Chapter 28

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Ebony sat in a hotel room in Texas a few days later. It wasn't Vegas and although Lark continued to insist he be the only one to get scanned wherever they went, and called her wife as often as possible, people still looked and judged. But she was getting used to ignoring it. She probably could never go back to LA without risking getting arrested for Glick's murder, but she figured that wasn't a huge loss, she could have Taylor send her some things from her house once she felt settled somewhere. Lark talked about the options like they were infinite, but Ebony didn't think she wanted to settle anywhere she felt judged. Vegas, the city her mother grew up in, called to her.

"Oh, here she comes!" Lark said excitedly as they watched on television as Shine stepped onto a small platform in front of her house once again. Granger was visible in the background, looking like a bodyguard.

"I come to you today to talk about my next steps in righting some of my father's wrongs," Shine began.

In the last two days she'd been on television more than ever, and each time she let out a little more information about what her father had been doing. The uproar was reminiscent of the great souling, which is what everyone called the time after the war when the gods first cursed them. People were questioning their neighbors and themselves. Families were torn apart, mostly those in higher society when an adult child found out they were a bought baby with an artificial soul. Orphans all over were reaching out, hoping to find their real parents.

Ebony couldn't even feel sorry for the parents, they'd done it to themselves. The big question was, what was the government going to do about the artificial souls? At first it had seemed like they would be pushed down below the nosouls, but then it started to come out that many politicians had children in this group, and they certainly weren't about to banish them or watch them starve.

"I demand the government lift all travel restrictions based on status and chip scanning." Shine had finished her speech and she stood while the crowd shouted questions at her.

"She looks like she's loving this," Lark said.

"She really does well in front of cameras, I'm just glad it isn't me," Ebony said and turned off the television.

"Time to go?" Lark asked and she nodded.

They were on their way to see the doctor that Lark was insisting would be able to cure Ebony's cancer.

She still didn't believe it was possible and held herself back from getting too excited. She'd accepted her lot a long time ago, and although it was harder now that she'd found Lark, she wasn't ready to hope too much just yet.

They walked hand in hand to the office of Dr. Lewis Grey. The secretary greeted them cheerily and ushered them back to a small room.

A nurse came in and drew some blood, and scanned her with a handheld device that reminded her uncomfortably of the one that had been used at the facility.

Lark squeezed her hand when she tensed, and the nurse made a sound of surprise.

"What is it?" Lark demanded.

"The doctor will be right in," she said and hurried out.

"I hate when they do that," Ebony said with a frown.

Luckily it wasn't long until Dr. Grey entered the room and smiled warmly.

"You must be Ebony, I've heard a lot about you," he said, reaching out to shake her hand. "And it's always good to see you, Mr. Duport."

"What did the nurse find?" Lark demanded, not caring about pleasantries.

Dr. Grey took a seat on a stool and stared down at an open file. "Well, I read all of your history, Ebony and like I told Mr. Duport, your chances looked very slim. Very likely that you'd last no more than a year and a tough one at that."

Ebony nodded, tamping down on her fear, holding back her emotions, and trying to concentrate on the words the doctor was saying. Lark was by her side, a hand over hers where they clasped in her lap nervously.

"I know," she said quietly she'd heard it before in LA

"I'm testing your blood now to compare with the last draw you had in LA, it will tell us a lot. The scan did detect cancer of course, but also something unexpected."

"What is it?" she croaked. She didn't want him to sugar-coat anything, she wanted the band aid ripped off.

"Well, when Mr. Duport touched you during the scan it showed an increase in your immune response."

"What does that mean?" Lark snapped.

"Well, it could mean that since you are her soulmate, she's able to borrow some strength from your body."

"To fight the cancer?" Lark asked.

"I think so. Comparing the scan today with the last one in LA it already seems as if the cancer has started to retreat, the mass is significantly smaller which I would have told you is impossible if I wasn't looking at it right in front of me."

"Oh my god," Ebony gasped.

"I'm still not sure I can do anything for you. This is a very aggressive type of cancer, but, maybe, and this is a really big maybe, if your body can borrow some of Mr. Duport's strength during the process, you could beat this thing with treatment. I've just never seen anything like it. Your body isn't acting like anyone's I've ever met, even fullsouls would have trouble with this type of aggressive cancer."

Ebony looked up at Lark. Tears were pooling in her eyes, and she smiled. "I'm not like anyone else, Doctor." She looked back at him. "I'm a dominant halfling with a soulmate."

He sat back and stared for a minute. "That's true. Very intriguing," the doctor said with a smile. "Ebony, I am very much looking forward to working on your case. I must say, I was nervous about you coming in, sure I was going to get a fist through the face when I gave Mr. Duport bad news," he said with a sly smile that didn't hide the real fear under that statement.

Ebony patted Lark's arm. "He's a bit protective," she agreed.

"Which might be why his body is trying to heal yours. Once I have your bloodwork in hand, I can set a course of treatment but most importantly, I'm prescribing as much physical contact between you two as possible."

Lark pulled Ebony into his lap and grinned down at her frown. It was highly inappropriate.

"Doctor's orders," he laughed.

She couldn't deny that, and she really didn't want to either. She snuggled into his chest and sighed. "I guess I'll take my medicine then."

"Multiple times a day," Lark whispered in her ear, and she shivered with anticipation.