Carpathian 17 - Dark Curse

suspect Skyler is of the Dragonseeker line, but we don\'t know. She heard the earth screaming, so if she isn\'t, she, like me, is empathic toward the earth.\"
    \"She has Dragonseeker eyes,\" Lara agreed.
    Skyler\'s eyes were too old in her young face. And Lara could see traces of Razvan there. This then, was probably one of the children Xavier had forced Razvan\'s body to produce in order to feed off of her blood.
    Somehow, the girl had ended up with the Carpathian race. The thought was unsettling and for a moment she wanted the comfort of Nicolas\'s arms. Without thinking, she reached for him. At once he was there.
    You have need of me?
    She felt foolish. She wasn\'t about to lose a child, yet she was shivering because a teenage girl had the eyes of her father. No. No. Everything is fine .
    You have only to touch my mind with yours, Lara. I am with you.
    His reassurance made her feel safe and comforted and for the first time in her life she felt as if she belonged.
    I\'m fine. This time she said it with conviction. She spoke directly to Raven, meeting her troubled gaze squarely. \"We need Natalya.\"
    The women all looked at one another. \"Natalya is a warrior. She says she cannot feel the earth,\" Shea said.
    \"She doesn\'t have the sensitivity for it.\"
    Lara\'s eyebrow shot up. \"Really? Is that what she said?\"
    Shea and Raven exchanged a long look and then Raven frowned. \"Mikhail told me she could not heal the earth in the way her family could. Is that not true?\"
    Lara pursed her lips. \"Natalya pulses with power. I would be shocked if she could not.\"
    \"Call her in,\" Raven said.
    \"She\'s at the warriors\' council, speaking for us,\" Shea reminded.
    \"Call her back,\" Raven said again, and this time it was a command. \"If there is hope to save these children, then this is far more important than the discussion going on with the men. In the end, Mikhail will come to a decision on whether women will fight with their men or not and we will all abide by it.\"
    No one was going to point out that the reason they needed Natalya at the meeting was to make certain their voices were heard. Raven rarely-if ever-pulled rank as Mikhail\'s wife, but there was no doubt she wanted Natalya summoned .
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    Christine Feehan: Dark Curse
    Raven\'s face was streaked with tears, and her anguish weighed heavily on the women. Raven had survived one loss, and now another child was slipping away. Beside her, Savannah was pale and drawn, closing her eyes, concentrating on holding her babies to her.
    Both women could communicate with their unborn children, which made the loss all the more difficult to face.
    The babies were real, with personalities already developing.
    \"Call her now, Shea,\" Raven insisted.
    Shea reached out to Razvan\'s twin.
    \"Why is Shea reluctant to call her back,\" Lara whispered to Syndil.
    \"Natalya is different,\" Syndil answered. \"She\'s the oldest surviving female Dragonseeker and as such, her blood is extremely powerful. Beyond that, she is a force to contend with in every other way and she walks her own path. I think having to hide from Xavier, she became a loner over the years. She\'s always pleasant and respectful, but she has a tendency to keep to herself. One rarely sees her without Vikirnoff.\"
    Lara wasn\'t surprised that Natalya was a loner. Natalya exuded the air of a very confident woman, but she was Razvan\'s sister and the granddaughter of one of the most evil men ever born. She\'d most likely spent her earlier years looking over her shoulder and afraid to trust anyone at all. Lara wasn\'t certain she could overcome her own traumatic childhood in order to commit fully to Nicolas. She could certainly understand her aunt\'s reticence.
    Natalya strode in with her easy, casual grace, her blue-green eyes wide with questions. \"Raven? You have need of me?\"
    Raven nodded. \"Lara and Syndil feel you are the only one to aid us in this and I am-we are-desperate to save our children.\"
    Natalya glanced around the cave and then to Lara. \"I don\'t have any experience in healing rituals, but if you tell me what to do, I\'ll do my best.\"
    Raven let out her breath. \"Thank you, Natalya.\"
    Savannah\'s long lashes lifted. Her eyes were swimming with tears. \"My daughters thank you as well.
    They\'re trying to hold on, but my body is rejecting them.\" She wrapped both arms around her middle and rocked gently. \"I tell them I want them to stay with me, but they feel my body attacking them.\"
    Raven