Helen shivered at the memory of that night. She never gave up on Nikola being able to pull through the madness but at the same time, she was terrified his body would give out before his mind would.
Helen knew of all the illnesses Nikola had as a child and had helped him through more than one fever, one of which he was so delirious he spoke to her in Serbian, thinking she was his mother.
She'd not know much of his mother tongue at the time but she knew enough to know he was apologizing for something that made him curl up into a tiny ball and cry.
Helen shook her head to come back to the present, well, the more present memory.
She hadn't been sure if Nikola could hear her anymore so thought this would be more helpful, and fight away the specter of death that kept wanting to slip into the room when she wasn't looking.
It was very good to know it had worked.