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Saieke swallowed as his thumb caressed the fullness of her lips.
His voice sank even lower as he continued, “There are three levels to the power of the beast that each Darkan can access with training and the consumption of negative chakra. Until we reach one century in age, we use power that is common to all Darkans— the ability to manipulate darkness and shadows. We then learn and use our beast chakra, and if we bond, we can then summon the beast to a corporeal form. To be fully bonded is to control all the power of our beast and to dominate it.”
Saieke met his eyes at the darkness of his tone. “How old are you, Drac?”
“Three hundred years.”
She arched a brow. “Why are you fully bonded? You are not even close to being an elder.”
“I was curious as to what my beast had to offer,” he drawled darkly.
“That’s it? Curiosity?” He had willingly embraced the full essence of his beast, knowing the magnitude of the risk he was taking simply for power. She would never have been able to do that, but apparently almost all of their citizens had the compulsion to merge with their beast for the power and darkness it offered.
“Power whispers seductively, and it is there for the claiming,” he said.
“How long did it take you to gain control?”
“Years,” a flat response that discouraged questions.
Saieke paused, unsure if she should press. She recalled he’d revealed he had been broken as well. “Is it because you had been hurt?”
His face closed, and a deep coldness pricked her skin from his chakra. She really resented the uncertainty that he could cause within her.
“Yes.”
“Would you like to tell me?”
There was stillness to his frame for a few seconds before he responded, “I embraced the malignity of my beast so that I would never be weak again.”
It amazed her there had even been a time he had been weak. It was not a word she could associate with him at all. “Did you not fear you might have turned into a Senjis?”
“No.”
A strange kind of darkness lurked from him, and before he reined in his emotions Saieke sensed the pain hidden deep. “I can feel the pain you try to bury. It is one of loss.”
He tilted his head, gazing into the starless sky. “Because we were weak, we lost those we held dear. Gidon lost more than I, as most of his family was slaughtered as warriors sworn to protect his family turned against them in a bid to annihilate the Al Shra bloodline.”
Saieke hands reflexively gripped his.
“We fought relentlessly to protect his sisters, brothers and mother. Many fell. We triumphed against more than seventy warriors, yet our losses were insurmountable. Gidon and I vowed never to be weak again. He lost all three of his sisters, and I…lost a brother. This was one hundred years past. Then a few months ago, Gidon lost his father to an assassin’s blade.”
She felt the cold fire of his torment and flinched. “I am deeply sorry.”
He grunted. “My brother betrayed Gidon…and he would have died if not for his will to live.”
Saieke stiffened, tasting the betrayal. “And you are alive? In my kingdom, if someone betrays the king
to his detriment, the entire family is put to death.”
“We would not senselessly kill a family for the action of one man.”
The irony did not escape her. “And your brother…he was killed?”
The burning pain slid along her sense once more, before it was replaced…by nothing. His emotions were tightly contained.
“No. It is suspected he fled to Earth or Serange.”
Oh
