Page 69 of Dark Destiny: The Fates' Bargain

"It was big. Navuh hid in his mansion's basement along with his harem ladies, and the island was almost conquered, but in the end the rebellion failed. They executed every enhanced soldier except for the eight of us. We were spared not out of mercy but to serve as test subjects. The scientist who created the program was killed in the uprising, and Lord Navuh brought in new scientists to rebuild and improve it. They needed enhanced soldiers to test the new formulation on."

Steady,Ravsoh sent, and Yaaf realized that although his voice had not changed, the link had carried the anger and bitterness that his voice had not.

"They kept us in the laboratory," he said. "In separate cells that were the size of a closet and had glass fronts so they could observe us at their leisure. We were isolated from each other, and everyone else, and we could barely move because there was no room." The next part was the part no one outside the eight of them had ever fully understood, and he chose his words carefully. "You don't know what that kind of isolation is unlessyou have experienced it. We had survived the drugs and the purge, but the silence of those cells came closer to killing us than either one."

He took a deep breath to steady himself before continuing. "In desperation, we reached for each other telepathically. It began as a way to break through the silence and loneliness. Thoughts pushed through the walls separating our cells. We did not anticipate what happened next."

"Your minds merged," Karina said.

It was the first thing she had said all day, and every head in the room turned toward her.

"Yes," Yaaf said. "It started as a way to communicate among ourselves, but over time it became more. We merged, and with the new combined mind, new abilities emerged."

He paused for a moment to give Sullha time to translate for Mattie and Anita.

"Together, we can do things no other immortal can," Yaaf went on. "We can thrall immortal minds, not only human ones, and compel them to do what we demand without a word. You've seen our ability in action. Our shared mind is smarter than the sum of its parts and much faster. So, when you look at your sons and wonder what was done to them, remember also to wonder what they became."

The double doors opened then, and Dimitri came through them with Petrov at his side, both of them mid-conversation in Russian, and both of them stopped as if they had walked into a wall of cold air.

"What did we miss?" Dimitri asked, looking at the hostile faces of the rescued women. "Should we leave? I don't think we are welcome."

"It's not their fault," Yaaf told the women. "And you shouldn't look at them as if they held the whip. Dimitri and Petrov were brought to the island to salvage a program that was killing us. Instead, they fixed the drug protocol and made us stable. We couldn't have achieved what we did without their help, and we owe the peace inside our minds to their formula. They risked their lives to plan the escape with us. In fact, we think that the clan agreed to help us only because we promised to bring them with us." He inclined his head toward the two men. "If you need to be angry at someone, direct your ire at Navuh and the Brotherhood, not at them."

The accusing looks wavered, and then, having lost one target, swung as one toward Bowen.

The Guardian raised both hands in the air.

"I was not part of any decision-making," he said in the old tongue. "And for what it is worth, the clan would have helped you and your sons regardless of who came with them. We are in the business of saving people from the Brotherhood and other evils wherever we can."

Asira put her hand up. "Can you hear what Camdor is thinking right now?"

Don't,Camdor sent.

"He's thinking that you should not have asked that," Yaaf said. "And under it, he is thinking that you used to put your hand up exactly like that when you wanted a second helping at dinner, and that he is glad some things did not change."

Asira laughed, and it eased the tension in the room. Shoulders that had been up near ears came down to a more comfortable position, and Baruha discreetly wiped her eyes.

Zohara looked up at Yaaf, and then shifted her gaze to her son. "Are you ever alone in there?"

"No," Ravsoh said. "And I'm thankful for it. I was alone in that cell for months with nothing to do but stare at the floor or the ceiling and wait for the next meal delivery, the next shot, the next test. Always afraid. Always imagining that today would be the day they ended me. Now I can retreat to a private corner if I want to, but I rarely do that because I don't ever want to be alone again."

Tears glistened in Zohara's eyes, and she blinked them back as she nodded and looked down at the cup in her hands.

At the next table over, Bianca crawled into Rohilah's lap, and Rohilah's arms tightened around the child, pulling the girl a fraction closer to her body and away from the soldier seated nearest them.

Number Three registered the movement without turning his head, and the pain it caused him arrived through the link. The collective absorbed it the way it always did, spreading the pain across eight hearts. A moment later, shame crossed Rohilah's face, and she loosened her arms deliberately without looking at him.

She is a mother protecting her child, Number Three sent.I understand the reflex.

Mirumah folded her hands on the table. "I have a question. You say you are one mind in eight bodies. You answer for each other. You feel for each other. Then tell me this. When my son greetedme today, when he said I looked well, when he sat with me and answered my questions, was any of it him? Or have I been speaking with a committee wearing my son's face?"

Inside the collective, Dumuz's anguish flared so hot that Bardov closed his eyes against it.

Let me answer her, Dumuz sent.

No, Yaaf said.Let all of us.

He presented his intention where the other seven could see it, and when understanding moved through them, it was accompanied by dread because what he was proposing was difficult and they were not proficient in it yet.