Page 90 of Bride of the Fae Prince

I blink. Surely, I heard him wrong. “Youdon’tthink it’s poison?”

“No, indeed. I’m checking just to be thorough.”

“Then what is wrong with her?”

“Seems like blood sickness to me.” The doctor stares down at Stella, a frown on his face. “You don’t come across cases very often, and it varies in expression person to person, but I suspect that’s the case today. Other illnesses make the body hot to thetouch as the body raises its internal temperature to fight the illness. This is not that.”

“She’s merely ill?” I ask, not even daring to breathe.

“I wouldn’t saymerely ill,as blood sickness can be fatal.”

My newborn hope plummets. “Fatal? Whatisblood sickness?”

“Aha! Not poison!” The doctor grabs the stick out of the liquid and waves it in front of my face. As if it’s self-explanatory. I narrow my eyes at him and pull my wife back into my arms. Being under so many blankets with her so close should make me blisteringly hot, but holding her is like cuddling an icicle. Just in case she’s aware of what is happening, I stroke what I hope is soothing lines through her hair and down her back.

“Whatis blood sickness?” I all but growl.

“It is a rare phenomenon when a human comes to Faerieland and breathes in the magic from the air.”

“The air is making her sick?” I ask, alarmed.

“Not exactly. As you know, fae have magic and humans don’t.Mostof the time. But very occasionally, for whatever reason or another—fae blood in the bloodline, perhaps, or a fairy curse or blessing—a human is born with magic.”

Static fills my ears. I look down at the delicate woman in my arms, her shivering little shoulders, her gleaming hair. Stella? With . . .magic?

“Human air is stifling for magic, as you are aware. But when a human with their own magic comes to Faerieland, the dense magical air can awaken their powers. This sickness is her body struggling against her awakening magic. It doesn’t happen for every human, but in most cases, it does. If she pulls out of it, her life expectancy will be much greater. More comparable to a fae’s than a human’s.”

If Stella has magic . . . that would changeeverything.I shove away the rising hope, swallowing hard. “You said it’s fatal?”

“It can be.”

There’s that ragged, desperate hope again, rearing its ugly head. “But it isn’t always?”

The doctor snaps his bag shut, sets it on the bedside table, and plants his hands on his stomach. The look he gives me sends dread pooling in my stomach. “It depends on how strong she is and how strong the blossoming magic is. You . . . have a few options.”

I tighten my grip on Stella, tangling my fist into her hair. “What options?”

He takes a deep breath and lets out a long sigh. Not a good sign. “You can wait and see what happens, whether she takes a turn for the worse or if she pulls out of this on her own.”

“How long could that take?”

“As little as a day, or it could be weeks.”

Weeks? I barely restrain my growl of frustration. Lulythinar isn’t even a full week away. I can’t leave her side while she’s in this state!

And what if she dies, anyway?

“The risks are, of course, that she will not be able to survive the strain of her humanity and magic clashing, or that her humanity will win out and her magic will be extinguished.”

I let out a sigh, dropping my head to rest on Stella’s. “And the other option?”

“We could give her a transfusion of fae blood.”

I look up, glance over at Edvear, who listens silently and says nothing. “A blood transfusion? Why?”

“To help with the developing magic. It’s a more surefire way to not let her magic be overpowered. It’s faster, too.”

“And the risks?”

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