“Do you know what you’re doing?” Not that it mattered, she was doing her best to help and that’s all any of us could do.
“No, lass. No one here is a healer. I could be doing him more harm than good for all I know, but ’tis all I can think to do.”
I nodded, standing from my crouched position next to him. “I know.” I turned, unable to bear the thought of the lifeless Baodan who I knew lay behind me.
Instead, Baodan tried to sit up, extending his arm out to me as I ran to him.
“Oh God, it worked!” I grabbed either side of his face, smothering him in kisses until he reached his hand up to pull me away. “Slow down, lass, I am no leaving ye now. There will be time for that later. Did ye kill him?”
He no longer moved. As Bri nodded in answer to Baodan’s question, I knew. “Yes.”
“Good. That’s me sweet, fiery lass.”
The pain of moving roused Eoghanan into consciousness, and his moans caused Baodan to leap to his feet in alarm. “What happened to him?”
“After you fell, Niall ran toward me. Eoghanan jumped in front of him.”
“He has saved us both, lass.”
“I know.” My voice broke again, and Baodan wrapped his arms around me.
“Will he live?” He directed his question to no one in particular and none knew the answer. I didn’t see how he could, not with the extent of his injuries. We had nothing to provide protection against deadly infection.
Something hard thumped against my thigh. I glanced up at Baodan, thinking he wished to get my attention. “What was that?”
“What was what?”
“Did you touch me?” I reached down to the spot where I’d felt the touch and gasped at the object within my grasp.
“Are ye injured, lass?”
Wrapping my hand around the object, I pulled out the black stone and held it up for Baodan to see. “The rock. Get something for him to float on. We need to send him to Morna.”
Chapter 45
“Hey. E-o. Can you open your eyes for me just a second? I know you want to sleep, but it’s important that you look at me, okay?” My hand lay on his forehead, and I traced the top of his brow with my thumb. Slowly his eyelids flickered open.
“That is no me name, lass.”
I smiled, my faith that he would be fine stronger than ever. Life remained in him, and Morna would heal him. “I know, but…”
He interrupted me before I could say more. “I know. I told ye I would teach ye how to say it when I needed a smile. I am verra much in need of a smile now.”
He needed to be on his way, but I couldn’t bring myself to deny him. I figured a lifted spirit would heal better than a sad one. “Okay. Teach me.”
“Say ‘yo,’ then ‘wun,’ and ‘en.’”
I tried to repeat him. I thought it sounded pretty good until the left side of his face pulled up into an amused smile. “I knew ’twould make me smile. Wretched job, lass.”
“Yeah, well, I’ll work on it while you’re away.”
He blinked his eye to symbolize a nod. “Aye, do. Just where is it that I am going?”
How could I explain to him when I knew how impossible it was to believe until you’d experienced it? “Do you trust me?”
“Aye. If Baodan does, so do I. I am proud to call ye sister.”
“Good. I always wanted a little brother.” I winked, he was older than me. Centuries older. “I’m going to leave it to the person I’m sending you to to explain everything. Just know that you’ll be taken care of, and you’ll be better in no time.”
“Then, let me be gone for I doona feel so well now.”
“Ok.” I bent and kissed him gently on the forehead. “But I think Baodan wants to say something to you first.”
Baodan stepped in front of me, taking his brother by the hand. “Blood or no, ye are more a brother to me than Niall ever was. I’m sorry that I went so long with no treating ye as such. I hope that when ye return, things will be as they once were. Me love will be with ye every moment ye are away.”
“And mine with ye.”
We stepped away, and Eoin and Arran placed the makeshift raft atop the water, the stone placed on top of his stomach. He drifted gently into the center of the pond and vanished.
*
The sun rose as Baodan and I entered our bedchamber, but it did not stop us from crawling into bed. Despite the weariness of our bones and the heavy weight of our hearts, the feeling of clear relief spread throughout the castle. Tomorrow was sure to be a better day.
“Is yer neck badly hurt, lass?”
I felt nothing. Compared to Eoghanan’s wounds, it was a scratch. “Not at all.” I snuggled into the crook of my husband’s arm, reaching for his hand as I smiled up at him. “I…I don’t know if this is the right time, and I very well may be wrong but…”
“What is it, lass? I canna bear anything else bad.”
“It’s not bad.” I pushed his fingers open and placed the palm of his hand against my still-flat stomach and waited patiently for him to make the connection.
“No?”
I nodded, grinning at the smile that spread wide across his face. “I don’t know and I won’t for a few more weeks, but it’s possible.”