Evan couldn’t speak, so he nodded, turned away. He’d never believed in that nonsense about the servant following the Master into the afterlife, but he wasn’t going to take a chance. It might be the only thing he could do for her.
Fifteen minutes later, on his way back to the lab, he felt a stabbing pain through his chest, a disorienting dizziness that drove him to his knees in the hallway. A castle servant stopped, called for help, asked him what he needed. He bent forward, fingers tented on the wall to steady himself. No. Niall. No. Not now.
Then he felt his servant, the thread there as strong as ever. It wasn’t Niall. Alanna. The connection had broken. His marks had been erased.
When he was steady enough to regain his feet, he’d run for the lab, despite the fact he had to stop and throw up into what he was sure was a very expensive vase. He wiped his mouth, kept going. Debra met him at the lab doorway, eyes alive with tentative hope. “I was just coming to get you. There’s been a change. She’s saying your names.”
He saw the welcome sign of an open door to Alanna’s soundproof room. As he came to her side, her eyes were still closed, but that mantra was a whispered song coming straight from her embattled soul.
Dear God, thank you. When he met Niall’s gaze, there were too many things that couldn’t be said in his Scot’s face. “Try touching her,” Brian said quietly. He and Debra were watching the monitors on her vitals.
Niall’s hands quivered, but Evan nodded to him. “Try it, neshama.”
Niall slowly laid his hands on her brow. It creased beneath his touch, but then she murmured their names again. The wrenching in Evan’s heart nearly drove him to his knees again. Forcing himself to take his time, he closed his fingers over her pale, thin ones. When she didn’t react by screaming or flinching, it overwhelmed him. He didn’t care that Brian and Debra saw the tears fill his eyes. As he put his hand on Niall’s head, his servant was openly weeping.
Coming back to the present, Evan realized they’d come full circle, from that absurdly short time ago when they’d first met Alanna in a lab like this one, touching her, soothing her. The thought made it bearable, barely, waiting for Lord Brian to announce the results. Had Stephen’s marks been removed? His second-marking wasn’t as strong a bond as Stephen’s third mark, so the former’s removal hadn’t been a guarantee of the treatment’s success. But it showed the treatment had had an effect, which meant they could give her more time. If she was plunged back into the nightmares again, though, would that make him any better than Stephen, tormenting her with no sure end in sight?
Brian lifted his gaze from the microscope, met Evan’s. He kept his grip on Alanna, his other holding Niall’s shoulder.
“The marks are gone,” the scientist said. “All of them.”
Niall choked on another sob, and Evan tightened his fingers on the man. He had to swallow the ache in his own throat. Over three weeks of watching her writhe and cry, enduring horrors they couldn’t see. It was over.
“Until she truly wakes, we won’t know what neurological damage she’s suffered,” Brian said. “Her vitals are dangerously low. She’s fully human again, no protection or added strength from vampire marks.”
Evan understood Brian’s warning. They’d watched her turn into a ravaged skeleton over the past three weeks.
“Would a new third mark help her chances of survival?”
The question was on Evan’s lips almost instantly, but it was Lyssa who asked it. The queen had arrived without Evan noticing. Her sharp attention was on Brian, though, not their failure to rise as she entered the room. She made a curt gesture, dismissing etiquette.
“Yes,” Lord Brian responded. “But not for seventy-two hours. The treatment has to cycle fully out of her system first. Her body might give out before then.”
But she was at peace. She was free. Evan told himself that was the most important thing, even as he burned for that seventy-two hours to vanish, so they could do whatever was needed to help her.
“So, three days to choose the appropriate vampire to re-mark her.” Lyssa nodded.
Niall started to surge off the stool. Evan had the presence of mind to clamp down on him, keeping him still. Peace, Niall. Remember your place.
Despite Lyssa’s leniency for Niall’s earlier behavior, the crisis had passed. Niall had no voice here, and she expected Evan to control his servant accordingly.
Fortunately, Evan did have a voice, albeit he was considerably outranked in the room. He was rising, even as he compelled Niall to stay seated. At the Scot’s jerk of motion, Lady Lyssa’s jade eyes had strayed to him, one brow rising in subtle, deadly challenge. She was likely well aware of what kind of exchange had just occurred between him and his servant.
Evan bowed to the queen, drawing her attention. “I know Alanna’s training was intended to serve a far higher purpose than a vampire with my lack of ambition, but is it possible her circumstances would allow my petition, my lady?”
