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Blair had eventually succumbed to the pull of slumber, but that hadn’t stopped Kaien from wrapping her in his protective embrace. He had slept when she did but had needed only four hours to her eight. The remainder of the time, he’d simply rested behind her, his mind wandering.
For the first time in ages, he pondered the possibility of entering into a true mating. He’d never entertained the idea before, not truthfully. Even when Aidan had pressed him on it a week ago, he’d considered it an impossibility.
His clan was everything to him. Everything in his life was centered around the people who depended upon him and his sister to maintain their way of living. The psychic network that bonded their people together was weaved in such a way that should Nina recoil, the primary responsibility for its continued success would fall to him.
That, compounded by her prolonged absence, made Kaien responsible for not only the day-to-day life of the clan, but also for crisis situations.
As her second, she depended on him to be her single greatest resource in the event of an attack. As the clan’s senior healer, he was also the primary Raeth in charge of preventing the deaths of their people.
After twelve hundred years, the weight of the responsibility had never faltered. And his sister? Her burden had only increased.
The largest clan in the world, the Blaedes were in a bittersweet but unenviable position. Nina, one of the few women sovereigns in their breed, had held the title for more than eleven hundred years. But it wasn’t without a price.
Every few years, a challenger would arrive to test Nina’s mettle. In defending her title, she often garnered vicious wounds and catastrophic recoils. Constantly living on edge had cost her a portion of her peace—and with it, a portion of Kaien’s.
Seeing his twin challenged for her right to rule was hard enough, but knowing that she could be killed at any moment—with him completely and undeniably barred from assisting—was torture in and of itself.
Nina had ascended to the position of sovereign when she was barely more than an adolescent in Raeth culture. Yet, even at a young age, her strength had been undeniable, as had his own. Her ying to his yang, Kaien and Nina existed at opposite ends of the psychic spectrum. Life versus death. Creation versus destruction. Dark versus light. Twins but tragically unique.
Kaien and Nina had grown up under the strict tutelage of their father, Mordecai, who’d served as the sovereign of the Blaedes when they were born and for centuries beforehand. Their mother, Vialle, had been exceptionally gifted in her abilities, having power over life and death itself.
But such a skill was coveted as much as it was revered.
And bearing twins, a near impossibility considering Raeth biology, had nearly killed her. When she was attacked by Rhasos in an attempt to steal her priceless abilities, she’d been too physically weak to fight back. And worse yet, she had become a liability to her husband—her sovereign—as he fought to protect her.
Mordecai had been killed before Kaien was able to get to him. Feeling the irrevocable disintegration of the psychic bond between them, Kaien had raced to where his mother was yet defenseless, the woman mourning the sudden loss of her mate.
In the blink of an eye, he’d been overcome with rage and the need for vengeance. He charged headlong into battle with Rhasos before he took stock of his surroundings.
Kaien had paid the price for his foolishness.
Rhasos had seen him coming, and with a flick of his hand, he sent Kaien flying into a nearby boulder. Still so young in his immortality, his vertebra had snapped in half above his shoulders, rendering him defenseless and utterly useless in the fight to avenge his father.
From where he lay, twisted unnaturally against a wall, he watched as his mother died. Kaien was unable to lift a finger to save her life. When Nina and Aidan had joined the fight, their aunt Anya bequeathed her power to them in a last-ditch effort to bolster their abilities and overcome the threat that Rhasos portrayed.
That sharing of power, which ultimately resulted in Anya’s death, spawned the vampire and werewolf races.
All of this while Kaien was unable to move, his spine shattered. He could only watch as Aidan and Nina fought desperately against Rhasos in a haphazard attempt to avenge their parents and win back their clan. Aidan, too, had eventually succumbed to grievous wounds and fell by the wayside, but Nina—his twin sister—had persevered.
Kaien had watched as Nina’s gifts flare to life before him and she struck Rhasos down where he stood. He’d watched as Nina became the sovereign of their clan, avenging their parents’ deaths. He’d watched as she defended their honor, their clan, and him.
He’dwatched.
“Why are you angry?”
Blair’s fingertips delicately traced along Kaien’s clenched forearm where she lay spooned against him. Breathing deeply, he consciously let go of the tension that hummed through his body. She’d woken minutes ago, wrapped in his embrace, cocooned against him in the warmth of the covers.
Waking up with her in his arms was like finding a piece of the puzzle that he hadn’t known was missing. After centuries of waging the war against time alone, the crash of continuing tides had worn away what little foundation he had left.
Blair had been exactly what his battered heart needed.
He cleared his throat. “My apologies. Was lost in my thoughts.”
After centuries of walking the earth, memories and minutia tended to fog the mind during quiet times. Scattered thoughts tended to make themselves prevalent at the least expected moments, wisps of unwelcoming ghosts from the past clouded the present when the noise of life dulled.
“I can understand that. Sometimes,” she whispered, “my memories haunt me, too.”
The ache in her voice caught his attention, and he shifted behind her to press a kiss to her cheek. Soft and sweet, it asked nothing of her, offering support instead.
