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“Out gathering supplies, mother,” came the lie. “You’ve been gone for some time.”
“You’ve never been a good liar.” His mother batted away his deflection like a seasoned pro. “Where have you been?”
Behind him, the telltale displacement of air against his nape notified him of his father’s completed teleport. Though the male was less violent than his mother, Trax could use one thing she did not: the gift of Hindsight.
Hands gripped his neck from behind, his father’s fingers driving into his windpipe and cutting off Remmus’ air supply. A blast of power hit him, the raw strike drilling into him while he attempted to resist.
Though he must’ve gotten a read on Remmus’ whereabouts, his father wasn’t finished with him. Two fingers went to his temple before his knees buckled beneath him, and instantly, the sickly sensation of someone crawling through his innermost thoughts bombarded him.
Like shards of glass being forcibly inserted into his brain, his father’s psychic fingers laid him bare. The man at his back broke open his mind like week old fruit, unconcerned with the agony it caused his son.
At fourteen, his telepathic shields were barely formed, and his parents, both ancient and powerful, blasted through them as though they were made of paper.
Running riot in his head, Trax pulled image after image of Avelina from his mind. The joyful times, the laughter, the simple moments where they reveled in the other’s company.
His father yanked the village’s location from Remmus’ thoughts.
With a mocking sneer, the man shoved his son into the earth at his feet. “You’ve been associating with humans, boy. Let us teach him a lesson, Mithelda.”
Squeezing his eyes shut as the memory loosened from within, Remmus winced. “I tried, but I couldn’t fight off my father, Ava. He was too strong, and my shields were too weak.”
Worthless. Failure. Inept.
The same song recited in his head, and the familiar urge to cut away his compulsions crawled across his soul. Cool metal teleported into his hand, and for once, he didn’t hide what he was about to do. Eyelids shuttering, Remmus allowed the blade to taste his blood, laying bare the coercion that defined him.
Ava needed to see it. She needed to know how broken he truly was.
He’d barely finished the first line before she’d cried out and smacked the knife from his grip, the dagger clattering loudly to the floor.
“Stop it, Remmus!”
Opening his eyes, he saw the devastation in hers. “This is who I am, Ava. This is what I do. I can’t stop it.”
“We can get you help, Remmus,” she begged. “Luna said—”
“I don’t want anyone in my head!” Bitter, the words were like poison upon his lips. “I can’t have someone rooting around in my head.”
Something twisted in her expression, and when her attention darted to the thick line of scars on his forearm, loathing barreled through their mating bond with such vibrancy it nearly suffocated him. His vision spotted along the edges.
The broken, warped skin did precisely what it was intended to do: make him strong through weakness.
“I’m not worthy of you, Ava, and I never have been. I’m broken, in every possible way, and well beyond redemption.”
When he left her, tears were streaming down her face. Better make her cry now, than be the reason she’d be dead in the future.
Remmus sought out his sovereign next. What needed to be done was best accomplished quickly, to where it no longer lingered above him like a thousand-pound anvil waiting to drop. No one but Nina needed to hear this next part, but a glut of psychic signatures hovered around her in the great room.
Conversation halted. Everyone in the room focused on him as though he were made of glass and any errant movement might shatter him. Where once he’d been the reliable lieutenant that provided comic relief, he’d now become the victim. How he hated it.
Nina, curled beside Zeke on the couch, broke the silence. “Remmus, come in. We’ve been worried.”
Truth.
Once again, the foreign sensation flowed like refreshing water through his veins, the understanding that Nina’s words were sincere.
“May I speak with you alone, sovereign?”
A frown marred her features, but Remmus didn’t waver. He purposefully refused to look at any other party in the room, no matter how much they might yearn for his attention, Celeste included.
