Her Commanders - M.K. Eidem Page 0,108

gift she received. My dad, on the other hand, received several."

"Because your Father has these gifts?" Jamis questioned.

"Yes, and many more."

"How many do you have?" Taarig asked quietly.

"So far, three have manifested," Cali told them.

"Manifested?" Jamis frowned at that.

"A Zagreus's gift or gifts don't just appear when they are born or meld. They manifest over time as the Zagreus matures and has the power to control the gift. The earlier the gift appears, the more powerful it will be."

"So, besides healing…?" Taarig asked.

"I can memory walk and block," she told him. "Memory walking is just as it sounds. I can slip into a being’s mind and see what they are remembering." Jamis and Taarig gave her a shocked look. "It was my first gift to manifest, and I've only used it once, and it wasn't with either of you."

"Why?" Taarig asked.

"Why?" she frowned at him.

"Why only the one time?" Taarig clarified.

"Because it felt like a complete invasion of my mom's privacy, and I didn't like what I saw and felt."

"You're saying you not only saw but experienced everything she did as she remembered it?"

"Yes, and I recently learned that the memory wasn't completely accurate."

"And blocking?" Jamis questioned quietly.

"I can block others from entering my mind, reading my thoughts, memory walking, or trying to influence me. That gift manifested right after the memory walking."

"So healing is your newest gift to manifest." Taarig silently thanked the Gods for that because, without that gift, he wouldn’t be here.

"Yes, but I've only had it for the last two hundred years. So, I haven't mastered it. Before meeting you two, I only used it for minor things that no one would notice," Cali said, reaching out to cup each one’s cheek.

Jamis opened his mouth to ask another question when there was a knock on the resting chamber door.

"Come in, Xanto," she called out.

"Looks like he's finally learning to knock," Taarig muttered.

"He better, or I'll teach him to," Jamis replied.

"As I said before, I would only do so if the situation was dire, and while this isn't, it's close."

"What now, Xanto," Cali asked.

"Your mother's ship is docking," Xanto told her.

"Just Mom's onboard?" Cali released a sigh of relief at that. Her mom she could handle.

"Yes, your parents were in three different locations when they heard your call."

"We should get to the flight deck and greet her," Jamis said and moved toward the door, then tensed when instead of doing the same, Cali and Xanto exchanged a look. They knew something he didn't, and he could tell he wasn't going to like it. "What?"

"Umm," Cali told him, cringing as she spoke. She'd explained a great deal to her mates, but there was still so much they didn't know, and this was going to enrage both of them. "There's a private landing bay beneath The Brink," she quickly told him.

Silence greeted her words, but she could sense the rage building in Jamis.

"That's impossible," Taarig finally said. "The Star Base's security system locates and identifies every ship within half a light-year of it.

"There are certain Zagreus ships that can get around that," Cali informed him quietly.

"One of which your mother has." Jamis shook his head in disbelief.

"All her parents have them. Cali's mother designed them," Xanto piped in and found himself on the receiving end of three pairs of glowing eyes. Realizing he'd overstepped, he quickly turned to leave, saying on his way out, "I'll just go and escort your mother to your living quarters."

"I swear I would have told you about the landing bay. There just hasn't been enough time."

"Time we don't have now because your parents are arriving," Taarig replied.

"Yes, and I need to go to her and reassure her that I'm okay." She gave them each a beseeching look. "I'd also like to introduce her to my mates."

"Then we'll go do that," Jamis told her, pulling her close. "But after, we're going to have a long, long talk."

"Agreed," she said, and stretching up, she gave him a grateful kiss.

Chapter Twenty-Two

"I don't care what you say, Xanto. If my daughter were fine, she would have met me at my ship!"

Jamis, Taarig, and Cali had just entered her living quarters, where Jamis had gotten his first look at her floor-to-ceiling viewport. Taarig had told him about it but seeing it was still shocking. The anger and concern that filled the female's voice had pulled his attention away from the stars to yet another secret passageway he knew nothing about.

And Jamis was shocked again!

The power emanating from the female's