Chapter 27
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
N o.
My lemmikki was hurt.
Again.
Because of me.
Again.
Blood seeped around the carved hilt, staining her pale blue gown with crimson.
She didn’t cry out, didn’t sob, didn’t react at all except to widen her eyes in surprise.
Somehow, her silence was almost worse than her screams would have been.
I knelt at her side while calling for her cousin.
I knew basic field medical care, but that wouldn’t be enough for a wound this deep. Gallagher, though. Hadn’t they said he was training to be a healer?
But how advanced was his training?
It would have to be enough, since it was only us and the corpses here—the men I wished I could raise from the dead just to kill them more slowly the second time around for hurting what belonged to me.
For hurting her .
Gallagher was immediately at her side, along with Avani. Korhonan brought the blanket for her and Davin helped him spread it out while I lifted her over it.
Her fingers were wound into the sleeve of my coat, clutching the fabric like a lifeline as I was forced to loosen my hold enough to lie her on the ground.
She inhaled sharply through her teeth, still too quiet, still far braver than soldiers twice her size.
The fabric pulled at her wound once she was flat, so I worked at tearing it without jostling her. I was by no means squeamish, but fury had bile rising in my throat at the unnatural sight of the dagger protruding from her skin.
“We need to move fast,” Gallagher murmured to her.
There was a question in his tone I didn’t understand. Obviously, we needed to move fast.
Was he worried about me seeing her undressed when her life was on the line?
Her brow furrowed, pained grimace turning into something more considering.
“Theo, could you fetch Gal’s medical kit from his horse.” Avani might have phrased it like a question, but her inflection was a clear demand.
He nodded, already heading in the direction where Gwyn was standing guard against more rebels.
“Evander—” Gallagher began, but I cut him off before whatever attempt he could make to get me out of the way.
“No.” I wasn’t as easily led as Korhonan, nor as easily pushed aside. Like hell was I leaving her when she was injured.
I caught her pale-green gaze and held it steadily, letting her know that I had no plans of abandoning her any more than I had the last time she was bleeding out on the ground.
Pain pinched the corners of her eyes, but she didn’t break my stare as she clutched my sleeve a little tighter.
Just as I was about to snap that we were wasting time, Rowan gave a bare dip of her chin.
“It’s fine, Gal,” she gritted between her teeth. “It’s nothing he hasn’t seen before.”
Davin raised a flask to my lemmikki’s lips, supporting her head so she could drink it.
“Keep her steady,” Gallagher ordered.
I nodded, seeing Avani do the same from her place just above her sister, tears immediately filling her eyes as she helped to hold her sister in place. I braced Rowan’s shoulder firmly against the ground with one hand, keeping the other firmly wrapped around hers.
A shiver racked through her, and I squeezed her hand gently until she took in a shaky breath. As soon as she let the breath all the way out, Gallagher yanked the dagger from her skin in a single, practiced motion.
She let out a ragged sob, clutching my hand while she squeezed her eyes shut. I bit back a curse.
She was so storms-damned reckless.
It should have been me there. Pain was nothing new for me. I would sooner have taken a dozen daggers to my gut before watching her writhe in pain from the one she took for me.
“You’re all right, Lemmikki.” The murmured words that were only mostly for her benefit when I saw the blood pouring from the place where the knife had been.
She didn’t seem to hear me, her eyes blurring in and out of focus.
Instead of staunching the blood, Gallagher only held his hands over the wound, his brows furrowed in concentration. It was the same look Rowan got when she pretended to study the clouds.
Gallagher refuses to…make us any tonics. The table had fallen silent much like the cousins had today when Rowan’s ridiculous weather-toe had come up. It defied logic, but didn’t everything about this family?
That memory was the only thing that kept me from shoving him to the side and trying to stop the bleeding myself. Avani and Davin watched with features that were drawn in concern, but not panic. They weren’t as worried as they should have been unless they had complete faith in whatever skills or powers Gallagher possessed.
Slowly, I counted down from five, forcing myself to remain still as I took in steady breaths.
By the fourth exhale, the bleeding had slowed to a crawl. I looked from Gallagher’s blood-coated hands to the healing wound, then to Rowan’s features which were markedly smoother.
A weighty silence fell in the clearing, broken by Korhonan’s return.
“I have the bag.” He stated the obvious.
Gallagher nodded his acknowledgement, but it was Avani who dug through the satchel, pulling out a cloth and solution for Gallagher to clean his hands. Once he was finished, he withdrew a needle and thread.
