“My mother told me they both met violent ends,” he finally says.
I dip my head. “Jack ended his life. And Sophia was sexually assaulted by men from Demechnef in front of my father and—they forced him to murder her with a sickle at the age of six.”
“Yeah, I remember something about that.”
“My father watched both of them die, actually.” The image in my head of him lying in that bed at home jumpstarts my brain. “Holy shit! I have his antidote!”
Niklaus shakes his head. “Not an antidote. Not really. He would have had to drink the red oak leaves in tea before…you know, with your mother in order to be saved.”
“Then it’s a good thing I can move through time!”
“You can control it now?”
“No.”
“Okay then.”
“Do you not get how incredible that information is, Niklaus? All I’d have to do is warn him. Just once.” My skin tingles from the warmth that is spreading to every inch of my body. “Can you imagine my mom’s face? She’d get to see him again. I’d get to bring him back to her. And Krimson? Oh god, what he wouldn’t give to meet our dad. He’s Krimson’s hero.”
“And you?”
“And me.”
It took years to bury this blasting river of hope inside my heart. It’s been an unwanted guest for so long, knocking softly even when I refused to answer, even when I turned out the lights and pretended not to be home. That swell of hope was always there, praying that I’d meet him one day.
“What if it makes our future worse? Changing something like that?”
“Future could get worse.”
A cold, wet snout nudges the back of my arm. Whiskers. Soft fur. I balk at Dellilian looking up at me from her seated posture to my left.
“Dellilian!” I yelp, throwing my arms around her. I nuzzle my face into her black fur and grin. “I didn’t get to thank you. Not just for saving us from Vrath, but for keeping me alive and breathing when I was buried!”
The precious little creature starts to purr, leaning into my hug and burrowing into my chest.
“I don’t know who sent you, but I’m so happy they did,” I tell her.
“You think warning Sapphire’s father could harm our timeline, Dellilian?” Niklaus interrupts. His approach toward her isn’t nearly as agitated and hostile as it usually is.
Dellilian peeks around me to acknowledge Niklaus.
“Save lives. Lose lives too.”
Niklaus and I freeze.
“Tell me that doesn’t mean what I think it means,” I mutter.
My pulse is heavy in my throat. The strange circus bulbs start to dim.
“New births. New funerals,” Dellilian replies vaguely in her childlike voice.
“No, Dellilian. I need a firm yes or no. If we prevent Patient Thirteen from falling into his coma, will someone else have to take his place?” Niklaus sits upright, grabs on to the bars by my face and leans toward us.
“Yes.”
“Fuck!” We throw ourselves back against the bars.
“There has to be a way I can warn him!” I slam my hands on the ground.
