He slid his hands into his pockets as if to keep from touching her. “Darci, we cannot interfere in mortal lives.”
Tears burned her eyes. “Please, Blaéz,please?”
“Don’t cry.” He reached out and stroked her cheek. “Healing others is not one of my strengths. I will do what I can, but it will have to wait until your brother leaves.”
Hope flared. “I’ll get him out.”
Darci whirled around and hurried to the ward. She stumbled to a halt at the whooshing echo filling the room. The sound came from the monitor connected to Grace’s belly, recording the baby’s heartbeat. Several other machines blinked and beeped.Oh, Lord.
Pulling in a deep, pained breath, Darci crossed to Declan, who stood near the bed holding Grace’s hand. A lump formed in her throat to see Grace lying there, the shadows beneath her eyes so dark, her face almost as white as the sheet. Even her blonde hair appeared to have lost color.
Darci blinked her tears away, kissed Grace’s cheek then turned to her brother. “Dec, let’s sit outside for a bit, okay?”
He nodded. In too much pain, he didn’t see through her weak attempt to get him to leave.
Out in the corridor, Declan crashed heavily onto one of the hard, plastic chairs lining the wall and dropped his head into his palms. Darci sat beside him and rested her cheek on his shoulder. Blaéz was nowhere around, but that didn’t worry her. He probably didn’t want Declan to see him enter Grace’s room.
She stroked his bicep. “You have to have faith, Dec.”
He jerked to his feet, torment and anger warring across his face. “I’m damn sick of hearing that word. My wife has lost four pregnancies in the last ten years while I stayed helpless on the sidelines, watching the people I love fall. And you—”
“Me, what?” she asked in confusion when he broke off.
His mouth flattened, he shook his head. “Nothing.”
Darci rose, too. “Dec—what is it? You know you can tell me anything?”
He didn’t respond, his gaze shifting behind her. Without a word, he strode back into the ward. Besides Grace being back in the hospital, something else was up with her brother.
But Declan’s dislike of Blaéz troubled her deeply.
Pushing aside her concern for now, Darci turned as Blaéz walked up to her. She met his shadowed stare, wanted to apologize for her brother’s rudeness, but didn’t know what to say. Before she could speak, soft voices drifting to her from the open ward door caught her attention. Her gaze widened. Blaéz remained silent. Not daring to hope, she pivoted for the ward and stopped dead in the doorway.
Grace, still too pale, had awakened. Declan sat on the edge of the bed and held her hand against his lips. The sight made Darci’s heart ache. She backed out of the room. She didn’t care how little healing Blaéz had done, he’d given Grace hope. It meant more to her than anything else in the world.
She stopped in front of him again. The fact that he’d done what she’d asked without hesitation—broke their immortal laws for her, tears crowded her throat. She had to force out the words. “Thank you.”
Blaéz drew her to him, his arms a protective barrier around her. She felt him press his lips to her hair. “She’ll be fine for now. I stopped the bleeding, but I couldn’t heal her completely. I would do anything for you, but this is beyond me.”
She shook her head and just hugged him harder. He thought she was in pain because of Grace? Yes, she was, but more because of him. It wasn’t his fault he’d lost so much in Tartarus. She should have been more supportive instead of worrying about how this situation affected her.
He stroked her back. “Do you want to leave?”
She nodded and stepped away. Meeting his pale eyes, that sense of déjà vu stirred in her again, like she’d looked into them before.
No—no, the color’s all wrong.
They were blue...a painful, brilliant blue…
“Darci? What is it?”
At the sound of Blaéz’s voice, she blinked and the image dissipated. A chill slithered up her spine leaving her uneasy.She rubbed her arms and shook her head. “It’s nothing. Let me say goodbye.”
* * *
Blaéz watched the doorway Darci had disappeared into. Despite the fact his precognition was about as silent as a doorknob when it came to his own life, it made little difference to him. In fact, he preferred it that way. All that mattered was this amazing woman who felt so deeply for others—who, it seemed, would do anything to ease their torment…Like she would for you, if you’d let her.
His chest tightened at the thought.
