Some of the other men exchanged glances with one another anxiously. “Have ye come here fer nefarious purposes? Ye were in terrible shape when ye were discovered, that’s true, but we cannae have a threat tae our village, and perhaps ye need tae go.”
“This is ridiculous!” The healer called from somewhere behind them, but he couldn’t see her.
“How did ye come tae be lost at sea? Can ye tell us that at least?” A man asked.
He tried to remember, truly he did. It was the strangest feeling in the world. He could feel his body, and he was at home within it even with the pain. He could see his limbs and recognize thetattoos on the parts of his skin that he could see, and yet, that was it. He knew he had a name, and a family. He could feel it but that was it. Every time that he tried to reach for that information, things that should have been reflex, his mind supplied nothing at all. He would start to speak and then flounder.
It was infuriating.
He could still speak, he could remember that much at least, but it was like everything that had happened to him before waking up in this very bed was just—gone. He didn’t remember being at sea. He had no idea if he was a fisherman, perhaps? A sailor? Merchant or just a traveling man? They weren’t mentioning weapons or personal affects that he might have been found with and he certainly hadn’t had a chance to ask the healer if he had had those things either.
“If this is some sort of game that ye are playing, it isnae amusing, lad.”
He tried to sit up, even just a little bit, but the pain was intense, and he was forced to stay right where he was. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the younger man’s smile grow at the fact that he couldn’t seem to move himself.
“There’s nay game,” He insisted. “I cannae remember… anything.”
Saying the words out loud left a cold, hollow feeling inside of him.
“See? Just like I told ye!” The healer called from behind them, louder this time. “Ye think that this makes ye all big, strong men? Coming in here to pick on an injured man?” she scoffed. “Honestly, ye lot should be ashamed of yerselves! Being intimidated by a man who barely has any strength back?”
Guilt flickered over a few of their faces, but the younger man seemed more than ready to continue on with his witch hunt.
The healer finally squeezed her way forward, seemed to pick a man at random, and placed her hands on his chest, shoving the man backward with no small amount of force considering it was very obvious that he had no desire to leave.
“If ye remember anything, lad, ye have an obligation to tell the counsel.” One of them said before the healer managed to turn the rest of them away. The younger man lingered, gazing at her longingly.
“Ye ken that I’m just looking after yer best interested, Freya.” He said, stepping forward as if to touch her, and she moved away the moment that he was too close.
“And what makes ye think that I am nae able tae determine what’s best fer me?” She shot right back.
He couldn’t help but smile at her temper. He admired a woman who stood up for herself; at least he thought he did. Funny, which things his mind was choosing to display for him and which things were so obviously locked away.
The man didn’t want to leave; even he could see that. He tried to keep his amusement at a minimum as the man was prompted once more to get out of her home.
“And if ye so much as think about spying on me again, Tristan, I will do so much worse than nettles in yer bed. I dinnae want tae see ye again.” Freya said. “If ye come back here, then I’ll be having an entirely different conversation with the counsel.”
With that, she slammed the door in the man’s face.
CHAPTER SIX
“Are ye all right?” Nathan asked her from the bed, his voice so much softer now that it was just the two of them.
She couldn’t get her temper to settle. The pure nerve of those bastards was more than she could fathom. Let them try to come to her for pain relief, or tonics to help their upset stomachs. She wasn’t going to give any of them anything if that was how they were going to keep treating her! She didn’t care for it at all. She had known all those men for several years, and they had treated her like an object to be moved out of the way.
“Aye, I’m fine.” Freya answered tightly, stirring the stew and then moving to get started on making tea for the both of them, although more for herself if she was being totally honest, as she needed something calming. She hadn’t thought that Tristan was willing to go to those lengths, but clearly she had been very wrong. The prospect of it all frightened her a little bit.
“Are they always like that?” Nathan asked, attempting to move once more and then giving up, sagging back onto the bed.
For a long moment, Freya considered what she wanted to say. “Nay. They arenae.”
They were acting like she had never met them before in her life and she couldn’t stand it. It hurt her more deeply than she had originally realized. She wondered if their wives knew how they had just treated her. She couldn’t believe that the elders she had thought to be compassionate, giving people were so ready to presume the worst about a man who was in dire need of their assistance.
“Dae ye think I’m a danger?” He asked softly, and she couldn’t help but laugh. She poured them both tea and moved back to her stool. To prove how stupid of a comment it was, she pressed against his chest, not even in an injured area, but there was unlikely to be a single part of him that wasn’t tender still. He hissed and tried to shrink away from her touch, and the only answer she needed to give him was the raising of her eyebrow. “Fair point, healer.”
She nodded, and started to sip her tea, thankful that her hands weren’t shaking.
It was her anger, her indignation of the whole thing more than anything else.