Rowan closed her eyes in resignation, her hand tightening around mine once more.
“Breathe, Lemmikki,” I told her in an undertone.
She nodded, inhaling just as the needle pierced her skin. A small whimper escaped her, and I squeezed her hand again, prompting another breath. Several shaky exhales and an eternity later, Gallagher tied off her neat sutures, his face markedly paler than it had been when he began.
“All right, Cousin. We need to get you home to rest.”
I wondered if whatever he did took energy from him, if he had continued healing her wound as he sewed it up. A thousand other questions danced through my mind, but none that mattered as much as the small bit of color returning to my lemmikki’s cheeks.
“Thank you,” she rasped out as he wrapped a bandage around her.
I removed my hand from her shoulder, scooping her up and getting to my feet in one fluid movement, before they had a chance to do something that would make me feel murderous again, like suggest that Korhonan help get her home.
Like hell was I entrusting her to his safety.
Avani narrowed her eyes, ripping the picnic blanket to cover Rowan’s exposed skin.
“It would appear you have trouble obeying orders, Lord Stenvall,” she observed, having fully composed herself now that her sister was stable.
I didn’t bother telling her that my entire life had been following orders to the letter, an aspect of Socairan society that everyone here seemed to struggle with. Instead, I shrugged lightly, careful not to jostle Rowan where she pressed herself into my chest like she felt the same visceral need for closeness that I did.
Perhaps I wasn’t the only one unwilling to entrust her safety to anyone else right now.
“I didn’t draw my weapon, nor did I spill anyone’s blood,” I told the heir.
“Indeed.” Avani said drily. “I suppose we should be grateful, in any event.”
That was a thank you worthy of any Socairan. I might have smiled under different circumstances. She took a breath that dripped with resignation, glancing at Rowan’s hand clutching my shirt with more strength than any recently stabbed person should possess.
I let my indifferent mask drop, allowing Avani to see the extent of my refusal to part with my lemmikki just now. The crown princess nodded, raising her chin the same way Rowan did just before she told a lie.
“If I can impose upon you further, perhaps you wouldn't mind taking Rowan on your horse, so she doesn’t reopen that wound.” Unlike her sister, Avani’s voice betrayed nothing of the false request.
“Of course.” I nodded graciously, like I was doing her the favor, playing to the show she must have put on for Korhonan’s sake.
A ghost of a smirk crossed her lips, contrasting with the tear tracks staining her lightly freckled cheeks.
“Perfect.” She gave another dip of her chin. “Gallagher, you and I will go with them so we can explain to my parents what happened. Theo will come with us. Gwyn and Davin can alert the local magistrate.”
Her nose wrinkled on the last word.
“Don’t worry, Cousin,” Davin responded, packing the last of the wine in the saddlebag. “MacFaddish might be an arseworm, but I recently happened upon the knowledge that he enjoys the company of the local Madame when his wife is off tending to her ailing mother, so I’m sure he’ll be more than accommodating.”
“And Auntie Jocelyn thinks your brothel visits are just for fun,” Avani said, shaking her head.
Korhonan appeared with his horse and mine, and I forced myself to give him a nod. He looked like he was debating offering to help me with Rowan, and a muscle clenched in my jaw.
Davin appeared at my side, nonchalantly holding his arms out while he talked to Avani. “Honestly, she doesn’t appreciate the sacrifices I make for our noble family.”
Korhonan mounted his horse without another word, and I reluctantly handed off Rowan to Davin long enough to climb onto my own horse, ignoring the small sound of protest she made.
Avani eyed the exchange but responded to Davin in the same casual tone.
“Indeed. Well, don’t make threats unless you need to.”
“I never do.” Davin gave her a smirk that didn’t reach his eyes.
It was clear from this interaction that the two knew how to play the political games, and play them well.
He turned his attention to Rowan. She was still too pale, her breathing still harsh and ragged.
“Rest up, Cousin,” he murmured quietly. “Lots of vodka to drink when you’re well.”
A shadow crossed his features, and Avani approached, placing a comforting hand on his arm and using the other to brush a curl out of Rowan’s face.
“Come on, little sister. We’ll see you back at the castle.”
Davin nodded, carefully passing Rowan back up to me and rearranging his features into his usual casual mask.
“Well, as much as I hate the magistrate, I don’t envy anyone in the castle when the king finds out she was hurt.”
I gave him a grim smile in return, but I hoped he was right. I hoped the king was furious enough to hunt down every single person who played a hand in getting my lemmikki hurt.