“Poison,” he whispered, voice rasping. “I think she’s been poisoned.”
There was a heartbeat of silence. Creighton sucked in a breath, letting her hand drop from Donal’s arm.
“Poisoned?” he echoed, disbelievingly.
Donal nodded tightly, eyes wide and urgent. “I saw poisonings often in me home village. Some wives got rid of their husbands that way, or the other way around. I ken what it looks like, and I believe she has been poisoned. She’s vomited, and the sweat… well. That’s what I believe, but the other healers ought to take a look at her. I believe that messages have been sent to them. They’ll be here soon,” he offered, as if it were reassuring.
Who are ye tryin’ to reassure?Creighton thought, mind whirling.Me, or yerself?
“Poison,” he echoed again. “That means it was done deliberately. Nora is too canny and experienced to accidentally eat somethin’ she should nae. This was done on purpose.”
“Perhaps,” Donal ventured, glancing uneasily at the door as if hoping somebody else would enter. So far, the doorway remained empty, and his prayers apparently went unanswered.
“What could have poisoned her?” Creighton continued, refusing to let his mind dwell on the implications of poisoners running around the Keep.
“I couldnae say,” Donal answered honestly. “I would need to speak to her, to learn what she has eaten and perhaps make some conclusions from that.”
Creighton squeezed his eyes shut. “There’s some antidote that ye can give her, I’m sure.”
Donal swallowed thickly, refusing to answer. At last, Creighton opened his eyes, fixing him with a glare.
“Isthere nae?”
“The thing is,” Donal managed brokenly. “Some of the antidotes are… aggressive. They can cause purgin’, but others allow the body to retain fluids. It all depends. If I give her the wrong antidote, it could make herworse, me Laird.”
Creighton let out a long, ragged sigh. “What are ye sayin’, Donal? That there’s nothin’ we can do?”
Donal threw Nora a sidelong glance. “We can only pray, me Laird, that she didnae eat too much.”
CHAPTER 14
Nora openedher eyes to a pounding headache. She was lying on her back, staring up at the ceiling. That was strange, since she always slept on one side or the other.
She shifted, briefly wondering why her limbs and back ached so much. Her tongue was dry and stuck to the roof of her mouth, and she had to consciously work moisture back into it. She was also hungry, her stomach rumbling loudly. Through the gap in her curtains, she saw that the sun was either rising or setting, with red streaks crossing the sky. Why was it so hard for her to understand what had happened? Where was Laurie? She couldn’t even remember climbing back into bed the night before. All of it felt wrong.
Shifting again, Nora frowned, trying to establish the cause of thewrongnessshe felt. This was her room, this was her bed, her…
She froze. The nightdress was different. It wasn’t her own threadbare linen gown, but something crisper, stiffer,different,laced up at the throat instead of buttoned. Under the nightdress, of course, she was naked, the unfamiliar material sticking to her bare skin. Sucking in a panicked breath, she forced her aching body into a sitting position, clawing at the sheets, trying to remember to breathe.
“Ah. Ye are awake.”
Creighton’s voice made her freeze. Slowly, Nora looked over to her right. There he sat, sprawled on a chair pulled up beside her bed, long legs stretched out comfortably in front of him. The bedroom was dim, lit only by a dying fire and the flickering light of a single candle, casting a flickering, yellow glow over his sharp features.
He smiled. “Sleep well?”
“What are ye doin’ in here?” she managed at last, her voice only quavering alittlebit.
He sniffed, inspecting the dusty toe of one boot. “Mostly makin’ sure ye are nae goin’ to die in yer sleep. We were a little afraid that ye might, at one point.”
A prickle of unease slid down her spine. “Have I been ill?”
He turned that unblinking gaze onto her. “Ye daenae remember what happened?”
She shook her head. “At least, nae all of it. Things blurred, and I daenae… I daenae understand how I came to be here. What happened?”
“Ye were found in the kitchen,” he responded at once, gaze lingering on her. “Unconscious. Ye had vomited. Tell me the last thing ye remember.”
The kitchen? Memories flooded back, sharp and powerful enough to make Nora flinch and squint. She looked around for water, finding a jug of it and a cup waiting beside her bed. She’d been placed in the center of her bed and struggled feebly to reach it. Creighton got silently to his feet, brushing away her questing hands. He poured a cupful and handed it to her.
