Lucas stood very close to Aria, so Nikolai’s initial reaction sent wisps of black fog drifting off his skin. He struggled for calm as he decided the man was entitled to the truth. “I was born there. Until the Tor-shun came after me, I didn’t know anything about doors to other realms.”
“Torshin,” Lucas corrected. Completely oblivious to his apparent quest to end his own life, he took a step closer to Aria. “Demeti is a Torshin. And they’re called gates, not doors. Demeti has a brother, too. Didn’t think there were any of their kind left.”
The information helped Nikolai suppress his irritation. “Why aren’t there any left?”
“They were killed in a war with the Dragons,” Aria told him.
Lucas nodded. “Yeah. Ages ago.”
“Not ancient history for a Dragon shifter,” Aria corrected. “We live a long time.”
Nikolai twitched a brow. “How long do Dragons live?”
“About five hundred years by human realm time, I think.” Aria shrugged. “Never visited that realm. I’ve heard humans are a difficult lot.”
Lucas snorted. “And Dragon shifters are all warm and fuzzy.” He glanced at Nikolai. “I’m not even getting started on you.”
Nikolai’s brow rose and stayed there as he interpreted the sarcasm. “Wisdom is a virtue.”
Lucas ignored him and stuck to the gist of the conversation. “So... Your supposed family. Are they chasing us?”
Nikolai wrenched his gaze away before it became a glare and concentrated on getting off the current branch and onto another.
“They’re not close.” Every time he reached, casting his energy behind them, he sensed his pursuers. Questing, probing. Tracking the wild surge of life essences he’d called upon and the trail of death he’d left in his wake. But their essences were still very faint, distant.
They weren’t through the gate, not yet, anyway. They remained in the human realm, in the desert, checking the dead ivory poachers along with the Dires he’d killed there.
Watchers, Lucas had called them. They’d already explored the gate he’d come through; he’d sensed the flare. It was only a matter of time before they entered this realm.
Lucas shot him a look and grunted as he jumped between branches. The guy was nimble, using his bare toes to help him grip the slick moss.
“Are you sure they’ll follow us?” Aria asked as she slid down behind him, somehow appearing gorgeous despite the smudge of dirt across her brow.
How could he explain the intensity of what searched for him? The drive to protect the life energy he’d so callously extinguished?
You no longer have anything to fear from the Watchers. You have come into your power, now. You are so much more than them. And you have a higher purpose.
Nikolai selected a path that took them over a series of lower branches as his mind raced. He’d come into his power? If the voice spoke the truth, none of this was a fluke. And it meant it could all happen again.
His gaze skimmed over Aria’s lush form as she nimbly climbed a tree trunk. How much of what he’d done did she really understand? If she did, she’d hate him for it.
So he didn’t try to explain anything at all. Did he believe the Watchers would follow him? “Yes,” he answered.
Concentrating on where to put their feet, the other two fell silent, leaving Nikolai to his dark thoughts. What would his people do if they found him?
Was he asking the right question?
Whether those he’d killed deserved to die wasn’t really the issue. To do it, he’d pulled the life from everything around him. And he’d had no control while he did so. His rage had just taken over. The Watchers would be entirely in their rights to end him for what he had done.
But he had an inkling, now, of his true ability, and of the power at his disposal. Could they stop him?
If not, did he have the ability to stop himself? Could he control the monster?
Because if he couldn’t, the implications were grim. He could destroy every living thing around him whenever he stubbed his toe on a rock.
And that thought made his blood run cold.
I will teach you control. Just like I showed you the lodestone so you could find the gate. All you have to do is open yourself to me.
