Dark Slayer(118)

He nodded. "Growing stronger all the time and the pack has been strangely restless."

"Something is wrong."

He didn't want to agree with her, not when she was so worn, but his every instinct told her she was right. "We have to go to the prince with what we have," he said.

She bit her lip. "I think I am right, Razvan, but I am always so meticulous. I would repeat the experiments a thousand more times and document more evidence. I am still working on the spell to change the existing mutations for when we find his factory."

She pushed her hand through her hair in agitation. "There is still so much work. You cannot just rush this kind of thing. If we make a mistake, we could do as much harm as Xavier, no matter what our intent."

They stayed up into the morning hours when her skin hurt and blistered, despite being so far beneath the ground-an aftermath, he knew, of spending more than a century beneath the earth to heal her horrendous wounds. She sank into the sleep of their people. Ivory often woke before she should, agitated and on edge. Her body was unable to move while her mind raced with worry. Razvan made love to her often, easing the tension in her, but she couldn't stop the obsessive drive that kept her working nonstop. Even the soil couldn't seem to rejuvenate her.

He pulled a brush from the table and began to run it gently through her hair, knowing she always found that soothing. He did as well. The feel of the silken strands against his skin served as a reminder to him of the absolute wonder of finding her when there had never been a moment of hope of such a miracle.

"How close are you to reversing the spell?"

"I will not know until I try it, Razvan." There was a hint of despair in her voice. "I am beginning to see the enormity of what Lara and Nicolas have faced. They do not dare convert her and bear the death of our children on their souls, yet how can they continue without a life of their own?"

Razvan's smile above her head was tranquil. "You endured. I endured. Such is life, Ivory. We hope our children do not have to struggle as we have, but living life well and handling adversity shapes character. I am proud of Lara for her choices and would not take away from her the chance for service to others. She has many years she can continue to live well before it is necessary to convert her. If we fail, she will endure as we did. At the end of the day, we can only say we did our best. We cannot control others, just ourselves."

Ivory felt his quiet stillness, the peaceful calm that kept him so composed in difficult situations. She allowed that serenity to seep into her and soothe her own turbulent mind. With each stroke, the brush seemed to pull more of the tension out of her soul. Razvan was right. They could only do their best and that was what they had done.

She realized, as he divided her hair into three thick strands and began a tight weave, that she had wanted to show the Carpathian people that Razvan was no criminal to be mistrusted, but was, in fact, a great man who had sacrificed for all of them. Razvan didn't want that. He didn't care about others' opinions. He simply was. That was how he lived his life. He did his best and didn't try to control others.

She took a deep breath. "Okay. I say we go then, find out what is happening and let the prince make the decision to try a larger experiment or keep working. I also need to try the reversing spells on microbes that are out in the field. There is no point in attacking the factory if we cannot permanently stop his work."

"The more Xavier is harassed, the less time he has to do damage," Razvan said gently. "If this does not work for us, then we can buy ourselves time by taking down his fortress and making him move again."

She started to turn her head to look at him over her shoulder, but he tugged on her hair, preventing her. Ivory frowned. "We cannot take a chance on losing him. If he disappears . . ."

"I can find him. Anywhere. Anytime."

She waited a heartbeat until her pulse settled. "How?"

"He took my blood for well over a hundred years, Ivory. He left pieces of his dark, depraved soul within me. I will draw him as no other."

She clamped down hard on the surge of bile rising suddenly at the idea of Razvan in Xavier's hands. "You would use yourself as bait."

"Of course. To draw him to us. He would come."

His hands were steadier than hers as he secured the tie on her braid. She knew because she reached back and laid her hands over his. "No." A single word. His single word to her. Now she knew how he'd felt when she'd suggested using herself as bait.

He didn't argue, but then she was getting used to his ways. That didn't mean agreement. He simply bent down and kissed the side of her neck, right over her rapidly beating pulse.