Kaiden looked over at Ferra, who had her hand on the fur covering his leg. How many injuries had she seen in her lifetime? She looked no older than a day over nineteen or twenty. How had she served in the McLeish household? He knew nothing of the clan aside from the need to have them not attack the McGregor clan.
Wait, she had mentioned her father.
“Ye’re the laird’s daughter.”
She nodded. “Aye, the youngest. Mah da wanted me tae wed.”
“’Tis too much for ye, lass,” he said gently, embarrassed that he was on the verge of showing her his weakness. “Ye’re a laird’s daughter.”
“I’m a healer!” she stated, startling him before clearing her throat. “I was always a healer before a laird’s daughter, and have trained with our healer. She is far different than the one in yer clan.”
“I didnae mean tae offend ye,” Kaiden heard himself say. “But dinnae say I didnae warn ye.”
She gave him a sharp nod, and he leaned back on the pillows, not wanting to see her reaction as she lifted the furs. A cold rush of air crossed his leg as she did so, and he forced himself to breathe, waiting for her shrieks of terror.
Surely, she was appalled.
“Does this hurt?”
Startled by her question, Kaiden barely realized that she was touching his leg gently, right at the knee. “Wot?”
She pressed harder, though her touch wasn’t painful. “Here. Can ye feel me touching ye?”
Kaiden swallowed. “Aye.”
Ferra grunted in approval before moving her fingers higher on his leg. “Wot aboot here?” she asked, brushing across the scarred skin. “Did they try tae seal the wound?”
Kaiden closed his eyes at that, remembering the agonizing pain that he had dealt with on that night that they had done just that. The smell of burning flesh would always be in the back of his mind.
“Aye.”
Ferra muttered words under her breath, and Kaiden found himself latched on to the feel of her fingers on his fragile skin, probing the area that no one else except the healer herself had touched. She examined the length of the wound made by the sword, and Kaiden refused to even look at her, keeping his eyes closed.
“Well,” she finally said, removing her fingers. Kaiden mourned the loss of her touch, wishing her fingers would touch him all over.
It had been so bloody long since someone had treated him with something as trivial as another human’s touch.
“’Tis not as bad as I thought.”
Surprised, he opened his eyes to find her looking at him expectedly. “Wot?”
Ferra gave him a small shrug. “It’s infected, aye, but there is no deadening of feeling around the wound, which is good. I can treat yer fever and use some poultices tae help draw out the infection, but wot I really wish tae do is open the wound and let it drain itself.”
Kaiden flinched at the thought. “Nay.”
She placed her hands on her hips. “’Tis the only way tae get it out of yer bloodstream. The infection is trapped in the wound. Once it’s drained, then the fevers will stop, I promise.”
“Ye aren’t coming after me with a knife, lass,” he growled.
Ferra shook her head, chuckling. “And here I was, thinking that ye actually wanted tae get better. Ye’re nothing but a coward, Kaiden McGregor.”
“Yer words wilnae get me tae agree with yer plan,” he replied stubbornly.
Her movements were jerky as she gathered her things, clutching them to her chest. “’Tis not mah words I want ye tae take tae heart. I want ye tae think about yer second-in-command, who is worried sick aboot yer arse. I want ye tae think aboot yer da, who traveled in search of a reason for ye tae believe ye can overcome this. There is a clan out there that is waiting for their warrior tae save them, and ye are not willing tae even entertain the idea!”
“Get out,” he growled, wishing he could throw her out himself. Her words inflicted hurt in places he didn’t even know he possessed, and there was a measure of truth with each one. He just didn’t want to hear it from her. “Get the bloody hell out!”
Ferra lifted her chin, anger radiating in her stance. “Aye, I will do just that, Scot. May ye rot in the bed ye’re lying in, then!”
