"She won't listen," Liam finally said quietly.
Gerald sighed heavily, his shoulders dropping as the exhaustion of the situation settled over him.
"She is his mother," he replied. "Right now, she can only see her son lying unconscious in that bed. Everything else feels like an attack against him."
Liam looked toward the wardroom door. "But that doesn't change what we found."
"No," Gerald agreed. "It doesn't."
He turned away from the door and began walking down the corridor, with Liam following beside him. Neither of them spoke again for several moments, both carrying the weight of the unanswered questions that remained surrounding Ethan, Cooper, Dakota, and the ritual he had attempted.
Inside the wardroom, Miriam remained beside Ethan's bed, while the physicians continued watching over him. Outside, Gerald and Liam moved farther down the corridor, leaving her the space she had demanded without saying it directly.
