Carpathian 20 - Dark Slayer

corruption.―
    â€œYou believe you can do this?― Raven asked. She pressed both hands protectively over her unborn child.
    â€œI wish to have children some day,― Ivory said, although, truthfully, she didn’t believe she would survive the coming battle. “I will do this, no matter how long it takes.―
    14
    The night welcomed them, the wide-open spaces, the sky heavy now with new clouds. Ivory inhaled deeply, drawing the night air into her lungs, and laughed just for the sheer joy of being outside where she felt alive. Where she could breathe.
    â€œLet’s never do that again,― she said.

    Razvan grinned at her. “Good idea. You were the one with the good manners, insisting we thank everyone.― He stretched his arms to the gray clouds and inhaled. “I do believe it is going to snow on us.―
    â€œShall we take the children and go home?― she asked, her slow grin matching his.
    â€œAre we flying? Running?― He arched a brow at her.
    Ivory took a slow, careful look around her. “I think we will walk for now.―
    Razvan sent his senses flaring out into the night, trying to pick up on what she felt. He didn’t doubt that some of the Carpathian hunters might follow them to make certain they were not meeting with Xavier and reporting everything they had spoken of.
    â€œThey think I am a spy,― he said. “Does it bother you?―
    â€œActually,― Ivory corrected, “they think we are both spies.― She sent him an amused grin. “I have spent more than one human lifetime thinking of the Carpathian people as betrayers, and yet they think me the spy.―
    â€œBecause you are with me,― he pointed out. “If you like, when you wish to visit or speak with them to gather information, it will not hurt me to have you go into the village alone. I can spend the time with the pack on the outskirts, waiting for you.―
    She shook her head. “It is not simply because of you. I am a Malinov. I cannot blame them. The timing is very suspicious. I would be suspicious.― But she wasn’t happy with his sister. Natalya should have believed in him. She was afraid to believe, more than she disbelieved. Ivory didn’t voice her opinion because Razvan simply accepted his sister’s suspicions as he did most things, but if she had an opportunity, she might just have a word with the woman.
    Razvan laughed out loud and enveloped her hand with his.
    â€œI am still in your mind.―
    She blushed, realizing she was still in his as well. “It feels so natural. I did not mean for you to hear that.―
    â€œI do not mind you wanting to stick up for me, but truly, Ivory, it is not necessary. I have learned to live without Natalya’s admiration these long years. I do worry for my daughter, Lara. I hope we can alleviate her problems by eliminating Xavier, but I have no wish to disrupt her life or Natalya’s, or even the aunts’. I am fine the way I am.
    Happy the way I am.―
    He tucked her hand against his chest as they walked, bringing them close together. “Lara did not come to see me, which you and I both know means that she was not ready to face me.

    I am uncomfortable in the presence of so many. Emotions, which I am unused to, can be difficult. I need peace in my mind, and with the combination of their doubt and guilt pressing on me, I found myself having to work at keeping my mind calm, which hasn’t happened in more years than I care to count.―
    â€œThey are fools, Razvan, not to understand what you suffered for them. For all of the Carpathian people.―
    â€œMy aunts will tell them once they emerge from the healing ground. They were kept too long starving and Gregori has long been trying to aid them to recovery,― Razvan said.
    â€œWhen we shared minds, I could see them very clearly.―
    He smiled, and this time his eyes held affection. “I observed them as women, as he saw them, not in the form of dragons as they were held captive. It was . . . astounding .―
    Ivory walked through the snow, swinging hands with him, wishing she’d paid more attention to the various people in Gregori’s mind. If they hadn’t pertained to battle or seemed significant to her, she had tried to be careful of his privacy. Now, she could scarcely recall the two