“Disappointed, but not mad.”
“After last night…do you still feel…” I couldn’t finish the words. I couldn’t bear the idea that he might have changed his mind about me, about us.
‘Come here. I’ll show you how I feel.” A hand touched me under the chin. I jerked my head up.
Corbin’s lips met mine, hot and ferocious.
Herbs scattered around me as he leaned across the counter and pulled me to him.
The kiss seared me inside, waking up parts of me that had laid dormant for so many years. The pressure inside my head fled, replaced by the heat of Corbin’s lips.
“Out of the way, lovebirds,” Blake yelled from across the garden. “Injured man coming through.”
Corbin and I flew apart. Blake stumbled through the kitchen door. Blood trickled down the side of his head from a cut over his hairline. The sleeve of his leather jacket had been torn.
But he wasn’t as bad as Flynn, whose body lay limp in Blake’s arms. Blood poured from his nose and lips. His t-shirt had been torn in several places, revealing cuts and bruises all over his body. He groaned as he clutched his arm across his torso, like it couldn’t move on its own.
I backed away. “I’ve got yarrow. It will help stop the bleeding.”
“We’ll need a whole bloody yarrow forest for this eejit.” Blake swept my trug and drying racks off the counter and dumped Flynn on top.
“You should have called an ambulance,” Corbin scolded. “He needs a hospital, not herbs. He might have internal damage. What’s wrong with his arm?”
“I didn’t see what happened because I was being stomped on by Gus and his cronies at the time, but I think he might’ve broken it,” Blake shrugged.
Flynn leaned over the side of the counter and coughed. Blood splattered across the kitchen floor. “I’mfine. It’s just a flesh wound. Besides, I saw Doctor Lewis while Blake was dragging me out of the pub, and he did nothing. Ain’t no one in that village going to help us now, not after they saw…ow, Holy Mother of Mary, that feckinghurts.”
I’d barely touched his arm and he was screaming like a banshee. Definitely broken. I ran through the remedies I had available…yarrow, of course, and comfrey leaves to help knit together the break…and feverfew, to stimulate healing...
Anxiety flared inside me as I laid eyes on the herbs and racks scattered all over the floor, and the blood puddling under Flynn’s body.Push through it, Flynn needs you.
“Put the kettle on,” I said to Aline, who’d just entered the room. She went to the stove while I ran over to my herb shelves and grabbed several jars. I tipped ingredients into a strainer and added that to a large mug. While I waited for the kettle to boil, I grabbed a handful of yarrow leaves and a dash of water and crushed them up in my mortar and pestle, all while Flynn moaned and writhed.
“Rub that into his worst cuts,” I said, thrusting the crushed yarrow leaves into Aline’s hands.
The kettle whistled. I took it off the element and filled the mug with hot water, and covered it with a tea towel to keep the vapours in. I covered the top with my hand, pushing my magic through my anxiety to speed up the infusion process and imbue the herbs with my own unique power. A warm hand pressedinto my back. I opened one eye and saw Maeve’s concerned face staring up at me. A flicker of spirit magic flared against my palm as she leant her own power to the remedy.
“This is ready,” I whispered, closing my hands around the cup. Maeve took it from me and went over to Flynn.
“Where’s Rowan?” Flynn’s eyes widened as he saw Maeve coming. He knew he was in trouble.
“Rowan’s right here. We’re all right here. And we want to know what happened. What did the villagers see that made them do this to you?” Maeve demanded, holding the glass at an angle so Flynn could drink.
He coughed as the hot tea poured down his throat. “You should be thanking me, Einstein. I was only defending your honour.”
“Some guy at the pub made a comment about you, so our Flynn here punched him out. Then the whole rest of the pub jumped in.” Blake wiped blood off his face. “We only got out of there because Nell called the police and everyone scrambled.”
“Jesus, Flynn,” Maeve growled, splashing hot tea all over Flynn’s face.
“I’m fine, Einstein,” Flynn coughed. “You should see the other guys. But they know about Aline.”
Panic surged through me. If the villagers saw Aline back from the dead, that would frighten them more than the statue. But how could they know about her? She hasn’t been outside the castle except to talk to Daigh, and we were well hidden in the trees...
The fox.
Maeve must’ve had the same idea, because she turned to Arthur. “That rustling you heard in the trees the other day, did you see for sure it was a fox?”
“No, but it was low to the ground, too small to be a person hunched over.”
