Chapter 197\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll monitor her closely,\u2018 Dr. Graze said. \u201cIf she shows any signs of distress when she wakes up, we can sedate her again. But right now, her physical health\u00a0<\/p>\n
is the priority.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He set up an IV line and hung a bag of fluids. \u2018I\u2019ll come back to check on her in a few hours,\u201d he said. \u201cCall me immediately if anything changes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
After he left, the three of us sat in the living room again. None of us spoke. We all knew what we were facing now. In a few hours, Athena would wake up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And we had no idea what would happen when she did.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1 thought about the way she\u2019d looked at me in the cave when the power was in control. Her silver eyes had been empty of everything I loved about her. If\u00a0<\/p>\n
she woke up like that again, I didn\u2019t know what I would do.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But I also couldn\u2019t watch her waste away in an unconscious state. She was already too thin, too weak. A few more days of this and we might lose her\u00a0<\/p>\n
anyway.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll take shifts,\u201d Orion said quietly. \u201cSomeone should be with her when she wakes up.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019ll take the first shift,\u201d I said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTristan, Sarah said gently. \u201cYou need to rest too. You look like you\u2019re about to collapse.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She was right. My body was still recovering from what Athena had done to me. I was exhausted and weak and probably not much help to anyone right now.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cJust a few hours,\u201d I said. \u201cLet me sit with her for a few hours.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Orion nodded. \u201cI\u2019ll relieve you at midnight.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I went back to the guest room and settled into a chair next to the bed. Athena\u2019s breathing was a little deeper now that she had the IV fluids. Her heartbeat was stronger. But she was still so thin and fragile\u2013looking.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I reached out and carefully touched her head, stroking the soft fur between her ears. She didn\u2019t react at all.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019m here,\u201d I whispered. \u2018I\u2019m not going anywhere. We\u2019re going to figure this out, okay? We\u2019re going to find a way to help you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t know if she could hear me, but I kept talking anyway. I told her about the drive home and how worried Sarah had been. I told her about Dr. Graze and the IV fluids. I told her how much I loved her and how I wasn\u2019t giving up on her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The hours passed slowly. I dozed fitfully in the chair, waking up every few minutes to check on her breathing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Around eleven\u2013thirty, I heard footsteps in the hallway.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Orion appeared in the doorway with two cups of coffee.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAny changes?\u201d he asked quietly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018No.\u2018 I said. \u201cShe\u2019s been still the whole time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He handed me one of the cups and I took a grateful sip. The caffeine helped clear some of the fog from my brain.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/21\u00a0<\/p>\n
15:28 Sat, Jan 10\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 197\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018You should get some real sleep, Orion said. \u201cIn a real bed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I don\u2019t want to leave her,\u201d I said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll be right here,\u201d Orion promised. \u2018If anything happens, anything at all, I\u2019ll wake you up.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I knew he was right. I was no good to Athena if I collapsed from exhaustion. Reluctantly, I stood up from the chair.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sedative should wear off around six in the morning,\u201d I said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI know,\u201d Orion said. \u201cI\u2019ll wake you at five.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I walked to the door but stopped and looked back at Athena one more time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She looked so peaceful lying there. It was hard to believe that something so dangerous was sleeping inside her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to save her,\u201d Orion said quietly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I wanted to believe him. I had to believe him. Because the alternative was unthinkable.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah,\u201d I said. \u201cWe are.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I went to the spare bedroom Sarah had prepared for me and tried to sleep. But every time I closed my eyes, I saw Athena\u2019s silver glowing eyes staring at me\u00a0<\/p>\n
with no recognition.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I saw the withered corpses of Daxon and Seraphine. I felt the emptiness inside me where my life force had been drained away.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tomorrow, Athena would wake up. And we would find out if the woman I loved was still in there, or if we had lost her to something ancient and hungry and\u00a0<\/p>\n
deadly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Either way, I would be there. I would fight for her until there was no fight left in me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Because giving up wasn\u2019t an option when everything that mattered was on the line.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Memories Drifted Into Soft Silence by Kyx Frost 197 Chapter 197\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ll monitor her closely,\u2018 Dr. Graze said. \u201cIf she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-second-gear-of-love-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26354\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}