His hands clenched into fists and tugged at his hair until the pain made him stop. He needed to break out of here. To be ready if and when someone brought a meal. He assumed the Keith would not want to starve him, not if he retained any hope of convincing him to join the clan as its healer. Though, after the fight in his hall and Aftyn’s revelations about changes at the abbey, perhaps he’d change his mind.
Nay. The memory of the condition those men left her in sent his blood boiling through his veins yet again. He jumped up and paced the width of his cell. Without his intervention, she’d be dead right now. Then where would clan Keith be?
After the Keith’s threats to harm her, did he care? Neve knew less than Aftyn. Hamish might help, or Neve’s description of him might be colored by her infatuation. If so, Keith would have been worse off without Aftyn. But his contempt for his illegitimate daughter apparently knew no bounds.
The ringing truth in Jamie’s mind was that he would be worse off without Aftyn. She’d given him more than he’d given her. She made him care and taught him that what he could do had more value than he’d ever recognized or accepted.
And she loved him.
That was the only reason he’d trusted her with his ability. He could have taken the risk and put her in a healing sleep before he touched the first of her injuries. But he’d let her see and feel what he could do. Not to prove to her that she’d never be as good as he was. Only to show her that he trusted her with his life. And more.
He loved her. He had to save her.
19
After Jamie was taken away, Aftyn fled to the herbal, the only place she felt was hers in the entire keep. There she paced and castigated herself until Neve and Hamish arrived, breathless.
“We ran up as soon as we heard,” Neve told her. “’Tis all over the keep that the laird put Jamie in the dungeon. How is he supposed to do any good from there?”
“I think he’s supposed to cool off for a wee,” Aftyn told her. “Though I doubt that will work. He got as angry as I’ve ever seen him when Da said he will do nothing to the men who attacked me.”
“What?”
Neve’s outrage was evident in her screech.
“That’s not all he did,” Aftyn said, shaking her head sadly.
“What does that mean?” Hamish asked.
“He threatened me.” She shuddered at the memory. Her disbelief, and the outrage on Jamie’s face. “To see what Jamie would do, he threatened his own daughter.”
“What do ye want to do?” Neve went to Aftyn and hugged her.
Aftyn leaned into her, grateful for her care. Her throat closed up and she couldn’t speak around the lump in it.
“Get him out of there, of course,” Hamish interjected. “There must be a way.”
“From a dungeon?” Neve’s tone was incredulous, her eyes wide as she turned to him. “No’ without help.”
“’Tis my fault he’s there,” Aftyn finally managed to say. “So ’tis my responsibility to get him out.”
“Nay,” Braden said as he entered the room, then closed the door behind him. “I heard ye out in the hall,” he explained. “Our father threatened ye. If we’re to conspire against his wishes, we must do so in private.” He hooked a thumb over his shoulder at the heavy oak door.
“Thank ye, brother,” Aftyn told him and sank onto a stool, feeling every place the men hit or kicked her, despite what Jamie had done to heal her. Her body still worked to recover from the damage. She was tired, but angry enough at her father to do something to help, no matter the consequences.
She finally accepted that she could not remain at Keith while her father ruled it. Jamie was right. She’d never be safe while he was laird. And her heart was with Jamie, wherever he went. Away from here, surely. Beyond that, she didn’t care.
Yet a part of her still felt guilty over leaving the clan, village, and abbey. Then she noticed Hamish reading through some of Jamie’s notes made from her mother’s journal. “What do ye think?” She asked him. “Can ye and Neve follow those well enough to care for everyone if I have to go away?”
“We already established that ye do have to go away,” Neve told her. “We will manage.”
“I’m familiar with many of these,” Hamish told her. “And can follow Jamie’s notes to make anything I havena done before.”
Relief that she could leave without guilt eased some of the ache within her.
“Neve is right,” Hamish continued. “We’ll manage until the abbey’s healer arrives. Yer safety is most important.”
“My men and I will guard them,” Braden said and put a hand on her shoulder. If those men show up, we’ll take care of them.”
