She took a small step back and away from Razvan, moving quickly from woman to warrior. Her bow came up slightly, the arrow angled just enough to cover the prince's heart. "We thought only to thank you for your aid," she said. "Nothing more. We will leave if we are not welcome."
The prince stepped into the open area, away from the long, smooth railing out to where she would have a clear shot at him. He kept his hands out away from his sides. "You are most welcome. My lifemate is inside and wishes to meet you. She cannot get up to greet you properly and had hoped you would have the time to visit with her."
He looked around the surrounding forest and sent out a call to the hunters surrounding his home. These are my guests and they are welcome. There was no mistaking the edge of anger in his voice. "Please, accept my apologies and come inside."
Ivory glanced at Razvan. "It is up to you. If you do not feel welcome here, I have no wish to stay." She did want news though. She needed news. If they were going to effectively hunt Xavier, they needed every detail the Carpathian people could provide.
Gregori came out onto the porch, his arms folded across his chest. "Every time I take my eyes off you, you make yourself a target," he said to Mikhail with a small grin. He lifted his gaze to the Dragonseeker. "When the prince wishes you to visit and guarantees your safety, it is a great honor."
Ivory's eyes flashed a single searing heat. "Only if one trusts the prince."
"Do you?" Mikhail asked, his gaze holding hers steady. "Do you trust me?"
Ivory was silent a moment, studying his face. He was nothing like his brother. And little like his father. She took a breath and felt Razvan move inside her mind. Supporting her. Holding her steady when the past was too close. She felt the brush of Razvan's mind in hers, strong and enduring and totally for her. No one else. Razvan's loyalty was utterly hers and belonged to no one else.
"Yes."
Mikhail stepped aside and gestured toward his front door with a slight bow. "Please enter my home as my honored guests." His gaze slid over Razvan. "Both of you."
Razvan moved up then, past Ivory, his senses flaring out to inspect the occupants of the house. There were two women and several men inside. He halted at the door and glanced toward Gregori.
"Do you think we would prepare a trap in the very home of the prince with his lifemate present?" Gregori hissed, his silver eyes slashing at Razvan.
Razvan didn't flinch under the reprimand. "Tell me you would not be wary of so many distrustful people. Tell me you would not protect your lifemate." His tone was mild, but there was heat in his eyes. "I can feel their suspicion like a weight pressing down on both of us. We need only to give our thanks and leave. We ask for nothing from any of you."
A woman with striped red and gold hair burst from the inside of the house, skidding to a halt just outside the door, ignoring the restraining hand of her lifemate, a tall, imposing warrior with steel eyes and a grim mouth. "Razvan. Please."
Razvan blinked. Inside he crumbled. Went to pieces. His heart. His soul. For a moment his world narrowed to this one woman. The person he had given up everything for. His life. His soul. His sanity. Everything.
"Natalya." He breathed her name, unsteady.
His vision blurred as he stood feeling naked and vulnerable in front of her. It was one thing to talk to her from a distance, in a dream world where he lay beneath the ground safe from the recrimination that must be in her heart. But to have her stand in front of him, his twin sister, the one Xavier had systematically fed false information to and had tricked into giving him spells using Razvan . . .
Ivory surged into his mind. Into his heart. I am with you.
Four words, but that show of unity meant everything to him. She meant it. Ivory stood with him, tall and straight, a warrior without comparison, utterly proud of him. Her fallen angel-her lifemate.
Natalya's eyes swam with tears. "Razvan, please don't leave."
He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He swallowed the sudden lump in his throat threatening to choke him. One hand came up of its own volition and touched that bright hair. Natalya flung herself into his arms, weeping. He closed his arms around her and held her to him, shocked that after so many years, after so much suffering, the bond between them had not been completely broken.
Ivory stayed in his mind, holding him just as close, easing the terrible weight of responsibility that poured into his mind. He had long ago dealt with and accepted his choices, but to see his sister standing alive and well, healthy and happy, was overwhelming.
He held her at arm's length and looked her over carefully. "You look good, Natalya. Young." So young. He was her twin, yet he was so much older.