Over the next hour, Dante barely left her side. He helped her drink, fed her slowly, guided her to the bathroom, and supported her every step back to bed. He adjusted pillows, checked bandages, and watched her closely, as if she might shatter.
"You're good at this," Lilian said as he helped her back into bed, found his treatment oddly comforting. "The caretaking thing."
"I was a plague doctor," Dante reminded her. "Taking care of the sick was my profession for the first forty years of my human life."
"Did you always want to be a doctor?" Lilian asked, more curious about this stoic man's past.
"Yes," he said, returning to his chair. "Even as a child, I was fascinated by how the body worked. By disease and healing. My father disapproved, he thought it beneath our family's status. We were noble, but my mother supported me."
"What happened to your parents?" Lilian asked.
"Plague," Dante said simply. "The same plague I was trying to cure. They died when I was thirty-five. I became infected trying to treat them, and that's when I was turned."
"I'm sorry," Lilian said softly.
"It was a very long time ago," he replied, though something in his voice suggested the pain wasn't entirely gone. "The point is, I know how to care for patients. And right now, you're my patient. Which means you follow my instructions."
"Yes, doctor," Lilian said with mock seriousness.
The day passed slowly. Dante repositioned her every few hours to prevent bed sores, changed her bandages, monitored her temperature, and kept her company with stories from his centuries of life.
She learned that he had studied medicine in five different countries, that he had been present for the development of germ theory, that he had helped develop several vaccines in the early 1900 s before vampire politics pulled him away from human medicine.
"You could have saved millions if you had stayed with it," Lilian said after he told her one of his stories.
"Perhaps," Dante agreed. "But vampire society needed me more. The Council was on the verge of civil war. Adrian and Lucien convinced me my skills were better used in diplomacy than research."
"Do you regret it?"
He was quiet for a moment. "Sometimes. But then I remember that the work I did for the Council prevented wars that would have exposed our kind to humans. That would led to genocide on both sides. So no, I don't regret it. My path led me here."
His gaze met hers. "To you."
Lilian's heart skipped at the simple certainty in his tone and the way he said it.
——
By evening, Adrian came to take over the watch. Dante looked reluctant to leave, but Adrian practically ushered him out the door.
"You've been awake for over twenty-four hours," Adrian said firmly. "Go rest."
After Dante left, Adrian settled into the chair with a book. "How are you feeling?"
"Frustrated," Lilian groaned. "I hate being stuck in bed."
"I know," Adrian said gently and sympathetically. "But your body needs time to heal. The toxin is metabolizing out of your system, but slowly."
"How long until it's gone completely," Lilian sighed.
"Another day or two," he estimated. "Then your healing will fully kick back in."
They talked for a while about books, about Adrian's life before being turned, about everything and nothing.
Eventually, Lilian drifted back to sleep, lulled by the sound of his voice reading poetry aloud.
——
The second day was harder. The pain had lessened, but restlessness had set in. Lilian felt like she was going to climb the walls if she had to stay in bed one more hour.
"I need to move," she told Lucien, who was on guard duty for the day. "If I stay in bed any longer, I'm going to lose my mind."
"Dante said bed rest," Lucien reminded her.
"Dante isn't here," she pointed out. "And I'm going to walk around this room whether you help me or not. So you can either support me and make sure I don't fall, or you can watch me hurt myself trying to do it alone."
Lucien groaned. "You're going to get me in trouble with Dante."
"I'll take the blame," Lilian promised.
Reluctantly, he helped her out of bed and supported her while she walked slow laps around the room. After being bedridden for a day and a half, even this small amount of movement felt like freedom.
"Better?" Lucien asked after the fifth lap.
"Yes," she admitted. "Thank you for not being a tyrant about it like Dante would be."
"Oh, he's going to kill me when he finds out," Lucien said cheerfully. "But you're right. Some movement is good. Staying immobile too long is bad for recovery anyway."
They did several more laps before Lilian's energy ran out. Lucien helped her back to bed, and she immediately felt exhausted again.
"I think the toxin's almost gone," Lucien observed, examining her shoulder wound. "This is starting to heal properly now. See the edges? They're knitting back together."
He smiled reassuring her. "By tomorrow morning, you should be seventy percent," he estimated. "And tomorrow evening, close to ninety. By the third morning, you'll be back to full strength."
"Wow. It's perfect timing," Lilian said, amused.
Lucien was amused, too. "Dante planned it that way, I guess," he said. "He knew exactly how long the toxin would take to metabolize, how fast your healing would work once it did. Three days wasn't a guess. It was math."
"Haha, Dante is the physician, isn't he?" Lilian said fondly. The thought she would heal soon made her gleaming through the day.
That evening, Dante returned for his watch and immediately noticed Lilian had been up and moving earlier in the day.
"Who let you out of bed?" he demanded, narrowing his eyes slightly.
"I did," Lilian said. "Lucien just made sure I didn't fall."
Dante shot Lucien a glare. "You were supposed to enforce bed rest."
"She was unstoppable," Lucien said, completely unbothered. "I just made it safer. You're welcome, by the way."
Dante looked like he wanted to argue more, but after examining Lilian's wound and finding them healing properly, he reluctantly let it go.
"Fine. But tonight you rest. No walking around," he sighed.
"Yes, doctor," Lilian said, trying not to smile at his overprotective frustration.
——
At the third morning, the wounds on her shoulder had closed completely, leaving only faint pink lines that would fade within hours. Her ribs no longer ached when she breathed, and the smaller cuts and abrasions had vanished entirely.
She sat up carefully, testing her range of motion. There was no pain or stiffness. Just strength flowing back into her limbs.
"Well, look who's recovered," Dante said from the chair. He had taken the night watch again, apparently not trusting anyone else after what happened during Lucien's watch. "How do you feel?"
"Good," Lilian said honestly. "I feel really good. The toxin's gone?"
"Completely, I supposed," he confirmed. "Your healing finished the job overnight. You're back to full strength."
"So tonight~"
"Tonight we complete the bond," Dante finished, his face showing no emotion but she could see his eyes were blazing with his desires. "All three of us together. As it's meant to be."
The anticipation in his voice made Lilian's pulse quickened. After three days of recovery, of sleeping alone while one of them kept watch, of building tension and unfulfilled desire, tonight would finally be the night.
"Are you nervous?" Dante asked, watching her carefully.
"A little. It's a big step," she admitted.
"That's natural," he said. "But it's the right step."
He stood and moved to the bed, sitting on the edge. "There's something I wanted to do before tonight. Something I wanted to do for days but couldn't because you were injured."
"What?" Lilian asked, her heart starting to race seeing his expression.
"I want to prepare you," Dante said, his hand coming up to cup her face. "I want to teach you about pleasure. About your body. So when tonight comes, you're not going in blind."
"You mean..." her breath caught.
"I mean I want to make you feel good," Dante said simply. "No intercourse, no bonding, just to give you pleasure. Teaching you what your body can handle. What we can give you. Only if you want it."
Lilian's answer was to pull him down into a kiss.