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“His sweater is bloody.”
Lips pursing in a tight white line, Kaien explained, “His nose was hemorrhaging when I found him. A side effect of the poison.”
He reached forward, touched a hand to the bloodied sweater and teleported it away. Catching sight of his bare chest, Ava’s hand covered her mouth to stall a cry.
Though Remmus had prepared her for it, seeing the scars on his chest and ribcage made her lightheaded. To know that his parents had forced him to mutilate his own body for their sick satisfaction sickened her.
“Remmus hides the scars behind transfiguration,” Kaien finally explained—if not to her, then to Zeke. “But his transfiguration was compromised with the poison, and we’re looking at his real markings. If you weren’t his mate and his sovereign, I would never allow either of you to see his secret and rob him of his dignity, but you both need to see and understand.”
“And the brand?”
This time, it was Zeke asking the question, and everything about the way he said it spoke of barely concealed rage, a pent-up aggression on Remmus’ behalf for the abuse he’d suffered.
“After they attacked Ava’s village, his parents branded him with their initials, telling him he’d never mate or find a clan that would take him in.” Kaien’s voice broke. “He was fourteen.”
Sounds of outrage erupted around the room, and Ava let her tears flow freely. Running her hand along his arm, she stared at the line of slashes that’d been concealed beneath ink. Ava shoved all of it into the little black box in her mind where she trapped her rage. Then, she refocused on the situation at hand.
“Tell me why he hasn’t woken up.”
“Psychic poisoning is excessively rare, a purely destructive gift, and we can’t just flood his mind with healing magic and expect him to wake up.”
“Why can’t you repair it?”
Beneath her skin, her wolf snarled, the beast barely holding onto her sanity. When mates were in trouble, or injured, a werewolf often succumbed to the more primal part of their personality. Ava was no different.
“Because minds aren’t like bones and muscle,” Kaien explained. “It holds memory, personality; the core of who you are. Raeth healers can heal the tissues, but not what it contains. We can’t heal the mind if it’s already been damaged.”
Anger dissolved under a rising tide of dread. “What are you saying? That Remmus could have been irrevocably changed by this?”
Kaien didn’t respond, but she saw the truth of it in his eyes. Just as quickly as the anger had dispelled, it arose with a vengeance. She pointed to her comatose mate on the bed.
“How did you miss this?” Ava screamed. “How did it get this bad?”
Riaz’s grip tightened around her upper arm. His touch was meant both as a reassurance and as a warning to remain calm when her own predator was seeking blood.
“I’m certain they have good reasoning, Ava; let’s let them explain.”
Kaien hung his head, and the guilt and shame that washed over his expression made her stomach clench. “Both Hemin and I were working on keeping our expectant mothers healthy. Following the Heat, so many mated women are with child, and we’ve been waging our own personal war to keep everyone strong.”
“And somehow, your efforts didn’t include Remmus.”
Seething, Ava leveled all her antagonism on Kaien. Though she knew it wasn’t entirely his fault, she needed a scapegoat.
A strangled cry lodged in Kaien’s throat, and when he stepped forward to grip Remmus’ shoulder, she knew the remorse was real.
“You’re right, Ava. You’re right.” He shook his head violently. “He’s my best friend. How could I have missed it?”
“None of us noticed it, brother,” Zeke whispered.
“He has two healers—two sovereigns!” Kaien’s attention shifted to his sovereign, and the pain he wore was undeniable. “We all failed him. And now, we might never get to say we’re sorry. My best friend is unaware and unresponsive, and it’s my fault!”
The man collapsed against the bedside and his head fell into his hands. In a flash, a woman sprinted into the room and converged on him, her long blonde hair streaming behind her. As she whispered reassurances into Kaien’s ear and held him tight, Ava looked away and let her tears fall.
“How did Remmus not know?” she whispered. “How could he have not known what was happening to him?”
“Remmus spends all his time pushing back the darkness within him,” came Nina’s voice at the door. “He didn’t realize this dark was anything different.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
