Page 18 of Lyon’s Gift (The Highland Brides #2)

CHAPTER 17

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

L yon bore her up the stairs, barking orders to his men: one to bring water, another to bring rags.

She was bleeding somewhere on her beautiful face, but it was too soiled with food and blood for him to tell precisely where she was injured.

He kicked open his door with an urgency born of fear.

She began to murmur unintelligibly within his arms. “Fia,” she whimpered.

His heart twisted a little. He carried her to his bed and laid her gently down upon it. What was he going to say to her? How could he tell her? “Shhh,” he urged her.

She opened her eyes, and stared up at him with a dazed expression upon her face. “W-where is Fia?” she persisted.

“Sleeping,” he lied, and winced as a vision of the animal’s twisted form flashed through his head .

She closed her eyes. “Not dead...”

“Shhh...”

“Sleeping,” she murmured. “Dinna mean to wake her,” she whispered, drifting off once yet again.

David came into the room as she lost consciousness, his concern evident in his eyes. “They say there is only a midwife to be found,” he said. “ ‘Tis the best we could do. I sent one of your men to fetch her. How does she fare, Lyon?”

“She spoke,” Lyon said gravely, peering up at his longtime friend. “She asked after the lamb.”

David shook his head. “Poor creature,” he said low. “I ordered the carcass lifted.”

Lyon nodded, and then muttered an oath beneath his breath. “Where is the water to wash her, damn it? I can see naught for all the blood!”

David placed a hand upon his shoulder.

“I should have fixed those floorboards,” Lyon said in self-reproach. “I should have bloody well fixed them.”

“You could not have foreseen this.”

“Nay! I saw their condition days ago,” Lyon confessed. “I should have fixed them.” He shook his head in self-disgust. “I should have fixed them.”

“And I should never have interfered in MacKinnon’s affairs,” David countered, much too calmly for Lyon’s state of mind. He could scarcely think, let alone reason, and David would speak to him of politic matters?

David’s voice was drowned in a torrent of his own thoughts. Where was she cut? Was she hurt elsewhere besides? And what was he going to tell her about her poor lamb?

Christ, she was bleeding too much.

“I should not have taken his son,” David continued, his voice grating upon Lyon’s nerves. He couldn’t think. “Because of me Lagan MacKinnon lies dead. I should not have interfered in the MacKinnon’s affairs, and because I did, your task is made all the more difficult.”

At the moment, Lyon didn’t bloody well care.

“And my goal lies all the more distant,” David added as well.

“I cannot think of this just now,” Lyon said, and thrust his hands into his hair, maddened by the wait, feeling helpless but to stare.

“What good does it do me to regret?” David persisted.

“None,” Lyon answered impatiently, understanding David’s meaning at once.

These were all things he knew, of course. And yet...

“Precisely,” David said. “What is done is done.”

Lyon grit his jaw stubbornly. “Now is not the time for lectures, David. Help me with these sheets,” he demanded, spying the shredded linen she had used for Fia’s scarf. “They are taking too long.”

Seizing the cloth in his hand, he ripped it in half, handing the bigger piece to David. He tore a smaller piece for himself and began to clean the blood from her face—gently, lest he hurt her more. He found the wound near her temple, within her hair, and pressed the cloth to it in an attempt to staunch the flow.

David continued to tear the linen. “’Tis not as though you purposely left the floor to rot.”

Lyon gently pushed the blood-soaked hair from her face.

“She truly is lovely,” David remarked.

“Aye,” Lyon agreed, watching her face closely for some sign of lucidity. At the moment, beauty didn’t concern him, only that she would be well.

His men arrived bearing water and rags.

“About bloody time,” Lyon snapped as he was handed a rag already soaked with water. He ordered them all from the room, and began to clean her face once more. “Send the midwife in the instant she arrives,” he commanded them before they went.

