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“What? Wanting to breach between the planes?” Nyx asked.

“They want you to prepare for a battle,” Kai breathed. “Why else would they want you fully-equipped, essentially fully-armed?”

“That’s the point, there are too many what-ifs where I’m concerned, because so much is either kept secret, or just completely unknown regardless.”

“What other abilities?” Nyx posed to Vorzyr.

“I can influence other creatures. I’ve stopped creatures from attacking me before by my will alone—accidentally. It’s been a couple of years since that happened, and I haven’t tried it since, because it was overwhelming—and it felt wrong.”

“Command of Beasts,” Kai told him. “That’s the ability.”

I nodded, impressed. “Yes.”

“If my own kind knew I had that ability, they’d reject me outright. It would be seen as a threat,” Vorzyr murmured.

It hit me then. “That’s why your father sent you away, isn’t it? Beyond that battle that Nyx told us about? He saw you use this ability?”

“He did, but he never spoke about it… but now you mention it, his attitude toward me did change shortly after that time.”

“Can you do it to me?” Nyx asked. “My Incubus side?”

“I haven’t tried. And I wouldn’t.”

“Maybe you need to. You know, to test it and get control of it?” Nyx suggested.

“It’s a viable experiment,” Kai pointed out. “Highly-advised, too, considering the situation.”

“I get it,” Vorzyr snapped. “Those with great power who are without knowledge, are fucking dangerous.”

“Something like that,” Kai admitted. Of course. While he absolutely wasn’t wrong about it, now wasn’t the time to get into that aspect any deeper.

That was confirmed as Nyx’s voice sounded in my head.

“He’s becoming overwhelmed. Close to panicking. His dragon side is pushing to react as a sort of defense mechanism.”

I closed the distance between us and pressed my hands to his chest, feeling a tremble of awareness go through him at my touch. “It’s a lot to digest. But know this: we’ll figure it all out. All four of us together. I swear it to you. Do you hear me?”

“I hear you, but…” He pulled back and moved several feet away from me, leaning against a nearby tree.

“Butyou feel your control is compromised, yes?” I put to him.

His gaze shot to mine. “You feel it from me?”

“The struggle is clear, yes, even if I wasn’t having Nyx read your emotions—both the human aspect and the dragon side.”

He eyed Nyx. Then he looked at Kai, before focusing back on me. “And Kai? He’s here to stop me from losing control when you broke this news to me?”

“No. To stop me.I’llstop you. And it wasn’t about how you’d react to me revealing all of this to you. It’s about giving you what you need. Fromme.I wanted them here so we’re unified from here on out. Because it’s become clear that I need you all with me, and the same goes for the three of you when it comes to me and to each other.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Wait. What do you mean, giving me what I need? Answers?”

“No. And we’re not completely done with that anyway. More will come for the both of us when Kai and I interpret the results of the Unity Council test together. Now that he’s back at full power we can do that.”

Before he could get another word out, I opened my cloak. “Thisis what you need,” I said, as I shrugged it off my shoulders. “To connect with me carnally and in a way you weren’t able to do outsidePolariswith how that transpired.”

“Motherfucker,” he choked, his eyes all over me. “You wore this for me… Ariana…hell.”

He held up his hand as I went to close the distance between us, essentially stopping me in my tracks.