Ferro realized just what a terrible balancing act Elisabeta always had to have with Sergey. He would want to feel as powerful as his brothers. He had been a mean, cruel boy, killing animals in the forest and then, later, human children, preying on those weaker than himself in order to bolster his belief that he was every bit as formidable as his brothers. He was just cunning enough to hide his sickness from those adults around him in order to keep them from destroying him.
His father was off hunting vampires, preoccupied with his life. In those days, parents often paid little attention to the children as they reached the older ages. Other Carpathians took over training. A boy like Sergey could easily slip through the cracks. He would become a loner, going into the forest to carry out his ugliness while his much more intelligent brothers held the spotlight.
“He was close to his sister, Ivory. She protected him from much of the teasing from his older brothers. I think she softened it so it sounded less cruel and more affectionate. They were often together. When she disappeared, he was devastated. Even that was seen by his brothers as weakness. They wanted him to hate the prince, to turn on him as they had. To blame Vlad for her disappearance. Sergey blamed himself for not looking after her. The crueler his brothers were to him, the more that sickness in his mind came out and he started that ugly behavior, going into the forest and hurting animals and then children.”
There was compassion in her mind for the lost soul of Sergey Malinov and for all those he tortured and destroyed over the long centuries he lived. She was incapable of feeling loathing for him or any other. There was no such thing as hatred in her makeup. She sought to prevent Sergey from feeling the need to hurt others. On some level she simply couldn’t understand that driving compulsion in him and others like him to watch others suffer.
“You are certain Sergey will only use safeguards you have taught him to weave, then?” Ferro reiterated.
“I am very certain,” Elisabeta said.
“I think we have gone far enough,” Ferro decided. “Have you memorized the entire pathway?”
Elisabeta looked around her and nodded. “I believe so.”
He framed her face and kissed her again, just because there was no resisting her, especially not there in their forest. “Of course you have. We need to put in a little time with shifting fast,
“Right here?” There was a touch of eagerness in her voice.
They were in deep forest and he had always had her shift near the edge of the meadow. It was much more dangerous with trees close together and branches overlapping. They had practiced flying through the forest, but they’d stayed within the trees on the outskirts just ringing the meadow.
“Yes. I believe you are more than ready for shifting and flying through the interior of the woods. We will start out slow, Elisabeta.” He couldn’t help pouring caution and command into his voice. It was always dangerous in the smaller confines of the trees. One mistake and it would be easy to suffer an injury—or worse. He knew Elisabeta had the skills. She was too detail-oriented not to. She hadn’t missed a single thing he’d shown or told her since he’d started with any of their lessons, and she loved flying.
“I want you to be able to move very fast through these woods, whether it be on foot, as an owl or in any other way you have to do it,” he added. “We’ve gone through them. This is our home. Our haven. It is where both of us feel safest.”
Dark suspicion crept into her mind and then her eyes but she refrained from voicing a single question, nor did she go into his head as she could have to read what his intentions were. Elisabeta’s brain was sharp and moved fast, figuring out what he planned. He didn’t want her to be afraid, not for herself or for him or anyone else. To distract her, he pointed to the upper branches of the shortest tree.
“We are both going to start at the bend in the path, running and shifting as we go. You will have to rid yourself of clothes, hold the image of the owl in your head, every detail, and lift yourself into the air all at the same time.”
They had practiced running and shifting in the meadow over and over, so he knew she could easily shed her clothes and become the owl. They’d also practiced the owl rising into the air and moving through the trees at the edge of the woods. Those trees were farther apart, but some branches were still interlocking. She had been extremely successful at that as well. Now, he wanted all the pieces put together because this might be life or death.
