Now wasn’t the time to snap at each other, even though he was being incredibly irritating it was warranted. If our situations were reversed I’d be the same way.
“I came to ask you about Ana.”
“Ana?” His brisk tone disappeared, and he sat up again, giving me a confused expression. “What about her?”
“I want to find her, and I was hoping you could help me.”
“What? Why would you want to find her?” he asked, dragging his hand across his short, blonde hair.
“I want to find her before she finds me.”
“Claire,” he said my name admonishingly, “that’s crazy. Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
“No. I’m just sick and tired of looking over my shoulder, worrying if she is hiding in the shadows waiting for the right time to come after me again.”
“She’s not going to come after you again, okay?” The pitch of his voice was softer, reminding me of the Dmitry I once knew.
“You don’t know that.”
“No, I don’t, but I do know that she won’t have the advantage like she had before. She won’t be able to get anywhere near you, Claire. That I can promise you.” He brought his hand to my shoulder and squeezed, conveying the certainty of his words. “I won’t let her.”
My mouth fell open at his words. In spite of everything, he was still willing to stand by my side, still willing to protect me. Maybe we could be friends after all.
“Why did you think I could help you with Ana anyway?” he released his grip on my shoulder.
“Well… when was the last time you saw her?”
“The night she attacked you,” he answered quickly.
“Really?” I was surprised. I would have thought she’d have returned to the palace and tried to convince everyone she had no part in the attack. Or even work with her parents to usurp Nicolae. With me gone, that would have been the perfect opportunity for her. But, maybe she had other plans in the works.
“Yeah. Both she and her parent’s disappeared that night.”
“But what about Luka? She didn’t return for his funeral?” They were mates. I would have thought that she’d at least show up at his burial. I didn’t know much about their relationship, so maybe the depth of their connection wasn’t as deep as I thought.
“There was no funeral for Luka,” Dmitry said flatly, trying to mask the emotion I could feel stampeding inside him.
“Oh.” I couldn’t help but still feel guilty for killing Luka, but only because of the pain it obviously inflicted on Dmitry. No matter what, he was still his brother and I couldn’t imagine the agony he felt.
“He was to be burned, as punishment for his sins. His actions were unforgiveable.”
“Was?” I couldn’t help but catch onto the fact that something didn’t go as planned.
“His body was stolen.” Fury burned in his voice.
“Stolen? Who would steal his body?” It didn’t make any sense, until Dmitry’s wrathful expression turned toward me.
“Ana,” I whispered in shock. “You don’t think she…”
“Who else would have taken him?” he asked.
“But what would she even do with him? Do you think she buried him somewhere?”
“I don’t know what she’d do. Obviously I’m not a very good judge of character.” I frowned at his words. He was still beating himself up over what happened. There was no way he could have known his brother could do such a thing. Luka was his family; you can’t help but think good things about your family. I hoped he’d learn to forgive himself. I didn’t blame him for what happened and neither should he.
“If she did bury him somewhere, then maybe that’s how we can find her,” I tried not to sound too hopeful, even though the idea of catching Ana by surprise for once, did feel good.
“They were really close,” he said, sadly. “If she did bury him somewhere then she’d definitely be close by. She wouldn’t want to leave his side for too long.”
“I guess that’s it then. To find Ana, we need to find Luka’s grave.”
Chapter 9
Spectacular wasn’t a powerful enough word to describe the library that was housed, in pristine condition, in the Château. Its beauty was unmarred by the attack of the dark vampires. Rich mahogany woodwork, opulent woven rugs fashioned with deep reds and vibrant golden hues, and plush armchairs decorated the space. Ornate carvings covered every shelf and table, but the attention to detail didn’t stop there. The ceiling was covered in a wood carved pattern of octagons and stars, separated only by small ornamental lanterns that