cats, they appeared the most nervous and the most suspicious.
Isai sighed. He couldn’t afford any traitors in their midst. Phantom had attacked Vasile, and clearly detested him, but Isai still had a very bad feeling in the pit of his belly. Julija turned her head and smiled at him as she slowly stood, keeping one hand on Phaedra’s head, her fingers deep in the dark fur.
“They’ll come around, Isai. They were horribly tortured. They haven’t been shown kindness unless it was to trick them. Remember, my brothers practically worship Barnabas and employed his methods of torture and fear on the cats, at first being nice and then hurting them. It is very hard to accept kindness for what it is when you are certain you’ll be betrayed in the end.”
He knew she was speaking from experience. She was reading his thoughts anyway, he might as well have the discussion. “Your brothers, particularly Vasile, were very clever. They separated the cats and used each as a threat against the other, but what if they expected you to rescue them? It would be something you would do, Julija, and they knew that.”
She nodded and lifted her face to the wind. It tugged at her clothing, the jeans and T-shirt she wore beneath her puffy vest. He told her he wanted her practicing regulating her body temperature, but she had donned the vest saying she was going without a jacket just for him and it was very cold.
“Yes, they would know,” she agreed. “Blue doesn’t believe they’re a threat or he wouldn’t let them near either of us.”
He looked at the two smaller cats. They were younger than Belle and Blue. “Aren’t Phaedra and Comet the oldest and parents of Sable and Phantom?” When she nodded her head, he continued. “They didn’t seem to acknowledge the relationship at all.”
“They weren’t born like other cats, Isai,” she reminded. “They were made in a little dish. It wasn’t like Phaedra fed them. They were given mixtures of blood and milk. They were to be shadows more than alive.”
“Some things are much easier without emotion.”
She came to him, her eyes on his face, and he read the compassion for him. The understanding. Julija was in his mind and she knew the intelligent thing to do was destroy the two small cats. The animals were in bad shape and needed care. Isai had spent time working on healing them, but they were a question mark and because both were extremely dangerous, not only to Julija and Isai, but any human, it would be smarter to destroy them.
She put her hand on his arm, and leaned into him, letting him take her weight for a few moments. “I know this is a difficult decision. We need to give them a chance. Blue and Comet will watch them. Both are extremely fast. If either of the little ones tries to attack us, they’ll stop them. If we win them over completely, the pair will be as loyal as Blue, Belle, Phaedra and Comet, or even more so. Please, let’s give them a chance.”
She wasn’t dictating to him, putting him in a position of making her angry. She was indicating her preference, but still giving support to his decision. He weighed the dangers. If it was only him, he wouldn’t have hesitated, but he had Julija to protect.
He reached out to the two big male cats. Watch the young ones at all times. Talk with them. Both are still nervous around us. If they are shadowed by one of the mages, or programmed to harm us, I need to know.
He was met with intelligence. Both males turned their heads slowly to look at the smaller cats, taking them in as they huddled together just a little apart from the group. They would definitely be watchful now.
“The lake is beautiful, isn’t it?” Julija said. “So peaceful. One would never know that somewhere close is a book of such vile darkness that the spells inside could wipe out entire species, including humans.”
“Do you feel it close?” He looked down at her. She was facing the lake again, as if drawn to it. He wasn’t certain if she was drawn by its beauty or something far more sinister.
“I feel that Iulian was here. He sat at the water’s edge for a long time. Several nights. In the same place.” Her voice softened, and her hand rubbed up and down his arm. Her eyes held compassion. “He’s no longer alive, Isai.”