Chapter 9 #2
“I’d tell ye, lass, if I could, but ’tis aught learned from my mother and hers, and is no’ mine to share. Ye must rely on all yer mother left ye.”
Again, that look of pain pinching his forehead, hooding his gaze. Did he lie? Or did he truly regret not being able to share his methods with her?
She needed Robena to wake so she could see for herself how much improved the woman was. And she needed Jamie to give up his secrets. She tried a different tack. “Why are ye here again without me? I asked ye to wait.”
He glanced at the door as if wishing he could go on his way rather than answer her questions, but she wouldn’t take her gaze from him as long as it held him pinned in place. She would use that regret she saw in his eyes against him, as she must.
“I intended to, but I had stopped into the post house and heard Agatha talking about seeing her friend.” He nodded toward Robena. “I ken she’s abrasive. And I feared she’d do something to upset her, so I introduced myself and came along.”
Aftyn fought the urge to stamp her foot. “I need yer help, Jamie Lathan. Ye heard Agatha. She hates me. Her bairn’s heart gave out within days of his birth. I could no’ save him.”
She wrung her hands, then gestured to the sleeping woman on the bed.
“I’ve treated Robena for months, doing all I could to ease her pain, and when it became difficult for her, her breathing.
If ye have truly helped her, I must ken how ye did it.
She may need the like again in the future, after ye are gone. Others may need the like.”
“Lass, I… canna.” His jaw clenched as he avoided her gaze.
Aftyn knew she was begging, and she hated it, but she was not begging for herself, but for her fellow villagers. But nay, his expression was resolute. He would not. Aftyn broke eye contact. “Go on, then. I’ll wait with Robena till she wakes.”
“Nay, lass. Ye must go. Agatha is still out there.”
“And I wish to see how Robena fares.”
“Ye will. Perhaps tomorrow, without Agatha here to upset Robena.”
She moved closer to the bed. “I worry for her. I should wake her.”
“She will fare better if ye allow her to sleep and awaken when she is ready.”
He’d used the one argument she had no answer for. She would not knowingly harm Robena or anyone else. She could not. She let her shoulders slump in defeat and huffed out a frustrated breath.
Jamie’s conscience niggled at him like a minnow on a hook. Helping these people was not helping Aftyn, yet he felt compelled to do whatever he could for them. How was he to know if he was supposed to help someone, or if death was their fate? He could only do his best and leave the rest to God.
For now, the stubborn lass was in his way, but perhaps not for long. He had used her empathy against her, and could see it working. She’d already canted her body toward the door.
He remained still and quiet, letting Aftyn’s own inclinations propel her outside.
Once the door shut behind her, he turned quickly to his patient and scanned her as he’d been taught, sensing the slow beat of her heart and the sluggish flow of blood through her veins, the air moving in and out of her lungs, searching for a way to destroy more of the contagion killing her.
With Aftyn waiting outside, he didn’t have much time, time Robena desperately needed him to spend with her.
Time he needed to understand what was wrong with her and figure out how to treat it.
He considered making a fast trip to the Aerie and back to consult with his mother.
Aileanna would know whether Robena could be cured, and how, or whether the best anyone could do would be to make her comfortable and ease her passing.
Yet knowing Aftyn could never do what he could stopped him.
He knew better than anyone that Aftyn had fought a losing battle with Robena’s illness.
Nothing she could have done would have saved the lass.
But he could not tell her that. He could not explain how he knew, or what he’d done to save her patient.
That ability lay within him, an unprecedented gift from his mother.
No herb, no potion she could concoct would ever do what he did, no matter how strong or often applied, how well intentioned its use.
His talent, his power, was something else entirely. He couldn’t claim to understand it. But he used it. And he guarded it. As hard as it was to hear Aftyn’s pleas, he had nothing to give her that would have helped her make a difference here.
But what would happen to her if Robena suddenly, miraculously improved?
Would Agatha’s accusation resonate within the village?
Only two months earlier, the king had burned at the stake the Countess of Glamis for trying to poison him.
Jamie had the misfortune of being nearby and saw the smoke roiling above the castle, heard the chanting and the screams. Those screams would inhabit his nightmares for the rest of his life.
If Agatha persisted in saying Aftyn had poisoned her bairn and Robena, it took little imagination to come to a very bad conclusion. Aftyn was in danger because of what he’d done. What she, through no fault of her own, would never be able to do.
