Noah paced in one corner of the room, his hands fisting in his hair every so often while Lilith stood frozen against the window in the circle of Callum’s embrace.
“Where the fuck is he?” Noah growled, turning toward the door.
“Give him a moment,” Lilith cautioned, reaching out to catch Noah as he took a step toward the door.
As a human she would have never been able to stop him, but she held her own fairly well thanks to Seth’s blood. Thedoor swung open a moment later and Henry slipped through. I hadn’t seen him since Adrienne first went missing, but I knew that Gabrielle had not improved at all in the weeks that had passed. From the hollows of his cheeks, it was clear he had not fed much, if at all, in that time, spending almost every night in a vigil beside her coffin.
“What took you so long?” Noah’s voice lost none of the edge it’d taken on since I’d arrived with Adrienne.
Henry, however, did not answer, merely moved to my side and reached out to place one hand on Adrienne’s brow and the other over her chest. He sucked in a breath.
“What? What is it?” Noah demanded.
Lilith shushed him, murmuring words of patience under her breath while Henry’s magic worked over my mate.
“Her blood is weak,” Henry murmured. “I can clear enough of the infection for you, but not enough to heal her completely. She has lost too much blood from their feedings and no amount ofserangunahwill bring it back in time.”
My throat bobbed with a swallow and I nodded as his eyes flicked up to mine—Henry’s eyes were the only pair in my household that did not swirl with the mark of Seth’s blood. “I understand.”
“What do you mean you can’t heal her completely?” Noah’s question came out as a rough whisper. “Will she not live?”
“Noah…” Lilith said softly.
But the Vyenur was shaking his head. “No…no. She would not have wanted this.”
“What choice do we have?” Lilith countered, the words cracking with her tears.
“To not force her into this life without her consent!” he roared, turning to me with unrestrained fury. “She has been a plaything for immortals her entire life and now you wish to turn her into the creature she fears above all else?”
Callum moved Lilith behind him, but I couldn’t help but stare at Noah. He was right, Adrienne would not have wanted this. A numbness crept over my body as I watched him, indecision warring with each breath I took.
“Adrienne is Eamon’s mate—” Callum began.
“Fuck you and fuckblood mates,” Noah rasped, turning to glare at me with untamed fury, the demon sigil on his forehead burning white with his rage. “If you turn her, she will never forgive you.”
He pushed Callum back as my nephew reached for him and stalked toward the door, shutting it with a slam. After a moment Henry shook himself from the trance his magic sent him into.
“I’ve done the best I can, Uncle,” he breathed, lids heavy with exhaustion.
My heart squeezed in my chest and the edges of my vision tinted red with my tears. I nodded, patting his hand once. “Thank you.”
Henry slowly made his way out of the room. There was a little more color in Adrienne’s cheeks than before, but it was nothing compared to her usual rosy complexion. The scent of infection still wept from her and I could practically feel Keryes standing at my back, waiting to gather her to the underworld.
“Callum,” I said.
His presence was warm at my side, compassion and love radiating from his mind to mine as if he were sending it to me. Another time I would have wondered at the change Lilith had brought in him, at how she’d softened those jagged edges of his soul. But now I only brushed a stray lock of hair from Adrienne’s face, unable to look away from her for even a second. “Ensure Henry feeds.”
From the corner of my eye, Callum nodded, bowing once before backing out of the room. I expected Lilith to jump inwhere Noah left off, but she only sighed and appeared in the spot Callum had left.
“I wish I could say Noah was wrong,” she began, hugging herself around the middle. My eyes squeezed shut. It was a wonder each and every time my broken heart shattered again, now into such tiny pieces I wasn’t even sure if I had a heart at all.
Lilith’s hand closed over my shoulder with a squeeze. “You know as well as I that Adrienne’s life has never been her own. In this she must have a choice. The mating bond is strong and I know what it will mean for you if she dies, but…”
Her voice trailed off and she did not need to finish her thought—but how could I live with myself if I changed her only for her to grow mad from the transformation? Would I not be merely prolonging the ending?
“I understand,” I murmured.
She leaned down and brushed her lips across my mate’s brow. “Speak to her, Eamon.Askher, and accept her wishes.”
