"There's not much I can do for the patient at the moment, ma'am."
The doctor shifted nervously as his expression tightened with embarrassment. It was deeply humiliating to have to repeat the exact same helpless conclusions every single day in front of his increasingly cold employer.
"Why?" Elara's question was delivered with the precise, functional sharpness that had characterized her all week. It was exactly the same query she had put forward yesterday.
"As you know, her current physiological state is highly unstable due to the advanced stage of the pregnancy," the doctor explained, wringing his hands as he pointed to the fluctuating metrics on the screen. "Because of this, I cannot administer heavy sedatives or fever suppressants without extreme risk to the fetal development. The only thing she truly needs right now is support from her sired mate. But that is only possible if she allows it. If she were marked without her consent, the child in her stomach—"
