Dark Slayer - Christine Feehan [43]
Ivory closed her eyes to send herself seeking outside her body. Razvan stopped her with a gentle hand to her arm. Her lashes lifted and she met his gaze.
I just need to see you looking at me one more time. Just like this. No condemnation. No disgust. No fear. You look at me as if I am a person to you.
She lifted her chin. You are much more than a person to me, Razvan. She deliberately used his name. You are my lifemate. In this world, the next, or both.
The caressing note in her voice flooded him with warmth. A slow smile curved his mouth. It felt rusty, like his lips might crack and his jaw might break, but inside where no one could see, he held that first smile close.
“Ready?” she asked.
“Just be careful. Both of you,” Razvan cautioned.
Ivory shed her body and entered her lifemate. Gregori’s light burned hot and bright, almost luminescent, the mark, she knew, of a strong healer. He allowed her to take the lead, although she sensed his reluctance. There were scars inside the body, a multitude of them, and signs of torture beyond endurance, yet Razvan had endured.
She moved to his brain. Before she allowed Gregori to delve too deep, she intended to keep her promise to Razvan. She alone would know if he had cause for the guilt that weighed so heavily on his shoulders. She alone would know whether he was truly the criminal he had been branded as for so long.
It had been difficult to maintain her objectivity when she’d encountered the scars that reminded her of her own, but his memories were a virtual minefield. Xavier’s experiments and tortures were unthinkable, the things he’d forced Razvan to endure, to watch, to participate in. It was a wonder that he was sane. She moved through his brain, soaking in his memories until she felt saturated and ill. Yes, his body had been used time and again to commit crimes, but his spirit, the essence of who Razvan was, had not been present.
She moved aside and allowed the healer entrance. They moved through his brain, searching carefully for evidence of Xavier. While they worked, they had to share Razvan’s burden of memories, of a life of pain and suffering, of mental anguish. Yet he had fought back, holding on to sanity, sometimes by a thin thread, by the toughness and honor that was inherently Dragonseeker. Her heart wept for that lonely warrior, and she felt Gregori, strong and disciplined, weep with her as he moved through Razvan’s memories, seeking to find anything that might be Xavier’s fingerprints—a way for Xavier to enter at will.
There was no way to go through centuries of torment without it taking a toll. Ivory had to pull out and take a breath. Gregori followed her closely.
“He gave up his body when he was less than twenty to save his sister. And he inadvertently traded a piece of his soul for his daughter’s life.” Ivory lifted wet lashes to look at Gregori and then turned her head to her lifemate. “That is your greatest crime.”
“One of duty and love,” Gregori added. “You are no criminal, Razvan. You are a true Dragonseeker.” He sent a quick glance toward the prince. “No doubt I shall hear often how others recognized your true worth first.”
“No doubt,” Mikhail murmured.
“Can you remove Xavier’s hold on my soul?” Razvan asked. “If he was to possess my body right now, he could see all of you, he could use me to strike at the prince, or at my own lifemate. I cannot take that kind of chance.”
“If Xavier found a way to mark an entrance to your body, then we can find a way to remove it,” Ivory said. “I have studied him carefully, and each time I run across a new work he has done, I have found the way to unravel it. I know this can be done.”
Gregori drew in his breath. Did you hear what she said, Mikhail?
I am not so old that I’m deaf.
Gregori kept his grin to himself. These two have far more information on our enemy than we have managed to gain in the time we have been trying.
We didn’t exactly know Xavier was alive until recently.
“Ivory,” Sara said. “Do you know a way to stop the endless cycle of his microbes? He’s mutated them in