Lilliana nodded. “Arsenic. You smell it, don’t you?”
Fergus nodded. “I do.”
“Can we counter it?” Kayden asked.
“Aye. We must remove it from their bodies. Clean them out,” Fergus said.
“And how do we do that?” Kayden asked.
Fergus and Lilliana locked eyes. “Ipecac,” they said in unison.
“And a lot of clean water,” Lilliana added.
Kayden nodded. “I’ll travel to the village meself and tell them.”
Lilliana turned sharply to face him. “I’m coming with you.”
Kayden hesitated, eyeing her wound.
“I’m fine. I want to, please,” she pleaded, feeling thatsomethinggood had to come out of all this.
Fergus stepped forward. “I’ll come along as well, Me Laird. Ye’ll need me help.”
Riding to the village with Lilliana and Fergus, as well as a basket of herbs, was bittersweet to Kayden. On the one hand, he was glad that they had found a cure for the sickness plaguing the village. On the other hand, he could not help but feel responsible and guilty for what had happened.
There were a lot of what-ifs he would never know the answer to. What if he had insisted on recovering his sister’s body? Would he have found that she wasn’t dead and helped her in time? What if he had looked for her harder?
He went over his actions, trying to see where he might have acted differently. But even now, after everything, he could not see what he could have done differently that would not have endangered the clan.
He mourned the sister he’d lost, and he always would, but he could not reconcile his memories of her with the malevolent creature they’d encountered in the clearing.
Lilliana leaned into him, bringing her mouth to his ear. “Are you alright?” she whispered, her breath tickling his neck.
He suppressed a shiver and turned to look her in the eye. “I daenae ken. I need time.”
She nodded, her hand creeping towards his with a trepidation he did not like to see.
He grabbed her hand and held it between both of his. “I daenae regret saving yer life if that’s what ye mean, Lilly.”
She stared at him, her eyes misty. “I wish it hadn’t happened like that,” she whispered.
“I, too, wish that, but we cannae change reality.”
She sighed deeply, lashes brushing against her cheeks before she met his eyes again. “At least we can help the villagers. At least no one else has to die.”
“Aye.” He nodded in agreement, giving her a small smile. “And it’s in nay small part thanks to ye.”
She shrugged. “I’m happy to be of use.”
He stopped smiling, giving her a serious look. He wanted her to know that he truly meant it.
“Ye’ve never been useless, lass. Having ye here at the castle has changed our lives for the better, and I’m grateful for it.”
Her bottom lip trembled, and she leaned in as if she might kiss him again. “Thank you for saying that, Kayden.”
Fergus cleared his throat loudly as if to remind them of his presence. They both smiled in amusement, and then Lilliana leaned back in her seat.
Being able to treat not just the poisoning but the different symptoms that sprang up from it was a source of real joy for Lilliana. She made a brew of the ipecac and, with the help of Fergus and Kayden, distributed it to every household, urging them to drink it with as much water as they could.
