Page 88 of Slaying the Vampire Conqueror

My heart skipped a beat. I had to stop myself from turning around and running to Naro’s side immediately.

“I’ve been thinking,” Atrius went on. “Of course, you will be traveling with us to Karisine. And if you wanted him to, I would allow him to come.”

My brows rose a little at that. Of course, Naro couldn’t travel—nor would I want him to. Coming with Atrius’s army was probably the most dangerous place he could be, no matter how much I might selfishly want to keep my brother close.

As if following the same thought process, Atrius went on, “But weboth know that would be difficult in his current state. So. I’ve made arrangements.”

A tiny part of myself didn’t even want to hear this, because I knew it was going to be hard. And yet, I was also shamefully desperate for Atrius’s help.

I stepped closer.

“Arrangements?”

“Vampires don’t have experience with Pythora addiction. But we have drugs of our own that are just as powerful. It… has been a problem in the past. Among soldiers.” His hands were clasped behind his back. He crossed the room in slow, wandering steps, like he didn’t even intend to move. “Some Bloodborn healers have learned some treatment methods. They aren’t perfect. They might not work on humans. But?—”

“Thank you.” The words pushed up my throat with the burst of wild hope in my chest. “That’s—just… thank you.”

He looked as uncomfortable being thanked as I was thanking him. We were close now, both in the center of the room. His eyes traced my face.

“I can’t make promises,” he murmured.

He said it like an apology.

“Even if you could,” I replied, “I wouldn’t believe them.”

I was grateful for his honesty. For his imperfect effort. No one who had survived the lives we had could deny the value of that. Most never try at all.

The dagger strapped to my thigh now felt like a vice, slowly tightening.

“My people have learned to fight for the impossible,” he said. “We wouldn’t survive otherwise.”

The words resonated more than I wished they did.

“Thank you,” I said again, and Atrius left me alone without anotherword.

Atrius was right.Naro was awake. He looked like a living corpse, but he was awake.

Still, he didn’t seem that interested in talking. He gazed out the window as I sat beside his bed, barely responding to my greeting or questions—How are you? Are you feeling better? Do you need anything?

Nothing.

Until at last, my frustration rising, I asked, “Do you want to look at me when I’m trying to save your life?”

At that, he let out a little half-laugh—the sound hurt, because it so resembled the one he’d make as a teenager, responding to some joke or ribbing by another street kid.

“Do I want to look at you? Do Iwantto?”

At last, he turned his head. “No, Vi. I don’t. Why would I want to look at you and see what you’ve done to yourself because I wasn’t there to protect you?”

My jaw shut tight. The pain came first. Then the anger.

“Because you thought I was dead for sixteen gods-damned years.”

He scoffed again, this one so violent it sent spittle flying across the bedspread, and I jerked to my feet.

“What about you? I’m not here refusing to look at you, even though every time I do, all I see is the decaying corpse of a person that you’ve become.”

“See,” he spat. “You don’tseeanything.”

---