“It appears to be the single cut,” David said, watching. “Allow me to hold the rag. You inspect the rest of her to be certain there is no other wound. ”

It was precisely what he intended to do.

Lyon released the blood-soaked rag into David’s hands, and did as suggested.

David lowered his voice. “And what shall you tell her about... the lamb?”

“I’ve no idea,” Lyon admitted, and proceeded to remove her soiled clothing.

She stirred, moaning softly as he undressed her, and he peered at her face expectantly. She didn’t reopen her eyes, and he stared at her, contemplating what he would say when she awoke. At worst she believed the lamb to be her grandmother. At best it was a beloved pet. Either way she was going to be aggrieved.

At the moment, however, he was too concerned for her to feel anything more than sorry for the animal.

He removed her sleeve, drew it down, and his heart wrenched to find that her arm had been twisted in the fall. It was swollen about the elbow, already turning an ungodly shade of crimson-blue.

“Mother of Christ,” David exclaimed. “I think she may lose the use of that arm.”

Lyon cast him a black glance.

The hell she would, he vowed, and at once set about untangling her from her gown.

Leith had insisted he bring her home.

He’d kissed her once more, a gentle peck upon the lips before bidding her farewell, and Alison had yet to walk inside. She stood in the shadows of her father’s home, watching him go, her fingers pressed to her lips in something akin to awe.

Leith Mac Brodie wanted to wed with her.

Her?

She still could not believe it, though he had sworn it with his heart in his eyes. She had never thought a man would ever look at her so.

She didn’t know how long she stood there, but he was long departed when a voice startled her from her reverie.

“Alison?”

Alison saw the man coming from the woodlands, and she turned and walked quickly toward her father’s hall, ready to shriek for help, and horrified at her own stupidity for waiting so long like an idiot to watch Leith go. It had been a stupid thing to do.

“Alison MacLean,” the man called out.

Alison lifted up her skirts to flee, but he shouted out, “Wait, I mean you no harm. I bring news of Meghan!”

Alison spun to face him, responding instinctively to the note of alarm in his voice. “Meghan! What of Meghan?” she demanded.

He came near enough so she could see his face, and then she recognized him. “Cameron!”

“Aye, lass, you remember me,” he said. “ ‘Tis Meghan,” he hurried on. “There is no time to speak long. You must come.”

“Come?”

“To Montgomerie’s!”

“Me?” Alison asked in surprise.

“She has had an accident, Alison, and I dinna know how to say it, but they told me she didna look so well when I left there. They sent me for a midwife, and I know you spent much time with her and her grandmother. I didna know where else to go for help. She needs you now, lass.”

“Oh, no,” Alison exclaimed, and her heart nigh leapt from her breast in fear. “But how shall I go? He would know me,” she said doubtfully. “I think he would know me. Will he let me tend her?”

The old man suddenly seemed to share her concern. “I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t know.”

“Wait,” Alison said. “I know what to do! He shall not recognize me when I am through, and he’llna turn me away if he does not know me. Wait here for me, and I will return in a trice.” She clutched the old man’s arm. “Thank you. Thank you for coming to fetch me. Wait here now, if you will, and I shall be back anon. Wait,” she begged him, and raced into the hall, taking care that her father did not see her, as he believed she was still within her room.

Meghan needed her now, and she would not fail her dear friend—she would not.

Meghan awoke to the sound of voices.

She couldn’t seem to gain her bearings.

She heard everything, was keenly aware of her surroundings in the oddest sort of way, but her lids were too heavy to lift. Nor could she move. It was as though she were sleeping still and could not awake.

“I have reset the bone,” said a woman’s voice from somewhere beyond the haze. Meghan faintly recognized it. She tried in vain to open her eyes, to look upon the bearer of it. “’Twill need time to heal,” the woman continued gravely. “Dinna let her use the arm, and if you must... bind her to the bed until she awakes.”

“I shall remain with her,” she heard a familiar male voice say in a low tone. “How long will the drogue last?”

