we can raise that book. Before we do, we just need to figure out how to destroy it.” He framed her face with both hands. “Give me your ideas. The first thing that comes into your head.”
She forced air into her lungs while she looked into his eyes. Those amazing sapphire eyes. Who had eyes that blue? She turned in his arms and leaned her back against him while she studied the lake. In the night, with the brilliant moon shining down each time the clouds moved, she caught glimpses of that same blue. Deep. A color almost never seen. She was seeing it through Carpathian eyes, giving it the colors she believed it was.
“If you are right about me, and I’m not saying you are, but if so, I think I can’t do it by myself. I’m strong, Isai, I know that I am. I’ve always been aware that I had untapped power in me; no matter how much my family put me down, they couldn’t take that away. I even became aware that Crina was afraid of me. That Vasile and Avram became afraid of me over time. The more they feared me, the meaner they got. The more they were ugly to me, the harder I practiced.”
“Julija, if you know they feared you, how is it you do not believe in yourself?”
There might have been a gentle reprimand in his voice. How could she explain the wearing down of all self-confidence in spite of trying to understand why they would be afraid if they truly believed she was nothing. Over time, over years, their evaluations had taken their toll and there was no way to explain that to him.
“I will admit that not once did I believe in myself, but I found a strength I didn’t know I had, living the way I believed was right in spite of my family tearing me down. I am not, however, good enough to take on Barnabas, especially if he is a high mage’s son.”
“Again, you will not have to. We just have to concentrate on destroying the book. But, Julija, know this, he may be Xaviero’s son and a high mage, but you also carry that mark. It is your birthright. You do not consider yourself a high mage, because your family has made it very clear to you that you are nothing. There are many high mages throughout history that were good, decent people. They tried to use their gifts to better the world, not tear others down. They didn’t look at other species with contempt or envy. You fit into that category.”
She shook her head, rejecting what he was telling her. She didn’t want the title of high mage in spite of carrying the birthmark. She had studied for years, and she was adept, but . . .
“Think about it, sívamet. You stole Vasile’s magic right out from under his nose. Who else could have done such a thing? Could Avram?”
She remained silent. She doubted if Avram could have done it. Maybe Anatolie, although he had a heavy hand. He wouldn’t have worked at removing the layers of magic her brother had so carefully constructed.
“If, and I still am not convinced I am the person you think I am, but if I were capable of destroying the book, I believe we would have to do it together. Your brother used his blood for a good purpose. He sacrificed his life to hide the book. I will know if his intentions were pure when I find the exact location where he took his life, but if that was so, then it is your blood as well as mine that is needed to overcome the dark spells, as well as your brother’s. We have to do both.”
“I am not willing for you to sacrifice your life,” he warned.
“Killing a living, breathing soul would invoke dark magic, Isai, and that is not what we want to do. If we wanted to open the book, we would need a blood sacrifice of each species, but we want to destroy it. I think together we have to give our blood to the book. I honestly don’t know how much, but I am going to give this a lot of thought and work out how it can be done. If you’re correct and I have purity of soul, and your blood is the same as that of Iulian, who gave the ultimate sacrifice to seal the book in the ground, our combined blood