His expression hardened. “I’m not leaving you while his blood is doing this.”
“Then find out what is happening.” Her fingers tightened weakly around him. “Make sure it cannot get worse.”
Dax had left only after making the medics promise to send for him at the first change.
He and Malakai returned to the corridor outside Rhen’s chamber, where Cole waited while dawn gradually lightened the windows at the far end of the hall.
The woman’s cries had become less frequent, although each one still tightened the silence between them.
Malakai positioned himself where both brothers could see his hands.
She is stronger than we expected. I have never seen someone endure a transition this long after entering it so weakened.
“She may survive,” Cole said, although uncertainty remained beneath the words. “The worst of the elemental discharge appears to be passing.”
Dax leaned against the opposite wall.
“And the connection to Rhen?”
Cole looked toward the closed door.
“It is strengthening, but I cannot tell whether it is stabilizing her or simply becoming another pressure upon her system.”
Malakai signed,The Diablo Levélle magic is still inside her.
“Yes.”
Cole crossed his arms carefully, protecting ribs that had not fully healed.
“We have no idea what it will become once Rhen’s blood completes the physical transformation.”
Dax’s expression darkened.
“He has already decided he will stay with her.”
That is not the same as deciding what happens afterward,Malakai replied.He will wait until she can choose.
Dax glanced toward him.
“You sound very certain.”
Malakai’s expression became dry.
Rhen would kill any male who touched an incapacitated woman. He is not going to become the thing he would execute.
The answer ended that particular concern.
What remained was far less manageable.
The unknown woman might wake as an ally, an enemy, or a weapon designed to appear as both. She was connected to DiabloLevélle, carried unexplained glyphwork beneath her skin, and had spoken through a voice that knew about Sule’s bargain.
Yet she had also saved Cole at the cost of almost destroying herself.
Dawn continued gathering beyond the windows while the brothers listened to the transition reach its final stage.
Whatever emerged from Rhen’s chamber would alter the clan, although none of them yet understood how completely.
* * *
