Roark went into the tack room and came outwith everything but the bucket of warm water at the same timeFergus returned with a full bucket of goat’s milk.He sent Fergusoff to the kitchens for a kettle of hot water to make the bucket ofwarm water, and hunkered down beside Alina, who was arranging thebrush and soap and linens on the blankets edge.
“What else?”he asked.
Alina glanced at the bucket of milk, whichthe foal was too young and too weak to drink from on his own.“I’llneed a drinking horn,” she told Roark.“And some small linen ragsto make teats out of.”
Fergus returned with the kettle of hot waterand Alina poured it into the bucket she’d washed her hands in.Roark sent Fergus back to the kitchens for a drinking horn as Alinadipped the washrag in the water and wiped the crud from the foal’seyes and mouth, and then she rubbed some soap onto the rag andwashed his hind end.
Fergus returned with a drinking horn andRoark cut a hole in the end of it and rasped the edges smooth.After drying the foal with a towel and rubbing some warmth andblood back into him, Alina dipped her finger in the goat milk andslipped it into the foal’s mouth.
“He’s suckling,” she said, pulling her fingerout and dipping it back into the milk and then his mouth.“He’sweak, but he’s suckling.”
Fergus breathed a big sigh of relief and wentto tell Gare the good news.Roark held up the drinking horn to showAlina the hole he’d made, stuffing the tip of his little finger inand out of it.
“Perfect.”Alina grinned, starting to feelhopeful.
Roark pulled a strip of linen through thehole and then filled it halfway with milk.“Here,” he crouched downbeside Alina and held the horn out to her as milk started drippingfrom the linen teat.
“If you could hold it to his mouth,” shesaid, wrapping her arm around the foal’s neck and bracing one handunder his jaw while gently prying his mouth open with the other andstuffing the linen between his lips.“Come on, baby,” she cooed,inserting a finger into his mouth next to the linen teat.“Thereyou go, baby,” she said as the foal began to suck.She pulled herfinger out and beamed as the foal continued to suckle.“There yougo, Ash.”
“Ash?”Roark said.
Alina gave him a sheepish grin.“Every livingthing deserves a name of their own.”
“Ash,” Roark repeated.He took in the foal’scoat, a light roan now that the dirt and mats had been brushed out.“It suits him.His coloring.”
“Hopefully his spirit as well,” Alina said.“He’ll need a strong one to survive this and rise from the ashes.”The foal stopped suckling and she pulled the horn from hismouth.
“If your spirit rubs off on him any,” Roarksaid, plugging the teat hole with his finger, “he’ll be kicking hisheels up and tearing around the paddock in no time.”
Alina grinned at the compliment.“Fingerscrossed,” she said.“How much did he drink?”
Roark eyeballed the horn’s contents.“Aquarter of the half horn.Is that good?”
“It’s not bad.We don’t want him drinking somuch at once that he makes himself sick, especially after days ofgoing without much of anything in his belly.”She ran her hand downthe foal’s neck and her voice caught when he laid his head on herknee.“Poor Ash wore himself out getting cleaned up and eating.”She kissed the foal’s forehead.“We’ll let him rest before we offerhim a little more milk.The trick is to be patient, to build hisappetite and his ability to digest little by little.”She liftedthe foal onto her lap and tucked the blanket around him.“He’llneed to be fed constantly for the next two to three days at least,it’d be best if I could stay here with him.”
“I’ll speak with Roger,” Roark said.“Thefact that he let you tend to the foal at all bodes well for himletting you continue.I’ll be sure to point out how much coin he’llmake if the foal lives.I’ve already sworn to watch over you andmake sure you don’t try to escape.”
Alina lifted her chin a notch.“I’d neverwillingly leave a poor creature alone to die when I might save it.But I might not be good to my word if Roger isn’t seeking to ransomme to my father.”
“I understand,” Roark said.He sat down nextto Alina and gently stroked the foal’s head and neck.“I can sitwith Ash if you want to check on Etain.”
“I should,” she said, hesitating.
“I promise to be gentle with him,” he said.He lifted the foal and settled him on his lap.“Go.See to Etain.We’ll be right here.”
***
Alina woke in the dark of night to a smallhoof in her belly.Ash was sleeping beneath the blankets betweenher and Roark, his back snuggled up against Roark’s belly and hishead tucked under Roark’s chin, having instinctively drawn closerto Roark’s larger, warmer body.Alina reached under the blanket andsmiled at the living heat of the foal’s body, which had been ascold as death when she’d first laid hands on him.
She stretched and yawned and lay thereenjoying the sight of Ash and Roark sleeping, and the lack ofwheezing or crackling from the foal that would’ve meant he’d gottensome of the milk in his lungs.
Ash had taken to the horn with the linen teatso well Alina had to pull it away from him the last four feedingsto keep him from overfeeding.Roark had stayed by their sides theentire time, helping Alina feed and care for Ash and watching himwhen she would check on Etain, who had calmed down considerablyonce she was in her old stall.She even let Alina hot soak herswollen udder without complaint.
Roark twitched and snuffled, and Alinareached a tentative hand out and pushed an auburn curl falling ontohis cheek behind his ear, admiring his high, broad forehead, angledcheekbones, full mouth, and strong jaw.She ran her fingers downhis cheek and through the soft curls of his short beard, and thendropped her hand and laid it under the blanket over Ash beforedoing something really foolish like kiss him.
She closed her eyes with a sigh, relivingtheir kiss for the thousandth time.A kiss full of heat, desire,and passion that still stirred her insides.A kiss seared into hersoul.Which made everything that happened after so much worse.
Roark had betrayed her.Roark, who’d seemedtruly interested in her greenhouse, in her, a woman who rode withher skirts hiked up and mucked around with plants in the dirt.Roark, whom she’d had deep, interesting conversations with as theysailed across the North Sea.Roark, who’d slept beside her on thepile of pelts in the ship’s hold, who slept beside her now in thestraw on a stable floor.Whose presence she’d missed last night andcouldn’t seem to sleep without, even in a big, soft, comfortablebed.
