Page 49 of Caller of Crows

"A memory."

"You can do that?"

"Only if you let me."

Sven hesitated, not sure what Keegan was offering was a good idea.

But what did he have to lose, really?

Besides, if he could find a weakness, a way to convince Altair, any risk was worth taking.

"Okay," Sven agreed. "Do it."

"Take my hands."

Sven did as he'd been ordered, and the moment their skin made contact, visions appeared in front of his eyes. He saw a beautiful young woman with olive skin and curly hair, laughing as she danced with a dashing black-haired gentleman.

Altair.

"I didn't know you could dance," the woman said, laughing.

Altair gave her a lopsided smile, so different from the expression Sven usually saw on that face. "There are many things you don't know about me," he said.

"I want to know everything," the woman promised, her smile radiant.

The image shifted, and then Sven was looking at the same woman, her face paler, her expression serious, a set of fangs in her mouth. Sven recognized her as a fledgling, a newly born vampire.

Altair was behind her, his fingers running through her curls. "Don't worry," he whispered.

The image shifted once more, so fast it was giving Sven whiplash just to watch. Or maybe that was all the blood that he saw before him now. The woman lay on a bed, face pale and expressionless, the sheets stained red with her blood. A stake was lodged in her chest.

When Sven came back to himself, he had to fight the urge to throw up.

"W-what was that?" he asked, his voice trembling.

"The memory I promised," Keegan replied.

Sven looked into his eyes. "Who was she? What happened to her?"

"Her name was Isabella. She was Alt's mate, and Alt killed her."

Sven's brain came to a screeching halt.

Altair had killed his mate?

"Why would he do that?"

"I don't know. He never said."

"But it must have been something bad," Sven pointed out. If Altair had staked his own mate, the love of his life, it must have been terrible. But what could a fledgling have possibly done that was bad enough to warrant such a reaction from the man who'd given her his blood?

The woman must have had a dark side, too, a side Altair had not cared to share with Keegan, a side Keegan was conveniently omitting from this version of the story.

"Why did you show me this?" Sven asked.

"To demonstrate the kind of man he is and the kind of danger you're in."

Sven's throat tightened. "I'm sure there's more to the story."