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Ferro didn’t slow down. “Elisabeta is uncomfortable inside. I told you, she needs to be out in the fresh air.” He pushed air at her back, urging her to open the door before either Gary or Tariq held it shut on them and he was trapped in the narrow hallway with little room to fight their way out.

She yanked the door open and stepped outside. Ferro was right on her heels and he whirled around the moment he had room to face the two men emerging from the house. Elisabeta, stay behind me. If necessary, trust only the brethren. I do not know what goes on here, but I feel a threat to you. I am uncertain why. You should be safe here with both these men, but I do not feel as if you are. Can you read either of them without their knowledge?

They would know the moment Ferro touched their minds. He wasn’t going to risk an all-out battle with two experienced ancients like Gary and Tariq when Elisabeta was in such close proximity.

Perhaps. I would have to be very careful. Gary is . . . difficult. He is closed off. Tariq is more open but right now he is watchful and much more like the brethren than I have ever seen him. He is very dangerous right now, Ferro. I do not know why he is upset, but he is very upset.

“Elisabeta is asking you questions. Private questions, Ferro, and those questions are about me.” Tariq made it a statement. “Specifically, about the prince, the past and about me.”

“We asked her whether she could figure out what the Malinov brothers might want from you—want enough that they would be willing to expose themselves and the Carpathian people to the humans in order to get it. Now, because she needs to ask questions to get information pertinent to solving the puzzle, you are all but threatening her.” Ferro pushed back at both of them, daring them to deny it.

Gary and Tariq exchanged another long look and clearly another brief telepathic consultation.

Elisabeta assessed the two Carpathians carefully. They are both very unhappy. Uneasy. They are uncertain whether they can trust you, Ferro, because you have never sworn allegiance to the prince.

You are reading their actual thoughts?

No, more like their body language and the nuances of their eye movements along with the glimpses of images I’m picking up from their minds. I am more familiar with Gary through you and the others than Tariq, but Gary is very closed off and I cannot penetrate too deep without risk of detection. I hesitate with Tariq because it feels like invasion. Prying. He is a good man. A decent one. He has the good of the people placed before all else. Even confronting us is difficult when he knows we came to their aid.

“Why have you never sworn allegiance to Mikhail?” Tariq asked. “Few of the brethren have done so.”

“It has never been required of us,” Ferro said.

“That is so, but some have done so. Is there a reason you have not?”

“I have never met Mikhail Dubrinsky. I do not blindly follow anyone. His father ultimately betrayed us in order to satisfy his lifemate. She could not stand the idea of losing her firstborn son, even though he was sick with the taint of the bad blood. Vlad had enough precog that he saw the downfall of the Carpathian people. He knew what we would suffer. He knew what his younger son would face, the near extinction of all of us, and yet, to please his woman, he refused to have his second destroy his son.”

“And yet you continued to serve our people with honor.”