“Until the morrow,” came the woman’s reply.

Drogue.

They’d given her a drogue... like the ones her grandmother sometimes used... Her heart lifted with hope.

“Fia?” she murmured.

Shadows descended like a shroud over her senses.

“Fia?” she persisted.

She sensed more than felt the hand at her brow... not a small one with calluses on the tips of fingers raw from pulling herbs... but a large one... as gentle as it was coarse.

“Hush now, Meghan,” the man’s voice commanded, though not unkindly, and the familiar sound of it reverberated through her very soul.

Lyon?

Meghan heard herself whimper softly, and was surprised by the distance of the sound. Strange, it didn’t sound like her at all, didn’t feel like her, though she knew it was.

What was wrong with her?

And why did her arm hurt?

And why had they drugged her?

“Och, you really should bind her to the bed,” the woman said, concern in her voice. “You dinna want her to injure the arm any more.”

Meghan shook her head. She didn’t want to be bound to the bed. She whimpered, trying to tell them nay.

“Poor wee thing,” the woman lamented, and once more the familiarity of it struck her.

Who was the woman?

“Fia...”

The woman let out an audible sigh. “Crazy auld Fia has been dead nigh on two years now,” she said. “The two were inseparable; where you spied the one, the other was not far behind.”

It wasn’t Fia.

Fia had been dead nigh two years now. Meghan’s heart fell as she remembered that. It wasn’ t Fia.

Who was it?

She heard weeping again and wondered if she were the one sobbing.

She felt so weighty, so dizzy... so insubstantial...

“Fia... Fia is her lamb, as well,” Lyon confided to the woman.

Dear God, the lamb.

Meghan groaned as slices of memory began to return to her. She’d been holding the wee lammie within her arms, dancing with it across the room—with a few well-placed stomps for special effect—so happy that her plan had gone so well.

“Aye, but she seems to think the lamb is her grandmother,” another man’s voice disclosed.

Silence.

“Och,” exclaimed the woman after a moment. “Poor wee thing, but it does not surprise me,” she said grimly. “She comes from verra bad bluid, you see. ‘Twas merely a matter of time before Meghan Brodie succumbed to the madness as well.”

“She seemed well enough to me.”

“So were her mother and grandmother in the beginning,” the woman pointed out sadly. “And then it came over them, twisting their minds. Och, but ’tis a shame, too, as Fia understood the magic of the woodlands well.”

Naught had come over her mother and grandmother, Meghan wanted to scream. They had simply been misunderstood. Who was this woman who would befoul her mother’s and grandmother’s names?

“I’m afeared she’ll end like them if something is not done—and soon.”

She wanted to speak up and tell the woman that she was wrong—all wrong. It wasn’t true. But she couldn’t open her mouth to speak. Nor could she lift her lids. What had they given her? The heaviness seemed to be dragging her down into oblivion.

Meghan fought to stay awake... fought until finally, the will to sleep was too great...

“What can be done?” Lyon asked the old woman.

“I have a potion,” she answered, and those vaguely familiar eyes began to gleam with the color of gold, though in the dimness of the room, it was difficult to tell their true color. “I am something of an apothecary,” she disclosed. “But the price of this particular potion is high,” she cautioned him. “And you will not relieve me of it for less than a handful of gold.”

Lyon wasn’t entirely certain it was necessary to do anything at all to cure Meghan’s so-called madness, but if the old woman’s medicine was harmless enough, he might consider the prescription, no matter the cost. “What sort of potion, woman, would cost me a handful of gold coins?”

She smiled, a brilliant smile that seemed to smooth the wrinkles from her brow, making her appear much too young. Her hair was covered with a scarf that concealed much of her face, as well, and was tied entirely too tight about her chin besides. He wondered that she could bear it.

“A powerful potion,” she assured him, eyeing him first, then casting a glance at David. “Made from roots.”

“I have never heard of such a thing,” David interjected.

