“Lee…”
Rhen went completely still.
The witch lost consciousness before the word could become anything more.
For one impossible moment, he heard the beginning of Leena’s name inside the unfinished syllable. He rejected the thought immediately, but the sound had already entered him and could not be removed.
The pressure behind his ears intensified.
He had felt something when the witch touched him, an involuntary pull that he had attempted to explain as spellwork, grief, or the residue of the attack in the Quarter. Whatever it was, it had tightened around him each time her condition worsened.
Rhen looked at the fever consuming her and understood that her human body would not hold the storm for much longer.
His blood might.
The answer came with consequences he could not ignore. Turning a human produced a vampire, but turning a witch could create something else entirely: magic fused with immortal blood, unstable power, and a creature tied to the very enemy they were trying to destroy.
She could become a heretic.
She could wake carrying Diablo Levélle deeper inside her than before.
She could become strong enough to destroy the compound from within.
Rhen’s hands closed until the joints ached.
The choice was not between safety and danger. It was between allowing the only living lead to die in his bed or creating something none of them could predict.
He disappeared before instinct made the decision without him.
* * *
Rhen materialized in the kitchen with enough force to send the nearest flame shuddering inside its glass enclosure.
Dax and Malakai were waiting, while Cole stood beside the counter, pale and weakened but upright.
Rhen struck one hand against the table.
“The witch is dying. The storm will kill her before dawn unless her body changes.”
Nobody pretended not to understand what he meant.
Malakai stepped into his line of sight.
You are considering turning her.
“If I do, she becomes one of them.”
“A heretic,” Dax said.
“We do not know what that will create,” Rhen continued, beginning to pace. “She could wake stronger than any of us, or she could wake controlled by whatever Diablo Levélle buried inside her.”
Cole lifted his head.
“She could also wake with answers.”
Rhen pointed toward him.
“You are asking me to create something that may destroy this house.”
