Keeper of the Hearth (The Three Sisters MacBeith Book 2) by Laura Strickland

Author:Laura Strickland [Strickland, Laura]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, romance, Historical
Publisher: Dragonblade Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2024-01-01T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Eight

The voices came to Leith from a distance and roused him from the welter of pain in which he lay. Easier by far to ignore them, give himself up to the burning oblivion that held him.

And yet—he recognized both, and one of them called his name.

“Leith, man! Can ye no’ open yer eyes and look at me?”

He could not. He lay there breathing, just breathing against the agony.

The second voice said, “Mayhap ’twould be best to move him while he remains senseless. It might hurt him less.”

Aye, that voice he knew. The power of it flooded him with awareness and strength enough so he could open his eyes after all.

They hung above him, the both of them, in the stone hut. He remained here then, a prisoner, even though it felt as if he’d flown far. Farlan looked direly worried and somehow grief-stricken. Who had died? And Rhian MacBeith’s lovely, calm face also showed unhappy emotions.

She looked at Farlan. “I do no’ want to hurt him anymore.”

Farlan shook his head. He spoke to Leith as to a child. “Leith, we need to move ye. We will do it as carefully as we can.”

To Rhian he said, “The wound has been bleeding.”

“I ha’ never seen a wound to match it. It refuses to close over, whate’er I do.”

“Where—” Leith tried to speak and could not tell if he succeeded. “Taking me?”

“Hush now.” Rhian laid her hand on his chest. Comfort and healing flowed into him in equal measures.

She touched him. But not for long enough. All too soon she stepped away, and he heard her speaking to someone else. A commotion ensured.

Suddenly the hut became crowded with people. They swarmed him, jostled him, lifted him, which gave the pain sharper teeth. He could no longer see Rhian, but he got a glimpse of Farlan. Steady, reassuring.

He floated, tilted, felt as if he would fall. Before he could, the darkness came crashing down.

*

“Leith, can ye hear me?”

He had stopped moving, and it had gone quiet apart from Rhian’s voice. Dim light flickered against his closed eyelids. The pain blotted out everything else.

“Rhian?”

“Aye, ’tis I. Drink this.”

A vessel was tipped against his lips and a small amount of liquid flowed into his mouth. He choked on it.

Arms came out around him and lifted him up. The vessel tapped his lips again.

“Drink. ’Twill help wi’ the fever.”

If she told him it would, it would. He trusted her implicitly. With his life and aught else he had.

“Where?”

She eased him back down. Her fingers flitted over his head, brushing the hair back from his brow.

“Whisht, Leith. We ha’ moved ye out o’ the cell for your safekeeping.”

“Farlan?”

“Aye, he was here. Gone now. ’Tis but the two o’ us.”

The desire to see her allowed him to open his eyes. Astonishment widened them.

He lay on a bed in a chamber where he’d never been before. The softness of a mattress cradled him, and a bolster snuggled behind his head. Firelight danced behind Rhian, so he could not see her face as clearly as he might wish.

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