“I’m not going anywhere, sweet. We don’t need to hurry.”
“We do if you don’t want to lose that handsome body of yours.”
She guided me to the carriage, even though I must be nearly twice her weight. My little mate could be determined when she wanted to be.
She knocked on the door to the carriage. “Leisha, it’s me, open up. The battle is over.” The door opened and Elena said, “Help me with him before he loses consciousness. Be quick now.”
Some time later, I found myself on the floor of the carriage with my feet sticking out of the door. The two women were crouched on either side of me and the scent of medicinal herbs was strong enough to burn the inside of my nose. I tried to sit up, but impatient hands pressed me back down.
“No, don’t move,” Elena ordered. I liked it when she was bossy. “You’ll pull the stitches before I’ve finished them.”
It was then I noticed the pain. It bit into my shoulder and traveled deep into the bone. The human must have done more damage than I’d thought. I tried to speak, to tell her I was okay, but she pressed her trembling hands to my lips.
“Hush now, and let me concentrate before this wound becomes infected.”
“Is it dragon’s bane?” I heard her companion ask.
“…don’t know for sure,” Elena replied. “But the wound is deep, and it’s not his only one. Goddess, he shouldn’t have left me behind. If he weren’t on the edge of death, I’d put him there!”
I wanted to chuckle, but I was weaker than I liked to admit. Alaric, I need Alaric. But I don’t have the words to tell her.
Nevertheless, my mate worked tirelessly over me. The pinch and pull of her fingers cleaning my wound kept me at the edge of awake. Eventually, even the pain faded beneath the blessing of her touch. This was a magick I’d never experienced before. More powerful than the bond, the mark, the blending of minds. Maybe even more powerful than the curse.
I knew it,I thought feverishly.
I must have said it aloud, because Elena pressed a cool cloth to my forehead. “Hush now, and let me work. Rest, but for Goddess’ sake, if you die on me, I will raise you from the dead and kill you myself for leaving me on that cliff.”
My responding chuckle took what energy remained, so I did as she asked and let the pain take me under.
As her hands worked over me, I felt the essence of her being brush against mine through our connection. I gasped aloud at the sensation. It was like touching light, touching life. More pure than anything I’d ever experienced in this world or beyond.
I wanted to tell her to stop. It was too much. I was unworthy, but I was almost too weak to breathe, let alone open my mouth and form words.
I’d never heard ofmates experiencing a connection so deep. Surely it was the pain staining my thoughts, bending reality.
Surely.
13
Elena
Déjà vu flooded me as I worked to mend the wound like I had with the tenant farmer before my life changed. The gash spanned most of his chest and was so deep it swallowed most of my longest finger. The biggest worry was dragon’s bane, but I didn’t detect the signature astringent scent signifying its presence.
Leisha’s hands shook as she passed me supplies. I saw her peer warily out the carriage door at Rhys’s men. “Do you think we should leave him and return home?”
I couldn’t have heard her right. “What? No. If we do that, he’ll bleed out.”
She sent me a significant, measuring look. “You mean youwantto stay mated to… to this beast?”
Muddling through my thoughts with Rhys’s blood staining my hands took significant effort. “I wouldn’t have consented to be bound to him in the first place if I didn’t.”
“My lady, I don’t mean to be rude, but we could escape now. His men are wounded and in disarray. You could go back into hiding in another temple or go back to your brother. Gideon would help you.”
I pressed a hand to my forehead. “Leisha, you aren’t making any sense whatsoever. Gideon helped to arrange our binding. It would make no sense for him to undo all that work. Now be quiet and help me staunch the flow of blood.”
She bit her tongue, but I could sense the words she left unsaid. I didn’t have time to entertain her nonsense, not when Rhys was growing especially pale before my very eyes. Leisha must be frightened by the attack and it was making her say things she didn’t mean. She’llfeel better when we got to the ship and set sail for the Northlands.
A headache brewed behind my eyes as I tried to focus on the slippery flesh clenched between my fingers in the dying light. Minutes blended together until finally, I released the breath I’d been holding and looked up. Rhys’s men gathered around the carriage entrance.
