of Iulian’s sorrow and the long centuries of nothingness. Too many when, in the end, he hadn’t reached his lifemate in time. She knew the moment Isai intervened, taking the burden from her, but he couldn’t shoulder it all, not when she needed to follow Iulian’s psychic trail.
He put his arm around her when she stumbled. She had been with Isai long enough to know she couldn’t leave him, their connection was too strong, but she hadn’t realized until that moment just what he had gone through. He was far older than Iulian and had endured so much longer and so much more. For her. Waiting for her. She turned her face up to his, love for him overwhelming her.
He slipped his arm around her waist. “You are worth every moment of being alone, Julija.”
That was humbling beyond words. She gave him a watery smile and forced her attention back to Iulian. “I’m glad he at least saw her before she died. He had that and knew who she was.”
“If he bound them together, soul to soul, he will find her,” Isai said with great confidence.
That made her feel better. They rounded the next little curve of the lake and she stopped abruptly. They were on a small rise and could see far out onto the lake. The surface rippled madly with the wind, but it didn’t matter. She could see Iulian clearly now.
“He stood for a long time, right here, right in this spot, thinking of her. For a few minutes he paced, but he had already made up his mind. He knew what he was going to do and had no hesitation whatsoever about it.” She turned her face up to Isai’s again. “He had no interest in the book other than to protect Mikhail from attacks and the Carpathian people from the book falling into the wrong hands.”
He smiled at her reassurance. “Once I knew he’d found his lifemate, I was certain he would not have wanted the book for his own gain.”
“Well, we know for certain.”
“We have to have a plan for destroying it as soon as it is in our hands. We will be attacked the moment you bring the book to the surface. It is in the lake, isn’t it?”
She looked out over the expanse of water, the wind ruffling the surface, causing choppy waves. “It isn’t there, Isai. He considered it. That was his intention, but the lake was too beautiful, and he didn’t want to mar it with the ugliness of the book.”
He sighed. “I suppose it was never going to be that easy.”
“It is close. He chose to end his life here. He sliced his wrist and sat here, allowing his blood to coat the book completely. He had no idea you were alive, or that I could track him through our earlier connection. With his blood sacrifice, that of a good man of honor, he was certain no other could find the book.”
“If the book is not in the lake, where did he hide it? Perhaps we could leave it alone.”
She shook her head. “Sooner or later, someone would stumble across it. Even if he buried it deep.” Isai had told her the exact same thing earlier, and he was right, no matter how much she wanted to walk away from the task. She took a look around her.
“Iulian would be weak from blood loss. He had to have had a plan.” Isai looked around as well. What would his brother have devised at the last minute? He wouldn’t allow anyone to find his body or the book. The only way to get rid of a body without moving it far was bury it or burn it. He couldn’t burn it after he was gone, and the book didn’t burn anyway. So what?
“He buried it,” both said simultaneously. They looked at each other in agreement.
“He opened the earth and moved down inside, taking the book with him,” Isai guessed.
“Deep then,” Julija said. “He had to have gone very deep if he thought the wind and rain wouldn’t eventually uncover the book.” She began to walk in an ever-widening circle around the spot where she knew Iulian had rested and then cut his wrist. There was no trace of his blood anywhere. She knew because his blood would have called to his brother. He had done so in the open earth.
“Do you feel him?” Isai asked.
She stepped right and then left on a narrow track, trying to feel, trying to puzzle