CHAPTER 74: CHAPTER 74

Before they got to the island Rhea had started changing back to her original self.The faint rune marks still lingered on her skin, which, though lighter, was still a shade darker than before.

The door to Zeenare’s chamber flung open with an urgency that matched his desperation. "Get Ravira here this minute!" he ordered.

"Yes," Aluna replied, his eyes wide with surprise at the sight of Rhea’s blood-soaked body.

Zeenare gently laid Rhea on his bed, his movements precise and careful. He peeled off the blood-soaked clothes from her skin, his heart pounding in his chest. He had see the level of destruction in that apartment a moment ago, and the Rhea he saw was a terrifying force of nature, a creature of pure power when he got there but now, she was just Rhea—pale, quiet, and unconscious.

Zeenare trailed his hand over her skin expecting to find countless wounds, scars from that brutal fight from the amount of blood on her, but her skin was completely smooth and flawless. All the cuts, gashes, and bruises were gone, replaced by this, this light black hue.

The faint, golden runes he saw in the apartment were still there, glowing softly on her neck, her hands, and across every inch of her exposed skin and she was extremely cold to the touch.

He ran a hand over her forehead, brushing away a stray lock of hair. "You could have died," he whispered to her, the words tasting like ash in his mouth.

"I was the one who was supposed to be in control, the one who saw every angle, yet I had been blindsided. I had failed to protect her. I had underestimated the enemy, and in doing so, I had pushed you to a place I never knew you could go. Zeenare you are useless." He curse himself.

In that moment, Ravira, entered the room. "What happened to her?" She asked, her eyes immediately going to the blood-soaked clothes and the faint, glowing runes on Rhea’s skin.

"She was attacked." Dreycen replied entering the room, Aluna and Othimise are his side. "By a Kegi." He finished.

Ravira and the others exchanged a surprised glance. "A Kegi? How is that possible?" Ravira questioned.

"I thought they were sealed?" Othimise asked staring at him.

"This one isn’t from my territory," Dreycen answered, a sharp edge in his voice.

"That is his theory." Zeenare sudden words caused cold air to erupt in the room.

Dreycen gestured to Rhea’s body, "With the level of destruction in that apartment it should have reflect on her body but she is unharmed. How is that possible?"

"I don’t know," Zeenare replied, his voice a low snarl, almost snapping at him.

Then he turned to Ravira standing by Rhea, "what is her state?" He asked his breath seized against his lungs, his neck pulsing.

As Ravira began her work, she explained, "Her body is in a state of recovery from a massive power surge. Her cells are completely rewritten from a human to..." Her brow furrowed, her eyes narrowing in utter confusion and disbelief.

"What is wrong?" Zeenare asked, her hesitation crawling under his skin.

Ravira’s gaze snapped up to meet his. "She has the cell of Sirens!" She drop the bomb.

And for what seemed like an eternity the room was dead silent.

"How is that possible? She is a human." Othimise muttered, his eyes wide.

"Could it be because of the master’s essence inside her." Aluna added

"This is beyond just some essence, this is a full transformaton and the power surging inside her, this is.... an Alpha female current!" Ravira informed, her voice tight with disbelief.

Zeenare glanced at Rhea motionless body.

The runes. The lack of wounds. It would all make sense. He thought.

Ravira trailed her fingers over the rune tattoos on Rhea, "Do you see this, these are alpha runes, she did not simply mutated. This is the full-blown awakening of a dominant female."

She gestured to the blood-soaked clothes on the floor. "Looking at the amount of blood and how torn they are, you can tell she was badly hurt, but her skin is oddly clean, not even a scratch."

Then she turned her gaze back to the other. "What does that tell you?"

"Full regeneration. A Siren’s traits." Othimise muttered his gaze locked on Rhea.

"But how is that possible?" Aluna ask again. "Nothing like this has ever happened in the history of the Tide."

Everyone went silent again, because that was the question each one of them was asking themselves. How is it possible.

"The Tide Bureau would not take this lightly. Ravira added, her voice grave. "They would see her as an abomination, and would want to wipe her out."

The words alone jolted Zeenare in his seat. "This doesn’t get outside untill things get resolved." He ordered his eyes sharp.

