Page 164 of Ex Somnis

“Dr. Bennett here.”

“Paul.” Mrs. Vaughn’s voice is thin, and the way she’s still sniffling slightly tells me she’s been crying.

Dammit.

“What happened?”

“Her breathing. It’s gone irregular again, even worse than last week.”

I set my pen down on the open journal article in front of me entitled Anoxic Brain Injury and Prolonged Disorders of Consciousness.

“Okay. Inform the doctor and keep an eye on it.” I force calm into my voice, needing her to calm down. I’d rather not leave the house to go comfort her now that we’re finally all home, but I will if I have to. “We will figure it out. We are as close as we’ve ever been to bringing her back. I need you to keep talking to her. And let Derek come by if he wants to.”

“Derek has been here with Melanie today. She brought Tessa a drawing. A purple horse. She’s such a gem, that little girl. That could’ve been my…” She trails off. “I ruined everything for everyone.”

I don’t disagree because she’s right.

“Do you want me to come by?” I ask instead.

“No. No, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have… I didn’t mean to say that.”

“You don’t have to apologize to me for grieving out loud.” I mean it, but I also know better than to push on it. “Derek and Melanie could use someone in their corner. Everyone can. We could all use more people in our corner who are actually on our side. It takes a village. It can still be a village, even now. You don’t need to share blood to be a family.”

The silence stretches on the other end before she whispers, “Thank you, Dr. Bennett.” Then she hangs up before I can say anything else.

I sit there with the dial tone for a second longer than I need to, the phone still against my ear.

Tessa’s breathing is back to irregular and getting worse.

We need to hurry this up, even though I have no idea what, exactly, to do in the first place. Lennon and Nevan came home from the inn hours ago, shaken.

Seraphine had confirmed what I had already suspected. Promises in dreams mean more than in waking life.

I set the phone down and take off my glasses. The bridge of my nose aches, telling me that I’ve been wearing them too long, and I press two fingers into it, breathing out through my teeth.

It’s been a long-fucking-day.

I’ve spent most of the afternoon reading journal articles while simultaneously contemplating magical contract law.

Medical school did not prepare me for this.

At least the stairlift for Ridge got installed today, a small mercy.

I lean back in my chair and stare at the blurry ceiling.

If a promise requires permission to break, then what happened with mine? Did Ridge break it when he stepped into my dreamscape? Or did This Man release me from it when he did?

Had he simply been waiting? Waiting for a reason, an opening to step across the line and pin Ridge down too? That would be worse because it means he’s not reacting.

He’s planning.

Lennon will lose her best friend if we don’t figure this out, and it looks like Nevan is just as deep into this without even knowing it.

We’re running out of time.

Seraphine’s words echo in my mind again. “Sometimes we have to sacrifice ourselves for the ones we love.”

I would, without hesitation. The problem is I don’t think I have anything This Man wants in exchange for these promises, and that realization is somehow more frightening than the alternative.