The woman’s cries softened as morning approached, and exhaustion gradually pulled her toward a quieter state.
Rhen remained close to the bed while her breathing steadied. The violent convulsions had weakened into intermittent tremors, and the feverish strain across her face had begun to ease.
Cole entered once more with Dax and Malakai behind him.
Rhen did not turn from the bed.
“She will survive.”
His voice carried the certainty of a command, but Cole heard the question beneath it.
“I believe so.”
Rhen’s gaze remained fixed upon the woman.
“When she wakes, I will be here. If this connection requires anything more from either of us, she will decide it while fully conscious.”
Nobody challenged him.
The brothers understood that their presence no longer served a useful purpose. They had confirmed that the transition was no longer immediately fatal, and whatever followed would have to begin between Rhen and the woman without three witnesses studying every breath.
Malakai caught Rhen’s attention before leaving.
Call us if her magic changes.
Rhen inclined his head.
One by one, the brothers left, and the door closed behind them.
The chamber settled into silence.
The worst of the physical torment appeared to have passed. The woman lay exhausted beneath the sheet, her chest rising with slow, labored breaths while her eyes moved restlessly beneath closed lids.
Rhen sat on the edge of the bed.
The mattress shifted beneath his weight, but she did not recoil. He watched her carefully, waiting for some indication that the person inside the body had returned.
The connection between them continued building beneath the quiet. It no longer felt like the violent hook that had formed during the transition. Instead, it had become a steady awareness of her presence, threaded through his blood and pulling him closer whenever he attempted to retreat.
Rhen distrusted it completely.
Her skin remained pale and damp, while dark hair framed her face in tangled waves. She looked both fragile and feral, as though survival had stripped away every unnecessary part of her.
Her eyes opened.
For the first time in hours, they found him directly.
Exhaustion clouded her gaze, but awareness existed beneath it.
Rhen leaned closer.
“Do you know where you are?”
Her lips parted, and the first attempt at speech produced only a dry breath.
“In your room.”
“Do you know who I am?”
