FORTY

Hermione shook her head. A frown graced her lips, but it seemed she was disconnected, barely there in that moment as she whispered, "She said something like that, too …."

"She?" Antonin arched a brow. "She who?"

"Oksana, the witch who's hosting me here. I asked her if she had any idea what it might be, she seemed reluctant to guess; said there were too many things it could've been and …."

Oh, he did not like the way she kept trailing off, but he thought he understood. Her brilliant mind was struggling to make sense of a wildly incomplete picture and it was disorienting her.

"And?" he prompted gently.

She shrugged, chestnut eyes distant. "And that I should find the book fast so I can go home. I think she thought—"

"That some creatures might be able to sense that you've come for the book." The words left him in an awed rush, the very idea not having occurred to him until just now, allowing him to ignore the sharp, icy sensation that rocked though him for a flickering heartbeat at the mention of her going back home fast.

Somehow that notion snapped the young woman back to her senses. Giving herself a shake, she met his gaze. "But I'm not the first witch to come looking for it. Minerva McGonagall was here half a century ago on her own mission to find it. If she had for a moment felt like creatures were … following her while she'd been here, she'd never have sent me without telling me so."

His witch certainly had more faith in people than he did Antonin realized as he asked, "Are you sure about that?"

Hermione tried not to bristle on Minerva's behalf at the question. "Positive. She has a lot of belief in me and my abilities, but she would never deliberately endanger me. She would've warned me."

The upir's shoulders drooped a bit as a realization dawned. "Then, моя кошеня, there's only one reason you're having a different experience in your search than she did in hers."

She darted her gaze about, blinking rapidly a few times, as if the answer might be etched somewhere before them. "Which is?"

He didn't want to smile just now, but he couldn't seem to help himself, as elated for and end to his curse as he was concerned for her safety. "That you're the one they think will find the book."