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His anger burned too violently against them. Having known of Jacob’s intentions—and willfully harboring the truth from him when he’d visited them only a week ago—was a deception he couldn’t easily swallow. In truth, he feared his reaction to their excuses and their explanations. No, he’d wait until they gathered later tonight to meet with them face to face.
Perhaps then, with the balance of his lieutenants to anchor him with their sensibility, he’d react with composure instead of with irritation. Or worse, with virulence.
Derikles’ telepathic voice sounded in his mind.Sovereign.
Yes, Derikles?
Your water Elemental has threatened to skin me if I don’t tell her where you are.
Isaiah sighed reluctantly. Not his, never his.Then you shall have to visit Jaeda’s infirmary on your way home.
What should I tell her?
Isaiah was silent as he pinched his temples. Weary from the mental load of Jacob’s death and strain of sending away his fated mate, he simply didn’t have the energy to respond.
It’d seemed that everything in his life had come crumbling down in the span of the last forty-eight hours. And now, he was barely treading water, the current pulling him further and further downstream.
Unaccustomed to such lengthy silence from him, Derikles asked,Sovereign?
The note of anxiety in Derikles’ voice only served to make Isaiah more fatigued.My apologies. Tell her that I’m unavailable for the next three centuries.
A pregnant pause.She is not amused.
I don’t care.
It was a lie.
Unapologetically severing the psychic communication with his second, Isaiah cracked the bones of his neck and retreated into the dark confines of his living room. Now, without the presence of the woman who’d claimed him in every way that mattered, the starkness of the space felt like a prison.
Instead of lingering within, he strode on silent feet toward the hidden door that’d lead him to the inner sanctum of his home. The structure was three stories, but while the second and third floor were living quarters, the first contained an armory with enough weaponry to outfit an army.
Hisarmy, namely.
The door required telekinesis to unlock and was nestled behind a hinged bookcase built into the wall. If one didn’t know its precise location, it would never be found, and the concrete walls, twelve inches thick, would take far longer to break through from the outside.
Only his lieutenants were in the armory on a regular basis, though all his clansmen knew of it. No one outside the clan had ever set foot in it, and that meant that no one outside the clan would have a location lock for teleporting into it.
The stark white light illuminated the windowless cave with a flicker. Intimately familiar with the space, Isaiah had memorized the layout and location of every individual weapon within to make remote teleportation easier.
The cool, mouse-grey walls were adorned with all manner of blades, daggers, and battle axes. Raeth warriors preferred classical weapons. Guns and other modern weaponry required far less skill to utilize and harbored little merit in their society.
On the black standing-height table in the middle of the room, sat two weapons. Both wore the remnants of their last battle, the crimson splatter drenching the blades.
The first was his black katana, dubbed Karito Masamune. The second was Jacob’smerjhadagger, now awash with its true obsidian-violet coloring.
Ignoring the latter, he picked up his own weapon and started to clean the blade of Jaden’s blood. Dissolving into the mindless task, Isaiah became numb once more.
Polishing the blade to a shine, he deposited Karito in its designated spot hanging on the wall and turned back to the table. Alone on the vast surface, themerjhablade gleamed a wine red in the white light.
If he had any prudence, he’d destroy the blade. Long ago, every sovereign had agreed to the procedure, including him. But Isaiah couldn’t … not when this one had meant so much to Jacob. It wouldn’t be the firstmerjhahe’d kept.
Steeling himself, the cool metal met his fingers as he clenched his jaw and began cleaning the blade. Jacob had taught him well.
Ten minutes later, Isaiah turned off the lights in the armory and dragged himself back up the stairs. Caving to the need to simply rest, he remained idle in the living room, until he heard the voices of his lieutenants approaching hours later. There was a polite knock on the door as was customary, but this time, they waited for his bidding.
Isaiah sighed, but didn’t let reluctance tinge his mental voice.Enter.
Xedrix, Tien, and Jaeda entered without fanfare, each of them wordlessly taking a seat on the sofas behind him. Isaiah stood with his arms crossed, staring out the windows, not acknowledging them.
