Rynell stumbled backward, his chest heaving as though he could draw no breath.
He screamed toward the doorway, "Go! Summon the best physician at the private hospital, at once!"
'Zairine could not be gone. She could not. There must still be hope…'
Even as he clung to that desperate hope, he moved slowly to the coffin. Trembling, he reached out and touched his fingers to her breath.
In the next instant, he snatched his hand back.
His eyes filled with a grief so vast it felt as though the very heavens had fallen. He stood stunned, broken, unable to accept what he saw.
'Had he returned a little sooner, would everything have been different?'
His strength failed him. He sank upon the sofa, staring at the open journal upon the table. Regret, vast and overwhelming, washed over him.
He gaze
