She managed a harsh laugh, and a small trail of blood leaked from her lips. “I’m beyond any magic, even yours.”

“Not true. I just need it back.”

“No time,” she croaked out. “But I need . . . to talk to you. Alone.”

“Olive, you need to rest,” Adrian insisted, but the words sounded hollow. We both knew she was right about time. Her life was bleeding out in front of us.

The baby in her arms began to cry.

“Go,” Dimitri ordered the others, shooing them away. To Adrian and me, he said, “Give her what comfort you can.”

I gave a weak nod, but mostly I was trying not to start crying.

“Take him,” Olive said, when the others had left. She thrust the baby toward Adrian.

I was pretty sure he’d never held a baby in his life, but as his arms went around the tiny bundle, the baby quieted. I leaned over to get a better look. He was so tiny as to seem unreal. A fuzz of dark hair covered his head, and he looked up at us with astonishingly alert eyes. He was wrapped in someone’s jacket, and Adrian attempted some half-hearted rocking.

“Shh, there you go. There you, Declan. Declan Neil Sinclair.”

“Raymond,” Olive said. She paused and coughed up more blood. “Declan Neil Raymond.”

“Neil’s last name,” I said.

“You have to take him to Neil,” she told us. “When I’m gone.”

“Don’t talk like that,” Adrian said, sounding as though he were having trouble keeping sobs from his voice.

With her good arm, she clutched Adrian’s sleeve. “You don’t understand. He is Neil’s. Neil’s his father.”

Arguing dhampir genetics seemed pointless, given her state. Maybe she was so out of it, she believed Neil was the father. Maybe she was speaking figuratively. From what I’d seen at Court, Neil loved her so much, he’d probably adopt the baby as his own anyway. “Of course,” I said gently, simply wanting to pacify her.

She was fading fast, but a spark of anger glittered in her eyes. “No, I mean it. He’s Neil’s. I’ve never been with anyone else.”

“Olive,” Adrian said, not unkindly, “that’s impossible.”

“No,” she repeated. She closed her eyes, and for a moment, I feared the worst. Then they fluttered open again. “I was only with Neil. Just once. And when I found out . . . I was so scared. I don’t know what happened . . . it must have something to do with me being restored. With all the spirit that was in me. I’ve been so afraid if anyone—Moroi or Alchemists—knew, they’d want to take the baby. Experiment on him, like Sonya does. So I hid. Hid from them all. Even N-Nina.” Her voice caught on her sister’s name, and she paused to breathe, which seemed to be causing more difficulty.