Carpathian 17 - Dark Curse

Xavier was definitely a stealer of life. He took from everyone-family, species, everyone he met-and the Carpathian meaning was so much more, not just the words, but the inflection, the darkness behind the words.
    Vikirnoff bent down to examine marks gouged into the ice. \"What is this, Nicolas?\"
    Lara followed his gaze as both men crouched beside what appeared to be claw marks running along the ice floor. Her heart jumped. The aunts in the form of dragons? Could it be? The marks were recent. Had they been there? Hope sprang even though she knew it was impossible. Both had been so ill all those years ago.
    Nicolas and Vikirnoff stroked fingers along the grooves in an effort to figure out what had made those marks.
    Heart hammering, she crouched down beside Nicolas.
    Nicolas turned his head to look at Lara as her shoulder brushed his. The scent of her enveloped him. Although she\'d braided her hair, stray strands curled around her face, making him want to brush them aside just for the pleasure of feeling her satin skin and the silky texture of her hair. He had lived long, battled hard, seen beautiful places and none of it, not one thing, compared to the treasure he had been given. The gift. Lara . He whispered her name in his mind, wanting to take the anxiety from her.
    Their eyes met and his heart slammed inside his chest in reaction. His belly knotted at the intensity of his love for her. The emotion seemed to grow each rising, filling him so completely, he barely recognized himself anymore. There was a gentleness in Lara he was drawn to. Maybe because he felt there was little in him.
    Maybe she brought out the best in him-made him a better man. Whatever it was, he ached inside for her. He thought of her, watched for every expression to chase across her face. He didn\'t even know exactly when it had happened to him-the growing love and need of her-but he accepted that it was only going to get stronger.
    \"What?\" she asked, a small smile chasing away some of the shadows in her eyes.
    He smiled back. \"Just looking at you.\"
    She blushed and looked down at the claw marks, running her palm over the area to get a feel for what had made the gouges. At once she felt the taint of darkness. Gasping, she scrambled back. \"It\'s a trap. Don\'t touch it. Get away from there.\"
    Nicolas caught her hand and pulled her to her feet. Vikirnoff and Natalya turned back to back so they faced outward, looking for an enemy.
    Large icicles rained down on them from the ceiling. Others hurled themselves like spears from the walls. The men threw up shields to prevent injury or even death from the heavy, sharp, dagger like ice formations.
    The ice cave rumbled and shook. Water gushed from a crack on the wall above them, pouring down with a roar. The ice splintered and a spider web of tiny lines spread from ceiling to floor. Water seeped, began to trickle and then pour from the cracks, widening them into deeper crevasses. The ice quivered and then sloughed off in great chunks, crashing to the floor. The grinding and cracking noises increased, as if the walls were moving closer together.
    \"This chamber is mutating. We have to get out now,\" Lara warned.
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    Christine Feehan: Dark Curse
    \"They do that?\" Nicolas asked, already running toward his right where a long, narrow tunnel looked more hospitable.
    \"This one does,\" Lara said and rushed after him with Vikirnoff and Natalya close behind.
    As the water filled the chamber and began to leak into the tunnel, Lara turned back and murmured her own safeguard. Let Xavier deal with a solid wall of ice several feet thick in his torture chamber.
    Water that runs, shift and grow, rise high now to fill these walls. The water began to form layer after layer, growing quickly into a block of ice as big as a tower.
    Satisfied that the water had halted at the entrance to the tunnel and began refreezing, she turned and ran after the others. As she ran, she heard the steady drip of water again, the same monotonous pattern she\'d noted earlier. She could actually hear each individual drop plop into a puddle. A shiver went down her spine.
    Something isn\'t right, Nicolas. Xavier\'s chambers know we\'re intruders and we\'re in for a fight. Watch everything, no matter how trivial. That\'s his specialty-the subtle, creeping up on you before you notice anything.
    Out of the narrow tunnel they found themselves in a much larger room, this one intensely beautiful with ice sculptures and prisms and many