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“Everyone recovered,” Estelle said.

“Rexx, the Inkral technology is getting stronger. If we don’t act now, it’ll be too late,” Daisy said.

Rexx pinched the bridge of his nose. His heart screamed at him not to let Daisy go through with this, but his head urged him to see sense. He hadn’t known the smart, young doctor long, but he trusted Atticus. He reminded him of Angel.

“Do you have any more questions?” Atticus said.

Rexx opened his mouth, but Daisy clamped a hand over it.

“No. Where are we doing this?” she asked.

“Right here,” Estelle said. “My standards are as good as any hospital. I take the best care of my furry patients.”

“And I’ve brought everything I need to do the procedure here,” Atticus said.

“What about recovery time?” Rexx said.

“Daisy should be up and about by tomorrow morning,” Atticus said.

“And the side effects?”

“There won’t be any.”

“If it works,” Rexx muttered. “Just remember, if it goes wrong, you die.”

“Shush,” Daisy said. “You keep making threats and Atticus will walk out of this room and not help us.”

Atticus grinned, seeming surprisingly cheerful for someone who’d just been threatened with death. “I’d be the same if it was my girl about to undergo an unlicensed medical procedure that could kill her.”

Estelle shoved him in the arm. “You’re not helping.”

Rexx swallowed the rest of his protests. There was no going back.

Daisy looked up at him. She rested a hand against his chest. There was fear in her eyes but also courage. “We can do this. And if you’re right here with me, I have nothing to be afraid of. So long as I’ve got you breathing down my neck, nothing will go wrong.”

Her words soothed him a fraction but only a fraction. He wouldn’t be able to breathe easy until she was out the other side of this, and all traces of the Inkral technology were gone.

“Let’s do this,” Atticus said.

“Wait. I need a minute.” Rexx grabbed Daisy’s arm.

Estelle inclined her head toward the door. “Atticus, you need to scrub up. I’ll go prep the room.” She herded her brother away, leaving them alone.

“Don’t try to talk me out of this,” Daisy said. “I’m ready for whatever happens.”

“I won’t. I just wanted you to know...” He stroked his hand over her soft hair and traced the scar on her forehead. “There’ll always be a place for you.”

“A place for me?”

He took her hand and pressed it against his heart. The words wouldn’t come, but from the look in her eyes, he didn’t need to say a thing. Daisy got it. She got him.

She wrapped her arms around him and rested her head against his chest. “You know I mentioned marshmallows?”

“Sure. You don’t want your brain to become sticky goo?”

“Yeah, but when you forget that gross reference, marshmallows are sweet, gooey, and amazing. They remind me of you.”

He frowned. “That got lost in translation, too.”