Jamie could not leave her, perhaps not even once Niall was ready to travel. Somehow, he must fix this. Time was short. He’d only promised the Keith he'd remain for a week. By then, he must see Aftyn’s reputation restored.
During that time, he’d continue to puzzle out her mother’s journal and teach Aftyn as much herb lore as he could. He might learn from her, as well.
“Colin?”
Robena’s voice startled Jamie out of his thoughts. He turned to her and smiled. Since she had been unconscious until her husband burst in the day before, likely she did not remember him. “Colin is working. I came to see how ye are feeling.”
“Who are ye? What are ye doing? Colin? Colin!” Robena’s voice gained strength and volume as her panic increased. She sat up and clutched the covers to her chest. “Colin!”
The door flew open and Aftyn ran in, Agatha on her heels. “Robena, ye are awake!”
“What’s wrong?” Agatha turned her frown on Jamie as Aftyn dropped to her knees beside the bed and clutched Robena’s hand in hers.
“All is well. This man is a healer. He’s helped ye. He’s made ye better.”
“Where’s Colin? Where’s my husband?”
“Working the harvest,” Aftyn told her. "He’ll be along soon. He’ll be glad to see ye awake.”
“How long did I sleep? What did he do to me?” Her glance toward Jamie was accusing.
“How do ye feel, Robena?” Agatha asked.
Robena went silent for a moment, then took a breath and let it out slowly.
Aftyn’s smile lit up the room. “See? Ye could no’ do that for a fortnight before now.”
Robena nodded, color blooming in her cheeks.
“How did ye do that?” Agatha frowned again at Jamie.
“Robena doesna remember me,” Jamie said, pitching his voice low and soft to calm everyone, “and that is not unusual. Does her progress displease ye?” He counted on Agatha’s temperament to help him avoid answering the question—in her eyes, he was the only legitimate healer in the croft.
“Of course no’. ’Tis a welcome surprise.”
“Yer healer laid the groundwork, but it took time for Robena to feel better. I simply carried on with what she started. And ye see the result. Ye are lucky to have her to care for yer village.”
Agatha’s suspicious gaze turned to Aftyn. “Indeed? She truly helped Robena? Then why did she no’ help my bairn?”
Jamie suddenly knew the scope of his error. Agatha already believed Aftyn had deliberately let her heir die. By insisting Aftyn was as good a healer as Agatha believed him to be, he’d just confirmed Agatha’s suspicions.
Something lifted the hairs on the back of Aftyn’s neck. She glanced around. Jamie wore a stunned look, his eyes wide, as though he’d just realized something vitally important. She replayed in her mind what she’d overheard him say while her attention was focused on Robena.
Then her gaze shot to Agatha, who twisted her mouth into a satisfied smirk. Ach, nay. She fought the urge to rise and run for the door. It would do no good.
Agatha would not forget what he’d said. She’d make Aftyn’s life hell for as long as it lasted. Which might not be much longer, if Agatha had her way.
“What’s amiss?”
Robena’s question pulled Aftyn’s attention back to her.
Robena had sensed the sudden rise in tension in the room and lifted up on to one elbow, but missed the reason for it.
Aftyn cleared a suddenly dry throat and summoned the strength to answer Robena calmly.
“Nought, lass. We’re simply stunned at how well ye are, and happy, too.
Aren’t we, Agatha?” She turned her head so Robena couldn’t see her expression and frowned at the woman, daring her to contradict what she’d said, and make Robena feel worse.
Agatha’s gaze cut to Robena. Her smile looked forced to Aftyn, but Robena accepted it as genuine and lay back on her pillow even before Agatha spoke.
“Indeed we are happy to see ye so much improved, my friend.”
“I’ll leave ye to make Robena more comfortable, and return to the keep,” Jamie interjected into the silence that followed. “If I encounter Colin, I’ll send him home.”
“Thank ye,” Robena murmured.
But her expression belied her confusion. Aftyn knew she had no idea what the healer had done to or for her, and suspected she wasn’t certain how much gratitude she should convey.
As Jamie moved to the door, Aftyn debated following him.
Agatha could help her friend bathe and change into clean clothes without Aftyn’s assistance.
A change of bedding would do the lass good, too.
She feared what Agatha would say to her with Jamie out of the room, even more what Agatha would say to Robena once she left them alone.
Perhaps she should stay to defend herself.
Jamie made the decision for her. “Aftyn, if ye could join me outside. I’d like to speak with ye.”