Seraphine closed her eyes and concentrated on slowing the rhythm of her breathing, forcing each inhale and exhale into a steady pattern while hoping that sleep would eventually carry her far enough away from the pain for her body to recover even a small amount of strength.
If she could remain asleep through most of it, perhaps the worst part would pass without completely breaking her.
Allowing herself to stay asleep for nearly three full days would definitely leave consequences behind, especially when she considered everything waiting for her attention, from her investments in the stock market to the cyber contracts she managed through her network, not to mention the growing demands of MindNest and the responsibilities tied to her work at the hospital, yet despite the risks to all of those commitments she could not see any other path forward.
The pain was simply unbearable.
