Chapter 78

When Brendan has been unconscious for two days, Alcina has taken to reading to him.

She doubts that Brendan can actually hear or register a single word, but. Alcina feels as though she might go mad if she spends another day just staring at Brendan, watching for any signs of him waking up that never come.

And for another, she hopes-

Well.

She hopes that Brendan is not trapped in his terrible nightmares when Alcina cannot reach him and protect him from his own shadows; hopes that Brendan is dreaming of happy, pleasant things if he is in a place where Alcina cannot go.

But Alcina cannot help but to think of Brendan as the man who had endured the worst of his own shadows, night after night when they had first met.

And so she reads, hoping that, perhaps, the sound of her voice will help keep the nightmares away; that perhaps she might be able to replace them, instead, with dreams of Brendan’s favorite constellations, and that Brendan might be able to spend this time with those stars that h