Page 73 of Between Imminent Fates

PART TWO

Chapter One

Derikles

Derikles trembled under thehastily 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.”

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