Page 3 of Where the Wind Whispers

More time in an OR.

Violet didn’t know how to deal with any of this, how to manage the torrent of terror and grief sliding down her throat with every swallow. A while ago, hours ago, she’d turned off somehow, and her heart went sort of numb.

That was the best way she knew how to explain it.

The conversation to her left continued, medical jargon being simplified when Ruslan barked at the doctor to give him something he could fucking use.

“We did what needed immediate attention,” the doctor said, sounding tired. “The bleeding and the damage in that area—that’s what we stopped. The nerves, his vocal cords …”

“That’s the second, then?” Rus asked.

Violet blinked over her shoulder, taking in Kaz’s brother who seemed smaller than she knew he really was. Like the world had just come along and sat itself down on his shoulders, and he wasn’t ready for the weight.

God.

She knew that feeling.

That and more.

“We’ll go back in and see if there was damage we missed,” the doctor continued. “But tonight, stabilization was more important. He came in coded; we had to worry about that first.”

Rus didn’t seem like he wanted to venture further on the topic of Kaz coming in coded, instead saying, “And the other … stuff. What of it?”

“Pneumonia from the cold. Coma from the blood loss. Infection from the wound. It’s all made this hurricane of circumstance for him—we have to take it one thing at a time, minute by minute.”

Not even day by day, Violet thought to herself.

No.

Minute by minute.

The doctor went on to explain how the infection was likely caused by the dirty snow Kaz had been lying in when he was found, but battling that was hard to do when his white blood cell count was so fucking low, and they were still working on replenishing what he’d lost.

Medication could only do so much.

His body had to do the rest.

“But we will give him time to do that,” the doctor added, passing Kaz’s prone form a pensive look. “The blood loss might have caused the coma, but we can keep him in it for as long as his body needs. Almost like a way to let his body focus on what needs care now and not all the other things that aren’t as important. And his brain—”

Violet’s head snapped up at that statement, and she cut off the doctor with a sharp, “What about his brain?”

The doctor didn’t answer.

Ruslan did. However, he never looked at her when he said, “He came in coded—they already said that, Violet. Loss of oxygen for even a minute can cause …”

Violet tuned Rus out, not wanting to hear the rest of his sentence. Didn’t they have enough to deal with where Kaz was concerned without having to add in the sorts of variables that meant even if he did survive, it might only be for a life that wasn’t really worth living?

No, she wasn’t going to entertain that at all.

For the first time since Violet had been allowed into Kaz’s room, she reached down to his side and tangled her fingers with his, feeling their cold slackness offer her nothing in response to her touch.

Maybe that killed her the most.

That he was so cold.

That he didn’t respond.

That he didn’t even know she was there.