Chapter 217

Sebastian I sat by my mother's hospital bed, the antiseptic stench of the room clinging to my clothes like guilt. The koi pond's damp chill still lived in my bones—or maybe it was just the memory of her soaked dress, the way her hand trembled even in sleep. She'd survived. Barely. She was stable now. But the fear hadn't left my chest. Not entirely. Beta Sawyer slipped into the room. *Cecilia just called,*his voice came over the mind-link, cutting through the static in my head. My shoulders dropped as I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding. The edges of my exhaustion retracted, just enough for relief to slip in. Cecilia. Home. Unharmed. A grim, quiet acknowledgment settled over me. Tang had done what I couldn't last night. Because I wasn't there. "Sebastian, sweetheart..." The voice behind me was barely more than air. I turned fast. My mother was trying to sit up—frail, pale, and bruised like a porcelain doll that had lost a fight with gravity. We'd stayed with her all ni