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“We’ll make it happen,” Zachariah agreed, his words slow and deliberate. “No matter what that agenda says, Samuel is our mission. But I think you’ll find that if we give our king a moment, you’ll see it’s his mission, too. Trust him.”
Saint’s jaw flexed.
“Now would you please restart time?” Zachariah asked. “And everyone get back in the same position you were in. The last thing we need is them thinking we’re talking shit by ourselves.”
“We are talking shit by ourselves,” Talon muttered.
We shifted back to the exact places we’d been, and I restarted time, letting the tension snap.
“—and…well, swimming, I guess,” Benedict finished his comment about Cassandra Zorin’s panther.
“I’ll handle the panther,” Jocelyn said. “I’ll have a little woman-to-woman talk with her. God knows she probably feels alone enough already without us banning her fucking pet.”
“I’d appreciate that, Jocelyn,” Alek commented. “We have enough waroutsidethese walls without inviting it in.”
Benedict winked at his mate.
We made it through the rest of the domestic issues, and Benedict scrolled down the list. “And to what we actually all care about.”
The screen showed the patrol schedule.
“Saint,” Benedict turned toward our brother and took a deep breath, as if it took strength to even look at him. “We figured you’d want to pursue any leads about your—”
Every hunter at the table tensed.
“About Samuel’s whereabouts,” Benedict finished.
“Take anyone you want,” Lachlan continued. “You have our complete support and whatever resources you need.”
Saint nodded once. “I’ll take Dagon.”
We all nodded, too. It made sense that the two hunters who knew Samuel best would lead the mission to find him.
“Excellent.” Alek leaned forward, looking Saint in the eyes. “And each of us will be at your disposal as soon as patrols are complete for the night and any Conclave business is attended to. This night. Tomorrow night. Every night until he’s found. You have my word. Finding Samuel is our first priority not just to fight this war, but because it’s what you need, and we take care of our own.”
Saint looked away.
I’d been loyal to Alek from the moment we’d awakened. That was my duty as an assassin, as a hunter, but my respect for him rose to new heights in that moment.
We planned out the rest of our evening and then broke apart.Because it’s what you need. Alek’s words stayed with me long after I headed out on patrol with Hawke.
Besides slaying Samuel for his betrayal, what the fuck did I need?
The answer was the opposite of Saint’s requirement.
I neededlife.
The second the night air hit my face, I decided not only to go back to the hospital bench tomorrow night, but every night after until I saw her again.
Grace.
2
GRACE
“You see this dark mass right here?” Doctor Watson asks, pointing to the images of my brain hanging on her lightboard. “It’s as we’ve suspected.”
Glioblastoma.
