Page 15 of Dark Voyage Matters of the Soul

A grin spread over his face, and he wrapped his arms around her, cupping her bottom. "I know, but it's always nice to hear. Tell me why I'm incredible."

"Well, there are the regular reasons, like the breadth of your shoulders, the shape of your lips, those tight glutes." She rubbed herself on him like a cat on a scratching post. "But what I admire most is your steadfast commitment to go against your instinctsand not try to stifle me. I know how difficult that is for a caveman like you."

"You have no idea what a herculean effort that is." He reached for the door handle. "Let's take care of informing the captain of the change of plans, and then we’ll go back to the cabin and try again."

Syssi nodded, but her stomach churned with unease at the thought of touching the amulet once more.

What if this time it showed her things she could never un-see?

Annani

After Kian and Syssi had left to talk to the captain, the conversation continued in hushed voices, but Annani didn't take part in it.

She was still trying to compose herself, and it was proving difficult.

Living through most of human so-called civilized history, she'd witnessed atrocities such as Jacki had described before, but that did not make it any easier to process. Especially since she had truly believed that humanity had been going in the right direction and that kind of evil was never to return.

She had been wrong.

Humans were still savages, too easy to incite into committing terrible crimes against others either by ideology, religion, greed, or rather all three woven into one hateful motivational force to destroy.

The Doomers were not responsible for all of it, but enough.

The thing was, she had a feeling that the ultimate responsibility was with the gods. They had engineered humans to be easily influenced so they could control them effortlessly, and that back door into human minds was what made it possible for evildoers to turn otherwise ordinary people into monsters.

Were the Eternal King and the Anumati establishment aware of that? Was that the reason they viewed hybrid children born of unions between gods and lesser species as abominations?

As half-human, immortals suffered from the same vulnerability to virulent ideology, and that was made clearly evident by the disciples of Mortdh.

She used to believe that there was hope for the Doomers and that there was a way to undo the brainwashing and turn them into decent people, and that was why she forbade her people to execute the captured ones and put them into stasis instead.

Once Navuh was taken down and replaced by a progressive leader, she hoped those Doomers could be rehabilitated. Without the constant brainwashing and indoctrination, there might be a chance for them.

But perhaps she had been wrong.

Maybe there was no salvation for their souls. Perhaps Navuh's propaganda created fertile ground, but the poisoning was done by their own evil deeds.

Not even Navuh would have ordered the gruesome murder of children. His goal was global domination, and he was ruthless in attaining that goal, but he wouldn't have bothered with annihilating a poor village in Mexico to make a point and terrify the local population into compliance.

Still, it didn't surprise her that Doomers were behind the cartels. Navuh needed money for his operations, and there was a lot of it to be had from drugs and trafficking. The Doomers responsible for the local operation were probably free to do whatever was needed to maximize those profits, and what had been done to that village was their autonomous decision.

Sowing terror ensured there was no resistance to their operations.

If captured, those Doomers did not deserve mercy. They did not deserve stasis and a second chance at life, but if she made an exception in their case, she would weaken her stance, and Kian would pounce on it, advocating for execution in most altercations with the Brotherhood.

Annani sighed. She could use some advice.

It was a shame that the first talk with her grandmother had not even been scheduled yet. The queen had vast experience and, given her machinations, she was also very smart. She might have some words of wisdom for her granddaughter.

The irony was not lost on her. Annani was one of the five oldest people on Earth, and yet she looked to someone even older for advice.

Perhaps Toven would have words of wisdom for her? After all, he was even older than she was. When there was a lull in the conversation, Annani caught Toven's eyes and presented her dilemma.

"End them," Kalugal answered for Toven. "And that's coming from me, as a former member of the Brotherhood. There are a few who are worth saving, but the ones Syssi saw in her vision are beyond redemption."

Toven nodded. "I agree. Ordering the torture and murder of children goes against every human and immortal instinct. Those capable of such acts are so diseased that there is no cure for them."

As everyone around the table echoed the same sentiment, Annani sighed.