Chapter 40

It was just past midnight when Elaria woke up. The first thing she saw was Mr. Richards' worried face hovering over her. His voice held a rare relief as he said, "Your grandma's awake. Seems like even Buddha couldn't ignore your prayers-dragged her straight back from the gates of hell." "Really?" she asked, blinking rapidly as tears welled up and spilled over, soaking her pillow uncontrollably. Mr. Richards gently pulled the blanket up to tuck her in and reassured her, "Absolutely. Don't try to move around yet. She's being looked after by doctors and nurses. It's you we're worried about, young lady. Your blood sugar crashed hard. Lucky Sebastian was with you-otherwise, who knows what could've happened." And speak of the devil- Sebastian pushed open the door and stepped inside. His eyes met hers across the room. Seeing him again stirred something hard to put into words. The memory of Elaria setting that fire, standing tall in front of the flames-the image was still vivid, like sparks li