Livia started to collapse against his chest, then barely caught herself before she hurt him. She smiled at him, but she saw the turmoil in his eyes, felt him go rigid over her action. It always hurt him when he realized the frailness of his body. She would give anything to remove that look from him forever. Would you give your life?
"I love you," she said.
As usual, he said nothing as he shifted away from her.
Livia sighed. She hadn't meant to hurt his feelings. But it was too late, he was closed off from her again.
###
By the time they dressed, it was nearly dinner time.
"You want to go out to eat?"
Adron's question startled her. "No, it's okay."
He looked at her skeptically. "C'mon, you can't spend your life locked in this apartment."
"Are you sure you feel up to it?"
"Truthfully? I hate being stuck here all the time. I was never a home-body."
They didn't go far, just a few sectors over to a quaint restaurant. Adron sat beside her with his arm wrapped around her as they waited for their food.
"I don't believe it."
Adron went rigid at the voice.
Livia looked up to see a man who looked so incredibly similar to her husband that she knew he must be Jayce. Jayce's green eyes were warm with friendship. He extended a hand to her.
"You must be Livia."
Before she could move, Adron knocked his arm away. "You're not welcome here. Why don't you slink off into the hole you crawled out of?"
"Oh, that's real original. Look, can't we just put it behind us?"
Adron's response was so crude that it sent heat over her face.
Jayce went flush with his rage. "Fine, wallow in your self-pity."
He turned to leave.
"That's right," Adron snarled, "turn your back on me, you coward. That's what you were always best at."
Jayce whirled about and grabbed Adron out of his chair. Livia gasped as she rose to her feet.
"Don't you ever call me a coward. You, of all men, know those are fighting words."
"Why not? It's true, isn't it? You dare wear a League uniform yet you betrayed your oath to them and you betrayed your oath to me. You are nothing but a self-righteous coward."
After that, everything happened in a blur.
Jayce bellowed, then swung.
Adron ducked and caught Jayce a staggering blow against his jaw.
Trained and honed as an assassin, Jayce acted on auto-pilot as he returned the blow with one of his own. A fist straight into Adron's heart.
Livia heard the horrendous sound of bones breaking. The force of the blow knocked Adron back, into the table. Before he hit the floor, Livia knew he was seriously injured.
"Oh, God, Adron," Jayce gasped as he knelt beside him. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to. It was completely reflexive. Oh, God, I'm sorry."
Adron couldn't answer. Livia watched, horrified by the paleness of Adron's face as his breath rattled loosely in his chest. She'd never seen panic in Adron's eyes, but she saw it now and that scared her most of all. Jayce called for a med tech unit, but it was too late. Adron's breathing was growing shallower.
He started coughing up blood. Livia cupped his face in her hands. Adron touched her arm and tried to memorize her features before he died. He should never have goaded Jayce. His brother had always let his temper get the better of him. But now it was too late. Jayce had finally done the one thing he was supposed to have done when he found him lying in the dumpster. He'd killed him.
Adron reached up and placed a hand to Livia's face. His angel of mercy. At a time when he had wanted to die, she alone had given him a reason to live. He didn't want to leave her. Couldn't stand the thought of not having her with him. But it wasn't meant to be. Her face faded from his sight, then everything went black.
"No!" Livia screamed as his hand fell from her face. "Don't you dare leave me!"
Jayce laid him on the floor, and prepared to resuscitate him.
"Dammit!" The agonized cry tore through her as Jayce realized he couldn't give him CPR. Adron's body couldn't sustain it.
In that instant, Livia did the only thing she knew to do. She reached down deep inside her and summoned all the power she possessed. She didn't care what it cost her. She couldn't live without Adron. And if it meant her own life, so be it. Almost instantly, her hands were hot. Hotter than they'd ever been before. She placed her hands against Adron's chest and willed her life force into him. Jayce leaned away as an orange halo of healing surrounded Adron's body.
###
Adron came awake with a jolt. At first, he thought he was dead. There was no pain anywhere in him. His body felt strange. Different. It felt whole. Then he became aware of Jayce touching his face, and of a strange weight on his chest.
"Adron?" Jayce gasped in disbelief.
Looking down, Adron realized the weight on his chest was Livia. His heart pounding, he sat straight up with an agility he hadn't had in five years. And in that instant, he knew what she'd done. She'd healed him again.
As he pulled her to his chest, he saw his blood-covered hand. The scars were completely gone from it. Not even the scars on his knuckles remained.
"Livia?" he asked, holding her against him.
She didn't answer. Adron tilted her head and saw the ghostly paleness of her face.
"Livia?" he tried again, shaking her gently.
She didn't respond. The med techs came in and he released her to their care. More terrified than he had ever been before, he followed them out of the restaurant.
###
For the first time in years, Adron sat in the antiseptic waiting room while Theo tended Livia. He finally understood some of what his parents had felt while they waited for word of his multiple operations. The fear and uncertainty tore him apart. And he and Livia had only known each other a short time. How much worse must this have been for his mother?
"Adron?"
He looked up as his mother and father joined him. Kiara took his face in her hands and stared at his cheek. "What happened to your scar?"
"Livia cured him," Jayce answered. "I don't know how she did it, but one minute he was practically dead and in the next, he was perfectly fine."
"What did the doctor say?" his father asked.
Adron pulled back from his mother's touch. "He wants to do tests on me later." He didn't give a damn about himself.
Livia was all that mattered.
"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 passed 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 assassin 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.
"We
ll?" 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 God, 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 shirt. "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 hell 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."
"Damn 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. God 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.
Assuming 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. God, 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 shielded her identity 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 passed 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."
Adron frowned. "What's a boy?"
"The baby she carries. Congratulations, Commander. In nine more months, you'll be a father."
Epilogue
One year later
Livia paused in the doorway as she watched Adron giving their infant son his three a.m. feeding.
Propped against pillows, Adron sat on the bed, wearing nothing except a sheet draped modestly over his lap as he held the bottle and stared adoringly at Caillen.
He laid his cheek against the top of the baby's bald head and held him close. "I've got you, little bit," he whispered. "Yes, I do."
She laughed.
Adron looked up and smiled. "I didn't know you were back."
"I can tell." She moved to sit next to them. Then, she leaned against Adro
n's raised leg to stare at the beautiful baby on his unscarred chest.
Caillen cooed at her as he wrapped his tiny hand around her finger.
Adron brushed a loving hand through Livia's soft, mussed hair. Thanks to her, he'd come a long way from the bitter alcoholic she'd found tossing down drinks in the back of The Golden Crona.
She'd found a broken, bleeding man and she had made him whole again. Not just in body, but in his heart. She had reunited him with his family and with his soul.
Over the last year, he'd watched her grow ripe with his baby and had held her hand as she struggled to bring Caillen in to the world. Life turned on the hairpin of a second. He'd always known that, but on one rainy, cold night in the backroom of a filthy dive, his life had taken a sharp turn into heaven.
Livia looked up from their son. "What are you thinking about?"
He traced the outline of her lips with his fingertip. "I'm thinking how glad I am that I traded myself for that woman. How glad I am that my brother couldn't kill me. But most of all, I'm thinking just how damn grateful I am that you saw something in me worth saving."
He leaned forward and kissed her gently on the lips. "Thank you for my son, Livia, and for my life. I love you. I always will."
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