Embrace the Twilight Read Online Free Page B

each hand.
    Pulling away from Andre, Sarafina saw that he, too, carried lanterns. She understood then why his arms hadn’t come around her hard and fast as they usually did.
    â€œWhat’s wrong?” he asked.
    â€œNothing. Nothing, I—I’m afraid, that’s all.”
    â€œTake her back to camp, Andre,” Melina said. “Take her and go. Katerina will sit vigil with me until sunrise.”
    â€œBut I can stay. I’m fine,” Sarafina said.
    The old woman only shook her head, even as Andre set his lanterns down on the ground and put an arm around Sarafina, gently leading her away.
    Sarafina knew perfectly well that old Melina was going to tell her sister everything that had happened. It would only be more ammunition for Katerina to use against her. She wouldn’t be happy until she was the sole Shuvani of the tribe. She knew Sarafina, though younger, was better, stronger, more talented—and she couldn’t stand it.
    Andre helped her back to her vardo, and she climbed inside, tired to her very bones. It would be dawn soon. And yet she couldn’t go to sleep, not just yet.
    â€œWould you like me to stay with you, watch over you while you sleep?” he asked.
    Sarafina shook her head. “No. I want…I want to be alone.” She didn’t, not really. She wanted to feel the reassuring presence of her guide, her angel. She wanted to hear his voice again—clearly enough so she could listen while he explained all this to her. What was happening to her? To her life? To her tribe? And why?
    â€œSomething frightened you out there tonight, Fina. Won’t you tell me what it was?”
    Again she shook her head. “Everyone is afraid of…whatever sort of creature killed poor Belinda. And the others before her. Why should I be different?”
    â€œI don’t know. It seemed like…more than just fear.”
    â€œNow you sound like my sister. I suppose you suspect me of being in league with demons, as well?”
    â€œOf course not.” He stroked her hair lovingly. “Get some sleep, Fina. You don’t look well.”
    â€œI will. Good night, Andre.”
    He leaned close, kissed her mouth briefly, then turned and left her alone. Sarafina didn’t go to bed. She closed her tent flap carefully and went to the small table in the center of her home. Her hands trembled as she unwound the silk from around the crystal ball. When it was uncovered, she sat down before it, in the darkness, and gazed into its depths. She let her mind go still, let her vision slip out of focus, let her eyelids grow heavy. She had never tried to summon her spirit this way before. But suddenly she was moved to try. “Come to me, my beloved. Come to me, for I need your wisdom now. Tell me, what is my destiny?” she asked. “If it is true I am linked to some demon, how may I break the curse?”
    The crystal clouded and then the cloud vanished, and instead she saw a person take shape before her. A man. He was darkly handsome, though not a Rom. His hair was wet, dripping, and his shirt was torn open to reveal a ghastly scar on his chest.
    As she stared at this vision, wondering at it, he lifted his head and looked right into her eyes. He looked at her—through her. And she knew him. “I have seen you before,” she whispered. “Who are you?” But even as she asked, she knew the answer. This man was her guide, her spirit, the voice who spoke to her, the presence who walked with her. But why was he wet, and so battered? Was he the ghost of some martyr who had died for his cause?
    He only kept staring, clinging to her eyes as if by sheer will. There were men around him, men in foreign robes and headdresses, and they were hurting him. Branding his flesh with hot irons.
    Sarafina’s heart twisted in her chest, her palms pressing to either side of the crystal as if she could make the torture stop, but the man never flinched. His eyes held