going to say a word around anyone that doesn’t already have a lifemate and I’ll exchange blood with the women if necessary, but not the men.

He found himself smiling, thankful to Emeline that she’d given him back a sense of humor. The little mage would lead someone a terrible dance if she proved to be a lifemate to a Carpathian.

Do you think you can access the memory in the cave? he asked Gary on their private telepathic path.

I have located it in the memory of my ancestor, Gary assured. Whether she can reproduce it, I have no idea.

“Let’s do this,” Dragomir said. A shadow slipped into his mind, making him leery. He wanted to get back to Emeline.

Julija took a deep breath and lifted her arms. Concentration was in every line of her body. She looked at Elisabeta. We will do it this time, my friend, and you will be free.

I cannot comprehend such a thing.

The voice that spoke in his mind was the most beautiful one Dragomir had ever heard. Just the sound of it could stop a war, stop a kill, perhaps even make a vampire forget he’d chosen to lose his soul, if only for a few moments. Elisabeta was a powerful treasure. No wonder Sergey had kept her to himself. She would be able to persuade every vampire to join his cause. He could use her voice as leverage, as a gift to his most trusted, giving them a few minutes in her company to feel again. To think again without a chaotic brain. She would become a drug they would all be addicted to.

Dragomir glanced at Gary and knew he felt it, too. Knew the man was aware of just how important she was to Sergey and his plans. If he lost his drug, just what would he be willing to do to get her back? Anything for a voice like that. Anything for a gift like that. Anything to keep his army in line. They would want her back as well – every single one of them that had ever known the blessing of her voice.

Julija continued moving her feet in the complicated dance pattern while her hands waved gracefully in the air, completely separate from what her feet and legs were doing. All the while she moved her lips, the dark, ugly words at odds with the beauty and elegance of her body’s movements. Dragomir shuddered as the vile spell was uttered softly in his mind. He had closed himself off completely to Emeline and was glad that he had. She didn’t need this ugliness in her mind on top of what Vadim had put there.

Julija unraveled the majority of the spell before she faltered, glancing toward Gary. At once, the vision of Xavier, the high mage, was in their minds, the movements and words fed by some unseen ancestor’s memories that were now a part of Gary’s remembrances. Julija slowed, but she kept moving, her eyes closed now as she turned inward to feel, see, hear and mimic the dark magic spell in reverse in order to free Elisabeta.

Each placement of hand and foot was deliberate and slow so as not to make a mistake. The weight of the spell pressed down on her. It didn’t matter that she erased it line by line, that she was undoing something dark and sinister, that slime coated her mind, their minds. Dragomir felt it, so how could she not? His respect for the mage grew. She didn’t falter. Not once. No matter how bad it got, and all of them knew the exact moment the spell had been sealed in innocent blood.

Elisabeta cried out and pressed her hand to her mouth, the first sign of real spontaneous movement on her part. Julija’s face went pale, so pale she looked nearly translucent and her shoulders pressed down as if she could barely carry the weight of that sin. Tremors racked her body, but her hands never faltered and her legs held her up. Her mind and Dragomir’s were melded firmly, two people determined to take Elisabeta from the prison she’d been in for so long. She’d been a young woman, barely twenty summers when she disappeared.

Sergey had shaped her life. Shaped who she was. Dragomir realized she would be very fragile and would have to be handled with care. Her lifemate could be long gone from the world, and she would live a lonely existence, revered by the Carpathian people, but perhaps in her own kind of hell.

He shook his head. He couldn’t think about that. Emeline hadn’t given up under the worst of circumstances. The fact that Elisabeta had fought her captor to save Julija, knowing he would punish her, told Dragomir the woman was resilient. Women had shown themselves to be unbelievably strong.