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Acknowledgments
In a book as complicated as Dark Curse , there are so many people to thank
First and fore, an incredible friend, who is a continual source of infore as the proto-language of the Hungarian and Finnish languages Dr Chris Tong (christongcoraduate studies in linguistics at Coluuistics at Standford University He is currently writing a new book,Beyond Everything , and developing the World Meeting Place, a Web 30 (AI-based) site ai the world's problems
Brian Feehan, who drops everything and brainstorms with me at the drop of a hat You make my fantasy and action scenes come alive for me when I discuss them with you
I have to thank Rachel Powell for introducing h to share her knowledge with ht path to aid my Carpathian women Diana SkyEyes is an earth priestess with twenty years of practicing Moon Lodge and Wiccan traditions of alternative healing She is a certified herbalist, s Any mistakes are my own as well as fictitious license used to enhance y
My sister Ruth Powell, who has always stood for children, who is the only one I know that could create an ancient lullaby and make the words universal
My sister Jeanette and Slavcia, illing to discuss birth proble alternative medicines
And, of course, Anita, who made all the work fun and rehter while orked our own s always stuns and amazes me
Prologue
The cold should havefear that seized Lara, causing such tremors they were impossible to control She huddled on the floor of the ice cave, studying the walls of her prison The ice was beautiful, walls thick and blue with a from the floor like a forest of hts flicker across the ice-creating glittering, dazzling displays on the walls All the while, her heart beat too fast and she choked on rising terror
A soft whisper in her mind helped to steady her, to keep her centered and calm when she wanted to curl
up in a ball and cry She was eight years old now-today She looked down at her ar through her skin to get at her veins Her stomach lurched Today was the last day anyone would tear at her flesh and drink her blood Today she would escape
I a telepathic communication, her voice trembled
At once she felt warh her body, driving away the chill and giving her courageYou will not be alone We will aid you to escape You must be brave, little one
Will you come with me, Aunt Bronnie? Will you both come? She knew she sounded plaintive and afraid, but she couldn't help it She'd never been above ground The idea of going alone into an unfa Without her aunts, she would have no way of protecting herself They both had taught her, thrusting as many skills and spells into her brain and memories as possible, but she was still a child in a child's body Thin Weak Pale A mop of copper-colored hair she could never control and little else
That o by yourself You et far away from this place and hide your talents and abilities so no one will ever iain Do you understand? You cannot in any way appear different in the outside world
They had told her of the world Long, lonely nights they had whispered to her of places above ground, of the sun and sea, of forests of trees, of living animals and birds that flew free They had filled her es so beautiful they had stolen her breath
Why ain, running her hands up and down her body in an effort to warm herself It wasn't the temperature of the ice cave-she could control her body temperature when she re was nearly as terrifying as the idea of staying Here she at least had the aunts Outside-she didn't even knohat to expect
It is always better to blend in, Lara Xavier is a cruel reat poithin you and others ant it Learn in secret and only use it when you ood or to save your life You cannot let others know
Come with me
If we can, but no matter what, you must leave this place You see what they do to us-what they will do to you Your poill call to the from you
Lara closed her eyes, the tre Oh yes, she had seen Torture Horrible torture Horrible black spells drawing forth de stench of evil clinging to them She would hear screa forto be killed
She couldn't let her father or great-grandfather know of the power groithin her She could never let on that the aunts spoke to her and taught her, filling her rew, she would have the knowledge to acco she was from her, control her if they couldn't and in the end, she would be like the others, torn apart while they still lived, experimented on, eaten alive piece by piece until madness and pain was all that was left
Today was her birthday and she had to escape She had to leave the only hoo out into a world she knew only through the memories of her two aunts, who had been io lost count Before that could happen, she would be forced to endure her father and great-grandfather's sharp, wicked teeth one more time
She covered her eyes and bit back a sob
