The chant was a continual murmur in his mind, and he knew it was aiding the process, but he needed something else, something to draw her to him. The baby was quiet, fighting her own battle for life with Shea’s help. It came to him then. The one thing he could give her that he knew she loved. His music. He began to sing. Softly at first, a melody of dark, dangerous love. A ballad of need. Of a man’s desperate fight for the one woman he loved above all else.
Desari joined in on the chorus, her beautiful, magical voice a gift from the heavens. She sang with him, helping him use his voice to draw Corinne from the jaws of death. The notes leapt into the air, silver and gold, dancing like glinting sunlight in the darkened chamber.
He felt Corinne’s response then. Weak, but there. She clung to the sound of their voices, allowed the melody to take her away from the terrible burning in her body, the humiliation of her system ridding itself of human toxins. The loss of control, the helpless feeling of lying unable to move, while her body contorted and writhed with pain. She chained herself to those notes, his gift to her, and floated above the fire, holding to life, clinging to Dayan, her solid anchor.
He was humbled by her complete trust and faith in him. He had no idea if he would have given his life so completely into another’s hands. He was awed and humble and grateful. Blood-red tears dripped onto the back of his hand, but his voice never wavered as he sang to her.
The ordeal seemed an eternity to him, and his newfound emotions were raw. But he sang with his heart and soul. His voice surrounded her, lifted her above the terrible pain and kept her anchored firmly to him.
‘Now, Dayan.’ There was relief in Darius’s voice. ‘Send her to sleep and we can complete the healing.’
It took a few moments for Dayan to realize what Darius meant. The healers had managed to utilize his blood and the precious blood of the Prince’s lineage to convert Corinne’s failing human heart into a strong Carpathian heart. The danger was over. He could barely comprehend that it could be so. He felt as if he had fought ten thousand battles, as if he had been fighting for all time.
He issued the command to sleep, strong, compelling, instant. Corinne had no choice but to obey, and in her weakened state, it was easy for him to send her into the Carpathian method of sleeping. Dayan breathed a sigh of relief. At last she was beyond pain. He looked up, his broad shoulders sagging. He was completely drained of energy. He had given Corinne a large amount of blood, he had not fed, nor had he slept in the rejuvenating soil. His every ounce of energy had been utilized to keep Corinne’s heart and lungs going, to bind her to him. The emotions he had withstood would have been enough to drain his great strength. He was dangerously weak and pale.
He looked around the chamber to the others who had offered so much for him, for Corinne. Shea was working on the baby. He found himself smiling, a slow grin that replaced his fatigue with warmth. His child. Corinne might think of their daughter as John’s, and he understood, but in truth, she carried Dayan’s blood in her body. While Darius and Gregori continued to work at healing Corinne, he studied the baby.
“Will she live?” he asked Shea quietly.
The red-haired woman glanced at him. “She’s very strong and she wants life. Corinne, Gregori, Darius and you did a good job of instilling a strong will in her. She will have loving, nurturing parents. I think it will be best if she stays here for a few weeks to give her body time to adjust to the outside world, but she is doing quite well.”
“Few babies survive the first year.” Pain sliced through him at the thought of losing the infant. He felt fiercely protective of her.
“That is so,” Shea admitted, “but I have done a tremendous amount of research and I think I can keep her alive. Diet is important. A Carpathian infant’s body is different from an adult’s. We can no longer nurse them the way humans can, and they need a mixture of nutrients. Our blood is too rich for them. That is why it was important the baby didn’t convert before she was born. She is just too small to live through it.”