“My brother did.” Luca choked. “You think I can’t?”
“Your brother carried the ichor. He gifted us a part of himself. We never had it, Luca. We had a piece, a fragment. Without him, we would have never been strong enough to control it.”
“Then give it to me.”
Isaiah jerked his head up and fear strangled him.
Nash glanced his way. “Even if I knew how, I wouldn’t.”
Luca balled up his fists but kept his attention on Isaiah when he said. “What are Nox’s chances?”
“I can’t answer that.”
“A guess, anything, just tell me. Give me something. Anything.”
And Isaiah couldn’t lie. Not just because Nox would know, but because doing it would be a violation of the man sitting in front of him. The man with tears in his eyes watching Nash Kelli as if he was the only person on earth.
Or at least the only person who meant anything.
“Nash has pure ichor in him and he’s still the man he was when he died. I don’t have a number or an idea or anything I can tell you, Cana. But what I can say is he has a better chance than anyone before because he has you.”
“Luca…” Nash held Luca’s chin and pressed a kiss to his forehead.
A breeze cast a handful of leaves across the table.
Slowly Nash extended his arm, and Luca closed his eyes.
“Can you tell me what to expect?” Nash faced Isaiah.
“According to Cassie, the Mah who received the treatment was sedated, but she said those with the bite got ill, ran a fever, that sort of thing.”
“When will it start?”
“He doesn’t know.” Luca spat the words. “He doesn’t know anything.”
Nash put his hand over Luca’s.
“When they used the Rakta to kill the Sarvari, the purge was instant,” Isaiah said. “They were in pain, they vomited, they collapsed.”
With every confession, Luca’s face reddened.
“But the dose I’m using is minuscule. They would have never used this little.”
“Why?” Nash said.
“Because with the Mah, we had one chance to destroy the Sarvari. If we failed, they were immune.”
Nash nodded. “How long will it take?”
“I can’t be sure.”
Luca laughed and it was bitter.
“But when a wolf was stripped from its host, the Varu sometimes collapsed because they were used to the Fenrir bearing all the weight of their body.”
“Like coming out of the swimming pool when you swim,” Nox said.
“Yes, but while carrying twice your body weight. It took a few hours for a Varu to recover. But they eventually left.”