Vajra slipped around the doctor and perched in the chair next to Ardala’s bed stifling the urge to brush her hair out of her face. He wasn’t going to touch her without her permission and especially not while she was unconscious. He was simply here to sit with her and make sure she didn’t wake up in a strange place alone. She couldn’t panic like that again, not while she was hurt, or she’d get hurt worse.

He just sat there with her in the silence after the nurses left. ...