Ink

Chapter 47

Above: how I imagine Caleb responds to any of Ryder's sass.

~~~

"A cure?"

I'm not sure who questioned it, but I do know it was a question weighing heavily on everyone in the room.

Leona nods slowly, obviously shocked at the amount of people before her.

"I needed a blood sample from an infected." She begins.

"Klaus." I whisper. His name leaving my lips feels so normal, and yet, leaves me with an empty feeling.

"Klaus he-" My eyes meet Leona's from across the room. I pray she has good news. But judging by the look on her face, good news is the last type of news that she has for me."He gave me the sample to test before he was taken by the kings men."

My brow furrows. If Klaus had been captured by Mephistor's soldiers, that meant his life could be in danger. In fact, that definitely meant that his life was in danger.  All this time I had wondered why he had abandoned us. I should have known he wouldn't betray the resistance. He was too loyal for that, virus or no virus.

"I then proceeded to test the bloods reactions to different samples." Leona continues. "In the end, it was Lycan venom that killed the virus. It immediately neutralized the cells and began to reverse the effects."

"I can't believe this." Cleo's voice perks up from the head of the table. "I didn't think it was possible."

"Indeed." Mr. Burke's voice sounds through the room. It is stained with pain that he tries to mask. "It shouldn't be, and if it were not for Klaus, we would have been out of luck."

A weight settles over the room.

"A noble sacrifice." Says Ryder. "For the good of the kingdom."

I knew Ryder was looking at the bigger picture and was indeed right, but, in that moment, all I wanted to do was scream out the different reasons why Klaus helping find a cure wasn't enough. It would never be enough, not until he was here with me. Perhaps it was immature of me to think in such a way, but it was something I felt from my heart.

My father had always said that to not follow your heart was to live truly unfulfilling life. I didn't believe him at first, of course. I had never had to work hard for what I had. Anyone around could have plainly seen that I had been groomed since the time I first spoke to be a woman working directly underneath the king. Only the most elite trained members of our society had that honor bestowed upon them.

Those who weren't selected at birth to be among the most successful rulers and adversaries were filtered into various other jobs throughout the kingdom. Of course they could also choose to deny a job and take up a role in the house. This was common of many husbands and wives who were partners to those who were higher up in the kingdom. My mother, for example, had been a computer analyst for the kingdoms main software company before she met my father . After they were married, she left her job and her middle class lifestyle to become a full time mother and keep our estate running smoothly. According to my father, she had up and left her position quickly and with absolute delight. In his mind, he was saving her from an immortal lifetime of coding following directions. If I had been in her position too I don't know what I would have done. My father made enough money to support our family ten times over so there was really no need for my mother to work, but I wondered if she missed, or even had, the satisfaction of working for something and succeeding. Maybe that was a feeling reserved for the elites as well.

I look back at Leona. Her head is turned toward the ground. The expression that crosses her features is one of mourning and disappointment, probably in herself. She was like me, first in her class, from an affluent family, and without a care in the world. Everything had been guaranteed for her like it had been for me. The promise of a life without financial or social struggle. Now, however, it seemed that we were both on course for fates that were entirely different from what we had originally planned. It was as clear as day to me as she stood at the front of the room and tried to hold herself together because I was sitting in my chair trying to do the same.