Read Succubus Ascendant: An Urban Fantasy (The Telepathic Clans Saga Book 4) for Free Online

people had done this and the majority had survived and emerged from the experience sane. Not all. Some had succumbed to madness, and those memories were there, too.
    Attempting to restore some kind of order, she began categorizing, cataloging, and finding a place to store all the memories. Telepaths have extremely well-ordered minds, unlike the fragmented disorder, the chaos, in the mind of a norm. Fearing for her sanity, she worked to restore the order she was used to.
    But there was so much of it. Centuries of memories, hundreds of people. Sometimes she would find memories of the same event as remembered by two different people. It was so confusing that her frustration grew and grew. Even trying to figure out how to store it, and where, was so much work that she despaired she would ever get it under control.
    Corwin had the O’Neill Gift. Those with the Gift had seventeen mental levels as opposed to the nine levels of those without it. Figuring out where Corwin had stored a piece of information helped her to construct a model to use. It struck her that Rhiannon only had nine levels. The confusion and chaos must be worse for her.
    Guilt hit like a hammer. Brenna had been so terrified of Corwin’s Death Gift that she’d attempted to force Rhiannon to take it instead. Forcing another telepath, someone weaker than you, was a major breach of the rules her society lived by.
    That hadn’t been her original intent when she brought Rhiannon to O’Neill. She just wanted to force Corwin to acknowledge his granddaughter. She wanted to bring some reconciliation between the two. She knew how much pain Rhiannon carried from the denial by her father and grandfather. If Brenna was going to be Lady of O’Neill, she planned to bring Rhiannon into the Clan and give her a place of honor. When Corwin acknowledged her, it fulfilled her wildest hopes. And then a wild idea had blossomed inside her. Rhiannon was the rightful heir. Brenna might be able to dodge the responsibility she had no desire to assume.
    Her half-formed idea went awry when Corwin grabbed them both. Now she and Rhiannon shared a bond she had never imagined, two millennia of memories and knowledge. And if Brenna was terrified of what that meant, at least she had agreed to it. Rhiannon had been given no choice. But there was even more to it than that.
    Worst of all, when Corwin’s mind had flowed into them, their own minds had merged and she had absorbed Rhiannon’s. Everything Rhiannon had ever done, ever felt. She knew every thought, feeling and hope another living being had ever experienced. Each of them knew every pain, fear, and joy of the other. They knew each other’s motivations, insecurities, and hopes.
    Even though Brenna and Collin had merged their souls, they didn’t rummage around in each other’s minds. They still had their privacy. Even as close as she and Rebecca were, there were things they didn’t share. What she had done to Rhiannon, and to herself, was almost unfathomable. It was the ultimate breach of privacy. It was a crime so appalling that other telepaths might consider it grounds for a mind wipe.
    Finally, her mind cleared. Order was restored. She opened her eyes and saw that it was light outside, a bright sunny day.
    *Rebecca?*
    *You’re finally awake ,* Rebecca answered her.
    * I did a bad thing.*
    *Yes, you did. I think I know why you did it, but good intentions don’t make it right.*
    *I know. I think she’s going to hate me, and I wouldn’t blame her.*
    *Ask her yourself. She just woke up, too.*
    Brenna reached out and contacted Rhiannon’s mind. It wasn’t difficult. It was like looking in a mirror.
    *Rhiannon?*
    *You bitch! You forced me! I should slap you silly for that. What the hell were you thinking?*
    *I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for this to happen.*
    *Yeah, I know. Hell, I know everything about you. But guess what? You failed. He acknowledged me as his granddaughter, but he didn’t name me his heir. You’re