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“It sounds better when you say it.”

“It still failed.”

Del’s head came up. She expected judgment and found something simpler in his expression. Marcus didn’t excuse her, but he didn’t turn her guilt into a weapon either.

“Yes,” she said. “It failed.”

He reached into his coat and removed a folded sheet of paper. The page contained his notes from the blood tests, although he had rewritten them in cleaner handwriting and replaced most of the medical abbreviations with words she understood. A rough diagram showed the affected cells collapsing around metallic fragments.

“The iron is binding to something in the blood,” Marcus said. “The valerian may slow the shifter metabolism enough to prevent them from burning it out. Whatever the oak gall carries is using that delay to spread.”

Del read the page twice. “Birch bark holds memory in a working. If Arrow used it as a carrier, every dose could repeat the original command.”

“Can you prove that?”

“Not here.” She looked toward the locked cabinet. “But I can help you test it.”

Marcus nodded and finally allowed his shoulders to drop. The change was small, but it exposed how long he had been forcing himself upright. Dried blood marked his cuff again, and Del reached for his wrist.

He let her turn his arm over. A line of punctures marked the inside of his forearm, some already closed and others fresh enough to shine beneath the light. “You used your own blood for every comparison,” she said.

“It was available.”

“So is common sense, but you appear to be running short.” Del released him and crossed to the shelf where she kept restorative tea. “When did you last eat?”

“Yesterday.”

She looked over her shoulder. “That wasn’t a difficult question.”

“I had blood this morning.”

“You also have a body that expects food.” Del filled the kettle at the sink and set it on the small burner. “Sit down before you fall down and destroy something expensive.”

Marcus glanced around the crowded room. “Everything in here is expensive.”

“Exactly.”

He remained in the chair while she cut bread and cheese left from her lunch. The kettle hissed, and the familiar sounds eased some of the tension in her shoulders. She had expected questions when he arrived, not company that didn’t need her to explain herself.

Marcus ate half the bread before speaking again. “Why did you bring the samples to me?”

“Because you treat people before deciding whether they deserve it.” Del poured the tea and placed the cup near his hand. “Most people in this town make the second decision first.”

He wrapped both hands around the cup. “I remember what it feels like to need a doctor who has already decided you’re a monster.”

Del waited, but he didn’t explain. The sentence carried more history than he intended to give her, and asking for the rest would have turned it into a debt.

“We start tomorrow night,” she said. “After the shop closes.”

Marcus drank the tea and looked at her over the rim. “You understand that helping me may put you against your coven.”

“I was against them the moment I raised my hand.” Del reopened the ledger and turned it toward him. “I was simply too afraid to act like it.”

He set down the cup. “And now?”

“Now one of the men who trusted me to help him is lying in your clinic.” She pushed the ledger across the table. “Now we find out what I helped Arrow make.”

Marcus placed his hand on the open page beside hers. Their fingers didn’t touch, but the warmth of him reached her across the narrow distance. Del pulled the ledger back and turned to the next page.