“What Leo is trying to say is that we have each other. Whatever we do, we can do together. The same is not so for either of you. While one walks in the day, the other walks at night. While one eats food for sustenance, the other drinks blood.” She did not wish to stress the differences in terms of mortality. “This way, the natural balance will be restored. This way, the wrongs of the past will be put right.”
“You should take some time to consider it,” Elliot managed to say. “You should not be so hasty in your decision.”
Ivana smiled. “We have taken all the time we need. Besides, Christoph needs a father who can take him riding across the meadows, who—” Ivana stopped abruptly. Her emotions always ran high when she spoke of the children. “We have made our decision.”
Alexander straightened. “Then I thank you both for being so selfless, for giving me a second chance at life.”
Elliot echoed his friend’s sentiment, and Ivana was somewhat shocked when both gentlemen embraced her.
“I am not afraid to admit the thought terrifies me,” Alexander said with a frown. “What if it doesn’t work? What if something should go wrong?”
“Don’t say that.” Evelyn implored, patting him on the arm. “After everything we’ve been through I cannot lose you now.”
“Are we supposed to drink the liquid in the bottle?” Elliot asked.
“I have a vague memory of Nikolai drinking the cure, yes.” Ivana scoured the recesses of her mind. Some memories were still hazy. “But I do not remember it being in little bottles.”
Leo walked over to his brothers, hooked an arm around each of their necks. “Come. We cannot leave this room for at least an hour. Let us go and study Talliano’s notes in the hope the answer lies there.”
It suddenly occurred to Ivana that Elliot must make another decision before he took the cure.
“I promised Herr Bruhn we would go and see the children.” Ivana knew how much the old man looked forward to her visits and hated breaking her promises to him. “With Nikolai’s surprise arrival, I will have missed a whole day if I do not go this evening.” She turned her attention to Elliot. “You must decide if you wish to see Christoph before you take the cure.”
Elliot pursed his lips whilst lost in thoughtful contemplation. He looked at Grace, who nodded but said nothing. “If something should go wrong I would not want to hurt the boy any more than I have already. At present, he is blissfully ignorant of my existence and so the loss will only be mine to bear.”
Grace smiled weakly. “I agree. We should wait to make sure the cure works. In the meantime, there is nothing preventing me from leaving the castle. Evelyn could come with me to visit the children, play with them for an hour and convey your apologies to Herr Bruhn for your absence.”
Ivana clasped her hands to her chest. “You would not mind?” After the heavy storm, the old man would be worried. He had too much to fret over without Ivana adding to his woes.
“Not at all. It will give us something to do, something to occupy our minds.” Grace turned to her husband. “You will not do anything until I return? Promise me you will wait until I am by your side before you attempt to drink the cure.”
Elliot nodded and offered a reassuring smile. “I promise. We will simply look through the notes while we wait for you to return.”
“Speak to Sylvester. He will escort you.” It would also give her servant something to do. He had been quiet since the incident in the courtyard and Ivana hadn’t had a chance to talk to him privately. Killing a man, even one as cold and heartless as Nikolai, still roused feelings of guilt and shame.
The ladies bid their husbands farewell, climbed the stairs and disappeared from view.
Ivana followed the gentlemen into the secret chamber. After spending an hour watching them decipher Talliano’s notes, they seemed to be clearer on what needed to be done.
Alexander ran his finger across the scrawled words, stopping periodically before starting back at the beginning. “It says the potion must be drunk after ingesting infected blood. Talliano found that waiting five minutes proved to cause the least pain.”
“Pain?” Elliot shivered visibly. “I suppose it will be a similar feeling to the night we were turned, though, other than a fiery heat flowing through my veins I cannot remember much about it.”
His words roused the memory of the night Nikolai first bit her and made her drink his blood. The body’s natural instinct was to fight against the foreign liquid in a bid to cleanse it of its impurities. Small, sharp stabbing pains came first, like driving pins into the skin. It was quickly followed by an intense heat like hot coals burning in the belly.
“Then it will not be pleasant,” she said solemnly. “But I suspect it will last no longer than a few hours. Leo and I can assist by compelling you to sleep. It works when the mind is weaker but might not be as effective now you can resist thought manipulation.”
Elliot narrowed his gaze, a frown marring his brow. “In your honest opinion, do you believe it is it safe for us to drink?”
Ivana shrugged. “I assume so. Nikolai would not risk his life on a whim. That much I do know. He came here prepared to take it again. But you must heed Talliano’s words, be certain you have interpreted them correctly.”
While some Latin phrases seemed familiar at first glance, Ivana had no skill with the language and could not help them.
“As I said, we must drink infected blood,” Alexander reiterated.
“Leo can drain some of his blood into a vessel.” Ivana did not think they would wish to drink her blood again.
Alexander picked up the leather-bound notebook, scanned the page and shook his head. “No. It says the blood must be the hosts. We are to drink our own blood. The healing properties of the stone, and whatever else is in the bottle, will draw out the toxins. Once the process begins, it will continue working until all the blood in the body has been thoroughly cleansed.”