32. Chapter One
Chapter One
Derikles
Derikles trembled under the hastily erected dome. He was still struggling to deal with the massive psychic shift Isaiah had forced upon him in the moments before his sovereign had moved to the front.
Derikles was now the sovereign of Isaiah’s clan.
Each unique, individual connection spanned outward from within his mind to every single one of the clan’s members, now indisputably linked to his mind instead of Isaiah’s.
It should have been impossible.
“No!”
Zeke’s horrified shout echoed beneath the chamber. It drew Derikles’ attention to the massive Raeth male still kneeling beside Nero. He didn’t have to ask why; the sound outside the earth and ice sarcophagus had completely stopped.
If Zeke’s bond with Nina was anything like Derikles’ own tie to Isaiah, it’d just become filled with static.
In the moments following, the dome swiftly dissolved, the rock and ice and psychic energy that’d protected them from the violence outside receding. Ice melted and rock slid back into the charred earth. What met their sight after it’d disappeared made Derikles’ stomach drop.
All three of the Raeths outside the dome were lying motionless on the scorched grass. Zeke’s roar propelled Derikles into action, but Rukia was already at Isaiah’s side by the time he landed on his knees beside his sovereign.
Jaeda!
Derikles’ telepathic shout had the healer teleporting to his side within moments. Stricken for a handful of seconds, Jaeda’s hands instantly went to Isaiah’s chest.
“What happened? Who did this?”
“A recoil.”
Derikles wasn’t even sure that adequately explained what Isaiah had done. Dots skirted along the outside of his vision, his energy flaring violently. Knowing the importance of the next few minutes, he attempted to right himself after the psychic shock of the transferred sovereignty.
Beside them, Nero was frantically doing compressions on Key’s chest. He didn’t have to ask why her heart had stopped. Nero’s healer, Luna, teleported in only seconds later, vaulting into action much like Jaeda.
From beside him, Jaeda’s fingers went to Isaiah’s temple, a move that’d become routine after every recoil. In the past, it’d always returned the same results, the confirmation that Isaiah’s mind was intact. And in the past, they’d always breathed a collective sigh of relief when they heard those words.
But not today.
Jaeda froze. Her eyes widened as her entire body stopped moving. A sudden sharp inhale, and then her eyes inexplicably watered.
“He’s—”
Jaeda couldn’t finish her thought before tears began to track down her face. As Zeke’s bone-chilling wail rang out into the silence that followed, Derikles instantly knew what’d become of both sovereigns.
Rukia grabbed Derikles’ bicep. “What’s happening? What’s wrong with Isaiah?”
The warnings of previous generations had not fallen on deaf ears. If a Raeth born of destruction expended too much power, a recoil could be fatal. It didn’t matter how many protections were in place. A psychic mind was not infallible.
Derikles had never wanted the responsibility of telling Isaiah’s mate he had gone too far. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he met her gaze.
“Isaiah’s mind, Rukia … he’s gone.”
“What does that mean?”
Despair crawled through the link Derikles now bore with Rukia, her tie to the clan through her mate. Gently taking her hand, he told her the painful truth.
“It means that regardless of the fact that he draws breath, Isaiah will never wake up.”
Rukia didn’t respond. She began to tremble before her gaze dropped to her mate’s head as it lay in her lap, a trail of blood trickling from his nose.
“And Nina? Key?”
Looking toward those who stood beside them, Derikles realized it was Lucius who’d asked. One glance confirmed the same fate for the two other Raeths who’d sacrificed themselves. None of them would ever wake up.
It was a fact that delighted the Raeth named Rayn who was held prisoner between Riaz and Nova. His wicked grin lined an ageless face.
“I hope his mind rots and your clan crumbles from within. You’ll have no choice but to end his life because you can’t function without your precious sovereign.” Another sneer. “Enjoy killing him.”
Derikles was on his feet before he’d even consciously made the decision. Reaching Rayn, violence drummed through him, baiting him to claim a life.
But he couldn’t—not when there were so many unanswered questions.
Instead, Derikles simply drew all the energy from Rayn’s defenseless body. Having his abilities locked, the other Raeth had no defense against psychic gifts. There was a sick sort of glee that filled Derikles as the traitor slumped unconscious against the muddy ground.
Pivoting, he took in the scene before him. Nero and Luna were working to keep Key alive. Nina was in the arms of her distraught mate, surrounded by those who loved her. Ringed by those of his clan, Isaiah was still while Jaeda continued to heal him.
