Hale returned Nero to his room as if escorting a condemned man.
Nero considered objecting on principle, but the corridor had tilted twice since Sylvia's recovery room, and dignity required not collapsing where Alaminian nurses could develop opinions.
He made it three steps into his treatment room before he stopped.
Chris was there.
Dax stood behind him.
Nero closed his eyes briefly. "Too soon."
Chris crossed the room.
One moment he was beside the window, pale with travel exhaustion and fury, and the next his hands were on Nero's face, turning it toward the light.
He checked carefully each wound and the pallor that even Sahan arrogance could not make fashionable.
Chris inhaled once.
Nero knew that breath, there was nothing good about it.
"Mother," Nero said carefully, trying to step back.
Chris did not allow it.
