Dark Curse Page 0,35
the power and knowledge of our people?"
"As we are able to perform the duties of the Daratrazanoff family we were certain there had to be another family and we intended to search them out. Of course, later we abandoned the plan, so no one ever approached any of the other lines to see if they could be a living vessel."
"And did you suspect any other lineage of being capable?"
"You sound as if you would step down immediately."
"In a heartbeat," Mikhail said and then sighed, shaking his head. "There is no one right way, Nicolas, and just because my family's line must bear the leadership does not mean we have all the answers. I am as fallible as any Carpathian. Every time we lose a child. Each time one of our women miscarries or a child dies. I consider it my failure and my shame that I have not found the answer to our dying race. I sit protected in my home while my warriors go out to battle evil, losing pieces of themselves along the way. Good men, better than I, stand between me and danger at every turn. Would I step aside and allow another to lead? In a heartbeat-especially if they were smarter than I."
Nicolas shook his head. "We were wrong, Mikhail, as you are now to think that way."
Mikhail sent him a small, twisted smile. "I thought to end my life. Before Raven, before I found my lifemate, I thought to end my life so I would not have to see the complete extinction of our species. You and the other warriors who served my father are far older, have hunted longer, endured longer, yet I could not continue under the weight of my failures. Was that not far worse? Was that not an act of
cowardice?"
Nicolas shook his head. "I believe it was an act of desperation. I walked the streets this very night intending to meet the dawn, yet I did not trust myself to make it one last night. It is the way of our people, Mikhail. Every hunter faces that moment, yet we do not have the added burden of an entire species resting on our shoulders."
Mikhail clapped him on the shoulder. "We are flawed men, my old friend. Every last one of us. We sin and our women redeem us."
Nicolas answered with a wry grin. "That is the truth."
"Tell me of your lifemate. Where did she come from? The Dragonseeker blood runs strong in her."
Nicolas's white teeth flashed in a real smile, one that lit his eyes. "She is the daughter of Razvan, and she is amazing. I cannot even begin to describe the way I feel inside. I barely know her, but I want to spend every moment with her. She just came out of nowhere at the perfect moment and saved my life, my sanity and my soul. I look around and I don't know how I survived all these centuries without her. The world is alive again for me. I had forgotten the beauty of nature. In truth, I had forgotten what it feels like to truly love my brothers."
Mikhail let out his breath. "Another child with Dragonseeker blood is most welcome. As for the joy of lifemates, I have had Raven in my life for many years now, and yet each time I awaken from the earth, I am overwhelmed anew by the gifts she has given me."
Nicolas cleared his throat. "I am uncertain that my lifemate sees a reason to be with me."
"There is no reason for our women to be with us other than the way we are able to bind them. They are light to our darkness and the darker our souls, the stronger the woman must be. Guard your lifemate well, Nicolas. She is a treasure beyond price."
Nicolas turned Mikhail's words over in his mind. There was no reason for their women to accept them other than the binding words that locked their souls together. His hold on Lara was fragile at best. He needed time to establish his bond, to form some sort of trust between them, although truthfully, he felt she should follow his lead without question.
He glanced around him, feeling the subtly flowing influence, the focus of the crystals, the energy of the cavern with the magma flowing far beneath it and the snow gathering a thousand feet above. Nicolas spread his arms wide. "And this place of power. I had forgotten the beauty of this cave. And the clarity one has