Stolen - Nhys Glover Page 0,17

several other influential government officials not directly involved in the relief efforts.

“Marissa wanted to go to the women’s compound. She… She couldn’t settle. While we were there we learned that the witch, who tattooed a controlling glyph on my brother,…” He paused to let a purple-skinned Danan without brands stand and turn his back to show us the charred remains of an intricate sigil. “…was the one who led the raid. She singled Jenna out.

“Her master is an elemental force known as the Darkness. A creature that doesn’t belong on the physical level. Somehow, that Darkness had been brought here and It had been using Raesus’ power, his psychic energy, to fuel Itself.

“Marissa broke the connection between Raesus and the Darkness when she touched the sigil in Fourth Density. She was a threat It had never considered. It therefore wanted her out of action, so It could regain control of Raesus.

“We believe the Darkness sent the witch here to capture Marissa. It created the rogue storm as a blind, so the abduction could take place. The witch had never seen Marissa but must have had a description of her. Jenna and Marissa look enough alike to be sisters.”

“But the Darkness drew you into a trap. It knew Marissa was there,” Thaid interrupted, as confused as the rest of us. “I thought we believed the storm was meant to draw us away from you so you could walk into Its trap unprotected.”

“That bitch singling out Jenna changes everything,” Raesus spoke up passionately, spinning to face us. “We now think the Darkness was covering all bases. It didn’t know where Marissa would be, so It set out to capture or kill her in the places It expected to find her. Back here or with the search party. The witch thought she’d found the woman the Darkness wanted, so she took her.”

“What does this mean? How does it change anything?” I spoke up angrily, forgetting my place.

“It explains so much,” Rhain spoke up, his eyes wild with agitated excitement. “It explains why I didn’t see the storm or the attack on Raesus. The… The attack on the women’s compound. The Darkness had been blocking Its actions from me… from all those like me… for a very long time. We believe It may well have been responsible for the Lyation’s bid for power, Looli’s actions, and even the renegades. Any event that we were inexplicably kept in the dark about was likely Its work.

“Unless I was following a known thread, I couldn’t see possible futures controlled by the Darkness. If I hadn’t been obsessively following Bronwyn’s timeline all her life, I’m sure I would have missed the Lyation’s plot. I blamed myself for my ineptitude. I was sure it was my inability to foresee the devastating events of the last twenty years that allowed them to occur. But I wasn’t allowed to see! It wasn’t ineptitude on my part. The Darkness was blocking all areas of interest to It. From me and from all Spirit-Walkers.”

My heart broke anew for Rian’s father. He was broken with grief and surely clutching at straws.

“But you destroyed the Darkness. Isn’t that what you said in your message?” Thaid asked Kius.

“Not destroyed. Raesus says the Darkness can’t be destroyed, just sent back to Its own realm. That’s what he did, what he died doing. Sending it back.”

“What does this mean for the woman… Jenna? The one our brother died for?” Nial asked carefully.

“It means we have to find her quickly. Once the witch realizes the Darkness is gone, she’ll have no use for Jenna. She might kill her, hand her over to the Keeda… or sell her off. Who knows?” Kius said through gritted teeth.

I felt my muscles tense as rage welled up inside me.

Why? The woman was nothing to me. She was responsible for my brother’s death. Maybe not directly, but he would never have taken on a superior force, if not for her. Why did dire predictions about her fate fill me with fearful rage?

Yet I couldn’t deny that the idea of her being hurt or killed turned my blood to ice in my veins. It didn’t make sense that I felt so…worried about a stranger, someone I’d never even met.

“We have to find her!” Meida spoke up quickly, his skin seeming to glow ruby-red with fury.

I wasn’t used to seeing my idiot brother getting so riled up about anything. Even his eyes were flaming red as they looked around the table, eliciting support.

Mother let out a