Carpathian 17 - Dark Curse

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    Lara. The voices whispered in her ear. Xavier cannot ever know that you are aware of what he is doing to your father. He would kill you. You cannot tell your father, even to ease his mind, because when Xavier possesses his body, or Razvan is under his command, he will reveal all of your secrets .
    If I tell my father I know he doesn\'t want to hurt me, maybe he will fight even harder. There was hope-and a little defiance in that childish voice.
    He will betray you. He will not mean to, but he will be unable to stop himself.
    You have been prisoners far longer. Lara was angry now, unbelieving. Xavier can\'t control you .
    Razvan has been tortured, Lara, experimented on, over and over. His health and strength are gone. Xavier uses you against him. Xavier still doesn\'t understand the power of your blood. Once he does, there will be no chance of escape.
    Nicolas felt the stubborn streak in Lara. She didn\'t answer her aunts, refusing to deceive them with an outright lie, but determined that she would go to her father and confess she knew Razvan was being manipulated against her.
    As if sensing Lara\'s stubborn will, the aunts tried again, speaking in perfect unison, their voices soft and melodious. Nicolas recognized the threads of a compulsion woven into the pitch. Both women were weak and the suggestion wouldn\'t work on a stronger mind, but Lara wasn\'t healthy and her spirit had been beaten down.
    Lara, you cannot give any information to your father that Xavier would use against him. Razvan wouldn\'t want you to. He has sustained Xavier all these long years and fought against him because his Dragonseeker blood is strong. Xavier knows he will soon give out and must find a replacement. If now, when he is at his weakest, you give him information that Xavier could harm you with, he will feel he has lost all honor.
    The child that was Lara squeezed her eyes closed, not really understanding the whole of what the aunts were telling her, but she knew she couldn\'t reassure her father that she understood Xavier either possessed his body or forced him to comply using a combination of drugs and magic with his orders.
    Nicolas felt Lara slip further away from him, the overwhelming despair she was feeling stronger than ever.
    She stared at her father with a wistful expression. He had a strong urge to pull her into his arms and hold her close, but he had no real body and she still didn\'t trust him. He understood why now. He understood her need for control and freedom. And he understood her absolute repugnance of anyone taking her blood.
    Razvan looked weak, his once handsome face ravaged by pain and suffering. The lines were etched deep and the chains wrapped around his legs and arms had permanent burn scars from the vampire blood they were coated in. He sagged against a column, not even fighting to get away from Xavier, who took a small vial from his tunic pocket. Nicolas felt Lara tense, her small spirit shrinking back.
    Interested, he stepped in front of her to block her, ready to take the brunt of whatever had happened at the age of seven. Xavier clearly experimented on Razvan and he was learning all sorts of pertinent information not Page 82

    Christine Feehan: Dark Curse
    only about his life mate, but things that would be useful to the Carpathian people. Nicolas now wished he could stop Dominic from proceeding with his plan. If Xavier had felt compelled to try his experiments on Razvan because he had Dragonseeker blood running in his veins, Dominic would surely be a huge prize. Most of the experiments seemed to be centered around controlling the Carpathians or finding a way to imprison them yet still keep them alive.
    For the blood. Lara\'s voice whispered to him, in her adult voice, not the child\'s. He wants your blood in the same way you want it from your sources. He will hold you prisoner and drain you dry. You would be nothing but a food source to him .
    He softened his tone to tenderness, his heart reaching out for hers. Lara. I do not want you for your blood.
    Come back to me. Am I really worse than this place in your past ?
    For a moment he thought he had won this first battle, but then Xavier moved and the child was back, shuddering as her father was. She shrank back behind the column as Xavier hobbled across the floor of the ice cave, holding the vial in his gnarled fingers.
    \"You should have given me what I asked for. Giving me your sister was so little to ask in return for your life and the lives of