Page 7 of The Hero Within
"It's her birthday in a week," Luc muttered, and heartbreak echoed in his voice. He paused for such a long time Eden wondered if he was going to say anything else. "I want her to live to see sixteen, Eden. Please. Please tell me you have something."
Not enough to grant him much hope.
He saw it in her eyes.
"What do I do?" Luc's eyes gleamed with unshed tears, his voice roughening. "I only just got her back. Do I turn her?"
An instant wave of revulsion swept through Eden, even though she understood why he asked. Wargs were immune to sickness, and could heal from almost anything, apart from a silver bullet. But they were also monsters. Without another amulet to control the beast within, Lily would be prey to the creature inside her. She'd go on bloody rampages across the deserts, killing and tearing apart anything that lived before feasting upon it.
"I'd give her mine," Luc said, seeing the look on her face. He pressed both hands together, and dug his clasped fingers against his lips. "She could live an almost normal life—"
"And what happens to you?" CJ muttered.
Their eyes met. Luc wouldn't be able to hold back the monster he kept hidden within. "You get to finally take revenge for what I did to you years ago."
Once it had been all the boy dreamed of, but he reared back from the promise, shaking his head. "No.No." His gaze slid to Lily's. The girl would never forgive him for killing her father—they all knew it.
"Then I'll do it myself," Luc said in a hollow voice, scraping a weary hand over his face.
It made Eden feel sick. Her brother had faced the same dilemma for years. It had always been the way Wastelanders dealt with the warg curse, before they realized there might be another way.
"And what about Riley?" she whispered hoarsely. "And Tommy? What about Lily? You're going to leave them behind to fend for themselves? You don't even know if turning Lily will save her. A full-fledged warg is immune to any disease, but what if the turning kills her?"
"Then you find me an answer, Eden," Luc snapped, shoving to his feet and glaring down at her. "What do I do? She's my little girl. She's already seen far too much suffering. I can't just sit here. How do I save her, damn it—"
"I don't know!" And there lay the crux of the problem. "I don't have more antibiotics. We're dangerously short of them. And this strain might be resistant, according to Chin. We're in the middle of the goddamned Wastelands and—"
"Then find something," he snapped, the muscle in his jaw shifting almost inhumanly, a ripple of muscle moving behind his stubble. "I can't just watch her die. Or pray the antibiotics work this time round."
Eden took a subconscious step back. If Luc was this close to the edge, then she couldn't afford to push him.
"Easy." CJ came to the rescue, stepping between them and slamming a hand to Luc's chest.
The men looked at each other, and Luc's nostrils flared.
"Dad...."
The hoarse whisper stopped him in his tracks. He groaned and turned back to the bed, sinking onto the covers to capture Lily's hand. "Hey, sweetheart."
"Why... are you shouting at... Aunt Edie?" Lily rasped.
"Sorry." He brought her hand up to his forehead and then kissed her knuckles. "It's all right. Everything's going to be all right. Eden's here now."
It was a knife to the chest, for what if she couldn't do anything?
"Hey, Lily Bell." Eden eased onto the bed, wishing she could hug her. "How are you feeling?"
"Horrible," Lily rasped.
"I want you to take these," she said, handing over the prophylactic antibiotics she'd been given for herself. It was breaking protocol, and maybe they wouldn't help, but she couldn't do nothing. "One every eight hours, with food." She met Luc's eyes. "You'll have to wake her. She can't miss a dose."
"Done."
Eden checked the girl's vital signs, making sure she washed down the first round of medication. When Lily's eyelids started growing heavy, she took her leave.
The pair of them withdrew into the kitchen, though she could still see CJ sitting on the edge of Lily's bed, talking to her as he stroked her hair.
"There might be... something I could do." It had been mulling in the back of her brain ever since she spoke to Henry Chin, and she'd made him write down the details for her before she left.