“Of course not,” she replied, drawing back and peering at him, obviously insulted by his challenge. “It is the root of a tree found in the Far East alone.”

“You have been to the Far East?” Lyon persisted, at once doubting her claim.

“And you have seen this tree with your very own eyes?” David added.

“Och, nay,” she confessed, “but I do have the root with me even now.”

“But you have seen it work its magic?” David inquired, saving Lyon the trouble of asking.

“Nay. You will need to take my word.”

“’Tis rather convenient a tale, I should say.” Lyon eyed her speculatively. “And you just happen to carry with you this root of an unknown tree—”

“Do you not also carry upon your person your most valuable possessions?”

“I have none,” Lyon claimed, and was aware of David’s surprised glance.

“Ah, but you do,” the woman demurred.

“This tree root,” he continued, overlooking her remark, “it comes from a land where you have never been, and you claim it a cure for madness, though you have never seen it work?”

“You are not a believer of medicine, I take it?” she asked, cocking her head inquisitively.

He wasn’t a believer in anything at all, if the truth be known, except in life and in death. All else, according to his mind, was merely illusion. He lifted his brow. “I believe your nose scents gold, old woman.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Not precisely,” she yielded. “What I do scent is something far more valuable than gold.”

“And what makes you think I’ve anything of value between these walls? Look about,” he charged her. “Do you see the hole in my roof and the one in my floor? Tell me, does this strike you as the home of a wealthy man?”

“These auld eyes,” she said, “see more than you think. For instance, they spy the look in your eyes when you gaze at her.” She glanced down at the bed where Meghan lay, resting peacefully. “It is the look of a man who loves a woman.”

“Then shall I pluck out my eyes,” he asked acerbically, “and place them within your palms to pay for the potion? All for the love of a woman? Do you think me a fool who can be taken advantage of over some sentiment you perceive I bear?”

The light in her eyes faded.

She seemed disappointed.

“Perhaps I was wrong,” she said and turned away to make a few last-minute inspections of Meghan’s sleeping form. “She’ll sleep until the morn, I think. Dinna let her rest upon that arm, as it must heal exactly as I have set it. As for the wound upon her head,” she continued, “it bleeds, but it is not deep. Simply leave it be and it will heal on its own.”

Lyon watched her gather up her belongings—her potions, her needle, and her thread—and was grateful she had not had to use the needle upon Meghan’s lovely face.

“If she should need me,” she began, “I shall—”

“Wait,” Lyon urged her.

She spun to face him, the gleam in her eyes once more apparent.

“Are you certain it will work? This potion...”

She gave him a discerning glance. “Nay, there is never a surety. But the root is said to purify the mind and return its lucidity. It is said to make the weak mind strong, and to create genius in that which is already keen.”

“Very well,” he relented, “I shall pay your price, old woman. Work your sorcery!”

“But there is one last thing,” she apprised him, her eyes narrowing. “There is yet another price to be paid beyond that you will render to me.”

“Another price?” He gave her a deprecating glance. “More gold? Perhaps you’d rather have jewels or cloth?”

She smiled, flashing teeth that were far too white to be so old. “Nothing such as that,” she assured him. “Though this price is to be paid by her, as well.” She nodded at the bed where Meghan lay.

“And what price might that be?” Lyon persisted, his tone fraught with sarcasm.

“The potion is sometimes disfiguring.”

His brows collided. “Disfiguring?”

“Aye,” she said, giving him a knowing look. “To the face. There are those who form a reaction to it,” she explained. “Sometimes merely a pox... sometimes more... but you cannot know until it happens just who will, and who will not. If you think it more important to have a pretty face than a keen mind... dinna give her the potion. But... if she truly matters to you...”

Her implication hung in the air for him to ponder.

He narrowed his eyes at her. “And is that all? The potion is safe aside from that?”

