He was out the door in a second, calling a greeting to Peter and Roderick as I fumbled to don the new tunic. Stretching my arms out to push my hands through the sleeves was agony and depleted what little strength I’d regained. How long would my recovery take?
Once dressed, I eased myself back down to lie flat, panting for breath. If I had more energy, I would’ve kicked myself. How could I have let this happen? Brent had told me about the new bounty the Employer wanted, and I was sure it had to be the crate in the house with me…but now I was lying in bed, unable to do much more than take a few steps. It would be impossible for me to steal the pixie dust and outrun all three men, and my safety was wholly reliant on a man I barely knew.
“Where’s Gil?” Peter was asking.
“Resting in the back room. The dumb kid fell and got hurt, so he slowed us down on the way back here. He’ll have to rest up for a bit before he’s useful again. Bled all over a few of my scarves, so now I can’t sell them at all.”
Roderick’s booming, bear-like laugh rang out. “I think we can spare a few coppers now that we have this.” There was the slapping sound of flesh against wood. “Buyers are very interested.”
A whine had started in my head, trying to muffle the sound of the conversation.
“We ought to send Gil back to his mother,” Lochlan pressed. “He needs to be cared for.”
“No. He knows too much already,” Roderick said. “He’s not leaving. You’re a healer. You take care of him.”
I took several deep breaths, trying to clear my head, but the incessant whine persisted, growing to the point that I could barely hear any of the conversation floating in toward me. It all became muddled together and my eyelids began to close, no matter how much I resisted. Sleep was coming, whether I wanted it to or not.
Within a few minutes, I’d drifted off again, in too much pain and too exhausted to stay awake a second longer.
CHAPTER 13
It was dark when I woke back up. The pale moonlight coming in through the window cast a silvery glow over Lochlan, who must’ve dragged his rocking chair in to sit beside me. As much as I wanted to distrust him, I couldn’t help but be grateful. He didn’t need to cover for me, and he certainly hadn’t needed to watch over me while I slept.
I shifted and gasped aloud as the wound in my side sent a nasty throb. I ground my teeth and inhaled slowly, trying to breathe through the aching sting that sent pulses of shooting pain through my body. My fingers crept to the site of the injury and found that the skin had been stitched together with some sort of silk thread.
“Gil?” Lochlan’s low voice came through the darkness. “How are you feeling?”
“Fine,” I choked out.
“You keep saying that, but I don’t think it’s true.” Lochlan lit a candle and came over. There were dark circles under his eyes and his hair flopped over his eyes so I wondered how he could even see out. “I need to take a look. I gave you some sutures while you were out. The cut was pretty deep.”
“Don’t look.” I tried to scoot away from him, but my body wouldn’t respond to my commands.
“I won’t hurt you,” he said gently. “And I’m only going to look at the injury, nothing else. I just need to check for any sign of infection.”
“No,” I repeated. “I’ll do it myself.” Even though my chest was still bound, I just couldn’t bring myself to have Lochlan look at me. It felt much too invasive and like a violation of the little privacy I had left.
“If you insist,” Lochlan said. He set the candle on an upturned bucket near the bed and turned his back. “Watch for redness, swelling, pus, anything like that. Check for soreness and tenderness.”
The candle didn’t give enough light for a thorough inspection, but my quick check told me that I was indeed developing an infection. Angry red swelling ran along the six-inch gash and there were still droplets of blood oozing out. I stared at it while Roderick’s deep snores came from the next room over.
“Well?” Lochlan prompted, keeping his back to me.
“I’m fine,” I whispered, quickly covering back up. I’d gotten through plenty of scrapes in the past; this was just a little worse than normal.
Lochlan turned around. “I don’t believe you. Something like that needs to be cleaned at least twice a day.”
I jutted out my jaw defiantly. “I’ll manage. I always have.”
“Clearly. Weren’t you on a pirate ship before this? How was it that none of them realized?—”
I let out a grunt to cut him off. Peter rarely slept as it was. I’d occasionally spotted him dozing off in the hammock outside, but beyond that, he always seemed to be busy, even at night. Who knew if he was listening at the door?
Lochlan came a little closer to crouch at the side of the bed. “Did none of them realize?”
I lifted one shoulder. “I’m an excellent liar when I want to be.”
“Not as great as you suppose. I know you’re lying about your healing.” He turned back around. “I really do need to clean that.”
