«Razvan.» Natalya whispered her brother's name and turned her tear-streaked face up to Vikirnoff. «Look what Xavier did to him.»
There were scars. Horrible scars on his neck and throat, on his arms and chest, his wrists, even his legs. The links of the chains smeared in vampire blood had burned the images into his skin-Carpathian skin that didn't scar.
Natalya drew in a sobbing breath. «He is Dragonseeker. He would never turn. I should have known and believed in him. Instead I tried to kill him.»
The hologram continued. «I beg you to find my daughter. She is so like you. Tatijana and Branislava have agreed to help her escape. I've convinced them not to tell me their plans. Xavier still likes to occupy my body and I'm afraid if he does, he'll discover the plan and we won't be able to get her out of here. I dared not let Lara know too much because if Xavier suspected anything, he would torture her until she told him everything.»
He hung there, his chains cutting into his flesh, his tangled hair hanging down his back and around his shoulders. He was painfully thin. Even talking tired him out, that and the use of magic as he recorded his message to his sister. He moistened his cracked lips.
«He keeps us all drained of blood and weak. He's using me to find a way to kill the Carpathians. Everything from poisons to parasites. He has to be stopped. Find the prince and tell him, Xavier has to be stopped. But first, find my child. Her mother was not my lifemate, but the mage in me loved her dearly. She was sunshine in a world of madness. Find Lara for us and love her, Natalya. It is the last thing I ask of you.»
He looked to his left. His body shuddered and his skin took on a grayish tinge. «He's coming for me and I'll hold on as long as I can until Lara is out of his hands, and then I will find a way to force him to kill me. Natalya, do not ever come back here. And don't look for me. Find Lara and let that be enough.» He turned his head and looked straight at them.
Lara could feel his piercing gaze right through to her soul. The mental anguish he suffered was far worse than any physical torture Xavier could conceive. She didn't even realize she was sobbing until Nicolas turned her into his arms and held her close.
«I've hated him for years. I thought of him as a monster,» she whispered. «He wanted me to think of him that way so he could protect me.»
«He's alive,» Natalya said. «He's out there, Xavier's prisoner, and he's alive.»
«We don't know that,» Vikirnoff objected. «There's so much blood here,sivamet , and it is all his. If he survived this, it would be a miracle.» He caught her to him. «I know what you're thinking, but he does not want you to try to find him. Either of you.» He glanced at Lara before turning his attention back to his lifemate. «Don't you see? You and Lara are the two people he loves most and he's managed to protect you. We have to give him that. It's all he has to hang on to to keep him sane. This man has given up his life, his soul, everything he is or ever was in order to insure you and Lara have a life. You cannot take that away from him.»
«I can find him.»
«What do you think it would do to him if you fell into Xavier's hands after all of his sacrifices?»
Natalya shook her head, refusing to answer.
Lara knew she would never give her word not to go looking for her brother. Lara wouldn't either, if Nicolas asked it of her. She took a deep breath, let it out and looked cautiously around her. The others, always so confident in their power and skills, weren't as nervous being in Xavier's lair as she was. And they were growing in confidence the longer they went without anything attacking them, but the lack of resistance only made her leerier.
She stayed very still, watching the cave as the others fanned out in an attempt to find more clues. Natalya used her connection with her brother, hoping to find more messages, while Nicolas and Vikirnoff examined the devices shelved in the ice where Razvan was chained to the wall. Obviously the various instruments had been stored where he could see them to build anticipation of torture.
«Xavier is one sadistichan ku tuulmahl elidet ,» Nicolas commented.
Life-stealer, Lara translated, and thought the phrase more than appropriate. Xavier was definitely a stealer of life. He took from everyone-family, species, everyone he met-and the Carpathian meaning was so much more, not just the words, but the inflection, the darkness behind the words.
Vikirnoff bent down to examine marks gouged into the ice. «What is this, Nicolas?»
Lara followed his gaze as both men crouched beside what appeared to be claw marks running along the ice floor. Her heart jumped. The aunts in the form of dragons? Could it be? The marks were recent. Had they been there? Hope sprang even though she knew it was impossible. Both had been so ill all those years ago.
Nicolas and Vikirnoff stroked fingers along the grooves in an effort to figure out what had made those marks. Heart hammering, she crouched down beside Nicolas.
Nicolas turned his head to look at Lara as her shoulder brushed his. The scent of her enveloped him. Although she'd braided her hair, stray strands curled around her face, making him want to brush them aside just for the pleasure of feeling her satin skin and the silky texture of her hair. He had lived long, battled hard, seen beautiful places and none of it, not one thing, compared to the treasure he had been given. The gift.Lara . He whispered her name in his mind, wanting to take the anxiety from her.
Their eyes met and his heart slammed inside his chest in reaction. His belly knotted at the intensity of his love for her. The emotion seemed to grow each rising, filling him so completely, he barely recognized himself anymore. There was a gentleness in Lara he was drawn to. Maybe because he felt there was little in him. Maybe she brought out the best in him-made him a better man. Whatever it was, he ached inside for her. He thought of her, watched for every expression to chase across her face. He didn't even know exactly when it had happened to him-the growing love and need of her-but he accepted that it was only going to get stronger.
«What?» she asked, a small smile chasing away some of the shadows in her eyes.
He smiled back. «Just looking at you.»
She blushed and looked down at the claw marks, running her palm over the area to get a feel for what had made the gouges. At once she felt the taint of darkness. Gasping, she scrambled back. «It's a trap. Don't touch it. Get away from there.»
Nicolas caught her hand and pulled her to her feet. Vikirnoff and Natalya turned back to back so they faced outward, looking for an enemy.
Large icicles rained down on them from the ceiling. Others hurled themselves like spears from the walls. The men threw up shields to prevent injury or even death from the heavy, sharp, daggerlike ice formations.
The ice cave rumbled and shook. Water gushed from a crack on the wall above them, pouring down with a roar. The ice splintered and a spiderweb of tiny lines spread from ceiling to floor. Water seeped, began to trickle and then pour from the cracks, widening them into deeper crevasses. The ice quivered and then sloughed off in great chunks, crashing to the floor. The grinding and cracking noises increased, as if the walls were moving closer together.
«This chamber is mutating. We have to get out now,» Lara warned.
«They do that?» Nicolas asked, already running toward his right where a long, narrow tunnel looked more hospitable.
«This one does,» Lara said and rushed after him with Vikirnoff and Natalya close behind.
As the water filled the chamber and began to leak into the tunnel, Lara turned back and murmured her own safeguard. Let Xavier deal with a solid wall of ice several feet thick in his torture chamber.