it would have been like for Julija growing up with her stepmother. The woman had allowed Anatolie to get a Carpathian girl, one they’d taken prisoner, pregnant.
She continually shows me how she killed my mother. You were there, and you did nothing to stop it. I was a little girl and it was a terrifying ordeal for me. You let her, Father. You watched her hack up my mother as she lay helpless from your spells.
Isai glanced quickly over his shoulder at Julija. Her voice trembled, and tears burned in her eyes, clogged her throat and trickled down her face. He knew she wasn’t aware.
Crina had far overstepped her role. She did then and there was no stopping her. Carpathians are our mortal enemy. You know that. She also was jealous. Your mother was a beautiful woman and clearly you remind her of that. If you prefer, I will dispose of her. She has long been a thorn, but she has her uses. If it will make you agree to come home, I will strangle her right now. Or feed her to one of the shadow cats in your brothers’ shed.
Anatolie made the offer callously, so casually, for a moment Isai didn’t believe what he was hearing. He had a line on him now. Belle had settled since the high mage had begun to try to cajole his daughter into returning to him. Anatolie didn’t seem to understand that a woman like Julija wouldn’t want her father to kill her stepmother for her as if the death would be a gift.
Isai slid the pad of his thumb across the back of her hand in warning. He was about to strike. She might not want to harm anyone, but he wasn’t of the light. Darkness dwelled in him, surrounded him and would for all his days.
In his mind he built an image of everything he knew about Anatolie Brennan. The man was a master of illusion, fitting into his community and yet wreaking havoc on those around him when they got in his way. Isai struck hard, driving his fist through the mage’s chest wall, fingers open and scraping through flesh and bone to get at the heart.
Anatolie screamed, and did the only thing possible: he leapt out of the cat’s mind. Barnabas will come for you. You will return with him.
Julija still had a hold on Isai, her fingers twisted in his shirt. He felt her body jerk slightly at the threat and then a shiver consumed her.
Isai and Julija immediately built the shield for the female cat, a strong enough barrier that would keep Anatolie out, no matter what he did.
Very slowly, Isai turned to Julija. “Who is Barnabas?”
She lifted her feathery lashes and looked up at him with her dark chocolate eyes. There was fear. Trepidation. Wariness. “He is an old enemy who delights in tormenting me. He will do whatever Anatolie commands. Nothing is beneath him.” There was contempt in her voice.
She turned her head to escape his scrutiny, but he framed her face with his hands and turned her back to him. He studied her set expression. He was still in her mind and she was holding herself very, very still, as if, when she moved, she might shatter.
“Who is this man to you?”
She couldn’t turn her head, but her gaze landed on the center of his chest.
“He is nothing to me.”
That was both truth and a lie. She stepped back away from him and abruptly landed in the chair when it hit her in the back of the knees. Blue pushed his head onto her lap, sensing she was upset. Belle came toward them, slinking across the chamber, uncertain of her welcome after she had fought to attack them. Julija held out her arms, and the female completed the last few feet in one jump, her black fur once again sliding over the shadowing body, making her whole.
“It is unwise to lie to your lifemate,” Isai cautioned, but he paced across the room, giving her space. She’d already gone through a traumatic situation with her father. He wasn’t about to add to it. In any case, she was unclaimed, and he wasn’t going to force his claim on her. She had deliberately kept quiet knowing she was condemning him to death or worse.
Julija reached up to her throat and stroked one finger over the scar there, the one that covered the terrible gash that had changed her voice forever. “I hate this scar,” she said