her breathing and heart functions remained in the healthy range for nearly two years, until she started to decline rapidly and almost died.”
“That’s when we mated,” Adare said quietly. “The fact that she’s a Key kept her alive much longer than normal.” He finally released Grace’s gaze and looked directly at Emma. “I can’t tell you much, but you’ve studied your three prophets, right?”
Grace leaned up. “I’ve heard of the prophets but don’t know much about them.”
Emma picked up a pen and twirled it between her fingers. “There are three prophets, supposedly determined by fate, and they’re kind of the spiritual leaders of the Realm. They have a marking down their necks and backs, and when one dies, another takes his or her place.” Her nostrils flared. “They’re psychic and powerful, and we have no idea how they’re chosen, to be honest.”
Grace tugged the front of her shirt down to reveal the perfect mark of a key set between her heart and clavicle. “I have this birthmark, but I don’t believe in fate and all of that.”
“Why?” Adare asked. “Obviously there’s an entire world you didn’t know existed and can’t explain, so why not fate? Do you really think this path, any path, is arbitrary?” His gaze burned as he looked at the birthmark. “How do you explain your surviving the coma? Becoming immortal? Seeing things in other people nobody else sees?”
She couldn’t explain any of it. “What’s your point?” She went with irritation instead of uncertainty.
“My point is that we know for certain what happens to you as a human. You go into a coma and eventually die.” He stood, looking powerful and determined. “Taking the virus to negate the mating bond will only land you back in a coma. Your dying is not an option.”
Because they needed her as a Key? She swallowed, her stomach now doing flip-flops. “Listen, Adare—”
“No. I’m done listening, since all you do is lie.” The anger in his eyes would scare a charging grizzly bear. “We don’t know what would happen if you mated, but I believe that being a Key will save you. It’s the only thing that will.”
She sat straighter on the bed. He was actually saying what she thought he was saying. “This is my decision.”
“No. It really isn’t.” His expression showed absolutely no give. “It would’ve been your decision if you’d been honest years ago when all this started, when you might have had more options. Right now, there is only one. As a Seven, it’s my duty to make sure the Keys survive until the ritual.”
She tossed her head, anger finally sparking through the fuzziness in her brain. “Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. And as your mate, one you’ve left in the dark for far too long, it’s my duty to make sure you dinnae die. The best way to keep you alive, the only option really, is for us to mate.” He jerked his head at the medical records spread over the counter. “You can go over those for hours, and when you’re finished, you’ll reach the same conclusion.”
Emma cleared her throat. “Maybe. Maybe not. I need to study your blood. Not for nothing, but you look pale for yourself, Adare. How are you feeling?”
“Fine,” he growled.
Was he pale? Grace studied him. Yeah. He did look a mite under the weather. What the heck did that mean?
Faith sighed. “Doing nothing isn’t an option. Obviously, Grace, you are declining, and since you just passed out for three hours, I worry that a coma is next. You don’t have a safe option. Taking the virus or mating completely are both risks, and I have to admit, the risk seems slightly lower with mating for you. Probably. Returning to human form would be worse, I believe.”
Grace let her shirt fall back into place. “I could take the virus, become human, and then mate another immortal.” Then maybe she’d get rid of this torturous attraction to the furious Highlander.
Faith’s eyebrows rose and Emma smothered a cough, both looking toward Adare.
“No,” he said. He spoke so softly she could barely hear him, but she felt his tension along her skin, at the edge of every nerve ending. Her lungs heated and seized, and her breath caught painfully.
Emma held up a hand to stop the explosion Grace wanted to let loose. “Before you do anything, I want to take your blood and make sure all is well with you, Adare. Then I need to study your genes in various combinations. Maybe something will become clear.”
“That’s allowable,”