Page 95 of Dark Destiny: The Fates' Bargain

ANNANI

Aweek ago, Annani had needed a process of elimination to decide which of the five was Khiann.

Now everyone referred to the male in the center as Khiann.

Annani walked into the converted operating room with Alena at her side and paused at the threshold, taking inventory of the five beds while forcing her heart to stop racing. She was the Clan Mother, and despite everything, she had an image to uphold. She could not run to Khiann and drape herself over his healing body the way she would have if there were no spectators.

That was why she always approached the other four before approaching him. Once she took his hand in hers, she did not let go until Alena told her that it was time, and it was getting harder to keep up her established routine with every passing day.

Khiann's familiar features were unmistakable now. The high cheekbones, the long arch of his brow. His mouth had filled in at last, his lips were no longer two deflated lines, and the finest shadow of new hair had appeared on his scalp and jaw.Chestnut, darker than she remembered, but then it had not been exposed to the sun yet.

Even Bridget had started calling him by name, and she had been the last to give in because she had not wanted to give Annani false hope.

"Good morning, Clan Mother, Alena." Bridget came toward them with her tablet hugged to her chest, and there was excitement in her eyes that had not been there the day before. "I have news for you, and I want to deliver it in the right order, so bear with me."

Annani's heart lurched. "Is something wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong. This morning, everything is good." Bridget put a hand on her arm, which she had never done before. "I want to start with Khiann."

"Please do."

"His regeneration is outpacing the other four, and it has been since the first week. His readings are the strongest in that room by a wide margin, his tissue is rebuilding faster, and his vitals are steadier." Bridget lifted her chin toward the middle bed. "You can see for yourself."

Annani did not need to be told twice.

She crossed the room to the middle bed and looked down at her mate. He had not changed much since yesterday, but the accumulated progress of the past week was unmistakable. The hollows beneath his cheekbones had filled in. The line of his jaw had come back, and with it the chestnut shadow on his skin. His hands on the blanket had shape again, tendons and knucklesand the beginnings of the strength she remembered closing around her waist.

She took his hand between both of hers.

"Good morning, my love," she said. "I am told you are outpacing everyone. That does not surprise me in the least. You are a god. Besides, you never could stand to come in second at anything."

Behind her, Alena chuckled.

"He looks so much better," her daughter said. "Now he looks like a very handsome male taking a nap. Two weeks ago he looked like..."

"I know what he looked like." Annani caressed the back of his hand. "Do not say it out loud. He might hear you."

Bridget came to stand at the foot of the bed. "There is more."

"Of course." Annani looked up at the physician. "You said you wanted to deliver it in the right order."

"I did." Bridget slipped her tablet into her coat pocket. "The other four started surfacing early this morning, within hours of each other. Eye movement, finger twitches, changes in respiration. They are not waking up yet, not in the way the word suggests, but they are on their way up. I expect them to awake fully soon."

Annani's hands went still around Khiann's.

"They are surfacing," she repeated.

"Yes."

"But Khiann is not."

"His body is ahead of theirs, Annani." Bridget said her name for the first time that morning, and she said it deliberately. "That is a fact, and I gave it to you first because it is the one that matters most. Different systems come back online at different times. There is no rule that says the body and the mind must surface together, and there is certainly no rule that says the strongest body surfaces first."

It was reasonable. It was kind. It had been arranged for her with obvious care, good news laid down as a foundation before the harder news was set on top of it, and Annani was grateful but not comforted.

"Can you show me?" she asked, laying Khiann's hand down on the blanket.

"Of course, Clan Mother."