Chapter 380: Great Star of Africa
"I don’t know how to give you a heartbeat," Penelope muttered. "I can’t imagine what it would take to do that, but I am certain that August will be capable of it. That’s why I have invested so much of my time working on this experiment with the humans. If I knew how else to do it for you, I would."
A flicker of a smile passed across the vampire’s expression so quickly it was as if it hadn’t even occurred. He knew now what it would take to get his heart beating. The question was if he wanted that to happen again.
"Can we just focus on how to help August discover her fullest potential as a powerful fae? There is no use in trying to keep her memory from her. All alyko, or if you prefer fae, are so much more powerful when they are allowed to fully embrace who they are, and for her that includes the male that is her destined mate. They are mated for a reason, can’t you see that? Why would you have her purposely kept in the dark about something that is so sacred? Alyko and fae, almost as a rule, do not have mates—it is extremely rare. But she is special."
Zagan stared at her, finding himself struggling against the awe that was wanting to shine forth in response to everything she just said. Penelope had just unknowingly made a compelling argument against him hiding her own significance from her as his potential mate, and he couldn’t think of a reason to deny her that—there wasn’t even a good selfish reason to keep her in the dark about it. He was the one who wanted to die, after all.
But he wasn’t certain that she was, in truth, his mate. That was the only problem. What if there was another explanation for what had occurred?
It was also likely that she would deny the possibility that they were mates, and he didn’t know how to convince her. He certainly wasn’t going to show her the ridiculous unnamed book still stashed in his jacket that had nothing but obtuse lyrical passages in it without any real substance.
"What can we do to help August find her full potential?" Penelope asked, urged to fill the silence that he was allowing to loom large in the room. "What do you usually do?"
Zagan blinked, ushering his thoughts back to his original plan. He was eager to see what the Luna was capable of, but that was also before she accidentally sent the majority of his alyko somewhere else.
"I will need the talisman," he replied, leaning back in his chair. "I can’t have her completely unhindered while she is on this island. She is far too powerful for that. And if she fails to be able to complete the task we wish of her, she could ruin my chances of finding someone else that will."
"Can I suggest something?" Penelope asked slowly.
"Please," he said, gesturing for her to do so.
She studied him for a moment—his dark, curious eyes and the way his face had softened to her, welcoming what she had to say. Would he truly consider it?
"You have had the others here for so long without them being able to help you in any way. Don’t you think you could let them go? Let them free to live the lives they desire rather than remaining locked here to waste away as mere objects in a curated collection? Why must you keep them?"
Zagan twisted a pen between his fingers as he stared at the female in front of him and thought about what she said. He didn’t have a good reason for keeping them other than the fact that he considered them unique and interesting. And he was a collector, as she said.
"Who will I feed from?" he asked.
Penelope gulped, her eyelashes fluttering as she looked down nervously at the desk. "Could you not use rabbits?" she asked.
He smirked. "They are far too small. It would take an island of rabbits, and the poor little things would not survive it."
"If you will free the alyko, Zagan, I will do it," she said quietly.
His pen stopped twirling.
"You would offer yourself in exchange for their freedom?" he asked.
"Yes. Of course I would. For as long as it takes to kill you."
What a foolishly brave Winter he had here. If every time he required a meal, his heart thundered to life and he was coughing up blood, that would hardly do as a replacement. She could not feed him. And yet...
"I will consider it."
"Really?!" her head snapped up with the most surprised, overjoyed expression it made the mere consideration of her proposal worth it.
"The Luna will have to stay, too," he added.
"Of course," she rushed her agreement of that obvious detail. August was his hope of dying, after all.
Zagan ran the hypothetical situation through his mind, weighing it. All of the hard work gathering each individual alyko would be for nothing. The impressive containment facility would no longer be necessary. Harvests would no longer be something for his lycans to look forward to.
That was a lot to let go of, but he had lived long enough to experience many deaths of plans and projects. Each new task he set upon had its season, and eventually that season would come to an end and transition into something new. The only thing that never ended was him.
Perhaps the season of collecting his precious alyko had finally reached its end.
"It wasn’t all for nothing," she suddenly said, interrupting the thoughts that she seemed to also be reading. "All of those alyko you found and brought here made me determined to find a way to stop you. It is the reason why I became involved with the pandemic research, and it is what led to the creation of the altered version of August that exists now."
’And it also brought you to me,’ he thought.
"I suppose it isn’t such a terrible deal. Trading the mine for the Great Star of Africa," he replied, one corner of his lips twitching as he stared at the prize in front of him.
"What is the Great Star of Africa?" she asked, not understanding the analogy.
"My dear Penelope, you have never heard of the largest diamond ever discovered?"
