Mila hated that she had to ask, but the disease was too far along and she didn’t know what else to do. “If that’s what it takes.” He shrugged and reached down to touch Dareen’s thick long hair with a smile. “She’s me mum, after all. I know she’d do the same for me.” It didn’t surprise her in the least. She’d understood that was his base nature from the moment she met him. “I wish there was another way—” Tal spoke up, his voice filled with the same frustration she felt. “Can’t you take a little from the both of us? Spread the load so nobody has to die?” She wished she understood the process well enough to explain it. “It doesn’t work that way. I don’t have that good of control over it. You saw what I did to the plant in the kitchen … and you were just tired. I don’t know how I affected the hospital patients. I was too afraid to call and ask today. And Jason’s mom is dying. I don’t know how bad the damage is inside or what it’s going to take to heal her.
