“I didn’t know you were shapeshifters.” Lucas’s voice had gone hoarse. “I thought Unicorns were a myth.”
Cara shot him a sympathetic look. “We may be rare, but we are not a myth. But when the Bellatis were confined to our home realm, we became like ghosts. Few have ever seen our animal form. And it has gotten worse as the realms skewed further and further out of balance.”
The Watcher grabbed a scone for herself and buttered it. “We rely on balanced energy to shift form. Elandriel has an abundance of it, so taking on our animal is easy there.” She took a deep breath. “Nowadays, few of us can shift outside of our home realm.”
Aria’s gut twisted. The realms must be in more trouble than Cara was admitting to.
“So Nikolai is currently running around as a Unicorn?” Lucas asked.
Cara grimaced. “Yes.”
Aria tried to wrap her head around the concept as images from her dream flashed through her head. Nikolai was not only a Unicorn. Or a Bellati.
He was a Perditor.
“Has there been another Perditor since the war?” Aria’s voice emerged as no more than a whisper.
The Watcher’s gaze reflected her inner chaos. “No.”
Ash, along with the others, had remained silent as he listened. Now he offered, “Oracles and Perditors share a common origin. The parents must have ability, but it is the mother’s death during or right after birth that boosts that talent in the infant to unnatural proportions.”
Aria stared at him. Ash’s mother had died at birth? And Nikolai’s, too?
“Well said, from someone who knows,” Cara acknowledged with a nod to Ash.
Lucas toyed with his potsticker. “Can Nikolai be trained to not spread death with every wave of his hand?”
When Cara hesitated, Aria’s heart threatened to pound clear out of her chest, and she felt like she was going to be sick. “You said you could do it.”
“I said I could try,” Cara amended. “I have appealed to the Elders. So far, that appeal has been in vain. They have bound Nikolai to his animal form, which cuts him off from his human half, and his power. They are content to let him live out his years like that.”
Aria stared at her in horror.No.How could they do that? Nikolai was only living half a life.
“But you don’t agree,” Lucas interjected.
“No. I don’t, and I am not alone.” Cara sat back in her chair and traded a glance with Ash. “Many realms are now so out of balance that without a powerful influence acting to restore them, they will only continue to get worse.”
“If they release the Bellatis—” Lucas started, but he broke off when Cara pursed her lips and shook her head.
“Even if the council agreed to let them loose on those worlds, many realms have already gone beyond what they, and us, can correct.”
Aria’s mind chased the possibilities. “You think Nikolai can restore the balance of those realms?”
“The capacity to destroy often goes hand in hand with the ability to create,” Cara agreed softly. “I think we need him.”
“But it could go horribly wrong, if you can’t train him.” Lucas had his gaze fastened on the Watcher, and his voice trembled just a little.
Cara matched his stare. “That is the risk. For now, he is learning what balanced life energy feels like, a crucial piece of the puzzle. For you, it has only been a day, but time on Elandriel moves differently from here. For Nikolai, it has already been over two weeks.”
As Aria absorbed that, Cara’s gaze drifted to Ash before she added, “And I have reason to believe that things soon may be taken out of the Elder’s hands.”
A muscle jumped in Dani’s jaw. “Some of what Ash has seen is pretty damned scary.”
It took Aria a moment, then she got it—Ash had foreseen something about Nikolai. “What have you seen?” she demanded.
“Many things.” Ash shook his head.
“Are any of them good?” Aria whispered.
