Page 105 of The Laird’s Lost Wife

Daphne shook her head. “I willnae.”

“He’s been injured. That wound on his shoulder, remember? It’s bleeding heavily, and without care, it’ll get infected. He willnae let the healers touch him until he’s spoken to ye.”

Daphne briefly closed her eyes. “Then ye had better lead the way.”

Skye gave a grunt and a nod, then strode out of the room.

They navigated the halls in silence, side by side. Daphne glanced over at the woman who had almost become her sister-in-law that day.

Did Skye resent her? She must. She must be angry.

It didn’t seem wise to ask.

“I’m sorry this all ended the way it did,” Daphne murmured.

Skye heaved a sigh. “I’m just relieved nobody was hurt.”

“I should never have come here.”

Skye shot her a quick look. “Ye see things in black and white, daenae ye, Daphne?”

That was unexpected.

They paused before a nondescript door, Skye’s hand resting on the handle.

“Black and white?” Daphne echoed. “What do ye mean?”

“There are nay more than two ways about anything. If something isnae right, it’s wrong. Hunter is the same. I always admired that quality about him, a little bit, but now I think it might be his downfall. Yers, too.”

Before she could ask what that meant, Skye turned the door handle and pulled the door open. She gestured for Daphne to step inside. With a sigh, Daphne obeyed.

She found herself in a small surgery, not large enough to be a proper apothecary room. The space was large enough for maybe one person to rest, with a narrow pallet bed and some shelves on the wall bearing pots and vials of various substances.

Hunter sat on the bed, leaning forward. He’d taken off his fine linen wedding shirt, and she caught a glimpse of the bloodied item lying wadded on the floor beneath the bed.

She could see the nasty red gash across his shoulder, blood smeared around it. The edges of the wound were angry and irritated. There were bruises scattered across his chest, angrily purple.

He lifted his eyes to hers.

She pushed the door shut behind her. “Why arenae ye letting the healers take care of ye?” she asked shortly.

“I have unfinished business.”

“Did they catch the archer?”

As she said that word archer, Daphne remembered the soft hiss of an arrow flying over her head. Where would it have struck her if it had hit home? In her temple? In her eye socket?

Hunter nodded gravely. “He was caught. He’s confessed to everything. We already kent Magnus was part of it, and some of his men are loyal to him. Some have fled, others we’ve caught. It’s hardly a coup. I think he was forced into acting too soon. But he would have risen up against me, sooner or later.”

“And… And Elspeth?”

“I sent her home to her parents, at least for now. She’s grieving.”

She nodded.

A long silence fell between them. She didn’t dare meet his gaze, in case it forced her to do something foolish, like rush over and fling her arms around him.

“I hear that ye are leaving,” Hunter added flatly, his eyes cold.