He watched her descend into the warmth of the drug, with nothing short of envy. The days when he could seek solace in the needle were gone. Still, he would not trade those mad days for the ones ahead of him now.
"Come, then," he said after a few seconds of waiting on a response that would not come. "Let's get you inside."
And, with a great amount of care, he did just that, installing her in a ground-floor suite of guest rooms, and ensuring that she was as comfortable as could be made, given the circumstances.
There was a sitting room attached to the bedchamber he'd given Arie. Because he didn't want to wake his wife, and because he preferred to be close at hand if his little patient needed something, Erik closed the door between the rooms, then bunked down in a chair for the rest of the night. Hannibal could wait until the morning.