Dark Blood (Dark #26)(79)
Author: Christine Feehan

She leaned her head against his chest in an effort to comfort him, even as her restless gaze searched the room. Floor to ceiling. All four walls. The room looked untouched, and if it hadn’t been for Arno’s body in the exact center, his body in a pool of blood, laid out with his arms and legs spread wide and a silver stake protruding from his chest, she might not have been so cautious.

She raised her arms outward and drew symbols in the air.

I call upon Thurisaz, that which reacts,

I call upon Kenaz, that which gives vision and insight,

I call upon Algiz, that which gives protection and safe harbor,

I call upon Ansuz, that which reveals what is unseen.

Immediately runes appeared all over the walls, climbing high, up to the ceiling and spreading across it. Her breath caught in her throat. “Zev, he used blood. This is a very dangerous spell. Until I can undo what he’s wrought, we don’t dare enter.”

“Who is he?” Zev asked, his fingers tightening around her nape.

“Only a High Mage could do this. He’s here. Close. This is Xaviero’s work. He preferred to use the old alphabet to cast, unlike Xavier or Xayvion. I would recognize this anywhere.”

“He couldn’t have sent an apprentice to do his dirty work?”

She shook her head, fighting to keep her heaving stomach in place. There had never been a doubt in her mind that Xaviero had produced the mage-shadows in the Lycans. She had heard his voice, but he’d been far away—so she thought. He had to have been present in the room to place such a spell.

“No. He was here.” Her mouth was so dry she could barely get the words out. She touched her sister’s mind to make certain she was safe. He’s here, Tatijana. In the Carpathian Mountains. He’s killed Arno. Go to ground where he can’t enter. The sacred warrior cave perhaps, but get to safety.

She knew Zev heard her, he was merged very deeply with her. She felt him in her mind, pouring strength into her.

“Why would he risk everything and come here himself?” Zev gestured toward Arno’s body. “Why kill him and not come after me?”

“He needed to know his enemy. If you’ve been inadvertently a thorn in his side, pouring water on the fires he’s created among the council members and among the packs, destroying rogues and killing his assassins, he will want you dead. He knows now that I’m with you, that by killing one of us, he’ll kill us both,” she explained.

“How?”

“Arno told him, of course. Arno, no matter how he tried, would never have been able to hold out against the High Mage, any more than Lyall was able to do with me questioning him.”

“I can find out exactly what Arno told him, and perhaps even his plans,” Zev said. “I can access Arno’s memories.”

“Don’t you think Xaviero knows that? He left the head intact. He wanted someone to come into the room and try to save Arno. The room is a huge, dangerous trap. Arno’s brain will be as well. Once we get in there, it will be far better to sever the head and burn the body as quickly as possible,” Branislava objected.

“Can you remove the danger?” Zev asked.

She realized he hadn’t agreed with her. She turned to look at him over her shoulder, her heart sinking. Zev was a man of integrity. Of loyalty. Of duty. He would find his answers one way or another, and danger wouldn’t play a part in whether or not he did his job.

“I can get us into the room,” she said slowly, her gaze clinging to his. She didn’t want him to do this, but he would, and if he was going down that path, she was going with him.

Gregori came in behind them. “Skyler and Dimitri just told me. Mikhail’s on his way.”

“No!” both said simultaneously.

Zev sighed. “The mage was here. Xaviero. Branka’s certain he killed Arno and has set traps in the room and probably on the body as well.”

Gregori looked past them to the walls, ceiling and floor covered in bloody runes. He frowned. “Can you unravel that? Or find a way to counter it? Is there even a spell for that? Maybe we should just burn it all down, Branislava.”

Zev shook his head. “You know we need the information Arno can give us. If Branka really can’t find a way in, we’ll burn it all, but we need information. Anything at all to give us clues to where Xaviero is and what his plans are.”

“He wouldn’t tell those plans to Arno, knowing you’re going to try to access his memories,” Gregori protested.

“That’s true,” Zev said. He slipped his arm around Branislava and held her for a long moment. “But the clues will be in the traps. He won’t be able to set them without giving something of himself away. Isn’t that how it works, Branka?”

She didn’t want to admit he was right. In order to get the information, they needed to face each trap, dismantle it and move to the next one. The more traps, the more information Xaviero would be forced to leave behind, whether he wanted to or not. First, she would have to be certain she had made the room safe and that the information wasn’t a red herring planted by Xaviero. No one else, other than Tatijana, knew him that well. She had to be the one facing the mage’s work, because she wasn’t about to let her sister do it.

“Yes,” she answered reluctantly. “That’s how it works.”

“Is it possible for you to instruct us telepathically?” Zev asked. “You look at his work and then tell us how to unravel it? I’m merged with you, won’t I be able to see what needs to be done when you are figuring it out?”

Branislava shook her head. “To pit yourself against a High Mage spell is too dangerous without knowing what you’re doing. It’s very complicated and detailed, layers upon layers. Anything this dangerous can’t be managed that way, Zev, but thank you. I know you’re just trying to spare me his presence. Arno will have told him about me. He saw me question Lyall, and no doubt, Xaviero already knows who I am. There isn’t any point in trying to hide from him.”

Zev stiffened, his arm tightening around her. “If he knows you, his trap will be very specific to you, won’t it?”

She shrugged. “That would make sense, but I think more likely, it will be specific to you. Perhaps not the first one, the first snare is set to use Arno’s body to lure another victim into the room. If Skyler hadn’t been the one to find the body, Xaviero may have done just that. You almost entered the room. He would have triumphed right then.”