Page 48 of A Dragon's Miracle (Fires of Fate)
I turned the lamp on the bedside table on. Ryan turned to me, visibly surprised. A look of guilt crossed his features. Was he sorry that he'd woken me? How silly.
I sat with him and rubbed his back. “Nothing to worry about, okay?”
He coughed into some tissue. I stayed with him until the fit passed and he slumped against me. “Are you okay?” I asked, kissing his forehead.
“Yes. I'm sorry. I'll leave the room next time.”
“Don't you dare.” I pulled him back under the covers with me and turned the light off again. It was still dark outside too. Plenty of time before we had to get up.
Ryan laid his head on my shoulder, an arm around my torso. “Wait 'til we start chemo,” he said. “I'll be keeping you up a lot.”
“Yeah? Great. Then I won't be needing my alarm clock anymore.”
Ryan chuckled. I stroked his hair and closed my eyes. I was almost back asleep by the time Ryan spoke up again.
“Finn?”
“Ya?”
“I've been thinking...”
I opened my eyes again. Was he finally going to tell me what had been on his mind earlier? “What were you thinking?”
“Maybe I do need to go see Jin again.”
“No.” I dug my fingers into his hair almost without noticing. Where had he gottenthatidea? “Absolutely not.”
“It's not fair, though,” he insisted. “I've accepted that I'm sick and all, but can I make that decision for my baby too? How can I stop taking his medicine now that I'm pregnant and risk the baby's life?”
Was that what he'd meant when he'd said he was going to do whatever it takes? “I'm sorry,” I said. “I can't let you go back to him.”
Ryan was quiet for a moment. Then he said, “It's not only the baby.”
“What do you mean?”
“At the hospital, when we discussed treatment options... They said my cancer was late stage three.”
“Yes, so?” I couldn't follow.
“It used to be stage four.”
I peered down at him in the dark, heart pounding. Did that mean... “You got better?”
“I don't know. Maybe? I guess so. I don't really know how. I mean... The magic Jin used to create the medicine, he said that aside from making me feel alright, it would stop the cancer from growing and spreading. For as long as I took it anyway. He never said anything about the cancer receding... but maybe...”
I sat up. “You think it could cure you?”
“I don't know,” Ryan said again, sitting up as well. “I've been taking it forever and the effect hasn't been that great. I'm still in pretty bad shape, but maybe if I combined his medicine with conventional medicine...”
“There might be a chance,” I concluded. Finally! Finally there was a light at the end of the tunnel.
“Yeah.”
“Tell me his address.”
“What?”
“His address,” I repeated. “Jin's. You're not going, but I am.”
Ryan hesitated. It was too dark for me to tell his expression, but I pictured him staring at me, biting his lip.
“Please, Ryan. Let me do this.”
Ryan sighed. “You can't let him make you do anything. Promise me that. You can pay him in money, or things, but not deeds. Don't do anything for him. Or to him.”
“I promise.”
“Alright,” he said slowly. “I'll tell you.”
“Thank you.” I wrapped my arms around Ryan, a huge grin on my face. Maybe our chance to get through all of this unscathed was still small, but at least we had a chance now. That was a lot more than we'd had in the morning!
