“Logan, yer arm is truly healin’.”
Logan opened his eyes and looked at his hand. He hadn’t even thought of lifting his arm. He did it instinctually.
“I dinna believe Miss Woodburn poisoned me,” he told them.
“Ye dinna want to believe it, cousin,” Steafan told him.
Aye, Steafan was correct. Logan wouldn’t argue with him.
“What do we do aboot her?” Jamie asked him.
“We dinna have to do anything,” Steafan insisted. “She will want to make sure he’s dead and will return to check. We will catch her then.”
“And do what with her?” Jamie asked him.
“Bring her to Tor. To Lochiel.”
“Nae,” Logan told them all. “No’ until we know fer certain she is guilty.”
“What else but poison could have set ye on yer arse in the middle of the glen, Logan?”
They all knew Steafan’s question was a valid one. What else but poison indeed?
“What are ye all doin’ here again?” Logan asked them, veering off the topic, glad that they hadn’t listened to him and had returned.
“We told ye we werena going to leave ye here alone with her,” Steafan reminded him. “Until ye return with us, we will keep on returning day after day.”
“Ye enjoy tormentin’ me,” Logan playfully accused them.
They laughed with him, glad he was awake, all deeply grateful to anyone who had kept him that way.
They stayed into the evening, refusing to leave his side, even after he rose out of bed. He put his boots on and looked outside the window. There were shadows cast inside the vale, and a mist rolled down the mountain like a lavender blanket in the distance.
Where was she? She wouldn’t stay out in the darkness alone.
“Logan?” It was Ewen.
When Logan turned toward him, he saw the others with Ewen.
“I…” How did he tell them that he worried about her? After what happened, he’d look like a fool. He dropped his chin to his chest and headed for the door. “I dinna think she is all right.”
“Logan! Come inside. Ye just regained yer strength,” Steafan admonished.
Ewen stepped forward, holding up his palms. “Cousin, we will go search fer her. Ye stay here and rest.”
“Ewen,” Logan took hold of his cousin’s shoulders. “It was she who kept me warm. The memories are returnin’ to me. She couldna pull me back because I was too heavy, so she left me where I fell. Save fer when she moved me away from…I expelled the contents of my belly, and she dragged me away from that.” He smiled a little, thinking about it. But she didna leave me.”
“But what made ye sick?” Steafan demanded.
“I dinna know that yet,” Logan admitted.
“And where is she now?” Ewen wanted to know.
Logan also wanted to know.
“We will find her,” Jamie pushed Logan back inside. ‘We will find her and keep her safe, just as she kept ye.”
Logan nodded. There was no use arguing with them, so he thanked Jamie and then watched them ride off.
