Dark Slayer - Christine Feehan [92]
Gregori brought her fingertips to his mouth. He hadn’t wanted to ask Syndil. Anyone approaching that expanse of soil would be able to feel the agony radiating from the couple, and to ask a woman to share that experience was nearly more than he was capable of doing, yet if she didn’t help, it could well take years to heal such mortal wounds.
“Before you answer, Syndil”—now he looked to her lifemate, husband to husband, willing him to understand—“there are things you should know. The pain they suffer is unlike anything I have ever experienced in centuries of battles and healing. If you are empathic, you can’t go there without being affected. Even if you don’t touch them, just entering the area is an uncomfortable experience. I have no words to describe the suffering.”
“And yet they live,” Barack said.
“A seemingly impossible feat,” Gregori said. “Yet they continue.” His gaze moved broodingly over Syndil. “I do not ask this of you lightly. I would not want you trying to connect with them or helping me to heal them because to share their bodies right now is an agonizing task.”
Even when he slept the sleep of Carpathians, that first moment of awakening was torture, pain flooding his body, wrenching at every organ and tearing great holes in his body, as if he shared some part of Ivory and Razvan deep beneath the ground. He knew it was a waking nightmare, but still, the dreadful dream lingered with him night after night upon awakening.
“I can’t heal another human as you can, Gregori, but if the earth requires help in restoring minerals or any other particle it should need, I can and will do that. I wish I could be of more assistance, but I have only the one talent.”
“And that one talent is much needed. Will you need help from others? I know Natalya and Lara and even young Skyler help you rejuvenate the soil where our women lie.” Again there was a small frown he couldn’t quite keep from his face.
The idea of Skyler, such a young girl, and Lara, who was already giving more than she should, enduring the pain, didn’t set well with him. And Natalya . . . He sighed. Once she got near her brother, she would touch him whether they warned her against it or not. She was headstrong, and she had always adored her brother. If Syndil needed the other women, he would have to find a way without her to speed recovery.
“I can try, Gregori,” Syndil offered. “I would like to see what the earth is doing to aid them. I may never get such a chance again.”
“It is unique,” Gregori agreed. “Thank you.”
Syndil smiled at him and turned her attention to Savannah. They had become good friends over the last few weeks as Savannah fought to keep her unborn children alive. “How are you really feeling?”
“Exhausted, but very happy,” Savannah said. “It won’t be long, although Gregori talks to them nightly to convince them to stay in their safe environment as long as possible. We want them fully developed, with as much weight as possible. Even outside the womb, the microbes could attack.”
“I hope we can allow Ivory and Razvan to rise before the babies are born,” Gregori added. “I think they may be able to aid us greatly and give all of our children a fighting chance.”
Syndil sat back. “There is no question that all of us need to aid them. Isn’t it strange how in the end, it is never the individual but rather the sum of all of us working together that makes things right?”
“It appears, Syndil,” Gregori agreed, “that you are right.”
11
Razvan woke to the sound of a woman weeping. He didn’t open his eyes. He had heard that sound so many times—that same voice. Natalya. Beloved sister. He whispered her name as his gut tightened into hard knots. He must have betrayed her once again. He didn’t remember anymore, thank God. That was the worst of all torments Xavier could inflict on him—using him to attack his sister or his daughter or the aunts.
He felt Ivory’s awareness as if she, too, came awake to the sound of that hopeless weeping. Nothing seemed quite as hard to bear with Ivory close—not the pain and not the terrible knowledge of