Page 72 of Keran's Dawn

“All the things I’ve learned about politics, galactic history, foreign culture and customs, and so much more have been invaluable,” I said truthfully. “I never thought to explore that field. My entire life has always been about making people like us safe.”

“And you did a wonderful job of it,” Jaek said affectionately. His smile then faded, and he seemed to hesitate before taking on a nervous expression. “How are things between you and the Prince?”

I blinked, taken aback by the question. Did he not know that Deimos was holding him prisoner here?

“The Prince and I are no more,” I said carefully. “I had a lot of time to think over the past few days. It embarrasses me to admit that I just fell for some kind of childish infatuation. You don’t often run into a big and strong Berserker, who happens to be a prince with an incredible aura of authority. Things were going really badly with the murders and disappearances. I was lost and helpless to protect any of you. He showed up in my time of despair and offered what I needed the most.”

Jaek bowed his head with an air of guilt. “We all failed you. We should have seen you needed our help. But we were all too busy with our own little lives.”

“I could have asked,” I said in self-derision. “That’s always been my biggest issue. I don’t know how to ask for help from the people I love, only from the people I believe owe me their assistance, like the Twelve and the peacekeepers. In my stubbornness, I completely screwed up. It’s only once you lose your most precious treasures that you realize what you had but never fully appreciated.”

I hadn’t meant for my voice to quiver as I spoke those words, but too many emotions were swelling within me.

Jaek cupping my cheek with one hand and gently caressing it with his thumb took me by surprise.

“Some things canneverbe lost, Dawn. Some things are eternal.”

My throat tightened, and tears pricked my eyes. In his own way, Jaek had just told me that he had forgiven my ‘indiscretion’ and that his love for me was eternal. My tongue burned with the urge to tell him I loved him, too. I honestly did. And yet, when I had spoken of the most precious treasure I had lost, it was Keran’s face that had floated before my mind’s eye.

Deimos has to be wrong. If Jaek is my soulmate, I shouldn’t still long for Keran.

A beeping sound startled me and reclaimed Jaek’s attention.

“Just a minute,” he said in an apologetic tone.

While he went to fiddle with a machine that had been shaking several vials, I studied the room. I had no clue what any of this was. The drug Deimos had been administering us had systematically been mixed with that wretched drink. Although my gut said the countless vials in the cooling units were more of that drug, I couldn’t tell for sure.

“So what are you working on?” I asked casually.

Jaek looked up from the vials he was placing labels on before putting them in a holder to look at me.

“It’s a cure for a degenerative disease plaguing our people,” he said proudly.

“Hybrids?” I asked, taken aback by that answer.

“All Braxians, hybrids and purebloods alike, although it is rarer among us hybrids. I’m so close!”

“Oh wow! What does it do?”

“I devised an immunosuppressant that stops our serotonin from attacking us. Unfortunately, it doesn’t last and requires new doses administered daily. I’m trying to make it last longer.”

It took every last bit of my willpower to hide the horror I felt. Orin had confirmed that the murder victims had been drained of their serotonin. Had Jaek created the drug that was subjecting us to the Sarenians’ mind control? Had they conned him into believing he was curing a degenerative disease?

“That’s amazing,” I said with forced enthusiasm. “When you say you’re close, do you mean that the effects of your treatment could become permanent?”

To my relief, he shook his head. “That’s highly unlikely. But in its current state, a patient receiving doses too frequently could develop negative side effects in the long run. By this I mean if it went on for more than six months.”

“I see,” I replied, my wheels spinning. “Who are your patients? How did this project land in your lap?”

“I only started working on it a week ago. Apparently, Deimos had been following some of the research I had been performing, and he approached me about this at the meeting.”

I almost wept with relief to learn he hadn’t been in on this from the start. This further seemed to confirm Deimos had conned him into this. As Jaek had expressed his desire to work for the current Braxian Dagna at her state-of-the-art lab, Deimos would have had no problem convincing him to take on this project. Jaek wouldn’t have resisted the compulsion as this aligned with something he would want to do.

Presented to him as altruistic research to cure people, not to control them.

My hatred for the Sarenian went up another notch. But there would be time later to plan his comeuppance. For now, I needed to find a way to break its hold on Jaek.

“Oh, I see. But what of your patients? Are they hybrids?”

---