in darkness. You live in the light. You always will. There is no way that your mage mark will overcome the mark of the Dragonseeker. It cannot happen. It cannot. The mark of the high mage is not a mark against you. Not every high mage throughout history was like Xavier. His father was not. You are purity and honor, Julija.”
She looked up at his face. He believed what he was saying. She wished she could believe it as well, but she knew herself. She’d made so many mistakes. Growing up, when Crina was so mean to her, she’d often taken petty revenge.
When Julija was around the age of ten, after Crina had been particularly mean, beating Julija until she couldn’t stand up straight, her stepmother had come out of her own bedroom, that sacred place no one was allowed to go, and when she’d emerged, every inch of her skin had been covered in an ugly yellowish-gray color. Her face had been lined and aged with deep wrinkles. Her hair was thin, white and stringy with bald spots showing through on her bumpy scalp. Julija had cast a spell on the room, asking it to show Crina in her true form, what she should look like if she wasn’t greedily gulping Carpathian blood from Julija’s wrist continually.
Crina had been hysterical. Completely hysterical. She’d rushed to Anatolie, furious, but no one thought the ten-year-old they didn’t believe had much mage in her could possibly have cast such a complicated spell. They hadn’t realized at first that the spell was on the bedroom, not on Crina. She would fix herself, and then each time she went to her room, the phenomenon would happen again.
Julija showed her retaliation to Isai, who burst out laughing. He actually leaned down and kissed her.
“You are perfection.”
“It wasn’t in the least bit nice, Isai,” she scolded, trying not to laugh. “I’ve never felt one iota of remorse.” She bit her lip. “Okay, that isn’t exactly the truth. Crina cried and cried and I did feel bad, but then she slapped me for looking at her when she looked so horrible and I forgot about feeling sorry for her.”
He rubbed his thumb over her cheek. “Purity of heart and soul does not mean you cannot ever feel anger or the need for revenge. You did not consider killing her. Or permanently damaging her.”
“Of course not.” She frowned at him. “That’s not normal, Isai. People don’t think about killing others they don’t like. It isn’t done.”
“Anatolie no doubt killed often if someone was in his way. I imagine your brothers did as well.”
“I come from a murderous brew, but most people do not think of killing. Mages are, I think, for the most part, good people. They stayed away from Anatolie and Crina, and they kept their children from Vasile, Avram and me.”
“That must have hurt.” He walked her to the entrance. He had widened the crack enough for her to look out and see the night sky. It was scattered with stars and very beautiful.
“It did . . . at first. I learned to accept it and later, when I got older, I realized it was a good thing. Anatolie was a lot like Xavier. He was very driven to experiment and he was always looking for power. He still is. It doesn’t matter that the modern world has caught up with us and he lives in it now, even comfortably. He still craves power and is determined to get it.”
“Merge with me.”
She knew he wanted her to learn from him. To use her Carpathian skills rather than her mage gifts. She did as he asked. He was so fast at everything, visualizing exactly what he wanted and moving almost before it had a chance to happen. In his mind the crack widened to accommodate them and as he pictured it, the fracture in the rock obeyed. The actual operation was so smooth she was shocked at how quickly it was accomplished. She could have done the same thing, but it would have been much slower.
“Both talents have their uses, Julija,” he assured. “I love the mage in you. I want you to love that part of you as well, but you need to work on your Carpathian skills and bring them up to the level of your mage abilities.”
“I’ve had a tremendous amount of time to practice my mage skills. I don’t think in Carpathian the way you do, Isai.”