Solange actually smiled. A genuine smile. It changed her entire face, lighting her eyes and making her look years younger. «Now you've got that image in my head, too.»
She and Jasmine exchanged a look, making a face and simultaneously saying, «Ugh.»
«Then my mission here is complete. I've managed to disturb you both.» Juliette folded her arms, looking smug.
Jasmine laughed and held out her hands to MaryAnn. «If Solange is passion pink, what color am I?»
Everyone waited. MaryAnn glanced at Solange, who raised an eyebrow. «Hmm, I think you're more of a bubblegum.» She extracted another small bottle from her bag.
«That's pink!» Solange pronounced, sitting back against the cushions.
«It is not,» MaryAnn said indignantly. «There's a subtle difference.»
«What else do you have in there?» Juliette wanted to know. She peered into the bag with the neat rows of polish shoved through loops. «I don't believe this. Check this out, Solange.» She snatched up the bag and
exposed the contents.
There was a small, awed silence.
«Just how many different bottles of nail polish do you have?» Solange asked.
MaryAnn took the bag back and opened the bottle of bubblegum polish. «I rarely leave home without at least ten. You never know what might happen, and a woman needs to feel good about herself no matter what.» She heaved an exaggerated sigh. «I have no idea what the three of you did without me.»
«Well,» Solange said, sitting so far forward her nose was nearly in the nail polish as she watched MaryAnn apply it to Jasmine's fingernails, «we didn't wear passion pink or bubblegum, that's for sure.»
«Here.» Juliette grabbed the passion pink. «Stick your foot out, Solange.»
«Wait!» There was panic in MaryAnn's voice. «You can't just do it that way. Here.» She pulled out two small pieces of purple and orange foam. «You have to use these. They'll separate her toes.»
Solange drew her foot up and tucked it under her. «Back off, cousin. You're not sticking anything that weird on my foot.»
«Don't be such a baby.» MaryAnn slipped the foam onto her feet and lifted them up into the air. «See. It doesn't hurt at all. I have another pair and they aren't purple.»
Jasmine let out a cry of delight. «Look, Solange, they're pink.»
Solange rolled her eyes but allowed Juliette to put them on her toes. «You'd better never tell anyone about this.»
MaryAnn worked happily on Jasmine's nails, occasionally glancing over at Solange's toes. Juliette was making a mess, and making Jasmine laugh so hard she could barely keep her hands still. MaryAnn glanced several times at Solange. She seemed to be relaxing and allowing herself to have fun. It was a small step, but it was still progress.
MaryAnn found her favorite polish and began on her own toes while Jasmine blew on her nails and Juliette allowed Solange to work on her toes. Solange suddenly stiffened and glanced toward the door.
Manolito? MaryAnn felt his presence close. Be careful with Solange. She really has suffered trauma; both she and Jasmine need help. Warn Riordan and Luiz as well, please.
He flooded her with reassurance as he strode into the room. «Good evening, ladies. I trust you are well.» He bent to brush a kiss on top of MaryAnn's head, pretending not to see Solange wince at his close proximity.
«How is Luiz?» Jasmine asked.
«He is fine. Riordan is with him right now. He has a few things to learn. Flying and shifting in the way of our people is not as easy as it looks.» He winked at Jasmine. «Pretty nails. I like the color.»
She smiled. «It's bubblegum.»
Manolito casually took the nail polish from MaryAnn's hand and sat across from her, lifting her feet into his lap. «I patrolled the island, Solange, and saw jaguar tracks on the north side. I followed them to the river. It
looked as if the cat went in.» He spoke matter-of-factly, treating her as an equal, forcing her to do the same with him. He opened the bottle of polish and frowned at the smell.
MaryAnn flashed him a smile of gratitude for addressing Solange as if he didn't notice she could barely tolerate his presence in the room. It had probably been several years since Solange had been in the casual company of a man.
«I have a rather acute sense of smell,» Manolito added, «and I couldn't detect a man within the cat, although the trail was several hours old. How do you tell the difference between a shifter and a genuine jaguar without being able to scan their brain? He wasn't close enough for me to pick up his brain patterns.»
MaryAnn wanted to fling her arms around Manolito's neck and hug him.
I have learned a few things from being in your mind. His voice was a drawling caress. Her toes twitched, wanting to curl, and the brush, slick with polish, landed on her toe instead of the toenail.
Solange had been watching the process, fascinated by the sight of a large Carpathian male, essentially a predator, delicately polishing his lifemate's toenails. Her mouth twitched and she had to look away as Manolito glared at MaryAnn.
«Hold still.»
«I am holding still. You did that thing.»
«What thing?» Manolito asked.
You looked sexy and gorgeous and sounded like heat in the middle of a rainstorm. Behave yourself.
Solange cleared her throat. «When the jaguar-man travels, he usually carries a small pack around his neck.» Her voice sounded low and husky, as if she rarely used it. She didn't look directly at Manolito, but she wasn't snarling. And she continued to work on Juliette's toes, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. «Often when he leaps for the tree, the bag rubs a small amount of moss off the trunk or branch. It's very small, but once you know what to look for, you can spot it.»
«When we get back to the ranch, maybe you could take the time to show me,» Manolito said. «That way when we go on our patrols, we'll know what we're looking for.» His voice was every bit as casual as Solange's. He bent forward to blow on MaryAnn's toes.
«Sure.»
Silence fell, but it was companionable, not filled with tension. MaryAnn looked around the room at the women who had become her family. At the man who was her heart and soul, and she found herself smiling.
Manolito looked up, his black eyes meeting hers. Her heart jumped the way it always would when she looked at him, when she got lost in his gaze.
I love you, avio palafertul. «My lifemate. My wife.»
I love you, too, avio palafertul, koje. «My lifemate. My husband.»
It didn't get much better.
A MUCH-ABRIDGED CARPATHIAN DICTIONARY
3aj
This very-much-abridged Carpathian dictionary contains most of the Carpathian words used in these Dark books. Of course, a full Carpathian dictionary would be as large as the usual dictionary for an entire language.
Note: The Carpathian nouns and verbs below are word stems. They generally do not appear in their isolated «stem» form, as below. Instead, they usually appear with suffixes (e.g., «andam»-«I give,» rather than just the root, «and»).
aina-body
ainaak-forever
akarat-mind; will
al-bless; attach to
alatt-through
al*-to lift; to raise
and-to give
avaa-to open
avio-wedded
avio palafertul-lifemate
belso-within; inside
ca*a-to flee; to run; to escape
coro-to flow; to run like rain
csitri-little one (female)
eci-to fall
ek-suffix added after a noun ending in a consonant to make it plural