League - Fire And Ice Part 11

"Did you call her parents?" his mother asked.

His chest tightened at the memory. "I tried. Her father told me she was no longer his concern."

Kiara scowled. "How could he?"

Adron shrugged. He didn't really want to talk at the moment. Then again, Livia was the only person he liked to talk to, period.

His father smiled as he pa.s.sed a glance from Adron to Jayce. "It's good to see the two of you in the same room without bloodshed."

Adron exchanged a wary, shamed look with Jayce.

Jayce turned away.

His parents went to get something to drink.

"I'm sorry about all this," Jayce said when they were alone.

Adron glared at him. He was tired of Jayce's excuses. "If you'd killed me when you were supposed to, none of this would have happened."

Jayce curled his lip as his eyes blared a cold, harsh rage. "Tell me honestly, could you have killed me if you'd found me lying half-dead and helpless?"

"Rather than see you suffer, yes."

"Then you're a better a.s.sa.s.sin than I am. Because I would never have been able to live with myself had I killed my own brother."

"Adron?"

He looked up as Theo joined them.

Theo hesitated in front of him. "This is weird, isn't it? I'm not used to having discussions with you while you're dressed and upright."

"You're not amusing."

Theo looked apologetic. "Sorry, nervous humor." He cleared his throat and a feeling of dread washed over Adron.

Theo was avoiding something bad.

"Well?" Adron prompted.

"She's firmly in a coma. Whatever she did, it caused a great deal of neurological damage to her. Honestly, I've never seen anything like it. It's as if she burned up part of her brain."

Adron choked on a sob as he thought of her lying helpless. It was her worst fear.

Why had she done it?

For him...

Oh G.o.d, he couldn't breathe for the agony in his heart. He wanted to scream out at the injustice. Wanted to rail against everyone and everything.

He leveled a fierce stare on Theo. "Will she come out of it?"

"Honestly, no. There's too much damage. She's only alive right now because of the machines." Theo gave him a hard stare. "My professional opinion is that we should turn everything off and let nature take its course."

Adron fell back against the wall as heart shattered into a thousand pieces. He felt the tears in his eyes, felt the bitter, swelling misery that overwhelmed him.

He couldn't let her go.

But then, he couldn't let her live when he knew she wouldn't want to.

And all he felt was a pain so deep, so profound, that it made a mockery of the one he'd learned to live with.

He grabbed Theo by the s.h.i.+rt. "Don't you dare let her die. You hear me?"

Theo looked aghast. "Her mind is already gone."

"Only half of it, right?"

"Well, yes."

"Then there's a chance." And half a chance was better than none. "You keep her heart beating until I get back."

"I'll do my best."

And so would he.

Releasing Theo, Adron ran from the hospital with a strength and agility he hadn't known in years. Livia had one chance for survival, and no matter what, he was going to give it to her.

"What are you doing here?" Livia's father demanded as Adron forced his way into the throne room where he was overseeing his advisors.

Oblivious to the roomful of men who gaped at him, Adron approached his father-in-law. "I have to see Livia's mother."

"It is forbidden."

"The h.e.l.l it is. Livia's dying and her mother is the only one who can save her."

Her father's face stoic, he seemed completely immune to the news. "If she dies, so be it. She has disgraced us with her disobedience. I told you and her that she was forever severed from us."

"I need to see her mother."

"Guards!" he called. "Remove him."

Adron knocked the guards back, until they called for reinforcements.

Seriously outnumbered, he fought as best he could, but eventually they seized him.

"You can't let her die," Adron said as he struggled against their hold.

"Had you wanted her to live, you should never have shamed her."

"d.a.m.n you!"

Against his will, Adron was pulled back from the throne, but as he fought against the guards, he saw a teenaged servant girl watching him with concern and pity on her face.

Adron met her frightened gaze. "Tell her mother, Livia needs her.

Please."

"Krista!" Livia's father snapped. "Get out of here."

The girl scampered off, and the guards threw him out of the palace.

Adron struck the closed door with his fist. He bellowed in rage. "So help me, if she dies, I'll see all of you in your graves!"

But no one heard him. Defeated, he turned and headed back to spend as much time with Livia as he could before death stole her completely away from him.

Adron paused in the doorway of the hospital room as he listened to the familiar monitors beep and hiss. Only this time, they weren't connected to him.

He knew from his own experience that she could hear them. Knew what it felt like to lie there unable to communicate. Alone. Afraid.

He wanted to scream.

His throat tight, he crossed the room and sat on the bed beside her.

"Hey, Sweet," he whispered, taking her cold hand into his. He cupped her face with his other hand and leaned over her to brush his lips against her cool cheek.

"Please open your eyes, Livia," he whispered as tears blinded him.

"Open your eyes and see what you did. I'm actually sitting here without grimacing. There's no pain at all. But you know that, don't you?"

He traced the outline of her jaw. And then he did something he hadn't done in a long, long time. He prayed.

He prayed and he yearned to feel her sweet arms wrapped around him.

To hear the precious sound of her voice saying his name.

Hours went by as Adron stayed with her, talking more than he had ever talked before.

Sitting by her side, he held her hand to his heart and willed her to wake up. "I don't know why you stayed with me, Livia. G.o.d knows, I wasn't worth it. But I don't want you to leave me alone anymore. I need you. Please open your eyes and look at me. Please."

"She can hear you."

Adron tensed at the voice behind him.

a.s.suming it was a nurse, he didn't bother to look. "I know."

"Are you going to unplug her?"

He choked at the thought. And for the first time, he understood exactly how Jayce had felt when he'd pulled him from the dumpster.

G.o.d, he'd been such a fool to hate his brother for loving him.

"I can't let her go," he said between clenched teeth. "Not while there's a chance."

"It's what she wants."

"I know." He knew it in a way no one else ever could. He'd been there.

The nurse came forward and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "She wants me to tell you that she is with you. And that you were well worth it."

Frowning, he turned around to see a small woman wearing a cloak that completely s.h.i.+elded her ident.i.ty from him. "Who are you?"

She lowered the cowl. Her features angelic, he knew her in an instant. She was Livia's mother.

And he saw the silvery-green eyes of a race that was more myth than reality. "You're Trisani?"

She nodded.

Adron gaped with the knowledge. The Trisani were legendary for their psychic abilities. So legendary that they had been hunted almost to extinction. Those who survived, were very careful to stay hidden away from large populations where they might become enslaved or killed by those who wanted or feared their powers.

She stepped to Livia's side and removed the IV from her arm. Then slowly, piece by piece, she took the monitors off.

"It's time to wake up, little flower," she whispered. She placed a gentle hand on Livia's brow.

Stunned, Adron watched as Livia's eyes fluttered open. "Mama?" she breathed.

Her mother smiled, then kissed her on the forehead. She pa.s.sed a hand over Livia's body.

Adron felt weak in relief as joy spread through him. Livia was alive!

Her mother took his hand and Livia's and held them joined in hers.

Adron's heart pounded at the warmth of a touch he'd thought was lost to him forever.

Livia looked from him to her mother. "You had Krista send me to The Golden Crona, didn't you?"

Her mother nodded. "You two were destined for each other." She looked at Adron. "And to answer your unspoken question, yes, it's permanent.

Livia healed you, but..." she turned a sharp glare at her daughter.

"You are not to call on your powers anymore. Your human half isn't strong enough for them."

"I know, but I couldn't let him die."

Her mother nodded. "Now, I have to return before I'm missed." She paused in the doorway and turned back. "By the way, it's a boy."