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Nikolai gritted his teeth as Galeran made another determined attempt.
Cara had weakened the control rune at his throat, but it still burned as though aflame every time Galeran pushed. To either side of him, the Watchers helped to block access to the core.
Nikolai knew how lucky he’d been, pushing the core power through Lucas to kill Demeti. He was more supernova than sunray, he wasn’t designed for subtlety. He’d come far too close to killing Lucas in his attempt to save him. If it hadn’t been for Aria...
I’m okay.Lucas’s mindvoice sounded a little stronger.Almost back to breathing, now. But wow.
We’re coming, Lucas.Aria had moved off through the driving snow, surrounded by a mixed group ready to strike into the heart of the mountain.
Then, suddenly, shock reverberated through the link.We aren’t alone out here.
Nikolai split his focus between Galeran and the group; he could barely see through the storm.
Manes tossing in the wind and gray eyes glowing, a group of Unicorns stepped forward.
Galeran had sent his Bellatis to them. Nikolai tensed and reached for the core...
Wait, Nikolai!Aria sent.Ash says to wait. They aren’t here to fight.
To his horror, he saw Aria step forward, hands outstretched. She was within easy reach of those razor-sharp horns. He touched the seething power and began to open a channel—
As one unit, the Unicorns dropped to their knees. They were bowing, their horns lowered until the tips hit the snow. But they weren’t pointing them at Aria.
They were pointing them to where Nikolai stood on the boulders.
One raised his head and said something to Aria.His name is Sebastian,she sent.He says they serve the Perditor, not Galeran.
Nikolai remembered what he’d heard in the cave.
“If they are here to help, thaat would be great.” Cara spoke through gritted teeth beside him, her white mane whipping in the wind. “We can tap into their life essences, and use them to block Galeran.”
Send the Bellati up here,Nikolai mindspoke to Aria.
Aria’s group stepped aside to let the Bellatis rise and stride past. Nikolai saw three Legion Dragons move to form a protective barrier between the newcomers and the Watchers. One brandished his five-foot glowing tail spike in front of him. “Can we trust them? It could be a trick.”
Cara nodded. “I sense no deceit, but we can keep thee Bellatis out of strike range. They don’t have to be in contact to be useful.”
The big Dragon shifter surrounded the group of Bellatis with his warriors—some in human form, some in beast—and escorted them a short distance from Nikolai and the Watchers.
Galeran made another grab for the core energy, and Nikolai yanked his father away from it. Immediately, the Watchers moved to boost the mental wall between it and him, and Nikolai detected the extra force behind their efforts.
The power of the Bellati. He sensed how different it was, filled with the reds and blacks of destruction rather than the blues and greens of healing.
Galeran sensed it too. His rage carried through their link.
Traitors, all of them. They will pay for what they have done.
Nikolai blasted Galeran with his disgust.You have betrayed everything you were supposed to stand for. The balance is about many things, but above all, it is about protecting life.
You haven’t yet learned that protecting life sometimes requires sacrifice.Galeran’s mindvoice was nothing but a snarl.
Who are you to decide who and what is to be sacrificed?demanded Nikolai.
I am Bellati. We are born to make those decisions.And Galeran blasted through him, reaching for the power.
He’d pulled energy from his own Bellatis to do it. Nikolai barely stopped him. It took all he had, and everything the Watchers had as well, to stop him. The rune at his throat felt as though it were on fire.
