Page 6 of Destined Dawn

I don’t want to do this and yet here I am again, doing something I disagree with because this woman has a way of weaving me around her little finger. Stars, I’m a fool, a fool for her. But I made her a promise. Not just to help her with this, but to be by her side for life.

I brace myself. Then I tug off the lid of the box. It comes away with more ease this time and immediately the memories surge out, colors and images streaming past my eyes. Rhi tenses beneath me, but she’s stronger than she was before, more battle-hardened and fully aware of what to expect. Her mind rings with resilience and determination. She won’t let the dark memories suck her down, she won’t let them drag her into their depths.

I filter through the memories. There are the dreams and the memories of her and her aunt — the memories that terrorized her before. Memories of men chasing them, of hiding away, of her aunt taking beatings, and worse, from the men who came for them.

My nails sink deeper into my flesh. They endured so much — she endured so much. If I ever, ever get my hands on those men, I’ll smash them into smithereens. I’ll feed them to Spencer’s fucking beast.

But I’m allowing myself to be distracted. We didn’t come here for these memories – for the memories her aunt locked away to keep her safe. We came for answers.

There are more memories here, older ones, fainter, less vivid, memories from when Rhi was only small, her mindstill learning and understanding. Memories of dreams again, dreams of the future and I’ve no doubt now – no doubt at all – that once upon a time Rhianna possessed the gift to see the future, to dream of it. Just like her mom.

Is that what her aunt was protecting her from? She’d seen what had happened to her sister. She didn’t want the same fate to befall her niece. So she found a way to make those dreams stop and she locked away all knowledge of them in Rhianna’s mind.

I’m about to pull out. I’ve already stayed in Rhi’s mind long enough. But then something catches my attention. A memory lurking at the bottom of the box. A memory unlike the others. A bright golden color not steeped in red like so many of Rhi’s other memories. No, this is different. This isn’t Rhi’s memory at all. It’s someone else’s. Someone else’s memory hidden away in Rhi’s mind.

Rhi was right. The answers were here all along.

I take a hold of that alien memory – one that doesn’t belong here – and I wrench it from my mate’s mind.

3

Rhi

Through the hazeof bad memories, I see a small ball of golden light hovering inches above my nose and behind it, Stone’s face, his brow furrowed, his light blue eyes intense.

“What is it?” I say with gritted teeth as the dark memories threaten to drag me into their midst.

“A memory,” he says, from what sounds like far, far away. “Someone else’s memory in your mind.”

It takes me a moment to process his words, my attention diverted by the black clouds swirling in my mind.

“This is what we need, Rhi,” he says, squeezing my hand. “The rest doesn’t matter. You can let them go. Lock them away again.”

But is that the right thing to do? These memories are dark and terrifying, but over the last few weeks, I’ve faced many dark and terrifying things. These memories don’tseem nearly as bad as they once did, not in comparison. I am no longer afraid of them. They are a part of me. They are my history. They have made me who I am as much as the good and the happy memories have. Hiding them away, refusing to acknowledge their existence, doesn’t seem right anymore.

I have to accept them, accept who I am. As soon as I make this realization, they don’t seem to have the power they once did. They sink back down into my mind, dissolving away with the other memories residing in my head – and I focus back up at that strange golden ball.

“Can you tell who put it there?” Azlan asks from the end of the bed as I watch the ball spin, its surface shifting like drifting clouds.

“No, I don’t think we will know that until Rhi looks inside. Something I think Rhi ought to do in private.” My eyes flick away from the golden ball and to Stone instead. “It was put there for you, sweetheart, and we don’t know why.”

“I don’t think we should have secrets from each other,” I say. “They’ve only caused us harm.”

“Perhaps,” Azlan says, “but Phoenix is right–”

“He actually admits it for once,” Stone mutters.

“–this is yours, something personal. Something you ought to look at alone. You can tell us afterwards what’s inside.”

“What if it’s something bad?” Renzo says, eyeing the ball with mistrust.

“It’s okay, I can handle it,” I tell him, because I know I can. Hell, if I can handle Renzo, I can probably handle just about anything.

Carefully, I roll up to sit, the ball continuing to hover right in front of my face.

“How do I open it?” I ask Stone.

“Just allow it into your mind.” He squeezes my shoulder. “Come find us afterwards.” Then he ushers the others out of the room, practically shoving Renzo through the doorway, the assassin continuing to stare at the strange ball menacingly until the door slams shut.