Chapter Twenty-One Rab #2
“Och, of course, love. I’m not going anywhere.” I squeezed her hand, that warm tingle of connection bouncing between us. It had always been that way between her and me. We’d touch, and electricity would leap between us.
“She’s bloody well lucky,” Henry murmured.
His eyes were closed, and his hands were glowing with a soft golden light as he gently touched the skin on either side of her wound.
“It caught her just below her ribs, missing any organs. The wound is deep, and the knife has cut through muscle, an oblique, and nicked an intercostal artery.”
“Her artery?” Sloane gasped.
“A lesser one. It’s not as dangerous, but does bleed a lot,” Henry murmured, his eyes still closed.
He must be doing some sort of magickal scan of sorts, seeing his way around her wound with his mind’s eye.
“We’re lucky. She’s lucky. We’ll get this stitched up in no time.
I just need to start with the internal stitching. ”
Henry opened his eyes and nodded toward a black leather medical bag at the end of the bed. “Knox, grab that for me. I’ll need the silver sutures, the mermaid’s tears tincture, and the moonmoss salve.”
“On it.” Knox dug through the bag, and I shifted, pulling myself onto the bed so I half sat, and held Lyra’s hand between both of mine.
“You’re doing great. Everything’s going to be just fine. Nothing major was hit,” I mumbled, repeating variations of those phrases over and over.
Movement at the door, and I looked up to see Liam, Raven, Broca, and Nova all squeeze quietly into the room.
Raven, a dedicated healer in her own right, stepped up and took the medical bag from Knox, moving quietly to Henry’s side.
Everyone fell back, giving the two room, and I stayed where I was, tracing designs over Lyra’s hand.
“Mermaid’s tears.” Raven handed a small bottle over, and Henry carefully uncapped it, squinting as he carefully dripped a single silvery drop of liquid into the wound.
“Oh,” Lyra breathed. Her grip on my hand relaxed some, and I looked up in question at Knox, who just shrugged.
“Mermaid’s tears will clean and numb the wound,” Raven explained, catching my look as she carefully recapped the bottle. “It’s a magical antiseptic and numbing agent. She shouldn’t feel a thing when he begins suturing.”
Raven quickly threaded a needle, and Henry took it from her, his movements quick, and showed no hesitation as he bent over the wound. I looked away. I hated seeing her perfect skin marred by something so ugly.
“You shouldn’t feel a thing,” I murmured, continuing to draw on Lyra’s hand, trying to take her attention away from what was happening.
“Just a tugging,” Lyra mumbled. “No pain.”
“Good, that’s good.”
I looked down to see her eyes open and focused on me. The impossible lavender blue of her irises sucked me in, as they always did, and I almost forgot where I was and bent down and kissed her forehead.
I had no idea what was going on with us, if Knox was right and she still had feelings for me, or if we could get over the heartbreak of the past, but none of that mattered. At least not right now. What mattered was that we healed her up.
Henry worked quickly, though at the same time every careful stitch felt like it took ages, and his hands continued to shine with his magick.
I wasn’t sure if it helped light his way, increased his speed and accuracy, or was something else altogether, but soon enough he was leaning back with a sigh of relief.
The wound was neatly closed, a jagged slash against her skin, and seeing it made me want to murder Felicity. Taking a deep breath, I pasted a smile on my face.
“Looks like he’s almost done,” I murmured to Lyra, who continued to just stare up at my face.
“Okay. I can’t look. Is it bad?”
“Nah. You’ll look like a proper badass.”
“I can tell people I got into a fight at the pub,” Lyra whispered.
“There ya go.”
“Just the moonmoss now, please.” Henry passed the sutures off to Raven, and she gave him a small tin.
Opening it, Henry pressed a silvery mossy material over the wound, and then he took the bandage Raven offered him and taped it over the moss.
He took his time taping the bandage, making sure it was amply covered, and then sat back with a pleased smile on his face.
“There you are, Lyra, darling. All patched up.”
Lyra’s eyes slid from my face to Henry’s. “What’s the prognosis, Doc?”
“You’ll be woozy from loss of blood and shock, and you’re going to be in some pain the next few days, but Raven’s got a few things that will sort you out on that end.
The muscle will just need some time to repair itself, but we’ve sped it along as best we could with our magick.
” Henry reached over and patted Lyra’s arm.
“I’m just glad it wasn’t anything more serious. That was a nasty wound. Quite deep.”
“Aye, it felt that way,” Lyra said.
“I’d like you to stay here, at least through the night, so I can watch over you, lass. Is that all right?”
“She’s staying,” Broca said, stepping forward, Nova and Sloane at her side.
“Brought your comfies,” Nova said, holding up a bag. Her eye makeup was smudged from crying. “We’re all staying.”
“Yay, a sleepover.” Lyra gave a weak smile.
“Let’s get you changed and out of these bloody clothes.” Sloane glanced up at me, and I nodded. Henry had cut her dress away enough to treat her but hadn’t taken it off her body. I’d covered her as much as I could with a blanket to protect her modesty, not that I thought anyone in this room cared.
We all just wanted her safe.
“We’ll just see about sorting out some food. Soup, maybe?” I asked. Squeezing Lyra’s hand one last time, I dropped it and eased from the bed. There was nothing else I could do for her now, and she certainly didn’t need me hanging about while her sisters changed her.
“Aye, but we want to get her cleaned up a bit first, no?” Nova looked over at Raven, who nodded her agreement. “There’s blood everywhere.”
“We’ll get a warm sponge bath ready,” Henry said, slipping neatly back into butler mode.
I met Knox and Liam out in the foyer, and Knox took one look at my face and gestured for me to follow him.
Ruth surprised me by flying out of the room and landing on my shoulder.
Reaching up a hand, I stroked a finger down her back as she cuddled into my neck.
She felt comforting there, as though she’d decided I was hers to look after, too, and I realized she must have been incredibly stressed out as well.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“She says she is, but her energy is low.” Knox looked back at me, his eyes soft as he looked at Ruth on my shoulder. He’d always had a strong affinity for animals, and his ability to communicate with them was one of his favorite magickal traits.
“We’ll get you some food and rested up,” I promised Ruth, and she snuggled in closer.
We ended up in his library, Knox pouring us each a dram, as I stared into the fire, a thousand emotions swirling through me.
“Mate.”
I glanced over my shoulder to look at Liam.
“You still love her.”
Goddess help me, but I did. Turning back, I stared into the fire, its flames matching the ones burning inside me.
Even though I’d felt so betrayed all those years ago, so lost in my sadness, defeated, and then anger…
fueled by my father… when I saw Lyra dangling almost lifeless in Henry’s arms, it had felt like a part of me was dying.
I can’t lose you. Not again. Those were the words that had looped on repeat as I’d watched her limp body disappear into the castle.
And then when she looked up at me and uttered the word “stay,” I knew in my heart that there was nowhere else I could go. There just wasn’t a choice.
Because no matter how I’d tried to fight it, no matter how I’d told myself she didn’t mean anything to me, the reality was that I was still hopelessly in love with Lyra MacGregor, history be damned.
“Aye, lad. I do.”