SERA

He recovered in three days.

The silver purged completely on the second night, the last of the gray tint fading from his skin while I slept beside him on the narrow cot because the healer had insisted that continuous bonded contact was medically necessary and I had chosen not to question the convenient prescription. By the third morning, he was sitting up, eating solid food, and looking at me with an expression that was cautious and hopeful and carefully restrained.

I hadn't told him ...