The moment Fane moved in between his lifemate and the ancient, the seventh ancient, the one they had introduced as Ferro, came to his feet as well. His eyes were the most unusual of all. The color of iron, complete with the rust. Every bit as piercing as Aleksei’s eyes, maybe more so. He was tall. His shoulders were wide—wider even than those of the other ancients. He was a very imposing figure in the midst of such powerful men. He glided across the ground, and Gabrielle held her breath as he neared Trixie. He wasn’t looking at the woman, but rather at the notes and the way they surrounded Gabrielle.
She bit her lip hard. She didn’t like attention. At all. She was used to being alone in her laboratory for nights on end, weeks, months even, staying alone. She didn’t have the vivid personality of her mother—larger than life—or her sister and brother. She faded into the background, at least she did her best to, and having the focused attention of all seven ancients was disconcerting.
Still, it was her turn. She had to try to help them with her silly parlor trick. She shouldn’t have mentioned it to Aleksei, that she might be able to do this. The small flames seemed to have come to light in her bracelet, the links dancing with fire, yet only warm and reassuring against her skin. She rubbed at them nervously.
Teagan had done her best for Dragomir. Trixie had found his unique, signature song and sent it to Gabrielle. Now, it was up to her to try to find a location somewhere in the world, where his lifemate might possibly be. Andre would contact Josef, who was standing by with the database, and he would look up any psychic women in the vicinity.
Gabrielle’s heart pounded. Teagan had done amazing work. Astonishing. A miracle really. Trixie had given her a key. Now it was up to her to unlock the door so Dragomir had a chance to find his lifemate. Sitting in the monastery afforded him nearly a zero chance. She knew what she was doing wouldn’t get an exact location. It didn’t work that way. Countries were big. They covered a lot of ground.
You can do this.
Aleksei. He believed in her. His voice alone steadied her, but his fingers on the nape of her neck made her feel grounded. She took a deep breath and let go of her own ego, her own personality, all that she was, much in the way Carpathians healed one another. She didn’t become white-hot healing energy, she simply expanded, her consciousness reaching out into the universe. She took Dragomir’s song with her. As dark and dangerous as it was, as untamed and feral, as violent and mournful, as in need. She took it with her as the energy that was her moved over the map drawn into the dirt.
At first she felt nothing at all. She didn’t let that discourage her. If she did, she would retreat back into her own body, and this wasn’t about her. This was about a man of intense honor who had no hope. He deserved so much better than he got. She didn’t know what kind of woman would be strong enough to handle these ancients, so far gone there was nothing civilized left in them. Nothing remotely human. She couldn’t think about what it would be like for them to go out into the modern world, even with Andre giving them every scrap of information that he had accrued about that world as well as Aleksei and Fane adding what they had learned from their lifemates.
Then she felt it, a pull that came out of nowhere, slight at first, but she honed in on her target range. The United States. Somewhere in the northern part of California. California was a big state. Gabrielle tried to pinpoint the pull a little closer but she couldn’t. She shook her head and drew a circle with her fingertip, keeping the strongest part of that pull inside the center of the circle.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “That’s the best I can do. I think she’s somewhere in that range, but it’s a big range.”
There was a silence while the ancients stared down at the circle. Dragomir cleared his throat. When he spoke his voice was husky, as if he hadn’t spoken aloud in ages. “You believe my lifemate exists and she is somewhere inside that location? That circle? On another continent?”
Gabrielle swallowed hard. She nodded. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be more specific, but maybe Andre can help narrow it down.”
The ancients exchanged long looks.
Kessake, they searched the world over several times. You are giving him back hope. You, Teagan and Trixie. Amazing.
I could be wrong. I have no way of knowing it is for certain. I’ve just always been able to locate things and people this way.
You never told anyone else about this ability? The prince? Gregori?
She shrugged. It seemed more of a parlor trick than actually useful. It never occurred to me there might be a way to find lifemates. I needed Dragomir’s song, and only Trixie could give that to me.