Dark Promises(127)

Teagan knelt in front of Dragomir, a stone in her hand. It was round and flat and unpolished. Still, it gleamed as gold as old and ancient as the gold of Dragomir’s eyes. Gabrielle felt the instant connection, the pull. At the same time, she felt compelled toward the maps drawn in the soft, rich dirt. She moved away from Aleksei and crouched close to the ground, her hand hovering over the lines there. Trixie’s swift indrawn breath told her that she was seeing what she called a song emerging from Dragomir.

Teagan began a soft chant, her eyes closing. To Gabrielle’s complete shock, she could see Teagan’s aura begin to expand from where she was kneeling in front of Dragomir to surround and encompass his aura. His aura was layer after layer of unrelenting dark. Teagan’s aura was a cool, fresh green, like the springtime. As her aura stretched and enveloped his, a rainbow of colors began to infiltrate the darkness.

The sight was so amazing and unexpected that Gabrielle could barely pull her gaze away to observe the effect on the other ancients. They were staring impassively, but she could see their eyes beginning to go from dead to something else. They wouldn’t be able to see the actual color, but they could see light moving in streaks through the gray.

The one called Sandu, the complete opposite of Dragomir with fire in his eyes, rather than ice, seemed to call up flames so that his black eyes burned a deep red. Isai, with his sapphire blue eyes, leaned forward to watch more closely. Petru had eyes that were mercury in color and right now they were an eerie liquid, as if deep inside of him a volcano had erupted and sent heat throughout to turn him fluid.

Gabrielle glanced at Aleksei, her fingers on her bracelet, that warmth there. He, like Andre and Fane, stared at Teagan as if she were a miracle. It was awesome. More colors were added into the layers of darkness, infusing Dragomir’s unrelenting gray world with streaks of brightness. Gabrielle realized no one could live in that world for long without suffering the effects. To know that these men had done so for centuries made her respect them all the more.

Aleksei had done that. Her Aleksei had lived in that terrible, unrelenting gloom. A shadow world where he could never connect with anyone. And her Gary had been dropped abruptly into it with no slow conditioning. After having emotions and colors for his entire life, how could he experience the loss of emotion and color of every single warrior who had gone before him in the Daratrazanoff lineage and not go insane?

She wanted to weep. She was weeping. So was Trixie. They all felt it. The burden these men had carried for far too long. Aleksei’s hand found her shoulder and slid to the nape of her neck, holding her steady.

Honey, she whispered softly into his mind. You were like that. You endured that. And I . . .

You were my personal miracle, and those colors she’s pushing into that darkness have not penetrated beyond that first layer. Your colors streaked through the darkness in me all the way to the very core. You gave me that, Gabrielle. You.

He humbled her. His caressing voice. The tenderness in his eyes. She could barely look at him when he looked at her like that—as if he believed every word he said. And the thing was—he did believe it. She felt herself slipping further under his spell. Sliding from “falling” straight into “in” love. Not just “in” but wholly “in.”

His eyes began to glitter. You cannot look at me when we are in the middle of something this important. I need to be alone with you when you give that to me, kessake.

Instantly the familiar reaction spread through her body like a firestorm. Her body tightened and a very pleasant spasm happened in her deepest core. She sent him a small smile and turned her attention back to what was happening.

Benedek, another ancient with the same etched tattoo, long salt-and-pepper hair and his own unique midnight black eyes, actually flowed to his feet, stepping closer to Dragomir in order to try to ascertain what was happening. Gabrielle knew they didn’t see the colors, but they were all sharing the same psychic path and they could feel the difference in Dragomir. The ancients saw the streaks of lighter gray moving through the darker gray of his aura.

Trixie moved a little closer and cocked her head to one side, listening. She was also using the same path, enabling the others to hear the mournful notes playing through her head. Not just mournful—Gabrielle grasped—but the notes of a feral predator searching for prey. She shivered, hearing those notes, knowing that was Dragomir’s song. The notes sprang into the air above the map drawn on the ground. Notes that held no real color, only the same darkness that permeated through all the ancients.

Andor, an ancient with indigo eyes, inky blue black, stood abruptly, reaching for one of the notes as if he could capture it in his hands. His hair, so long it hit his waist, moved with the slight breeze, and his muscles rippled beneath his skin, bringing his tattoo to life. Fane moved in closer to Trixie, stepping between Andor and Trixie without hesitation, a subtle warning that the women were trying to aid the ancients, but not to get too close.