She seemed pleased with his response, for her smile manifested now within her peculiar eyes. “Aye,” she answered, and then declared, “I have the root with me now, but ’tis useless to you without the elixir. I shall have it prepared by this eve. Have the gold in hand when I arrive,” she commanded him, and with that, turned and left, leaving him and David to stare at each other in wary contemplation.

Lyon turned to the woman lying so quietly upon his bed. The old woman had claimed he loved her.

Did he?

Could he?

He knew he wanted her, knew he craved her even.

But love?

Love was something he had never believed in.

So what was this strangeness he felt? This bond he shared with the woman lying there so still?

Obsession?

David departed before eventide, with the intent of paying the Brodies a visit.

It was their right to be informed of Meghan’s accident. Were the situation reversed, Lyon would appreciate the same courtesy. Right or wrong, however, he had refused them visitation, and David had agreed to uphold his decision, and to soften the blow of his refusal with a personal appearance. It was more than Lyon had a right to ask of David, since the Brodies surely would not accept Lyon’s decision so blithely.

Lyon was perfectly aware that he was being unreasonable, but he also understood that if her brothers came to see her... and Meghan asked to leave with them... he would look at her in the condition she was in... and he’d not be able to refuse her.

He wanted the chance to win her.

It had suddenly become crucial to his state of contentment. He didn’t understand what it was about her that drew him, but she did. Her very presence had somehow banished shadows from his life, like the morning sun, which dispelled darkness with naught more than its glorious appearance.

The old witch—it was how Lyon began to think of her—returned as David rode from the courtyard. She seemed to appear from the night mist: he was alone one instant, and not the next. She handed him a vial, dispensing instructions for the administration of its contents. She’d laced the potion with mandrake, she’d claimed, something for the pain, and he was to measure it out to her judiciously lest he poison her. And then she had demanded her coin forthwith. After wishing him well, she vanished as swiftly as she’d appeared.

Clutching the precious vial within his fist, Lyon climbed the stairs to his chamber. When she awoke, he wanted to be with her. When she first opened her eyes, he wanted to be the one she saw.

And if she did not awake this eve, he would be content to simply watch over her... as long as he knew she would open those beautiful green eyes eventually.

He entered the chamber, closing the door behind him, and went to stand before the bed. She looked so fragile lying there amidst his rent sheets and her own dried blood. The very sight of her made his heart wrench.

The torchlight cast dancing shadows over the bed, animating her face despite that she slept undisturbed. She was beautiful even now, though her poor face was bruised and wan. She looked more like an angel lying there so serenely, though he had to own he preferred the imp in her to the cherub any day.

The very thought of her temper and wit made him smile.

Guilt stabbed at him as he watched her.

He had no doubt she would recover, for she was strong and her wounds were minor, but he couldn’t help but feel responsible.

Had he not taken her against her will, none of this would have happened. She would likely, at this instant, be safe at home with her brothers.

And yet, God save his rotten soul, he still could not find regret for his actions.

She stirred, whimpering softly, calling for Fia once again, and he frowned. Lifting up the vial in his hand, he contemplated its contents. It was entirely possible the elixir was a waste of time... that there was naught wrong with her at all... as he suspected.

But... what if he were wrong?

What if there were, in truth, some family madness she was cursed with, and he had in his hands the means to cure her?

He liked to think he was a better man than to sacrifice her sanity for the privilege of gazing upon a perfect face.

He watched her an instant longer, his heart sinking when she began to weep softly in her sleep. God damn him to hell if he could be so shallow as to allow her to suffer for his pleasure.

His mind made up, he sat upon the bed beside her and proceeded to open the vial. There was enough within it for a sennight’s supply, the old woman had said. The results would be immediate, she’d claimed.

Well, the morning would bring answers enough. If he observed no significant difference when she awoke, he simply wouldn’t continue the treatment.

But if the differences were apparent... Well, then... he had the means within his hand to help her, and he would be a selfish bastard not to use it.

And with that resolved, he set about administering the potion.