Everyone agreed and then each one of them exited the room except Ravira and Dreycen.

Ravira turned to Zeenare, "Though she is healing at an impossible rate. She is exhausted so she needs rest, but she will be fine." Ravira informed before stepping outside.

Zeenare sat on the edge of the bed, his gaze fixed on her peaceful face. He took her cold hand in his, his thumb tracing the glowing runes that pulsed faintly beneath his touch. He knew what she was becoming. A full-blooded Siren and that was going to cause more problems than the curse itself.

"I’ll find out what’s happening to you," he vowed softly, the words a silent promise to Rhea and to himself. "I won’t let anyone or anything hurt you again."

"We need to find that Kegi. Before it’s recuperate and come back again." Zeenare said to Dreycen behind him.

"Yes. Since it is wounded it would be easy to kill." Dreycen added.

Zeenare turned his gaze towards Rhea pondering. How the hell did you cause an elder Kegi of that level so much casualties while you who just awaken is spotless?

Somewhere within a vast chamber, a figure lay on a bed surrounded by several veil suspended from the roof to the floor.

"Master it seems our plan has been compromised." A girl in glasses standing at the other half of the room away from the veil stood at a 45-degree posture bow.

"Hmmm." That single hum from the other person within the veil sliced through the room like a sword. "Why?" The strained voice continued.

The girl swallowed hard before beginning. "The Kegi core seem to have diminished greatly."

"So?" The voice asked again.

There was a thick silence in the air one that was enough to squeeze the air out of the girl standing lungs and also shrink it.

Then the voice continued. "If that one could not serve my purpose, send another," the Master said, the voice now filled with a chilling finality. "Isn’t that why we created so many? Because we knew killing her with him around wouldn’t be easy."

"Yes madam." The girl replied.

Meanwhile, while Rhea slept, she floated in a quiet, dark space, her consciousness at peace and completely detached from everything. It was a perfect, silent void—a blessed escape from the pain and terror.

"Rhea!" a tiny voice called, a tinkling chime in the abyss.

"Rhea, wake up," it continued.

Rhea’s subconsciousness stirred, a faint flicker of annoyance rippling through her.

She was content here. The emptiness was a relief. Rhea felt she wanted to stay in this quiet darkness forever.

"Rhea, wake up! The battle is not yet over."

Reluctantly, Rhea’s eyes slowly opened. "Sisi?" she called softly, the name a wisp of sound in the void.

"Your friends are in danger. You need to wake up." A sudden, bright light shone, transforming the once black abyss into a landscape of fairy clouds.

Her tranquility shattered as her body tensed, the peace she once felt replaced by a cold dread. "What do you mean?" she demanded.

"That creature will go after your friends to recuperate if it’s not killed," Sisi said, her voice now firm. "And time is not on your side."

The words were a brutal, definitive blow. Rhea’s serene world crumbled. The horror of Athaliah’s escape, the thought of her friends lives in danger, sent a surge of pure fury through her. Her eyes, still in this spiritual realm, snapped open.

"No," With a defiant roar, her consciousness reconnected to her body, her eyes fluttering open in the real world.

As she tried getting up, soft inaudible conversatios weave through her ears. They were muffled at first, a low murmur of two men and another talking in the room.

"She is a liability now, Zeenare. The Bureau will not be merciful," a voice, hard and low, was saying. "You know the rules. A creature of her kind is labelled a taboo to the Tide."

"She is not a creature!" Zeenare shot back, cold and furiously. "And she is not a threat. She is my responsibility."

As Rhea sit up, a low groan escaping her lips.

Instantly, the conversation stopped. The sound of fast, heavy footsteps echoed on the marble floor. Zeenare was at her side in a flash, his large frame blocking out the light as he stood over her, then he knelt beside the bed, his face a mask of desperate relief.

"Rhea," he breathed, reaching out as if to touch her, then hesitated.

When she blinked up at him, Sisi words from her dream came rushing back, "Athaliah," she rasped, her voice raw. "She’s going after Tia and Luke."

Zeenare’s expression hardened. He took her hand, in a protective gesture and said. "I won’t let her."