Total pages in book: 182
Estimated words: 165649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 828(@200wpm)___ 663(@250wpm)___ 552(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 165649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 828(@200wpm)___ 663(@250wpm)___ 552(@300wpm)
He is not very good at casting spells, but he practices. It scares him because there are severe repercussions when mistakes are made, and he makes many mistakes.
Ferro considered that. If Sergey had access to Xavier’s spells but didn’t have the ability to actually cast them properly and was afraid of the consequences if he reproduced them incorrectly, then it was doubtful he used a spell on his favorite toy. Elisabeta had become necessary to Sergey. He had developed a need for her. Although Elisabeta had been his prisoner, in more ways, he had been hers.
Her breath hitched in her throat and her head tilted toward his. He looked down into her dark eyes. What do you mean, Ferro?
He liked that she wanted to enter into a discussion with him. She had a good mind. Sergey had convinced her she couldn’t use it.
He was totally dependent on you all those centuries. He may have had his brothers around him, but remember, they had turned vampire. They no longer had emotions. He felt emotions only through you and he didn’t share you with anyone. He was afraid to and for good reason. The others felt he was less than they were. Only you had the knowledge that he was more. Only you could see that he was the strategist capable of biding his time to take the ultimate prize. He became dependent on the way you brought him peace. On the way you made him feel. He will be losing his mind now, unable to function without you.
She was silent, turning his opinion over and over in her mind. How could you know that?
If I lost you, even now, having you for such a short period of time, the loss would be . . . difficult beyond measure. Ferro told her the truth so it would sink in how valuable she was.
I am your lifemate.
He framed her face with both hands and stared down into her eyes, feeling as if he could get lost there. You are more than my lifemate, Elisabeta, which should tell you something, because a lifemate is everything to an ancient hunter. Everything. And you are so much more.
It humbles me that you think that of me, Ferro. I will try to be worthy of your opinion.
He could feel her resolve and wished the others were gone so he could kiss her. Instead, he brushed kisses in her mind, telling her without words what she meant to him, trying to give her courage to face whatever the healer was going to say when he returned from his examination. He knew there was a part of her that she held back, wary that his kindness was an act and at some point he would turn on her. He didn’t blame her for that worry. She had lived with treachery for too long. She had seen Sergey deceive others over and over. It would take time for her to trust Ferro fully.
You are already worthy. Sergey needs you and knew that he would when he decided to follow along with his brothers down this path they chose. You were the one he depended on for the strength to get him through. His brothers beat him down, made fun of him and used him. They never acknowledged that he had the Malinov brilliance, that he was every bit as intelligent as they were. He feared them, not because they were any smarter but because he knew how vicious they were, and all his life, being the youngest, he had been the one they teased and made fun of.
That is so. I was often stashed in a corner, part of the wall when one came in, and they would be quite cruel to him. He would talk to me and feel very smug and superior because his brothers never had a clue that I was there right in front of them. They could never detect me, although they often wondered how the master stayed so young and composed.
He is not your master. Ferro couldn’t keep the clipped, fierce note from his voice. He went directly to dominant in seconds, without thinking. Just the idea that his woman would think of Sergey that way set his teeth on edge. He was never your master. He was a cruel Carpathian who kidnapped an innocent young girl. He will pay for what he did to you.
At once that soothing breeze swept through his mind, clearing out his need to find the vampire and rip out his heart. There was only Elisabeta and her sweetness, that gentle soul with her light and the courage to guard his soul for centuries.
You are right, she agreed. He is not my master. The point is, I can look a little closer at him with you here holding me and see things I could not before. I would not have the courage if you were not with me. I would fear he would find me the way he did when I was in the healing grounds. He always told me he could find me anywhere.