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I took a crunchy bite of my apple to give Vern some time to collect himself. Killian likewise sipped his coffee.
It was strange seeing such a tough guy like Vern going all soft. But I supposed love would do that.
“Does that mean you’re ready to share with us, too?” Killian asked.
Vern sighed. “As long as you promise not to stop talking to me.”
“Not going to happen,” I assured him as I rested a hand on his shoulder.
He felt colder, somehow. As if all of this had drawn his dragon’s fire right out of his spirit and left him empty.
I glanced at the wyvern platform and couldn’t find his dragon, either.
“Where’s Obsidian?”
Vern bowed his head. “He’s not talking to me, either.”
Well, whatever he’d promised the vampire could not be good if even his dragon abandoned him.
Killian grew somber and put down his coffee. “Tell us.”
Vern released a huge sigh and swiped his fingers through his dark hair. “Frederick is a king.”
My eyebrows shot to my hairline. “You said you were related to him. So does that make you some kind of royalty?”
He nodded. “Yes. Which makes me compatible for creating a cure.”
“And what is required of you to create a cure?” Killian asked with a bite to his tone.
I had a feeling we weren’t going to like the answer.
Vern kept staring at his food as if he expected it to jump off his plate. “All the blood in my body.”
Killian and I shared looks.
“Vern,” I said sternly. “You are not going to sacrifice yourself for this. We’ll find another way.”
Vern shook his head. “No. There is no other way. Only royal vampires can create anchors. It costs them their own blood to do that—and they have a limited supply of it. He’s not going to do that over some concern about humanity or a promise for that lost blood to be restored. There are tons of realms and it’ll take a long time before extinction is a real threat. Besides, vampires can feed on dragon blood, too.”
I folded my arms across my chest. “Oh, right.” I’d forgotten that Freddy—King Freddy—had been interested in Vern’s dragon.
Vern leaned back in his chair and sighed. “If I give him all of the blood in my body, it’ll transfer my life force to his.”
“That’ll kill you in the process,” Killian stated as if Vern wasn’t aware of it.
Vern nodded. “Yes, and make me the next Vampire King.”
We both stared at him, stunned.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
He seemed to force himself to take a bread roll from his plate and nibble on it. “It means that this is the last week of my life that I’m alive. The last week I’ll be able to eat food.” He dutifully swallowed his bite, then sighed. “Too bad it tastes like wood dust when I feel like this.
“What does it mean for Jasmine and Obsidian?” Killian asked.
Although I had a feeling we both knew the answer to that question.
“It’ll sever the bond,” Vern said with pain slicing through his voice. “The rider bonds work through the power of life. A vampire cannot be bound to a wyvern or another rider. It just doesn’t work that way.”
