Allison's POV For the next few hours, Malkiel's temperature kept fluctuating. Sometimes he was as hot as a live coal. Sometimes his temperature returned to normal. At other times, he felt cool to the touch, so cool that I felt goosebumps form on my skin when I touched him. It was still scary to see my baby going through these kinds of changes within the space of a few minutes. Even though I knew what had caused Malkiel's illness, it still did not make it easy to deal with. I did not know what to think- how to feel about all of this. It was too much to take in all at once. After Dante had told me about what the red mark was, I had sat watching my son for hours, thinking about all he had said. As I stared out of the window, my fingers trailed along Malkiel's chest. It was easier for me to believe what Dante had said because apart from the high temperature and the fact that he was sleeping too much, Malkiel did not show any other signs of illness. A part of me- the part which alway

Allison's POV Dante's piercing eyes surveyed everyone in the room. It was as though those eyes were able to unravel every man's secrets. Though he spoke to everyone at the same time, at that moment, it felt like he was talking to each of the men in the conference room individually. The men assembled leaned forward, their bodies tense, looking as wound up as taut strings. They hung onto his every word. The boy in the room who sat beside Dante was transfixed. I could tell that he closely followed all that his father was saying. I smiled a little at the worshipful expression in those green eyes that were so like mine. After a silence of some seconds, Dante continued, "We have been through worse in the past and this poses as no challenge whatsoever. I consider this war we are about to go on... as a form of target practice. Some of you have gotten rusty over the years, so this should be an opportunity to take out your rusty daggers and relearn how to fight." There was a ripple of laug