Page 3 of Dark Awakening: Hidden Currents

Dagor shook his head. "That's not a good test for two reasons. If the tracker is not sensitive enough to pick up the differences between us and the commander doesn't inquire about it, we won't know if it just can't differentiate between two gods or between a god and a human. We have to put it in a human and develop a plausible story for the commander in case he asks us what happened."

"I volunteer," Jasmine said. "You can put the tracker in me."

To say that Ell-rom wasn't happy about her offer was putting it mildly.

Jasmine couldn't be their test subject because she was about to transition. It wasn't happening yet because of his accursed aversion to blood and his inability to bite her, but hopefully, he would find a way to get over that and start her induction.

Who knew what that foreign object could do to her transitioning body?

Besides, what if the thing was poisonous to her while she was still a human?

After all, the gods were impervious to diseases, so they didn't need to worry about foreign objects in their bodies.

And that triggered another question. How come their bodies hadn't rejected the trackers?

They should have expelled them.

Aru shook his head. "Thank you for your generous offer, Jasmine, but I'd rather not put the tracker in you. I like your idea about hiring volunteers, and I'd prefer to put it inside a human we can send to Tibet to continue the search. The biggest obstacle to your brilliant plan is coming up with a plausible explanation for our commander in case the trackers transmit biomarkers like Dagor suspects."

Jasmine chuckled. "Just feign ignorance. We can put it in me for a short while and then put it back in Negal. If your commander asks, you can say that you have no idea what happened because you were anesthetized throughout the procedure."

Aru rubbed the back of his head. "That could work, but I don't know if a short time is enough for the test. We can still feign ignorance and say that Negal underwent a procedure, but we don't know what happened to the tracker. We had no idea the medic had even touched it." He turned to Negal. "What do you think?"

The god snorted. "I'm not the mastermind here. If the commander confronts you about it, we will have to come up with one hell of a story about the supposed medic and her motives for implanting herself with the tracker she found."

"I have a question," Ell-rom said. "How is it possible that your self-healing bodies do not recognize the trackers as foreign objects and expel them?"

Aru shrugged. "They are most likely designed to fool our bodies into accepting them by mimicking our genetics. I'm pretty surethey used our genetic material to coat the trackers, or maybe the whole thing is a biological device. It's not like we've taken one of them out and examined it, and ours are obviously very different from what was inside the Kra-ell."

"Then how would a human's body accept this thing?" Ell-rom reached for Jasmine's hand under the table and squeezed it. "How can you be sure they won't harm Jasmine or the volunteers?"

She rolled her eyes. "What harm can a thing the size of a grain of rice do to me? There is only so much tech they can cram into it, and I'm sure there is no space left for explosives or poisons or whatever else you are imagining. Besides, it's morally wrong to expect a random human to volunteer for it without telling him or her about the danger and while suspecting that it could harm them. Since I'm the only human here, and I know what it is all about, I should be the one to test it. The medics are already in the keep and have surgical facilities in the clinic."

"Dear Fates!" Dagor suddenly exclaimed. "We could be in big trouble. I bet that when William checked Ell-rom and Morelle, he didn't consider the possibility that the trackers could be biological and match our genetics." He looked at Ell-rom. "You still might have it inside of you, which means the Eternal King could be aware of your survival."

3

KIAN

Few things were more pleasing to Kian than a leisurely Saturday breakfast with his family. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee and warm pastries filled the air, and his beautiful girls were busy decorating Okidu's Belgian waffles with whipped cream, strawberries, banana slices, raisins, and chocolate syrup.

Allegra's small forehead was scrunched in concentration as she tried to make a face with the fruit pieces and syrup, and given that she wasn't even one year old yet, her efforts were admirable.

In the kitchen, Okidu was working on lunch for later today. The whole family was invited, including Toven and Mia. Kian planned to use the opportunity to update them about the ongoing investigation into the thefts and sabotages and Ell-rom's progress. However, he was pretty sure they were all well informed on that front.

Ell-rom and little Evander Tellesious were all his mother could talk about lately.

Annani was happy, which made him happy in turn.

It had been a long time since his mother had looked so upbeat and hopeful for the future.

Kian wasn't sure what had put her in a melancholic mood before, but he suspected that it was seeing all the new couples around her that had reawakened her grief for Khiann. When she'd realized that there was a slight chance that the witnesses who had reported her mate's demise might have lied to the council, it had given her renewed hope that he was still alive.

Syssi had promised to induce a vision on her behalf, and now that the twins had been found, it was time she made good on that promise, but Kian didn't want to remind her of it. No matter how often she reassured him that her visions didn't pose any danger to her, he had an instinctive aversion to her submitting to the universe's mercy when she opened herself for a vision.

The universe was not benevolent, and it didn't care that Syssi was one of the purest souls ever to grace the plane of the living. It wouldn't hesitate to use her for its purposes, even if it killed her.

"Are you concerned about lunch today?" Syssi asked.