Prince of Hearts Read Online Free PDF Page B

virtue of the other Elders. Just because they had Da Vinci hearts did not make them saints. In fact, Sasha’s experience with the Council inspired very little in the way of trust – not that he trusted anyone, after the upbringing he’d had.
    The few he could have trusted, like Rowan, however, could not imagine the brothers who’d died and been reborn beside them capable of murder – or Bonding a human who was.
    It was a failure of imagination that Sasha knew would be the Council’s eventual undoing. The outrageous actions of the Elder Stieg Ehrengard during the Crimean War proved Sasha’s point, but somehow Ehrengard’s sins had been conveniently brushed under the rug. The High Council had moved on as if nothing had happened and nearly a million human lives had not been lost in Ehrengard’s quest for power.
    For the Elders, their brotherhood and their belief in their superiority over mankind trumped all.
    “And as I’ve told you before, unlike the both of you, I have never Bonded anyone in my life. How you can consign someone to a fate such as ours is something I will never grasp.”
    “Leave off with your righteous indignation,” Franco growled. “It hardly flatters someone of your lineage.”
    “By lineage, do you mean the fabulously wealthy and powerful Russian Imperial family I was born to rule?” he asked archly. “Granted, my father was a unique sort of demon, but I am told some of my forebears were quite acceptable company. Saints, according to the Orthodox Church. I can hardly vouch for them, however, since three hundred years has taught me to be wary of history books, and the Church. But at least my ancestors could read.”
    Franco’s face turned purple with rage. Everything was a sore spot with the Italian, but he was particularly sensitive about his humble origins. A low blow, perhaps, but Sasha couldn’t regret it at the moment. He shrugged. “ You started it. And have you ever considered the possibility there is someone out there the Council has missed?”
    “Impossible. There were only ever twelve of us,” Franco said.
    “Yet I make a very unpleasant thirteen,” Sasha replied. “Perhaps I’m not the only mistake roaming around out there. But I wasn’t thinking of that. I would wager all I owned that this is a rogue Bonded, someone who has fallen through the cracks, despite all of your so-called precautions.”
    Rowan looked thoughtful. “Why do you say that?”
    He sighed. “First of all, an Elder would have no need for such experiments. He is already immortal, and he can Bond a human if he wants the company.”
    “Unless he is not experimenting at all, merely desecrating human flesh because he is a madman,” Franco interjected. “A psychopath like his father.”
    Sasha merely quirked his brow at the Italian, refusing to respond to such a thinly veiled accusation. “I never said we weren’t looking for a madman. That much is obvious. But this is a man who has been Bonded in the past. He is attempting to remove the Elder from the equation altogether by recreating Da Vinci’s heart for himself – quite unsuccessfully, I might add.”
    “If this is true, then that would explain his longevity,” Rowan said reluctantly. “But it would also suggest…”
    “It would also suggest that there is an Elder out there who is abetting this man,” Sasha finished. “And is still Bonding him. That is the reason there are hundreds of years between each string of victims. The Bonding wears off, and the murderer panics as he begins to age once more. He starts his cycle of violence, until the Elder intercedes.”
    “That is not possible!” Franco insisted. “No Elder would facilitate such a fiend.”
    “It is entirely possible. You and Rowan here are naïve to think otherwise. I seem to be the only one exempt from your belief in the inherent goodness of your fellow man. Turn some of that distrust upon your comrades and your precious Bonded companions, for God’s sake. Surely some likely