Page 32 of Treasured

“So there’s nothing you can do?”

She frowned. “We will continue to care for him, but you should know there is no hope.”

This was not the news I wanted to hear. Not at all. Doubt flitted through me. Would Luna’s plant even help?

I didn’t want to deliver this news to her. And yet, who else would? In the end, I knew it would be me. I was her partner in every way.

I rubbed the back of my neck. An update on Marius’s condition wasn’t the only reason I’d asked to speak to Genevieve. I eyed the priestess. My trust was hard-earned, but Luna and I needed help.

I’d have to take a leap of faith.

Clearing my throat, I stepped closer. “Priestess, can you help me with something else?”

Her black eyes widened. “My Prince?”

Keeping my wings tight against my back, I lowered my voice. “This is of the utmost importance and must be kept secret.” Waiting until she nodded, I continued, “We are searching for a key to break a Maker’s bond. I have it on good authority that you might know where we can find one. Is that true?”

The priestess sucked in a sharp breath. Her gaze searched mine, and I clenched and unclenched my fists. I hated asking for help, but we did not have many options. I might have been powerful, but I was not privy to the secrets held by Isvana’s Chosen Ones.

“It might take a while… I think there may be one.” She rubbed her temples. “I’ll have to send a few letters—discretely, of course—and see what I can find.”

“Do whatever it takes.”

“I understand,” Genevieve said as the door opened behind her.

Luna slipped out. She wiped a handkerchief over her eyes; the cloth stained red, but life sparked in her gaze.

“Marius is going to wake up,” Luna said confidently after she entered the privacy ward. “I know it.”

Genevieve sent me a panicked look. “Princess, I’m afraid…”

I moved forward, taking Luna in my arms. “Patients don’t usually regain consciousness after falling into this type of coma,” I said softly, trying to soften the blow of my words.

“This is the final stage before death,” Genevieve added.

I thought Luna would get upset, but instead, she just shrugged. “That might be how it has been in the past, but Marius is going to wake up.”

My brows furrowed. Did she not understand? “Luna—”

“No,” she snapped, a wave of anger crashing through the bond. “He will wake. I refuse to believe anything else.”

The priestess made a religious sign across her chest. “We will pray, and perhaps Isvana—”

“Yes, Isvana.” Luna turned on her heel. “Come. I have something to show you.”

She took off down the hallway in the direction we came. Genevieve glanced at me with a question in her eyes.

I gestured after my wife. “Luna can probably explain it better.”

Curiosity flickered across Genevieve’s face, and she nodded. The three of us returned to the small room in silence. Luna entered first, opening the wardrobe and pulling out the plant she’d been studying earlier.

I lifted a brow. The stem seemed longer than it was before we left, but that must be a trick of the light. Plants didn’t grow that fast.

“It thrives in the darkness,” Luna murmured, running a finger down one of the leaves. “Honestly, it’s odd. Scientifically speaking, plants don’t usually grow without sunlight, let alone do better than before, but this one does.”

Genevieve stared at the plant. “Where did you get that?”

“You probably wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” was Luna’s response.

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