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Grace gasped behind me. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered, and I knew it was for Aurora.
“You still have Samuel’s blood in your veins,” I said directly to Aurora, who seemed to make herself even smaller. “You probably will for the next few months or so given how little you’re feeding.”
She flinched.
“And what you probably don’t know is that Samuel has a veryspecialgift,” I said slowly.
Aurora glanced at me, but only held my gaze for a split second. “He’s good at causing pain.”
“But he can heal, too,” Saint added, his voice low and quiet. “When he chooses to.”
“As if there’sanythinggood from him inside me,” Aurora countered. “Because there was absolutely nothing good about him. Nothing.” Her breathing changed, coming faster.
“Ajax, this isn’t fair,” Grace said quietly, reaching forward to tug on my hand. “Don’t ask this of her.”
“How can I not?” I said to my mate. “You want a chance at life? This is it.”
“You’re hoping the transition will activate his blood inside your mate?” Gabriel pondered, looking at Aurora in a new light.
“I’m hoping the transition, mixed with a vial of Lyric’s blood, will combine with a vial of Aurora’s and kill the cancer in her brain during the transition.” I’d never voiced the thought aloud, but now it was out there. Our queen was unique among vampires, born of the last line of seers with blood capable of fighting Night Thistle. Adding it to the cocktail could only help.
Gabriel blinked, as if considering it.
“The older the vampire the more powerful the blood,” I said to him. “And Grace can drain me dry if it means she lives.” I squeezed her hand.
“Samuel is also the most lethal form of poison in our kind,” Gabriel noted.
“Samuel is lethal when he chooses to be,” I agreed. “But the power for healing is in his blood. We all know it.” I nodded back toward where I knew Aurora was doing her damndest to blend into the wall. “Why do you think she’s survived this long refusing to feed adequately? Samuel’s blood is what kept her alive when he abandoned her in that house.”
I knew the idea had merit when Saint looked Aurora’s way.
“Please,” I said to Aurora, clenching Grace’s hand. Grace, who I couldn't live without, couldn’t take a breath in a world where she didn’t. “You’re the only shot she has.”
“What if my blood poisons her instead?” Aurora whispered, looking at the floor.
“I’m pretty much already a walking death sentence,” Grace tried to joke. “The cancer is going to kill me in the next couple of weeks. In some ways, I think this might be a more merciful way to go.”
Aurora slowly drew her gaze upward, but it wasn’t Grace she looked at, it was Saint. “You think I should let her bite me?”
Saint blanched.
“No!” I assured her, but kept my feet where they were so I didn’t scare her. “We could have Saint do…what he does to sedate you, and withdraw a vial, just like Lyric does when Gabriel is studying her blood.”
“You wouldn’t feel it,” Saint promised, shoving his hands into his pockets.
“And you think it would work?” she asked him.
“I think it’s the best shot she’s got. Lyric’s blood doesn’t cure cancer, but maybe it can convince what’s left of Samuel’s blood in yours to.”
“What’s left of his blood,” she said quietly, looking down at her hands with what could only be described as loathing.
“It’s your choice, of course,” I managed to say. Too much had been taken from the female already to force anything from her—even a conversation like this one, let alone something as personal, as sacred as blood.
“I won’t do anything you don’t want,” Saint assured her.
She glared at him. “Like youdon’tmake me drink?”
He ripped his hand over his hair. “That’s different and you know it. I’m not going to sit by and watch you—” His eyes closed and he took a deep breath. “Make your choice, Aurora.”
