Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 141492 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 472(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141492 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 472(@300wpm)
Again, Aura paused, and Safia could feel her deep sorrow. She couldn’t help reaching out to her, putting her hand gently on her wrist. They exchanged a long look, and for the first time, Safia felt as if she could truly see the real Aura, the one who had been hidden all the years they’d grown up together.
“They brought him from the battlefield with the most horrific wounds I’d ever conceived. The few remaining Carpathians tried to save him. They put soil in his wounds and sang the healing chants while those that knew their healing ways worked on him. That was when Kahina stepped in to help. No one thought a human would be of assistance. We were a different species, but the dawn was on us, and we had to go to ground. We could not save Petru. He was too far gone, and after the grave sin he had committed, he did not want to be saved.”
“If he had died, what would have happened to me?”
“You would have been born and could have married in your world. You wouldn’t have been as happy, would have felt as if something were lacking, but you wouldn’t have known why. At least that is what I’m guessing would have happened. It is possible you wouldn’t marry, but in your culture, your grandfather arranges marriages, so most likely, you would have been given to someone.”
Safia had often wanted to have a partner when she observed her brothers and sisters with their spouses, yet when she tried to envision herself with someone, a part of her always rebelled. Now she realized it could have been because she was already attached to the man she was promised to.
“Kahina saved him,” Aura continued. “She was a very wise woman, and she had the ability to see into the future. She knew that evil would rise again. She didn’t know when, but she knew it would return. She said that Petru’s sacrifice was shared by all of us and therefore so were the consequences. Petru would be long in the ground healing before he could rise. She had time to think of ways to make her plan work.”
Safia thought about the woman of long ago who brought two species together to form an alliance in the hope of defeating evil in the future. Everything depended on one man—Petru, the man she was promised to. They knew he was a man of honor.
“Kahina had no way of knowing that two thousand years would pass before evil would rise. She had been told he couldn’t survive, that he would succumb to the temptation of the vampire after what he’d done if he carried those dark memories, so she devised a way to remove them until the time when he would need them to return. Even so, for a Carpathian male to live two thousand years and remain with honor is a feat beyond all expectations. It is rarely done. Only a very few have managed to do so.”
“You know I can’t possibly live up to this man.” Safia whispered her confession. “He’s a legend. If he’s coming for me thinking I’m something special, he’s totally wrong. I don’t want to leave my family. My first reaction when I found out about him was that my grandfather and father had betrayed me. I’m not a heroine, Aura.”
“He will not think he’s a hero. If anything, he believes he has betrayed you and has much to make up for.”
There was some relief in hearing Aura say that, although Safia knew it wasn’t the truth. Petru wasn’t the one who had done anything wrong. He had saved countless lives that night. But if he felt he owed her, he would give her time to adjust to their relationship, time she would need if she was going to leave her family.
“Tell me the things Kahina did to ensure Petru would return.” Safia needed a distraction, anything to get her mind from thinking about Petru coming. She should be more concerned with evil rising than her partner coming to claim her, but she couldn’t help seeing that terrible warrior fighting his way toward her across the valley, his eyes a slashing silver, as turbulent as the lightning as it forked across the night sky.
“Carpathians don’t scar unless the wounds are mortal, and he had several mortal wounds on him. She manipulated the scars into a map to the Dellys harbor, to guide him to this exact location. Then she implanted a suggestion to be triggered by a phrase to open the door to his memories. She was so brilliant and wise. She drew and colored the cards your family handed down from mother to daughter. I donated my blood so the cards could live and be aware.”
Aura again paused for a moment and then shrugged. “I told you about the gate I guard with the beast behind it. When it was first set up, there were four gates and four of us guarding them. The other three guardians were in other countries. The ones they were befriending, like you, were human or another species. At that time, I asked the grandfather if he would consult with the ancients, specifically Kahina, to see if we could use the cards to aid us in guarding the gates and staying in touch. I had this strong impression it was the right thing to do, but they were her cards. Her idea.”