The Ends of the World (The Conspiracy of Us #3)(64)

I stared at them through the glass doors.

A lot of things went through my head: Rocco had faced just as much tragedy as any of us. But was there any chance he could be using Luc? Could he hurt him if he got that close? And I realized suddenly why relationships between family members and staff were forbidden. And I also remembered how recently I was in that exact position.

I glanced up at Stellan, and he just shrugged. It'd be pretty hypocritical for us to police Rocco and Luc having a secret relationship, even if Rocco was working for us. "Okay?" I said.

Elodie sighed. "I told Lucien you'd be fine with it. I thought he was going to have a heart attack when he admitted it to me, but I reminded him that you two, of all people-"

"So what now?" I cut her off.

Elodie had spoken with the Dauphins' security, and they were tightening their safety measures around the Louvre. There would also be a lot to deal with regarding the Dauphins' deaths. We still had no idea why the cure had worked for Luc and not Madame Dauphin.

Jack leaned back on the railing. "About that. Earlier, Nisha told me more about what they've been researching. Seeing what happened with the cure, I had a thought. We never saw the original wording. We just know Lydia translated it as that your blood is the cure. But there are rather a lot of shades of the idea of remedy, or treatment. What if this one didn't mean antidote, like she thought? What if it was . . . vaccine?"

The idea rolled around in my head. It only took a second for it to make sense. "Nisha said my blood is the one that has the virus, and Stellan's just makes it replicate out of control. So that could make sense. Aren't a lot of vaccines essentially a mild version of the disease to prime the body against it?"

Elodie was nodding along. She pulled us inside and we shared the theory.

"Avery, have you been putting your blood in my food?" Luc said. It was a little too bright, a little too fake-cheerful. Considering his parents had just died, then he'd nearly died himself, I was shocked he was doing this well.

Wait. His parents. Monsieur Dauphin. What I would always associate with him was-

"The wedding," I said. Luc raised his eyebrows. "When we were supposed to be married. Part of the ceremony was cutting our hands and putting them together, remember? You had my blood all over you. If you accidentally wiped your face, or put your own cut into your mouth, you could have ingested it."

Stellan was pacing at the end of the bed, wearing a path on the hardwood floor. "But Elodie was infected-"

"Maybe I was never infected at all," Elodie said. "I could have actually been coughing from dust. I'll have the doctor examine me and see what she thinks."

"What about your mother?" Stellan asked me. "If your blood is a vaccine-"

Wouldn't I have vaccinated her at some point, too? But I shook my head. "Before I met you guys, I was not covered in blood nearly as often as I am now. If my mom was ever cleaning up a cut for me, I'm sure she would have washed her hands immediately after, and it never would have-"



       
         
       
        

I had to stop before that train of thought went too far, or I'd panic again.

"If it's really a vaccine, would Luc have gotten slightly sick like he did?" Stellan said, still testing the theory.

"Sometimes you can get a vaccine for say, the chickenpox, and still get a mild version of the chickenpox, right?" Elodie said. "And it's not like this virus is normal anyway. Something kept Lucien from dying. That's the important part. We should get Nisha to start testing it. If it really is a vaccine, we could get it to the Circle. That might even clear our names, and get them to help us against the Saxons. I'll call her right now."

• • •

An hour later, we'd done all we could for Luc, and left him to handle family things. As I set the table, my thoughts tried to wander. I wasn't the one who deserved to be upset right now, but being around this much death-

A shiver passed through me. I really was feeling calmer after that little stairwell rendezvous earlier, or I wasn't sure I'd be okay. Now I was helping Colette assemble some snacks in one of the Dauphins' sitting rooms so we could eat and make a plan about where to go from here.

Elodie came into the room. "Happy news," she said, spreading her arms. "The doctor says I have bronchitis."

I let her take a cookie from my hand. "Are you kidding me? That's why you've been coughing?"

"I'm supposed to drink lots of fluids and take some cough syrup. She said it's relatively common in the month after the kind of surgery one gets from being shot in the abdomen, but I swear, it was that bus. Traveling with the masses could kill a person."