Page 78 of Eternal Sacrifice
“I love you,” she said meekly, looking at Jasper.
“Oh, Princess. I love you too. I never stopped.” He dropped to his knees inside the nest, curling his giant body around her.
I came over and settled into the nest, fitting up against her back while meeting Jasper’s gaze above her head.
“Fox’s voices have started,” I said, and I felt her muscles tighten.
“You were always the best with numbers, Justice. Just tell us what they look like right now,” Jasper said, hugging her to his chest.
“It’s highly variable, and she is part vampire and angel. I know vampires can survive in suspended animation for centuries after losing their mate. Demons go quick. The packs seem to fall victim to quick succession deaths. I would imagine that is due to similar actions as we took in Andemeron. I don’t know anything about angel mate relations, and I don’t even know if they apply, considering how we got that power. Considering that, a state of stasis seems to be a route that may lengthen our time.”
“Like the dungeon?” Fox asked, though she didn’t turn to look at me.
“Sort of…” I wasn’t sure how to explain that my father had given me a book of experiments he had performed on demons.
“Justice’s dad gave him a book about all the experiments he’s done on demons,” Jasper said, apparently finding the words for me. We might be able to use that to buy the time we need.”
“Where’s the book?” she asked, rolling to her stomach and pushing up on her arms.
I pulled it from one of my pockets and placed it in front of her.
“Was there a page in particular?” she asked, flipping through.
“Haven’t looked through it all yet,” I said, bringing it back to the first page. “Thought we should do it together.”
“Areyousure?”Jasperasked, cradling Fox in his arms as we walked toward my father’s wing.
Unfortunately, several experiments had potential. While Mammon hadn’t conducted experiments to delay the onset of the withering, Liberty’s infliction was comparable.
“Not in the slightest, but we don’t have a better option,” I said for what felt like the millionth time. “I don’t like it any more than you do.”
“I don’t like it, but we don’t have a better option,” Fox said, snuggling further into Jasper’s chest.
“You better not leave her side,” Jasper grumbled, reviewing the same points we had for the past week. But there was little argument left after he spent time near her rather than avoiding her. He watched her decline in real time and knew we were out of options.
The door to my father’s wing loomed up ahead of us. It stood like the door to a large, imposing mausoleum and faintly smelled of death. My father stood with a beaming smile. A demon wouldn’t need my ability to feel emotions to know he was ecstatic.
“You really think we can trust him?” Jasper grumbled, loud enough for my father to easily hear.
Jasper already knew my answer, not in the slightest. But I knew my mother was slowly losing her mind as it tangled with the memories, emotions, and tendencies of the fractures she spent too much time in. Repeat exposure exasperated her condition, but there were ways to press pause on her decline.
My father spent centuries building a particular room for experiments that were shielded from the passing of time. It took incredible power to create and even more to operate. Jasper would be busy gathering enough fractures to supply all our endeavors.
Too many pies. Too many holes.
“Morrigan, my dear, it is good to see you,” my father said as we stopped in front of him. “Though, admittedly, other circumstances would have been preferable.”
“Can we just get this started?” Fox sighed.
“Of course. Right this way.” My father opened the door to his section of the palace and led us through the crimsoned halls.
My body felt full of electric needles, jabbing, stabbing me with each step we took. The same doubts and answers circled my mind, coming to the same conclusions we had landed on for the past week.
If we didn’t do anything, she would die.
“Ah,” my father said, stopping in front of a door that looked identical to the others. “Here we are.”
He opened the door, revealing a white room with a bed positioned in the middle.