“Since they are destruction, their recoil must have inadvertently cast back on her in the end,” Nero said, his words hollow. “Key must’ve known what was going to happen.”
“She’s creation, not destruction,” Luna whispered. “She’s not built for a recoil of that magnitude.”
“Neither were Isaiah or Nina,” Derikles hissed. “None of us are built to withstand the recoil from taking more than a thousand lives, no matter how strong.”
Somewhere in the night, an owl called, the sound forlorn and chilling. For a minute, he simply stared into the darkness. It seemed to swallow him whole. Legs numb beneath him, it was all Derikles could do to keep standing.
“Will my son ever speak to his father again?”
Rukia’s question broke through the stilted silence. Jaeda didn’t respond—and that was an answer in and of itself. She simply pulled the Elemental into her arms.
“My mate?”
It was too much to bear, and Derikles had to turn away. His gaze fell on Zeke who still cradled Nina’s motionless form. Beside him sat Kaien, his features wiped clean in shock and despair.
“I’m taking Nina home.”
When Zeke stood, his face was empty of all emotion. He looked as if his heart had been ripped from his chest and what remained was a mere shell. The Raeth cradled his mate delicately to his chest, pressing his lips to her forehead.
And then he was gone, followed by most of his clan.
The remaining Raeths circled Isaiah and Key, while the battlefield around them revealed the fate of the enemy that had come here to kill them. Only then did Derikles realize the truth. It became apparent what Key had meant when she’d said that concealing the bodies was a question for after victory, not before.
There were no bodies.
“Let’s take him home, Rukia.” Voice low as if he’d disturb Isaiah’s slumber, Derikles gently squeezed her shoulder. “He deserves to go home.”
Derikles teleported them all into Isaiah’s home. Carefully, he and Lucius placed the fallen sovereign on his couch while Rukia hovered within an arm’s reach. Jaeda continued to ensure Isaiah’s body was healing, having noticed that his palms were badly burned. The brilliant flame that’d killed the Citizens’ had marked him.
Gideon gathered Rukia in his arms.
With the vast change in the neural network that linked the clan, the level of confusion that streamed through those bonds was nearly debilitating. Though the links had Isaiah’s print, no one in his clan was confused about who they were now linked to: Derikles.
It would fall on him to inform the clan and Isaiah’s lieutenants of what’d occurred.
Those lieutenants were already teleporting in. Derikles realized only moments later that he’d somehow given them an unconscious call to gather—something he’d been unaware of until that very moment.
Sia arrived first, followed swiftly by the rest of them. The debilitating swarm of their fear and confusion reverberated back on him through their connections. Flinching, Derikles attempted to create what Isaiah had mentioned many times: a psychic valve.
Even as he struggled to form it, he could feel the weight of the clan’s lieutenants focus on him. Sia’s voice was rough when she asked, “What’s happened to the network, Derikles? Why does it seem as though you’ve taken the sovereignty from Isaiah?”
Threads of betrayal ran through each of the new bonds that connected them. Their visceral reaction was vilifying, but hardly surprising.
Shaking his head morosely, Derikles explained, “We met the Citizens on the field of battle tonight. We defeated them, but not without cost. Key Linked Nina and Isaiah’s Reaper abilities, and just before they went on the offense, Isaiah did something to the network.”
He glanced at where the man lay unmoving. “He shifted the sovereignty to me. What should’ve been impossible was not.”
“Is that what he’d been researching? What he’s been turning the world upside down for?”
“I don’t know,” Derikles confessed, “but regardless of what the network says, Isaiah remains our leader. Until the very end.”
No one knew when that hammer would fall. If it ever did.
Jaeda, finally recovered, met his gaze. At Derikles’ nod, she whispered the words that tore his heart out. “After the recoil, Isaiah’s mind didn’t recover. It’s static.”
Xedrix gasped, staggering backward, while Sia’s hand covered her mouth to withhold a sob. Though the other lieutenants reacted far less visibly, none of them was without despair.
Circe slowly descended the staircase leading to Isaiah’s room. She clutched a piece of white paper in her hand.
“Rukia, he left a note.”
The water Elemental leapt to her feet, reaching for the paper as though everything rode on what it contained. As her tears began falling, Derikles caught sight of the words Isaiah had written on it.
I love you, Rukia. Forgive me.