“Prettily said. You may have more capacity for politics than you purport.”
“With due credit to your intelligence, my lady, I expect it’s a rare fluke, caused by how important the issue is to me.”
“Very well.” She nodded. “Speak plainly. Do you want her or not?”
“With all my heart. I don’t believe I’ve ever wanted anything quite as much. Not since three hundred years ago.”
He didn’t look toward Niall, but he felt him acknowledge his meaning with a numb surprise. He’d also reminded Lyssa he was on the cusp of losing his own servant. Though he wasn’t above using the sentiment if it would help, he hoped Niall realized it wasn’t meaningless manipulation.
“I will take it under consideration. Will the girl be coherent anytime soon?” She directed that to Brian.
“Unfortunately, we can’t predict that, my lady.”
“But you are certain the marks are removed.”
“Within a 99.9876 percent certainty.”
“Despite that wide margin of doubt . . .” She sent a look toward Daegan. “Stephen’s existence is no longer necessary. The Council sentenced him when he betrayed us. Please attend to it. Have the staff burn his filth to ash and thoroughly sweep it from the grounds.”
“With pleasure, my lady.” Daegan’s eyes gleamed. Gideon rose from the desk chair, clearing his throat.
“I’ll go along with you. Hold your purse while you take care of that.”
Over these past several weeks, and even before then, Evan knew he and Niall would have fought for the satisfaction of taking the bastard’s life. But now, seeing Alanna in peaceful slumber for the first time in so many days, neither of them could be compelled to leave this room for something as unimportant as revenge. In the end, love was a far stronger emotion than hate. It was a comforting thought.
“She’ll need to stay in a hospital bed and be monitored, but we can move her to a more comfortable environment.” Brian looked around the soundproofed room. “We’ll put her in the infirmary quarters for staff.”
“It’s on the first floor level,” Debra supplied. “Where she’ll get sunlight and a lovely view of the garden.”
Lady Lyssa had disappeared, indicating she’d take no further appeals from Evan on the matter. He and Niall would simply have to wait, and hope. As difficult as that seemed, compared to an hour ago, it was like seeing the sun rise over land after the forty days and nights of the biblical Flood.
“Thank you, my lord.”
23
THE Savannah headquarters had an aesthetic appeal the intimidating Berlin fortress had lacked. There was ample underground housing for vampire guests, with grounds and amenities suitable to the stature of the Council members who met and stayed there while conducting business. Brian had even relocated a section of his research facilities there, taking up one full wing of the estate.
Beyond being the queen’s preference, the new location was Lyssa’s pointed way of showing her firm grip on the Council leadership didn’t require the smoke and mirrors of ghoulish surroundings. The thought gave Evan grim amusement, and a grateful heart, given the queen’s support of Alanna’s preservation.
True to Debra’s information, the staff infirmary had a large picture window overlooking a section of the vast gardens. The hospital bed was far more comfortable than the necessary gurney cot they’d used in the soundproofed room. Debra had tucked a comforter with a sea green pattern of ocean waves over Alanna, so she was no longer swathed in institutional-style bedding. Niall brought in a flower arrangement Evan knew he’d pilfered from one of the opulently appointed Council bedrooms, but he decided to ignore its origins.
The Scot sank into one of the guest chairs, one that Debra had made sure could accommodate Niall’s considerable bulk. The lab tech missed nothing. Evan wondered if she ever slept, since he’d never come into the lab during the past three weeks when she wasn’t here, or at least close by, running an errand for her Master. He expected Brian would be lost without her. He knew the feeling.
Niall put his hand over Alanna’s pale, slim one on the covers. “What do ye think?” he asked gruffly.
“I think she didn’t fight this long and hard to leave us now. She’s just exhausted.” He shifted his gaze to Niall’s haggard face. “She’s not the only one that needs sleep. Go to bed, Niall. I’ll watch over her.”
“You first. Ye look far worse than me. ’Tis three hours to dawn.”
“It wasn’t a request.”
Niall gave him a nasty look, but Evan reached out, gripped his neck in one hand. “Go to sleep, man,” he murmured. “She’ll think she’s gazing at a corpse, she wakes up and sees your face right now.”
Niall nodded to a nearby cot. “I’ll sleep there.”
“You’d be better off in the quarters they provided for us.” The quarters both of them had barely seen except to change clothes. “I’ll be with her, Niall. I promise. I won’t leave her side.”