could talk to her about it, I would. I just can’t face it yet.”
Emeline’s voice shook almost as badly as her body did. She looked panicked, on the verge of flight, and Charlotte didn’t have the heart to call her on it. She nodded. “It’s all right, honey. I understand. Fridrick.” She paused, because Emeline obviously recognized the name. When Emeline didn’t say anything, she continued. “Fridrick murdered my brother and Genevieve’s grandmother as well as others we knew and cared about. If it wasn’t for Tariq he would have managed to kidnap both of us.”
Complete horror crossed Emeline’s face. She reached out with trembling fingers to touch Charlotte’s arm. “You can’t let them get their hands on you.” She leaned closer, her voice dropping to a whisper. “You just can’t. Their blood is acid. It burns and burns and never stops. He whispers to you. It will drive you insane.”
Charlotte’s heart jerked hard. “Can you hear him now?”
Emeline shook her head. “Only if I fall asleep.”
That explained the dark circles under her eyes. “Did you tell Blaze or Tariq? They’ve woven safeguards to protect you. If the protections aren’t working, they need to know to build stronger ones.”
Emeline tightened the robe around her thin body with nervous fingers. “I don’t want to be near any of them. In order for them to weave stronger safeguards, I have to let them in. Especially if he’s in my mind—and he is. I just can’t let another one in there as well. Not yet. I’d rather just not go to sleep at night.”
Charlotte took a deep breath, praying for wisdom. She wasn’t equipped to handle such severe trauma. She had a very bad feeling about Emeline. “You know that isn’t good for you, Emme. You’re going to have to let them help you. Have you spoken to Blaze about hearing him in your sleep?”
Emeline shook her head. “I know I’m going to have to let them near me—the Carpathians. They’re so powerful. And I can feel them, their predatory natures. They scare me almost as much as vampires terrify me.” She took a deep, shuddering breath. “I can feel their natures. They’re almost like the vampires. They aren’t the same, but so dangerous, Charlie. So dangerous.”
“But not to you. Not to the children. You should see the stone dragons the triplets made for the children. They would give their lives for you.” She went silent for a moment, knowing she wasn’t getting anywhere. Emeline just rocked herself back and forth, clutching at the opening of her robe with nervous fingers.
“Honey,” she said softly in her most persuasive voice, “you know you have to let them help you. You can’t go on this way.”
“I know. I just need . . . time.” Emeline’s gaze jumped to the skyline again.
“At least tell me what he says to you.” She kept her tone gentle.
Emeline’s hands crept up, holding the robe around her tightly against her neck as if to keep those jagged, serrated teeth from tearing at her flesh. Her gaze frantically sought out the sky, as if she was certain Vadim would swoop down and take her away. “He tells me I have to come to him.”
The admission was so low that at first Charlotte didn’t think she’d spoken, but then the words penetrated and she touched Tariq, needing him to hear.
“He keeps ordering me. Threatening me.”
“With what?”
“Liv.” Emeline swallowed with difficulty and then went into a spasm of coughing. She gasped for breath and shook her head several times, rocking her body back and forth. “He says, he’ll kill Liv if I don’t go to him.”
She looked haunted. Terrified. Charlotte couldn’t help feeling a little terrified for her, nor could she stop herself from searching the skies just as Emeline had done, or reaching for Tariq, settling into the warmth and comfort of his mind.
Both of you are safe. Vadim cannot penetrate the safeguards.
How is he getting through to her when she sleeps? She tried not to let it sound like an accusation, but it was. There was no normal, not even when she tried. There never would be in his world. It wasn’t his fault, but suddenly she wanted to throw a little screaming fit where no one could hear her—except, Tariq would always hear her.
Her fingers curled around the arms of the rocker until they turned white. She hated what Vadim had done to Emeline, and she didn’t really know the extent of what that was. She hated what he’d done