Kael's POV
I watched him sleep for a long time after the physicians left. His chest rose and fell in a steady line. That simple movement still made my hands shake if I looked too long.
The fear from the past week hadn't left me. It lived under my skin like a second pulse. Every time I closed my eyes I saw the empty chair and the still body and the moment the monitors might have gone flat while I was not looking.
I remembered the first night most clearly. I had sat in this same chair and counted every breath because the silence between them felt too long. I held his hand and felt how cold his fingers were. I had whispered his name and gotten nothing back.
The second night was worse. The physicians spoke in careful voices about residual damage and slipping further away. I stopped answering messages from the estate.
