Chapter 38

Oriel felt as if he were on fire.

His entire body burned from his lungs to his throat to his head. For a moment, he couldn’t decide if he was dead because it certainly felt like it. He imagined he bathed in molten iron, and no matter how hard he willed it, he wouldn’t die.

Something light touched his forehead, and he couldn’t stop the smile that pulled up on the corners of his lips. The touch of an angel. Feathery-light fingers. A compassionate touch. This was his angel.

Although difficult, he managed to lift his hand to catch those fingers touching his forehead. He heard a couple of gasps, but he still couldn’t open his eyes. They felt heavy, like the molten iron had somehow sealed them shut.

“Oriel, you are still alive.” A sigh of relief. A gentle kiss on his forehead.

“Am I?” he asked groggily, hardly recognizing his own voice. “I shouldn’t be.”

Last he remembered, his lungs had hardened so much he could barely breathe, and though his lungs felt incredibly heavy at the moment, he breathed just fine—which was a miracle.

“Adam has returned,” Cosette said. “With bloodbane. He is preparing it for consumption. We need you awake for surgery, otherwise this might not work.”

He fought against the heaviness keeping his eyes closed. Little by little, he opened them and squinted against the dim light in the room. Where was he? This didn’t look like his bedchambers. His confusion multiplied when he found several people in the room. Cosette. Willow. Zachariah. Laurel. Adam and Doctor Enache entered only a few moments later.

Laurel held one of his hands, her eyes red-rimmed and full of tearful fear. Cosette, on the other hand… She looked brave.

His pain intensified as he became more aware of his surroundings, but he tried to be brave just like his stoic mate.

Doctor Enache stepped forward. “We must be swift with the surgery—”

“You will forgive me, Doctor,” Oriel said exhaustedly. “Zachariah has seen to everything for me thus far. I will have him perform the surgery.”

“Me?” Zachariah squeaked. He looked wide-eyed toward Doctor Enache. “But I am only an apprentice. I have assisted in many surgeries, but Enache is the better surgeon.”

“You don’t give yourself enough credit.” Doctor Enache interjected. “You have saved many lives and have performed a handful of surgeries on your own.”

Taking a deep breath into his lungs that ached with intense agony, he said, “It is a surgery no other vampire has performed. I want you to do it, Zach. If it is successful, you will receive the recognition.”

Zachariah did not look convinced. “But what if it goes poorly? I am not willing to risk your life.”

“If it goes poorly, then it is not your fault. There is no one else I trust more with my life.”

“Will you need assistance?” Doctor Enache asked as he hovered in the doorway, ready to step out. But Zachariah shook his head.

“I will only need Willow.”

Willow raised her eyebrows. “Why me?”

“To hold him down. This is not going to be pleasant for him, and I don’t think Laurel or Cosette would be up to the challenge. I would prefer if Adam keeps them from coming into the room despite what they might hear.”

Adam shifted a glare from Oriel to Willow and back to him, and he would have felt uncomfortable under the glare if fatigue didn’t plague his entire body. “I am not letting these two be alone together in a room without my supervision.”

“Relax, Adam.” Willow rolled her eyes. “We are kin.”

Oriel recognized an opportunity for comic relief when he saw it. “But I heard it didn’t stop you from kissing Zachariah,” he teased.

Laurel gasped. She clearly had not known as much.

“It wasn’t a kiss!” Zachariah protested, flushing from head to toe.

“Not a kiss? Then what was it?” Laurel demanded.

“She was feeding me.”

“Feeding you? And that’s any better?”

“I-I-I was still feral! She saved my life.”

“It looked like a kiss to me,” Adam growled. “A very long, strange kiss.”

“I did not kiss your brother!” Willow cried. “I didn’t!”

“Zachariah told me himself it felt like a kiss,” he chimed in. He wasn’t usually one to cause discord, but the amusement of it all was the only thing holding him together.

“That’s it!” Zachariah shouted, his expression fuming. He pointed to Adam. “You! Out!” He pointed to Laurel. “You. Out.” And then he turned to Cosette, and Oriel feared he would be stern with her too. He wasn’t sure she was resilient enough to handle it. Thankfully, Zachariah’s expression softened. “And Cosette, you too, if you will.”

She nodded, but not before giving Oriel’s hand a squeeze as she passed. They held each other’s gaze momentarily. A depth of worry lived within her eyes. He tried to give a reassuring look, but it still didn’t erase the uneasiness set between her eyebrows.

“Don’t you worry about me,” he whispered as he placed a kiss on her palm. “I’m in good hands.”

“Please.” She trailed his hair through her fingers. “Come back to me, Oriel.”

Finally, she offered the barest hint of a smile before she followed the others out, leaving only him, Willow, and Zachariah inside the operating room.

Willow gently shook a small vial of red liquid, a look of concentration in her eyes while Zachariah strapped Oriel’s arms to the chair. “Bloodbane is one of the worst pains you will ever feel. I dare say it’s even worse than childbirth. Don’t tell Adam I said that. He still feels guilty he forced it down my throat in the first place.”

Oriel frowned. Zachariah had told him what had happened between Adam and Willow, and he was glad they were on much friendlier terms now.

“Knowing what the surgery entails, do you still want to go through with this?” Zachariah asked. “This has never been attempted before to this magnitude, and there has never been any known records that attempting to put the fangs back into the mouth will work. It will be a miracle if your roots will take them back, even without your venom to get in the way, let alone for you to recover successfully from the surgery. Keep in mind the pain of the bloodbane, the uncertainty your body will heal from the damage already done, and the fact that I don’t know what will happen after the surgery is complete.”

“Is there a positive side to this?” He chuckled feebly.

Zachariah gave him a half-smile. “You have another chance at life. You have a mate. And a son. And a family who cares for you.”

With a nervous breath, he nodded. “I am ready.”