Kate put on an apron and did as she was directed, collecting the herbs for the tea Essie would force down Rory’s throat and setting about making it.
“So you saved my brother, Kate?” Max said.
Wolf made a noise that sounded like he was in pain.
“There is no need to make more of it than need be,” she added quickly.
Sinclairs married Ravens, or those of their blood, and usually after saving them.She’d been told that when she’d arrived in London for her first foray into society and met her cousins. Rory was Max’s brother; Max was the Duke of Raven’s bother.
“But he would have died had you not come to his aid,” Wolf said, looking grim.
“Come and help me turn him, Dev, I want to check if the bullet has exited his body. If not, I will need to extract it.” They all heaved a sigh of relief when they saw the exit wound.
“We still need to clean and stitch it,” Essie muttered. “Let’s get this done before he wakes. Kate, get the salve and bandages.”
“I seem to remember something like this occurring when first we met, my love,” Max said, lowering Rory gently back to the table.
Kate watched as he looked at his brother; the hand he lifted to touch his head was gentle. How long had it been since they’d seen each other?
“When first I met Max, he’d been shot in the side, and he managed to ride to Oak’s Knoll.”
“Where you saved me.”
“Sinclairs save Ravens,” Essie said, looking grim as she lined her instruments up on the small table she’d pulled closer to the bed.
“I helped extract the bullet from you that day, and it is not a memory I am fond of,” Cam added. “It was like eeling in the dark.”
“Kate, mop up the blood. Max, watch over your brother, I need to know he is breathing easy or if he wakes. Cam, hand me the instruments as, like you said, you’ve done this before. Dev?”
“Here, love.”
“Bring more blankets.”
Dev was soon back, and between them they tucked what he carried around Rory. Bertie brought in heated bricks, which were wrapped and placed around Rory’s body.
“We must get him warm; the cold is just as dangerous to him at the moment,” Essie said.
Kate watched the eldest Sinclair move to stand at his sister’s back. He touched her neck, cupping a large hand around it. Wolf moved to Rory’s feet and touched them, and Kate felt the frisson of power move through her.
Kate had known she was different, along with Wolf and Alice, from a young age, but until she met her cousins, she’d not really understood her gift. Their senses were magnified. Kate and Essie could taste and pick out any ingredient in food, Cam could smell things no one else could. Dev and Wolf could see further and in the dark, and Eden and Alice could hear better than anyone else. There was more to their senses than this, and the younger siblings also had the gifts. Then there was Lilly, Dev’s wife, who could heal with her hands. She was of both Raven and Sinclair blood. One thing Kate had come to realize was that their senses were stronger when together and connected, skin-to-skin—as they were now.
“I shall call for Lilly if need be,” Dev said as he watched Essie poke about in the wound to ensure no bullet fragments remained.
“Let’s get him through this first.”
Max gagged, but Kate alternated between watching the procedure and Rory. Thus far he’d remained unconscious. The Sinclair brothers and Wolf just watched and did as Essie asked.
“The bullet does not appear to have damaged any bones, but there is still the possibility of infection.”
“He will live,” Max vowed. “I have not found him to lose him again. Even if he wishes me to meet my maker.”
When Essie had finished and checked Rory had no other injuries, they all helped move him to Dev’s old bed. Once there, the bricks were placed around him once more, and the blankets. A fire roared, and the room was toasty.
“He is warming. But we must get this tea into him.”
Max and Dev raised him slightly, and Kate spooned the tea down his throat. Essie helped until he’d taken enough to satisfy her. Rory did not even stir.
“That is all we can do for now,” she said.
