Chapter 167 Kaden's POV
"Using a baby's blood to break an ancient curse is like something from a fairy tale."
"Fairy tales are based on truth," Elara said.
"And this pack has seen enough impossible things lately. Why not one more miracle?"
"Because miracles come with prices and I don't want Adrian paying for mine."
"That's not your decision to make, he is my son and I say we use his blood to save you."
Elara stood, her voice firm. "We are doing this, Damian, whether you agree or not."
"I should have a say in my own treatment-"
"Normally, yes but right now you are too close to death to think clearly so we are taking over."
She looked at me. "Get the medical supplies we need now before he gets worse."
"Elara, wait-" Damian tried to stand but couldn't be too weak.
"No more waiting, no more debating, we are saving your life at the end of discussion."
She took Adrian from Kara gently and our son stirred but didn't wake.
"Are you sure about this?" I asked quietly. "Using Adrian's blood?"
"I'm sure the text is clear this is the cure."
She looked down at our sleeping son. "And if there is even a chance it saves Damian, we have to try."
I gathered the medical equipment syringes. Alcohol swabs bandages.
Damian watched with resignation. "This is a terrible idea."
"Most of our best ideas are terrible," Kira said. "That is how you know they might actually work."
Elara sat down with Adrian carefully exposed his tiny arm. "It is okay, baby, just a little prick. Mama's right here."
I prepared the syringe, my hands steady despite my racing heart. "Ready?"
"No," Damian said. "But do it anyway."
I drew a small amount of blood from Adrian's arm. He whimpered and started crying, but Elara soothed him immediately.
The blood in the syringe glowed faintly blue. The lunar pulse is visible even in this small sample.
"Now we inject it into Damian?" Kira asked.
"Directly into his bloodstream near the heart where the curse is concentrated."
Elara stood with Adrian crying, rocking him gently. "Damian, this might hurt."
"Everything hurts already, what's a little more?"
I found a vein in Damian's arm injected the glowing blue blood slowly the moment it entered his system, Damian screamed.
His body convulsed the black veins across his chest flared bright then they started to recede. Pulling back from his neck from his arms. Retreating toward his heart.
"It is working!" Kira gasped.
But Damian was still screaming, his back arched off the chair, his eyes rolled back.
"Hold him down!" I ordered.
Kira and I grabbed his shoulders, keeping him from hurting himself as his body fought the cure.
The blue glow from Adrian's blood spread through Damian's veins chasing the darkness consuming it.
It was a battle playing out inside his body. Light against dark life against death for a moment, I thought we would lose though the curse was too strong.
Then the black veins disappeared completely. The blue glow faded Damian went limp.
"Damian?" Elara moved closer, Adrian still in her arms. "Damian, can you hear me?"
His eyes opened clear, no longer clouded with pain. "I can hear you. I can... I can breathe without pain."
"The curse?" I asked.
He lifted his shirt, his chest was clear no black veins, no dark substance, just normal skin.
"It is gone, the curse is gone." He looked at Elara in wonder. "You saved me. Adrian's blood saved me."
Tears streamed down Elara's face. "You are going to live, you are actually going to live."
"I'm going to live," Damian repeated, like he couldn't quite believe it.
Kira made a sound that was half-laugh, half-sob. "You're not dying, you're cured. You're actually cured."
Damian looked at Adrian, who had stopped crying and was watching him with those big green eyes.
"Thank you," Damian whispered to my son. "Thank you for your gift."
Adrian made a small cooing sound, like he understood we sat there in stunned silence for a moment processing what had just happened.
Then Damian spoke again, his voice stronger. "Xavier is expecting me tomorrow night. He thinks I'm dying and thinks I'm desperate enough to betray you all."
"You're not going," I said immediately.
"I am but not for the reasons he thinks."
Damian stood, testing his strength. "I'm going to that meeting healthy and strong. And I'm going to get you the location of Erebus's fortress not as a dying man's suicide mission but as a spy who plans to come back alive."
"It's still incredibly dangerous-"
"Everything about this war is dangerous. But now I have a real chance of surviving it. Of coming back with the information we need to end this."
He looked at each of us. "Xavier won't expect me to be cured, won't expect me to be strong enough to fight back if things go wrong. That's our advantage."
"And if he has guards? Backup? If it's a trap?" Kira asked.
"Then I improvise like I always do." Damian smiled for the first time in days.
"But at least now I will be improvising with a working body instead of one that's actively dying."
Elara looked uncertain. "I don't know this still feels risky-"
"Everything is risky but it is our best shot at ending this war."
Damian took her hand. "You saved my life tonight and gave me a future I thought I had lost. Let me use that gift to save everyone else."
She looked at me. "What do you think?"
I thought it was insane sending Damian into enemy territory alone to meet with Xavier and potentially Erebus.
But it was also brilliant. Xavier thought he was getting a desperate, dying man willing to betray us. Instead, he would be facing someone healthy, determined, and prepared to fight.
"We do it," I said.
"But not alone we position warriors nearby. Hidden. If things go wrong, we extract you immediately."
"Agreed."
"And you wear a wire, we hear everything that's said. The moment we think you're in real danger, we abort."
"Agreed."
"And if you don't come back alive, I'm bringing you back just to kill you myself for making Elara cry."
Damian laughed. "Fair enough."
We spent the rest of the night planning. Going over every detail. Every contingency.
Tomorrow night, Damian would walk into what might be the enemy's stronghold.
And either he would come back with the information we needed to end the war or we would be starting a rescue mission that could cost us everything.
But at least he would be alive to attempt it, thanks to my son's blessed blood thanks to Elara's refusal to give up.
Thanks to a miracle none of us saw coming, maybe we had a chance after all. Maybe this war wasn't already lost.
Maybe just maybe we could still win this.