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He hadn’t brought it up so they could debate the events. Cylex knew Laidon was not entirely to blame, but he wasn’t as innocent as he liked to pretend either. Standing in the narrow aisle between the two front seats, Cylex glared down at his nemesis. “Where is Raina?”
“I will not tell you, but I will take you there.Afteryou agree to join the resistance.”
“Fine. I officially join the resistance. Now, take me to Raina.”
Laidon shot him an impatient look. “As with any recruit, your dedication will be tested with a series of tasks before you are shown any of our secrets.”
Raina was nearing activation. He’d seen her restlessness, sensed her need steadily mounting over the past few days. “You have no idea how to deal with a conduit. Where did you take her? She is in more danger than you know.”
Laidon studied him silently for a moment. “Does she know how much you want her?”
His feelings for Raina were none of Laidon’s business. He would admit nothing to this whoreson. “How much do you know about conduits? How many trained mystics are among the rebels?” He knew the answer. Torretians had been banned from the Citadel for nearly a decade, but the prejudice had been going on much longer than that. There were no trained mystics on Torret, at least none that had been trained at the Citadel.
“She will be allowed to choose her mates. That is more than she has ever been offered before.”
Even if that were true, it was irrelevant. “If a team of rebels tries to claim her, she will kill them. She will not do it intentionally, but the result will be the same.”
“You and I could do it.” Laidon grinned at him. “I am self-taught, but I scored even higher than you did on my assessments, and that is saying a lot.”
For a millisecond, Cylex was tempted. All of the other controllers had refused him. Why not—because he would spend the rest of his fucking life in close proximity to a male he despised! “I’ll consider it,” he lied. “As a show of my sincerity I will tell you this, Raina is very close to activation. Likely within hours, not days.”
Laidon’s brow creased and his gaze narrowed. He clearly had no idea what that meant.
“You do not know about activation but you think yourself prepared to claim a conduit?” He shook his head in disgust. “You are a bigger fool than I thought.”
Before Laidon could respond to the insult, his audio-com vibrated. He tapped the area just behind his ear to activate the implant. “How is the…Wait. What do you mean she… How long has she been…Slow the fuck down! Fine. I’ll meet you there.”
Each verbal outburst tightened the knot forming in Cylex’s gut. “Was that Kern?”
Laidon looked at him then averted his gaze and took a deep breath. “As you feared, Raina’s power activated. Kern thinks it was the stress of being kidnapped again.”
“Was he alone with her when this happened?”
Laidon glanced at him again then nodded, looking intensely uncomfortable. “He has extensive training so he was able to stabilize her energy but she slipped into unconsciousness afterward. He is taking her to his grandmother. As you know, she’s a powerful healer.”
“Raina doesn’t need a healer,” Cylex snapped. “She needs her mates.”
“We can fight about this or you can set a course for Pyron and we can figure out how to help her,” Laidon volleyed.
“Is Udora still high priestess?” When Laidon nodded, Cylex entered the coordinates to the Temple of Air and increased their speed another ten percent.
* * *
“You should not have attempted her activation alone.” High Priestess Udora’s voice was quiet, yet firm, a perfect representation of the woman herself. She managed to project strength despite her diminutive size. Her features were well balanced though ordinary. The only exception was her shimmering silver eyes. They saw everything, while revealing only those things Udora wanted others to see. Gray strands liberally mixed with her dark brown hair, and she was quick to tell others that she had earned every line on her face. Dressed in the customary sky-blue robes only permissible to Mistress Air, she appeared composed and authoritative.
“The alternative was to let her die, or go insane,” Kern stressed. “I could not justify losing an exceptional conduit because I did not want to get involved.”
Her assessing gaze snapped to his face, dark brows arching. “Is that the only reason?”
He didn’t bother insisting that he felt nothing for his captive. His grandmother knew him too well. Kern stood at her side staring down at Raina’s pale face. The Pyronese healers, seven in all, had surrounded Raina as she lay on a narrow platform designated for ceremonies and energy transfers. They chanted, debated, and finally argued, obviously unsure of how to restore her to health. This went on for several hours before Udora took control of the healing circle. She directed the others, utilizing their individual strengths to identify the cause of Raina’s coma. Kern was still waiting for a detailed explanation, but he had been assured numerous times that Raina was out of danger.
Raina now lay on the bed in one of the temple’s luxurious guest suites, but she still looked frail and helpless. It was all he could do not to scoop her up in his arms and cradle her against his chest. “Why isn’t she awake? If she is out of danger, shouldn’t she be lucid?”
“I cast her into a healing thrall,” Udora told him. “She will regain her strength much faster this way, but there is another reason.”
Reluctantly pulling his attention away from Raina, he looked at his grandmother. “What other reason?” He took a deep breath and asked the question that had plagued him for the past six hours. “Did I do this to her?”
“You did, but as you said, the alternative was unthinkable. You kept her alive long enough to bring her here. That was no simple feat. Still, her activation is incomplete. She desperately needs her other mate and we must—”
