Pure Requiem - Aja James Page 0,8

sample when he collapsed in that sudden seizure,” she said. “His disguises prevent us from seeing his real form, so I couldn’t visually track the state of his health. I suppose Benji is the only one of us who can see the real him. But I could glean no severe health issues from Benji’s descriptions.”

I nodded, encouraging her to go on, even though I’d heard all of this before. This was for my son’s ears. I could tell that he was intently listening as he continued to clutch my hand.

“His blood is extremely polluted, and he’s almost fatally anemic. If he were human, he’d have died long ago. That seizure alone would have killed him.”

I ground my back teeth at the Healer’s words. Hearing my son’s condition was worse than suffering my own.

“Some kind of reptilian venom, mixed with an inorganic concoction of a variety of poisons, makes his blood run black when he doesn’t have regular infusions of Pure blood,” Rain continued. “I tried other blood, of course, to revive him from the coma, starting with human, as we all assumed he was vampire. But it was your blood that brought the color back into his skin the quickest. You are the only one amongst us who is born of two Pure parents. Your blood is the most powerful for a Dark One to consume.”

“He is not entirely Dark,” I reminded her.

As well as my son beside me.

“No,” she agreed. “As the DNA results show, he is half Dark, half Pure. Well, if we want to be precise, half Pure from your genes, one quarter Pure and one quarter Dark from Ishtar’s genes. And of course, he shares half of his genes with Inanna, his sister. That has been verified as well.”

A jolt traveled through my son’s hand into mine as he squeezed me even tighter, so tightly, the bones of my fingers ached.

I squeezed him back.

“How do you know for certain that he has our genes?” I asked, for his benefit, though I could use the refresher. I’d been incarcerated in Medusa’s prisons for over four thousand years, only liberated a couple years ago. I was still learning about the modern world. It was a lot to take in, to put it mildly.

“There are unique markers in our blood, Tal,” the Healer patiently explained. “Passed on from each parent to their offspring. He is half of you and half of Ishtar. But of course, every individual is also wholly themselves. These markers are identifiable through human inventions, for they cannot be seen by the naked eye. If he understands modern medicine and needs convincing, I can certainly show him the test results.”

I could feel Rain’s sympathetic gaze on me as she said the next words.

“His DNA is a match for Evergreen, Tal. Ava and I confirmed it when she visited last.”

Evergreen. The name of the sample taken from one of Medusa’s research facilities in Japan. My son’s DNA, his body and blood, had been used for the serpent’s disgusting experiments just like I had been.

“The samples of Genesis were destroyed with the labs,” Rain confirmed my thoughts “But Ava and I believe they would have been a match to your blood, General.”

I didn’t want to delve deeper into that stomach-turning subject while my son was listening. It must already be an overwhelming amount of information for him to absorb.

“He might not believe what he sees,” I said, steering the dialogue back to the tests that proved paternity, knowing how suspicious my son was of everyone around him, understandably so. “Results can be fabricated, can they not? And sometimes, eyes lie.”

Only Benji could see his true form, and only I could sense his real self without the use of my eyes.

“True enough,” she said. “If we know what he really looks like, we can point out the physical similarities. Benji says he has dark hair like Ishtar and blue-green eyes like you, Tal. But even then, he might balk at the physical proof, ascribing it to be coincidental.”

“So, in the end, he must choose to believe us or not,” I concluded, hearing the increasingly agitated breaths of the male in female skin beside me.

“Yes. I suppose it does come down to that,” Rain agreed with a sigh.

“We are done here. You are showing signs of improvement, warrior. Make sure you take your Mate’s sustenance on a regular basis. You have a lot of catching up to do. Your body needs it.”

Despite the no-nonsense tone of her voice, I could