“And you didn’t see that? When you were paging through Elena’s life? You didn’t expect it?”
“No, I—” he stopped, and frowned some more. “I didn’t see that far.”
“You mean you didn’t wait to see that far,” I corrected. “You ran off, as soon as you saw that creature with Dorina, without checking to see what happened next. You could have viewed it all from your bedroom. There was no reason to go to there, to risk so much—”
“I had to go. You don’t understand—”
“I do understand. Your obsession drove you—”
“I am not obsessed!”
That last was a yell, loud enough to echo off the sides of the cell, loud enough to leave me blinking. But it seemed to shock him even more. He finally sat down, looking bewildered, and completely unlike himself.
I took advantage of it, because it wouldn’t last.
“Mircea, tell me honestly, can you imagine another scenario where you’d bolt back four hundred years on the spur of the moment, without any preparation? Without even getting dressed or putting on a pair of shoes? You’ve spent months planning the invasion, combing over every little detail, but for something even more important to you, you just . . . left?”
He didn’t say anything, but he did look at his feet. They were no longer torn up after that headlong pelt through a forest; vampire healing abilities had taken care of that. But they were bare and dirty, because I guessed no one had offered him a bath, and they shouldn’t hav
e been. He should have had shoes on.
I could almost see him wondering why he didn’t.
“Think about it,” I said urgently. “Really think. And not just about why you went there, but about what might have happened. If you hadn’t been able to heal me, if I’d split my head open instead of just cracking it, you’d be dead, too. As long as that spell is on me, our fates are linked—”
“I wouldn’t have let you die! I would never—”
“You might not have had a choice! Mircea, you’re not the super powerful master vamp anymore. Not with that spell riding us. You are in a metaphysical union with someone in a weak human body who is vulnerable. Which means that you are, too. You need to take that spell off before you get us both killed and ruin our chances in this war at the same time.”
There was silence for a moment as he just sat there, staring at his feet. I didn’t think that anything else I’d said had gotten through the way that pointing out that one little detail had. The great Mircea Basarab, first level master, general of the combined army of the Vampire World Senate, and second in command to the North American consul, had bare toes and dirty feet.
And he couldn’t explain why.
“I didn’t heal you,” he finally rasped. “She did.”
“She?” It took me a moment, because for a second, I thought he meant Gertie. But as far as I knew, she didn’t number healing among her talents. And there was only one other she around. “You mean Elena?”
“Yes. I don’t know how. But I didn’t have enough power left.”
“You said something about me taking your power,” I said, remembering.
“You did. Almost drained me. I was about to follow you and Elena onto the roof, but the small creature had broken away from the fey and was carrying Dorina into the forest. I went after them and had almost caught up when I stumbled into a tree. My power had taken a hit, and subsequently took more. And, as I said, I couldn’t replace it in that era.”
I suddenly recalled those small hits of extra power I’d received during the fight, which had probably saved my life. I hadn’t known where they were coming from, I’d just been glad to have them. I guessed I knew now.
“But how—”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. I assume the link between us. It must allow you to draw from me the same way one of my vampires does, in time of duress.”
I blinked at him, and then the hand I’d put on his arm at some point clenched. Because I was remembering something else now, too. But he kept talking.
“I’m glad it happened,” he told me fervently. “If I’d left you alone and you’d been overwhelmed . . .” his jaw clenched. “And Dorina was fine; why couldn’t I see that? She obviously reached the Romani as intended. But if I had caught up with her, had interfered with that—”
“Mircea—”
“—there’s no telling what might have happened. I could have destroyed her chance at a safe haven, possibly even gotten her killed, all in the name of helping her!”
“Mircea—”