Page 312 of Hunters and Prey

“The view of the sunset is over there,” Chiara said, eyes sparkling as she pointed to the open arches that led outside.

His brothers snorted and even Eduard looked amused.

Servants started bringing out dishes and it was quiet for a few moments as they all got settled. Roman watched with a sharp eye as Chiara set her napkin on her lap. He was there if she needed help.

“So, how goes the progress on the cure?” Eduard asked, sipping on his soup.

Instantly Roman tensed. It was a question he hadn’t dared ask her after so short a time, but he supposed they’d been working on it since Adelina had set things up. Still, for this to be the first question Eduard asked his mate was incredibly rude.

Everyone stilled as they waited for her response.

But gods she was perfect. The question didn’t upset Chiara or put her on the defensive. Rather it made her eyes light up and she smiled slightly at his last remaining father – the grumpiest of them all.

“Oh, it’s going amazingly well,” Chiara told Eduard, focusing solely on him. The intensity of her focus made Eduard’s eyebrows rise high enough Roman wondered if they’d disappear into his hairline completely. But Chiara either didn’t notice or she didn’t care. “Thanks to how many different specimens we have now I’ve been able to come up with a few rudimentary solutions. I’ll begin testing on volunteers tomorrow.”

“So quickly?” Eduard asked with a frown.

“Darling, don’t be rude,” Zoya said with a bit more edge than she usually did.

“Oh I don’t mind,” Chiara said. “Would you like to see it, Prince Eduard?”

Roman exchanged looks with his brothers. Out of everything he’d thought that could happen tonight, he hadn’t once considered that she would charm the wings off this cantankerous old dragon.

Even Leo looked shocked when Eduard nodded and their father’s frown eased. “I would be very interested in seeing what you’ve been working on.”

Roman glared at his father’s tone and the real reason he wanted this information. It wasn’t to share in the wonder of the science as Chiara no doubt thought it was. But to her credit, Roman also didn’t think she would care either way if she knew – not if she got to talk about her work.

Chiara took out her small simulcast from her gown pocket and placed it on the table as the servants made sure all wine glasses were filled and no one needed anything else before the next course arrived.

A few taps and a holo displayed over the entire table. She adjusted it so it was large enough for everyone to see and clearly read her notes if they wished.

“I have an excellent team and thanks to their suggestions and what I was working on with Prince Ian before I arrived, I believe I have a few viable options.” Chiara frowned as she flipped through some of the genetic structures. “As you can see the disease doesn’t affect each Drakesthai male the same. It’s quite a brilliant design to attach to the genes so only one infection would be necessary. It can’t die out like a virus could. And it’s managed to grab hold of almost every male in Hai.”

She paused for a moment, considering the formulas. Even Eduard seemed fascinated. “Without the proper advancements in medicine the only way for your people to have rid yourselves of the disease would be selective breeding,” Chiara explained. “But even with that it may not have worked. It appears to be dormant on some like with Alexei. But his child would carry the gene as well, and so on.”

Alexei’s spoon clattered to the table. “What?”

Chiara didn’t even respond. She was too busy flipping through more holograms. “It is rather resistant to gene scrubbing, but I think if I were to replace that genome with something else it might fix the problem. But it has to be something that wouldn’t harm you. That has been the most difficult part. What gene would your bodies accept in place of this?”

Eduard looked rather impressed. Roman had no idea the old man could even make that expression.

“Can we go back to what you said about my child?” Alexei cut in.

“You can father a child with a female,” Chiara stated as if it were obvious from the holograms – as though the information wasn’t world shattering. She seemed to figure it out when everyone was quiet. “Did you not get tested before this?” she asked with a frown.

Alexei shook his head. Chiara looked to Roman and it was difficult to keep his disappointment from his voice. Out of all of them only Alexei could produce offspring? “We don’t usually get tested for that until we’re mated.”

Chiara’s frown deepened. “That seems shortsighted. If you wanted your people to naturally reproduce you should have used the fertile sperm regardless of mates with the Unchanged. Since it seems your females are only fertile after mated among the Drakesthai. Truly curious set up if you ask me.”

Zoya waved at the servants to take away the soup and bring the next course. “Before the disease we could conceive too easily. A few precautions to prevent unplanned pregnancy were put into place. It seems that those precautions have sealed our fate in an ironic turn of events.”

“Only Alexei?” Leo asked.

Chiara flicked through a few more holos that none of them could really understand. “For now,” she admitted. “And his numbers could be improved. But I have my tests to run tomorrow. Once I can see what will and won’t work for sure I will apply one to a willing specimen and so on. As it will be a case by case situation, it will be a time consuming project. But not impossible.”

Her simple faith that it was no more concerning than making sure one wore the right clothes for the right weather eased the pain in Roman’s chest. To find out he indeed could father no children of his own…he glanced at Chiara. Well, it wasn’t easy, but he thought that with her by his side it wouldn’t matter so much.

“Have there been any other mate pairings?” Leo asked carefully, as though he didn’t care.

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