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“He’s been informed, but he wasn’t exactly involved in the woman’s upbringing,” Zachariah answered. “I don’t think he’s ever met her.”
“How long are you planning to keep her in the infirmary?” I asked Gabriel. “It might help her to see a window after that many months of captivity.”
“As soon as I’m sure she’s fed enough to finish the transition successfully,” Gabriel said. “But you make a good point. I’ll talk to Alek about getting her a room in the Domum.”
“She stays here.” Saint walked right by us, shoving open the infirmary doors. “I might be at your beck and call, but I’m not spending any more time with the nobles than necessary.”
None of us mentioned that he was noble himself.
“Right.” Zachariah nodded to me, and I followed him out after thanking Gabriel for procuring the drugs for Grace. “You should take tonight off,” he said as we started up the stairs to the residence.
“I’ve taken too many nights off as it is. I’m not exactly carrying my own weight around here right now.”
He put his hand up, stopping us midway up the staircase. “You have given centuries of loyal service. The least we can do is give you what time you have with your mate.”
“It’s not enough.” I leaned back, feeling the cool stone against my back. “And I know it’s greedy, because there are so many vampires who never find their mates, but how is this…fair?”
“It’s not,” he said quietly, watching me with a wisdom I swear he’d been born with.
“I wait centuries and go into stasis, certain that I’d missed my chance of ever mating, only to wake hundreds of years later, and be gifted with Grace. And she has weeks, Zachariah.Weeks. What are weeks in the lifespan of a vampire? They’re a blink. They’re a heartbeat.”
“They’re everything.” He moved forward, clasping my bicep. “They’reeverything, Ajax.” His wide shoulders dipped. “I know what it is to choose duty and miss out on the love of your life.”
My gaze jumped to his. Henevertalked about her. Ever.
“And I’m telling you that duty can wait. Spend every minute you can with Grace.” His hand fell away from me. “And go fucking feed already. If you won’t take from your mate, then find another source. You won’t do her any good if you’re too weak to care for her, and if you change your mind about transitioning her—”
“I won’t,” I snapped. “I’m not risking what little time she has.”
“Fine. But just in case you do. Just in case it’s her last breath and you make that choice, then you have to be at your strongest to pull her through, so go feed.”
I took his advice to heart and swallowed down the equivalent of a bag of O positive, chasing it with one of those fucking muffins everyone loved to make sure it stayed down before heading upstairs to Grace. She’d been sleeping later and later, her body claiming the rest she tried to deny it.
The sound of her retching hit me before I got the bedroom door open, and I raced to her side, falling to my knees beside her as she threw up what little she’d eaten the morning before. Fuck, I hated this for her. Her slight shoulders shook as I rubbed her back, waiting for her to finish.
“You shouldn’t see this,” she protested weakly.
“I should have been here when you woke.”
She flushed, and I lifted her into my arms to carry her back to bed. “I just got up too fast. I know better. It’s been affecting my equilibrium for weeks now.”
“Well, then we’ll start the night again.” I put her back in our bed, propping the pillows behind her before setting her meds on the nightstand. “Gabriel gave me these for you. They should help with the swelling and pressure.”
She gave me a weak smile. “So I don’t hurl every time I try to walk across the room?”
“Something like that.” I left her only long enough to pull a bottle of water out of the small refrigerator I kept in my room so she could take the pills.
She took the meds and then leaned back against the headboard. “I know I slept a lot last night, but did you get the…” Her brow puckered. “The…” She took a deep breath. “Square. Brown. Tape.”
“The stuff you wanted boxed up from your house?” I finished for her, smiling through the terror that seized my heart.
“Boxes. Right.” She nodded.
“I brought what you wanted,” I said, gesturing to the closet door. “And I made sure that the rest was ready for donation for whatever Maria wanted.” Even in her weakest moments, Grace was still thinking about how to help others, how to make sure that her foster mother and the kids she cared for had what they needed.
It was one of the reasons that I loved her. And that’s exactly what this feeling was, consuming my heart, glowing so brightly that it was a physical ache.
“Thank you.” Her eyes fluttered shut. “I feel like I’m wasting a night with you.”
