“But the humans didn’t find what they needed, so we had to keep providing them with more names.”
“What exactly did they need?” Ambrose asked.
“They’re trying to replicate the change in DNA when mates become immortal,” Adamson replied. “Or something along those lines. I didn’t take notes. I’m not a scientist.”
My stomach roiled with nausea.
“Who is financing these experiments?” Arthur asked, his fingers gripping the back of a chair so tightly his knuckles were white.
“François Baudelaire,” Adamson answered. “He’s the only human on the planet who could afford it.”
“Zeke was right,” Daniel whispered under his breath.
“He was the reason Ezekiel was killed,” Adamson told Ambrose. I wasn’t sure why he thought he could get a sympathetic or understanding reaction, but he continued speaking even as Ambrose’s posture changed. “Your brother was asking questions in places that he shouldn’t have been. When he got too close, Baudelaire ordered it.”
Daniel’s body swayed beside me, but when I looked at his face, his eyes were still clear and focused.
“We didn’t even know he had a mate,” Adamson said quickly as Ambrose jerked toward him.
Erik stopped his eldest son with a quiet word in his ear.
Beside me, Daniel’s breathing had become irregular, and the hand on my lower back had begun to tremble.
“I think I need to go lie down,” I whispered, leaning further into his side. “Will you bring me?”
“Go,” Erik ordered, looking at us across the patio. “Take care of your mate.”
I wrapped my good arm around Daniel’s neck as he lifted me into his arms, and I didn’t have a single qualm about getting him out of there before he had to hear any more about the reasons they’d targeted his baby brother. I had a feeling that there were few ways I’d ever save Daniel the way he’d saved me—especially with what I would forever think of as hissuperpower—but I could save him from hearing details about the worst thing that had ever happened to their family.
We would get all the information we were looking for secondhand, and there was nothing wrong with that.
“Could you take me to see Seamus?” I asked as we entered the house.
“I thought you wanted to go back to bed,” he replied, carrying me toward the hospital room.
“I’ll sleep better after I’ve seen him.”
“I was okay, you know,” he said, pausing. “I can control myself.”
“Of course you can.” I kissed his neck softly. “But there’s no point in us giving that twisted piece of garbage more of an audience than he already has.”
His arms tightened, and he turned his head so our lips met.
“I love you,” he said against my mouth.
“Same.”
When we entered the room, I was surprised to see Daniel’s mom sitting in a chair next to Aunt Halle. Both of their heads swung toward the door as we walked through it.
Seamus was awake.
“My best dude,” I called, my breath hitching.
“Hey, Flower,” he greeted with a weak smile. “How are you feeling?”
I shifted so Daniel would let me down and then lurched over to his bedside, trying not to cry. “Me? I’m frigging immortal. How are you feeling?”
“Like I got shot in the guts,” he said, wrinkling his nose. “Mom said you got hit like three times.”
