P. N. Elrod - Ravenloft by I Strahd

Author:I, Strahd [I, Strahd]
Language: hun
Format: mobi
Published: 2016-02-02T13:01:26.785000+00:00

But it was worth it. She awaited me.

Soon…

The day's warm air had turned chill, and mist was beginning to rise from the damp earth like restless spirits of the dead. Such thought was fancy only, but I did sense something else… stirring… all around me, like a wind that one feels only in the mind.

Magic.

Necromancy.

I'd done more this night than kill my brother and drink his blood. More had happened to me than had been promised.

That business with the mirror was yet another price for me to pay, a price that had not been mentioned.

No. Not really. I'd ignored the possibility.

There is a precise language to be used in such bargaining. Had I been more on guard and less eager to take what had been promised, I could have asked and gotten an answer.

Too late now.

One of Tatyana's chaperons hovered near the gate I'd come through. She was pale, but calm, and offered me an apologetic look, saying Tatyana would not let anyone near her.

"She'll see me. Where is Lady Ilona?"

"Lord Dilisnya was taken ill. She was called away to see to him, some time ago."

"Fetch her."

She left, and I slowly approached Tatyana.

The candlelight within the chapel was more than sufficient to overflow the stained glass windows and spill out into the night. Tatyana was huddled in a pool of color from one of them, her white gown catching and holding gemlike shades of green, blue, gold… red.

I looked down at her. If I'd had to kill a dozen brothers, drink a river of their blood to have her, I would have done so.

She made no move, not even to wipe at the tears making salty trails down her cheeks, her throat…

Kneeling next to her, I put out my arms and knew the totality of joy as she at last sank into my embrace. I'd never before had patience for weeping, but now, as she clung to me and gave vent to the terrible grief raging in her young heart, I had only tender concern for her pain. She needed someone to hold her, and I was glad to do so. While I had seen much death in my time, she was still very much a child to it; perhaps between those extremes we would find a place of comfort for us both. My strength, my love—all that I had was hers to draw upon.

"Why, Strahd?" she whispered.

It's happening. This was the first time she'd ever used my given name.

"Why? How could this have happened?

Who…?"

She clung to me more tightly, doubled over from the weight of her sorrow. If I could have spared her from this, I would have. Her sobs were such as to break her in two, but there was nothing to be done about it now.

"I cannot say," I murmured, not sure she understood the muted syllables, but knowing the droning sound of a familiar voice might help. "Whoever did it will pay." Has paid. "I promise you."

Above her weeping, I heard the winds within me rise. They tugged at my

thoughts, trying to draw me away from the bliss of holding her.

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