Loreen's POV
Loreen released a long and slow breath.
Whatever had just happened, whatever force or person or thing had pulled Sairis back from wherever he had gone, Loreen owed it a debt he did not know how to pay.
He had felt Sairis go still in his arms. Not the stillness of sleep or exhaustion. A different kind of stillness. The kind that made his chest seize up and his hands grip tighter and his voice say things he had not planned to say because saying them was the only thing he could think to do.
He looked at Ardent. The physician's face said everything. The shock on it was plain and unguarded and Ardent was not a man who showed things plainly very often.
"Check him again," Loreen said.
Ardent reached for Sairis's wrist without a word. He pressed his fingers against the pulse point and counted and the room was so quiet that Loreen could hear his own heartbeat. Then Ardent looked up and nodded.
"It is back," he muttered. "Normal."
