Dark Awakening: Echoes of Destiny (The Children Of The Gods #88)

50. Kian

50

KIAN

" S o, tell me about Ell-rom," Syssi prompted after they had exhausted all the plausible scenarios about Parker, including sleepwalking.

Naturally, Kian had told her about Ell-rom's ability. That was the type of secret that he would withhold from the rest of their community but not from his mate, who he trusted with his life and the lives of everyone in the village.

"Mother's compulsion seems to have taken hold. You should have seen him when she tested her effect on him by ordering him to say bad things about her. He tried hard to resist, but in the end, he did exactly what she told him to do."

Syssi tilted her head. "Could it have been an act?"

Kian shook his head. "No way. The guy was sweating with effort. Anyway, she made it so he could only use his ability to protect someone in immediate, mortal danger and to eliminate the worst demons who torture children. He agreed to the terms ahead of time, qualifying that he wanted to verify their guilt for himself. Since he doesn't remember how to thrall or never learned how to do it in the first place, it will have to wait until he masters the technique, so we can't test his ability anytime soon."

"It sounds like a good plan." Syssi tucked one leg under her. "He probably needs time to get used to the idea. It's not easy to go from being a child straight to executioner."

Kian winced. "When you put it like that, yeah. That's what the poor guy must be feeling. No wonder he is so frazzled by it."

Syssi leaned over and lifted her cup off the coffee table. "Are you planning to use his ability?"

"I don't know yet. We need to find out how it works and at what distance. It would be nice if we could have him eliminate the Eternal King. I would for sure sleep better at night knowing that no one is coming to blow up our planet."

Syssi chewed on her lower lip. "It would be irresponsible to do that, Kian. Anumati controls unimaginable resources, and whoever takes over from the Eternal King might be a crazed despot who wants to eliminate all the created species because he thinks they are an affront to the real god or whatever nonsense he comes up with. It's the law of unintended consequences, which rarely has a positive outcome."

Kian smiled. "I noticed that you specifically said 'he.' Are all the crazy despots male?"

She shrugged. "Show me an example of the crazy despot female. Not that there are no crazy females. There are plenty, but I can't think of any historical figure of a female ruler who was as bad as her male counterparts."

He couldn't argue with that. As someone who had lived for over two thousand years, he was personally familiar with human history during the Common Era.

When his phone rang again, Toven's name appeared on the screen.

"Hello, Toven. How are you holding up?"

"We are done with the interrogations." The god sounded tired.

Kian leaned forward. "Did you learn anything?"

"No one admitted to the crimes." There was a pause, and Kian could almost see Toven rubbing his temples in frustration. "As we agreed, I saved Drova for last. She denied all involvement in the thefts and sabotage and answered every other question I threw at her correctly, even the ones she'd normally prefer not to answer."

"So, she passed?" Kian was relieved that he wouldn't have to take action against Jade's daughter.

It seemed that the culprit was Parker and perhaps some of the teenage Kra-ell.

"Technically, she did," Toven said. "But I still suspect her. And that's worrying me more than if she'd failed outright because it means that she has developed immunity."

Kian felt a chill run down his spine. If Toven, with his millennia of experience and powerful compulsion ability, could not compel a teenage Kra-ell to confess, she represented a massive threat to the community.

"Why do you suspect her?"

"She was too calm and collected," Toven said. "The other Kra-ell—purebloods young and old, hybrids young and old, were all a little nervous. It's natural even for those with nothing to hide. People are put on the spot and asked personal questions, and they are afraid that something they say will get them in trouble even though they haven't done anything. But Drova displayed an unnatural level of confidence and self-assurance for a young female like her. I know she is not a sociopath, so it had to be an act."

Suddenly, the puzzle pieces started to fall into place. "There is something else you should know. I just got a call from Onegus that Parker was caught on camera stealing from one of the houses."

"Parker? The boy with compulsion ability?"

"The very same," Kian confirmed grimly.

"I assume that you are suggesting that Drova must have compelled him to do it," Toven said.

"To resist your compulsion, she must be incredibly powerful, which means that she can compel Parker, who is a compeller himself and difficult to influence."

"It was a mistake to assign Parker's questioning to Annani," Toven said. "He should have been brought to me."

"You are absolutely right. It was an oversight on my part. It just never crossed my mind to suspect him. Onegus is at Magnus's place, talking to Parker. I'm waiting to hear what the kid has to say."

"We should meet there," Toven offered. "I will bring Mia along, and we will try to crack Drova's compulsion together."

"I'll call Onegus and have him ask Magnus if that's okay. We don't want to overwhelm Parker more than is necessary."

"Good thinking," Toven said. "Let me know what the status is."

"I will." Kian ended the call and turned to Syssi. "It would seem that the problem is much worse than we thought. If Toven's suspicion is correct, Drova is a huge threat, and I have no idea what we should do with her."

"Let's not jump to conclusions." Syssi put her empty cup down. "Do you want another cappuccino?"

"I'd rather have some whiskey."

She smiled. "Coming right up."

When she walked over to the bar, Kian texted Onegus, giving him a quick update on Toven's suspicion and asking if it was okay to come over.

Moments later, his phone buzzed with Onegus's reply. Kian's frown deepened as he relayed the message to Syssi.

"Parker denies taking anything. They can't find whatever was stolen in his room, and Vivian is searching the rest of the house for it. Onegus says Parker claims he doesn't know what they're talking about, but he looks distraught, and he's sweating. That sounds a lot like what Ell-rom looked like when he was trying to fight off my mother's compulsion. Something's definitely going on."

Syssi handed him the glass. "Poor Parker. He must be terrified."

Kian nodded, his heart heavy. Parker was a great kid, brave and loyal, and he had no doubt that the boy was a victim of this mess.

He typed a response to Onegus, asking him to calm Parker down. Tell him no one's blaming him. He's a good kid, and we know it. Someone else is pulling his strings .

The response came back a moment later. I will, and Magnus says that you can come over. He wants to get to the bottom of this .

Kian turned back to Syssi. "I need to go to Magnus's place and meet Toven and Mia there. I hope that they will be able to break Drova's hold over Parker."