As to prove Adrian's point, a wave of dizziness washed over Lilian. She felt the world tilted and gripped the edge of the medical table to keep from sliding off.
"Lie down," Dante instructed, pressing her back gently but firmly to lie down onto the table. "We're going to bandage you up, give you something for the pain, and then you are going straight to bed."
"I'm not tired," Lilian murmured, even as her eyelids dropped halfway through the sentence.
Lucien snorted. "You're exhausted," he countered.
Dante finished bandaging her shoulder and moved to the cuts on her arms. He paused, his brow furrowed in a deep frown. "The rogue's claws were coated in some kind of toxin," he said. "It's slowing your healing."
"Poison?" Lilian asked, turning her head slightly.
"Not lethal, but designed to weaken vampires," Adrian said across the room, studying a blood sample under a microscope. "Likely dead man's blood and other suppressants. It's suppressing your healing."
"How long until it wears off?" Lilian asked.
"Twenty-four to forty-eight hours," Dante said. "Which means these wounds are going to hurt for a while. I can give you something for the pain, but it won't speed up the healing."
"Just give me whatever won't knock me out completely," Lilian said. "I want to be awake if they come back."
"They won't return tonight," Lucien said with certainty, shaking his head. "They got what they wanted. Next time they come, it'll be with a plan around what you can do."
Dante exhaled slowly. "Which is why wen should complete the bond," he said, surprising everyone. "Tonight."
The room went quiet.
"Tonight? Dante, look at her," Adrian protested sharply. "The bonding is physically demanding. Her body can't handle that kind of intensity right now."
"I know," Dante said, his jaw tight. "But every hour we wait is an hour someone can try to capture her. Once the bond is complete, she'll be under our full protection. Anyone who touches her will be declaring war."
"We can protect her without it," Lucien argued. "We've been doing it for weeks."
"Not well enough," Dante snapped. "She was attacked in our own home and had to fight for her life because we weren't here. That cannot happen again."
"And it won't," Adrian said firmly. "We'll double the guard and one of us with her at all times."
"That's not enough," Dante insisted.
"It has to be," Adrian replied. "Look at her, Dante."
Dante looked at Lilian, and his expression crumbled slightly. Her face looked more pale, her eyes struggled to stay open. Pain and exhaustion were written into every line of her posture.
"If we force it now, we could seriously hurt her," Adrian continued.
Dante exhaled, his shoulder sagged. "You're right."
He looked at Lilian, fear breaking through his composure. "I... just ... the thought of losing you..."
"You won't lose me," Lilian said, reaching for his hand. "I'm right here."
A long silence followed.
"Three days," Dante said quietly, more to himself than anyone else. "You rest and heal for three days, then we complete the bond. No more delays."
"Yes," Lilian agreed weakly.
Dante administered the medication and carried her to her room, followed by Adrian and Lucien. Lilian would have found their protective presence as amusing if she wasn't so tired.
"One of us will be with you tonight," Adrian said. "We'll take shifts again. You won't be alone."
"I'll take the first watch," Dante volunteered immediately.
Lucien sighed. "Of course you will," he muttered, but he didn't argue. "Fine. Just wake us if anything happens."
"Nothing will," Dante said. "The estate is secure."
After Adrian and Lucien reluctantly left, Dante helped Lilian change into clean pajamas. The task was slow and awkward, hampered by her bandages and the sexual tension that had been building between them for weeks.
"Into the bed," he ordered once she was dressed.
Lilian climbed under the covers, wincing as the movement made her shoulder throbbed. Dante settled to the chair by the window, the same chair all the princes had occupied these whole two weeks.
"You don't have to stay in the chair, Dante," Lilian whispered. "The bed is big enough for both of us."
"If I get in that bed with you, I'm not going to be able to keep my hands to myself," Dante said bluntly. "And you need rest, not... other activities."
Lilian managed a weak smile and tried to tease him. "What if I want the other activities?" she asked, then hissed softly as pain flared through her shoulder when she tried to shift position.
"You need to heal," Dante insisted firmly. "In three days, you can have whatever you want. But tonight, you sleep."
Lilian sighed, but the medication specifically made for vampires that Dante had given her, starting to cloud her thoughts. "Will you at least sit next to me until I fall asleep?"
He hesitated, then moved to sit on the edge of the bed. "Just until you fall asleep."
Lilian's eyes were already closing, sleep pulling her under despite her best efforts to stay awake. "Dante?"
"Yes?"
"The bonding... does it hurt?"
"A little," Dante admitted. "But it will also be the most intense pleasure you've ever experienced. The pain and pleasure will blend together until you can't tell them apart."
Lilian drifted off with those words echoing in her mind, with his hand in hers.
——
The pain on her shoulder and ribs sharply attacking her when she tried to sit up in the morning and collapse back against the pillows.
"Easy."
Dante's voice said from beside her. He was still there, though he had moved from sitting on the bed to the chair, probably sometime after she had fallen asleep.
"Don't move too fast," he said calmly. "The toxin's still in your system."
She swallowed. "How long was I asleep?"
"Eight hours," Dante replied. Adrian and Lucien are handling estate matters and continuing the investigation. I'm staying here to watch your vitals."
"Still playing doctor?" Lilian asked with a weak smile.
"Always," he said with his usual firm stoic face. "How's the pain?"
"Manageable," she lied.
Dante gave her a look that said he didn't believe her for a second. "On a scale from one to ten?"
Lilian sighed. "Six," she admitted. "Maybe seven to eight when I move."
"I'll get you more pain medication."
He stood and crossed the room to the medical supplies laid out on the nearby table. "You also need to eat. Mrs. Hemsworth prepared some chicken soup and bread."