“It isn’t worth the risk,” Aria protested, expecting Cara to back her up. When the Watcher remained silent, she shot her a look.
“It might be the only way to accomplish our goal,” Cara admitted, although she didn’t look happy about it. “If it helps, I might be able to heal him of the addiction. It isn’t easy to do, but I can likely manage it, with time.”
Lucas nodded, but he wouldn’t meet Aria’s gaze. “I can start taking it right away. Should juice me up for our next session.”
Aria’s glance darted from one, to the other. “No, Lucas. It is too risky.”
“It’s my choice, Aria.” He walked away. “We have to free Nikolai.” His voice echoed down the hall. “There are more lives at stake than just our own.”
He disappeared around the corner. Aria swung on Cara. “This isn’t a good idea.”
The Watcher did not look happy. “I will monitor him. It isn’t an ideal situation, but without a boost in available power, we will not get these runes dealt with in time. Galeran is overestimating Nikolai’s recharging ability. I didn’t like what I sensed.”
Aria had noticed. “He’s lost weight, or at least, his dream self has.”
Cara nodded. “It is more than just the physical. His psyche is being decimated. Galeran might not be noticing, or more likely, he doesn’t care if it destroys Nikolai in the process. The only thing he cares about is that he has a living vessel that allows him to tap into that power. It matters little to him if that vessel remains sane.”
“Do we have to get all the runes disabled to free Nikolai?” Aria’s heart hurt.
Cara’s mouth straightened. “I don’t know. The human half of him grows stronger with every rune we disable. If we get enough done, he might be able to break himself free from them.”
Aria swallowed. To risk one of the men she cared about, to save the other? It tore her up inside. But there didn’t seem to be any choice. “We need the extra power Lucas can absorb from the crystal dust, don’t we?”
Cara nodded. “Yes. I’m afraid we do.”
* * *
Another day, another genocide.
Galeran’s first conquest was a strip mine that was essentially a giant hole in the earth. They’d already targeted two such places, using nearby fault zones to trigger landslides that obliterated them along with anyone working inside.
The loss of life was only a fraction of what the tsunamis achieved, but Nikolai’s horror of it all had rooted deep, permeating his every thought. He sensed each death as they rippled through his surroundings.
Surely the Bellatis felt them too. Although the implacable expressions guarding him rarely flickered, their bodies quivered as the miners met their end. Yet their commitment to their cause, and to Galeran, seemed unshaken. As did that of the small group of Liberi women that stood with them.
Was that what it meant to be Bellati? To harden your soul to the agony of the individual, in order to achieve some perceived greater good? If so, Nikolai had no doubts as to why the Elders agreed to lock them in their home realm.
There had to be a better way.
But as he stared down at the giant hole trenched into the ground, he had to admit that Galeran wasn’t wrong. Stopping such activity would be difficult; it was driven by the demand for resources from a population wildly out of balance with their realm. But wiping the slate clean to begin again? It was so monstrous that Nikolai lacked the words to describe it.
When Galeran reached for the core power, Nikolai bared his teeth and swayed against his four puppeteers. Isobel’s efforts to boost him hadn’t worked as well this time. Something deep within was damaged beyond what her ministrations could repair. He needed time to heal it properly, and time was something Galeran wasn’t willing to cede.
There was no handy fault line to bury this mine. Galeran raised his hands to the sky and called upon it for his weapon.
The agony as the power blasted through Nikolai increased until he was convulsing against his bonds, helpless to stop himself. With their manes and tails writhing like snakes in the displaced energy, the four Bellatis moved away until the tightened chains were the only thing holding him upright. Faces tight with effort, the Liberi women leaned hard against their equine forms, shoving the core’s destruction away from them.
The sky swirled to darkness, with lightning shooting across roiling clouds. Several bolts hit the ground around them, surrounding the entire group in a writhing cage of flashing tendrils.
The clouds spun, faster and faster, and from the depths spat a tornado the likes of which had never before been seen. It descended on the mine, tossing the huge machines as though they were toys, pulverizing the exposed rock to sharp-edged sand that blasted away yet more rock. Until the entire pit was a swirling maelstrom of debris.
With each second, Nikolai sensed a part of himself burning away, as though his soul was being sandblasted along with the mine.
Hang on, Nikolai. You can get through this.
The words, and the surge of support that came along with them, shocked Nikolai. It sounded like Lucas, but the strength wasn’t like anything he’d ever sensed before from the Morph.
This is the new and improved me. Just hang on to me. I’ll get you through.
