“How? Tell me. I’ll move all of this isle if I must, just tell me what to do. I’d do anything for my father. Please.”
Lia leaned over and said, “Set both hands on his wound.”
“What? I did this before. I tried to stop the bleeding, but it’s too large a wound.”
“Do it, Hagen,” Brynja whispered, locking her gaze on his. “Do what Lia said. Trust her. I do.”
He did what she said, trusting the faery lass with all of his being. He didn’t know what else to do.
“You must believe in each other for this to work,” Lia said, her gaze going from his face to hers.
“What?” Brynja looked over her shoulder at the lass as confused as he was. “I don’t understand.”
“You two are a special power together. Alone, neither of you can fix him. Together you can.” Lia squeezed Brynja’s shoulder. “Put your hands on Hagen’s and look into his eyes.”
She did as Lia said, tears now rolling down her cheeks. “Hagen, I don’t understand.”
“I don’t either, just do what she says, Bry.”
Lia continued, “You must be calm and believe in your power together. If you do, your hands together will heal him.”
Brynja placed her hands on top of Hagen’s and gazed into his eyes.
Something intense happened.
A surge of power moved through her hands into his and into his father’s belly, a force so strong that both of their hands shook.
“Keep your hands locked. Don’t let go,” Lia shouted.
Alaric came up behind them and whispered, “Holy Heavens.”
Lia barked, “Do not interrupt them, Alaric.”
Still locked on Brynja’s gaze, he saw something there he hadn’t seen before. A calmness, a confidence he didn’t have, but she did. She smiled at him, sending him a more powerful message than words could ever do, and dark clouds filled the sky just before a lightning bolt shot down and struck behind hisfather, shaking the ground underneath them, thunder rolling all around them.
Lia yelled over the din of the storm, “That is a sign of how powerful your father’s spirit is. Keep going. It’s working. You’re doing it.”
Hagen kept his hands on his father, Brynja’s hands still locking onto his, praying this would work. His hands tingled and shook, and he let out a large roar from something happening that he didn’t understand, but then he looked down at his father, and his eyes were open.
“You can let go now, both of you,” Lia said. “Well done.” She hugged Brynja from behind. “Remember this, you two together have a power unlike any other. Never forget it.”
His father asked, “What the hell did you two do to me? I saw that lightning, and your hands. The roar of thunder. Something coursed through me from your hands, something as potent and intense as that bolt that landed behind me.” He looked down at his wound, blood still everywhere, but the skin, while not completely healed, was bound together.
Alaric asked, “What the hell was that? That lightning looked like it hit you. And it came out of nowhere. No rain, no nothing. Just one bolt and the thunder. And you two. What you did. What she said…”
Hagen said, “Hush. We cannot deal with that right now. Forget it until we get my father home. I don’t want everyone else to know. Just say Lia helped for now.”
Alaric nodded. “Agreed. We get him home. Let’s go. The men are all dead except Dugan and that other one.”
Brynja cursed. “Sholto. I’ll take care of him later.”
Lia pointed toward the boat. “You cannot wait. Get Connor home. Chief Grant, your work is not done yet. You have much time left.”
Artan approached with two other men. “We can lift him. He’s a big man.” Then he looked at Connor and said, “What the hell? What happened? That thunder was the largest I’ve ever heard.”
“I don’t know what it was, but it healed Da. Lia. It was Lia.” Hagen didn’t dare mention his hands and Brynja’s, that together they’d healed his father. It sounded as daft as anything he had ever heard. He’d talk about it later. Now he wished to get his father the hell out of there. “We need to get him to Brenna. Lia said to hurry.”
Merryn and Broc followed. “We’ll help carry him.”
