“So I see. Still, it’s odd that you don’t have fast healing abilities now that your powers are unbound.”
“Maybe it will take time, or maybe I am like Gran—human in this regard—since I do have some of her blood.” She shrugged it off.
“Perhaps.” Luceré waved a hand over her. Warmth flowed through Kira, easing the aches in her arm and ribs. “I couldn’t reveal this or the other supernatural things I could do to anyone, so I used Lila’s Oracle role as cover to do so.” She smiled. “There. All better. I should attend to your warrior now. Why don’t you have a shower? Your clothes are covered with blood, child.”
Kira shook her head, her gaze on Týr, her fingers tightening around his. “Later. I just need to be with him…”
* * *
Weak noon sunshine crept into the bedroom and did little to lighten the somber atmosphere. Two days later, and still Týr showed no signs of regaining consciousness.
Kira rubbed her burning eyes and shifted on the chaise lounge opposite the bed, exhaustion weighing her down as she watched her mother perform yet another extrication of the spell.
She appeared tense in her concentration, and her warm, brown skin held an ashy undertone. Wearily, Luceré lowered her hands. A smile of relief curved her mouth. “The dark incantation is undone. He’s going to need blood urgently. We couldn’t give him any while he was under the spell, he would have rejected it all.”
Kira jumped up. Her gaze rushed to Týr then moved back to her mother, her heart pounding in relief. “Then take from me. I should be viable, right? Unless he needs blood from his kind?”
Luceré looked up from checking the crystals. “You’re the daughter of an Ancient and a Sin. Your blood is perfectly acceptable, but he will need more. I will speak to the others.” Luceré glided to the door.
Kira stroked back Týr’s lank hair. His usually tan skin bore a pallid cast from his blood loss…and he felt too hot. “You have to get better, the curse is broken. Fight,” she begged, blinking back the burn in her eyes. “Or I swear on every one of your damn candies I won’t give you a moment’s peace. I’ll change all their colors and hide everything!”
Please show me some sign that you’re recovering so I know you’ll be okay, my love.
Soft voices drifted to her. Luceré shut the door and came back.
Kira felt his brow again. “He’s burning up.”
“His body is fighting to regenerate, and it’s taking a toll on his system with the blood loss.” Luceré lifted the wadded dressing on his chest. At the raw, open wound, Kira bit her lip, recalling too vividly what she’d seen in her nightmare from when he was imprisoned in Tartarus.
“I’ll be back,” Luceré said. “I need to prepare a stronger healing balm.”
Hedori appeared and set up the equipment near the lounger, reminding her of a blood donor’s clinic. She’d had no idea he even knew this kind of medical stuff.
“I attended a first-aid course years ago out of boredom,” he said as if reading her thoughts. “And I might have sat in on a few lectures at the university. Curiosity and too much time on one’s hands will do that.”
He smiled, ripping the wrapper from a needle. Uh, crap. Kira hastily shut her eyes. Needles terrified her. More sounds… Plastic tearing, then strong, warm hands gently grasping her forearm. “Ready?”
Sheesh! “Don’t warn me, just do it.”
He pushed up the sleeve of her sweater and tapped the inside of her arm for a vein. “He is blessed to have you. I heard what you did out there—”
“It was nothing.” She grimaced at the slight prick. Okay, so not watching those bags fill up… “I only wanted to save him from that horrible friend of his.”
“I would say slicing this so-calledfriendinto pieces while keeping Týr safe in a sphere of protection is not…nothing.”
Kira shook her head. “Týr eviscerated Narfi and the corpses.”
“From what I understood, he would have been beheaded. Týr merely finished what you started.”
What felt like hours later, Hedori removed the needle and stuck something on her inner arm. “There, all done.”
She opened her eyes and frowned. “Only one pint? Why didn’t you take more?”
“You look like you’re about to faint. The others are donating, too. All will be fine.”
“Oh, okay then.” It relieved her that unlike humans, they didn’t need to be compatible in this area…just powerful. Hedori put a glass of orange juice in her hand. “Drink that.”
As Kira sipped the nectar, she watched Hedori hook up the blood bag to transfuse it into Týr.