Lara You are Dragonseeker You can do this We are strong We endure We do not ever succumb to evil Do you understand? You must escape
Auntie Bronnie always lectured her, but there was love in her voice Worry Determination Auntie Tatijana sounded sad and weak, but the love was there as well, although these days, she rarely wasted energy on talking Lara knew sohtened of losing the two of them
"I don't want to be alone," she whispered aloud into the freezing cold of the bluish chamber She didn't say it in her mind to her aunts, because she didn't want the This terrible place of pain and death and cold was her home and here at least she had the aunts, and she knehat to expect Outside-outside she would be alone in a foreign world
Lara's body suddenly jerked upright At the sah her brain like sludge A cry escaped Her instinct was to struggle against the command, but she forced her will to lie quiet, to pretend to be subdued It was difficult when everything in her shuddered and withdrew fro stain
Do not fight Do not fight, Aunt Bron's voice whisperedSave your strength Let him think he has control We will all strike at the same moment This will be the last time, child The last time
Lara choked on the sob welling up To have so her body, pushing at herher throat andacid She took a step Another Like a puppet controlled by strings She couldn't prevent her instincts to fight She resisted the invasive presence, trying to throw him out of her mind, a small rebellion that earned immediate retaliation
Her body jerked again and pain pierced her skull, like ice picks drilling holes through skin and bone The sensation of spiders crawling on her skin, hundreds of the at her scalp, had her frantically slapping at her body She opened hercame out She knew Razvan-her father-had no patience with tears or pleading It infuriated hi, or to a childish voice Her earliestlike one of the captured wolves he occasionally brought into his lair to torment
Whatever her memories, this was her way of life The aunts had told her a child should be loved and treasured, never used for food, but it was only the memories they shared of their mother's childhood that all of them could really depend on Not even the aunts had really experienced much more than what Lara's life was like And memories-especially ancient ones-could be faulty
He is forcingpanic, to keep herself fro her abilities, but her sense of self-preservation was strong
You are co to us, her aunt re this terrible place
to go to a new life where they cannot touch you ever again
Lara nodded and lessened her fight response She couldn't lose it altogether or Razvan h to know he sought to control her through fear If she wasn't afraid enough, he would find a way to incite her terror so he could keep her under his thumb and biddable
She counted each step She already knew the exact number-she had made this journey h the corridor and then her body would jerk to the right, and go through the entrance into the large chamber where Razvan and Xavier always held their ritual cere hall was really a tunnel with a bluish ceiling and thick ice walls Under her feet the ice was slick and solid, alhtly fro the walls, revealing the rainbow of colors, glea like jewels embedded in the frozen world
She loved the beauty, sculptures of orange-red and purplish-blue rising sharply fro fountains frozen in place waiting for the light to hit the short jerky steps until she was in the e colu every few feet Ancient weapons lined one wall and straight ahead, encased in ice were two perfect dragons, one red and one blue
Lara glanced up, her breath catching in her throat as it always did at the sight of her aunts, iht in a powerful shape that was not their true for close The aunts had ee deep in her et the process, but she hadn't worked up the courage to actually shift And the aunts had forbidden her to try where Razvan or Xavier would feel the surge of power
The red dragon had her great eye pressed against the ice As Lara watched, the lid slowly closed and then opened again over the round orb The sth to look directly at the man who stood in the center of the roolared at her, beckoning with a long finger
The lines in his face had deepened since the last time she'd seen him and that had only been a couple of days earlier His hair had darkened froray His eyes were sunken and beneath thean to breathe harder, the air coreat puffs of excitement In one hand he held a ritual cerean to pound
He has the knife
Teeth tearing at her flesh was bad enough, but the sharp blade slicing,with it the screams of past victims, screams she couldn't drown out for weeks afterward The pleas forlike ice to her veins so that she felt she was going insane until time finally melted them away
Lara couldn't help that spurt of adrenaline and the surge of power that ca out of the stu back to reveal his stained teeth
"Get over here!" His face was a enius of round to service greatness"