The ultrasound machine was a hulking, grey thing on a cart. The technician had a kind face but quiet hands. She helped Nerissa lie back, draped a sheet over her legs, and squeezed cold gel onto her stomach. She flinched.“Just relax,” she murmured, but her eyes were careful, avoiding hers.Vance hadn’t left. He stood near the curtained entrance, his back to the fabric wall, a broad, dark silhouette blocking out the noise and light from the hallway. He wasn’t looking at her. He was staring at a point on the opposite wall, his posture rigid. A sentinel. A wall.The wand pressed against her, cold and foreign. On the screen, a blurry, shifting landscape of greys and blacks appeared. She didn’t know what she was looking at. She didn’t know what any of it meant. Her heart was a frantic bird trapped in her ribs, beating against the cage of her bones. Please, she thought, a wordless, desperate prayer to nothing and everything. Please, please, please.The tech moved the wand. Clicked a button
Last Updated : 2026-02-04 Read more