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“I’ll talk with the village healer about the sedative this town makes.”
“Right,” he said. “The moss in the nearby cave that absorbs the death god’s power that they harvest and turn into a sedative. You said it even works on shifters.”
Which was a miracle in and of itself. So far none of our doctors or researchers had been able to find a sedative that worked with our physiology. Not even Whil had found anything.
Bishop frowned at me. “Sedating her will help me get some rest, but I don’t know if it’ll break her fever.”
“I’m not betting on that. I want to sedate her so we can take her home. If anyone knows what to do with her, it’ll be Nova.” As much as Nova had always been like a bratty little sister to me, she was a brilliant physician. Between her and Wilder’s experience with hundreds of heats, surely they’d be able to figure out something that didn’t involve her sealing her bond with Knox.
“Do you think sedating her will be enough?” he asked as a soft gasp and pained mewling came from the bedroom. His expression tighten, the worry in his eyes deepening, and he shoved up to his feet. “I don’t know how many days she has left. She’s already so weak.”
“Neither of them wants the bond,” I insisted even though we all knew the odds of Whil being able to transfer the bond to Bishop were just as slim as the spell that had failed. We had to try. That was what she wanted. “Sealing it has to be our last resort.”
“If we can catch her in a moment of lucidity, I can ask her to bond with me,” Bishop said. “Maybe that—”
“There’s no guarantee she’d have the strength to form a mating bond and no guarantee that a new bond would break her fever,” I said stopping him before he finished, knowing exactly where his train of thought was taking him… because I’d thought the same thing half a dozen times already.
But if a shifter was too close to death, it didn’t matter if he or she said the words, the magic for a bond would never spark to life.
The only reason Audrey had been able to bond with Knox, even while she’d been on death’s door, was because the mating magic had already been awakened and had been looking for someone to latch on to.
“We’ll see how tonight goes and if she doesn’t improve, we leave in the morning,” I told him. I didn’t want to sedate Audrey for seven or eight days, but I would if that was the only way to get her the help she needed.
The mewls turned to whimpering and my chest tightened with worry.
With a groan, Bishop hurried to the bedroom and I caught a glimpse of Audrey writhing on the bed. Her eyes were glassy, staring off into space, her hair was plastered to her forehead and neck, and she panted, short, shallow gasps as if she couldn’t catch her breath.
In her consuming need, she’d pushed the sheet down to her hips, and her slight frame looked thinner, frailer. She’d lost some weight with all the physical exertion to walk to the death god’s temple and it looked like she’d lost even more. She might not make it to Stonehaven. Not even if we sedated her.
