The story quickly gains momentum when the rescued woman remembers her name is Sahara and that she has the gift of “backsight,” meaning she can receive mental images of the past. She knows the only way to fully unlock the labyrinth is for her subconscious to feel safe but she doubts that will ever happen around Kaleb, who has all the hallmarks of a psychopath. She created a mental labyrinth that is preventing her from accessing her memories. She deliberately crippled her mental abilities so they couldn’t be used by her former captors. Their history is clearly complex, although the woman’s fractured mind doesn’t remember him at first. He knows he has enough power to destroy or control the Psy race and is waiting for her to direct him which way to go. When discussing the extent of his psychic abilities with his rescued companion, Kaleb openly admits that he sometimes sends people insane just because he can. Kaleb has an affinity with both sides of the neosentience in part because he was raised by an emotionless serial killer, Santano Enrique, who was responsible for the torture and murder of a number of Changeling women earlier in the series.

He has been observing this infection in previous installments of the series but seems to be hiding his knowledge from other Psy leaders, with the intent of biding his time until he can take over the PsyNet. As such, when parts of the PsyNet start disintegrating due to an infection, these powers seek Kaleb’s help.

Kaleb describes both as if they are his old childhood friends. This neosentience also has a “dark twin” known as DarkMind that most of the populace are unaware of. NetMind is known to the Psy race as the guardian and librarian of the PsyNet. The Psy rely on this network for survival but its security has been increasingly under threat in preceding volumes, with many Psy dying as a result of attacks on the Anchors who keep the network operational. Like the rest of the Psy race, Kaleb was trained in Silence – the abandonment of emotion – and utilises the psychic network known as the PsyNet. Kaleb intends to assist her in rebuilding her mental defences, however, it is clear from the outset that he also has other purposes in mind for her. The novel opens with the incredibly powerful Cardinal telekinetic, Kaleb Krychek, and a young woman he has rescued from captivity.ĭeeply traumatised and psychically damaged, the woman has been imprisoned and tortured for over seven years. Heart of Obsidian is the twelfth book in Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changeling series.

Play of passion by nalini singh