Chapter 216 - Tasks And Traps

Yu moved to sit beside Vladimir on the edge of the hospital bed, careful not to jostle the IV line too much, while Talon came forward far more slowly and took a place near the bed on Yu's other side as though approaching something sacred rather than simply sitting down. His eyes remained fixed on the small boy with such visible intensity that Yu could practically see the disbelief still moving through him in waves, because every few seconds Talon's breath hitched again, as though something enormous inside him had cracked open and had not yet decided whether to become grief, wonder, or worship. The sight of him was almost unsettling in its vulnerability, because this mountain of a man, this ancient and terrifying thing disguised in beauty and wealth, had been reduced to a silent trembling father just by the existence of the child in front of him.