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She immediately turned on her side and found herself peering at Alpin's sleeping face, a sight she'd woken up to several times during the last couple of days. It wasn't until she became aware of movement and noticed that Alpin wasn't under the linens and furs, but lying on top of them and that Rory was working over him that she recalled why her head hurt again.
"Is he going to be all right?" she asked anxiously, sitting up.
"Aye. Fortunately, the stones only sheared him as they fell rather than hit him full on. The head wound is just a grazing."
"But he fainted," she protested with a frown. "A mere grazing would no' ha'e--"
"I imagine it was the wound to his back that made him faint," Rory interrupted.
Saidh shifted her gaze to Alpin's small back and bit her lip. More than half of it was skinned from shoulder to almost his hip. "How bad is it?"
Rory grimaced and removed the bloody cloth he'd been cleaning Alpin's wound with. He dipped it in a basin of water, wrung it out and then returned to his work and finished grimly, " 'Twill heal."
Saidh sighed unhappily, knowing from the way her brother had said it that the boy was in for a long, painful recovery. Swallowing, she whispered, "He saved me."
Rory paused and glanced to her in question.
"I was standing where the rocks fell. He pushed me out of the way," she explained solemnly.
"Yer forehead?" Rory asked.
"I hit it on the castle wall as he knocked me forward. If he hadn't . . ." She didn't bother finishing the sentence, but took a breath and asked, "Where is me husband?"
"Up on the battlements with Aulay and the other men, examining the merlons to see how they were dislodged," Rory answered as he returned to his work.
Saidh nodded, but then just as quickly frowned. "How did they ken about the merlon? I did no' get the chance to tell Greer ere I fainted."
"Alpin awoke when Aulay picked him up. He told him about the merlon falling and where it happened as he was carried up here," Rory murmured, concentrating on his task.
"And then fainted again when ye set to work on him?" she asked, feeling for the poor lad.
"Nay. I gave him some o' me sleeping tincture so he could sleep through me cleaning his wound. There was no need fer him to suffer through it."
"Oh, thank ye," Saidh breathed, grateful that he had. She watched silently as he worked, then asked uncertainly, "Was Greer verra upset that we'd slipped our keepers?"
"Aye," Rory said shortly, and then paused to give her a cold glare. "As are the rest o' us." When Saidh looked away, he added, "Saidh, we were trying to protect ye from exactly what happened today. Ye should no' ha'e--"
"I ken," Saidh interrupted on an unhappy sigh. "We should no' ha'e done it."
"We?" Rory asked dryly. "By me guess 'twas ye who did it and Alpin jest got dragged along with ye."
"I did no' exactly ha'e to drag him," she protested. "He was as sick o' this room as I am."
"He is but a lad," Rory snapped. "Ye're a woman, full grown and supposed to ken better."
Saidh shifted uncomfortably and muttered, "Aye, well how would you like to be locked up in a room fer days on end with men to constantly guard ye?"
"How would ye like to be dead?" he snapped back. "Because 'tis only by the skin o' Alpin's back that ye're not."
Saidh glanced to the boy guiltily and then lowered her head unhappily. Rory rarely got angry. He and Alick were the last two to ever lose their tempers. But he was furious right now and she could not even blame him. Alpin would not be in the state he was presently in if not for her determination to outwit and escape her jailors.
She grimaced to herself and picked at the fur covering her lap as she worried over what this meant. If Rory was this angry, how angry must Greer be with her right now? She'd nearly got his squire killed. Cowardly as it might be, she really didn't want to find out just how angry her husband was with her just then. In fact, she'd be happy to avoid having to deal with him until he'd had a chance to let his temper cool. In that regard, she could only envy Alpin. At least he was asleep and would not have to face Greer's anger. That thought made her still and then she glanced at Rory and said, "Me head is paining me something fierce."
"I am no' surprised," Rory said with little sympathy. He didn't even glance up from his efforts to clean Alpin's wound.
Saidh scowled, but then cleared her throat and asked, "I am sure rest would help ease it. I do no' suppose I could ha'e some o' that sleeping tincture o' yers?"
He straightened and eyed her through narrowed eyes.
Saidh held her breath and tried to look pitiful. It wasn't a natural state for her, however, and she suspected she just looked brain-boiled.
After a moment, Rory returned to his work, saying mildly, "Unfortunately, I somehow lost a goodly portion o' me sleeping tincture and ha'e precious little left. I am no e'en sure what I ha'e left will be enough to keep Alpin from suffering as he heals, so I fear I ha'e to say no." He paused and glanced her way as he added sweetly, "Howbeit, I do ha'e a tincture fer pain. It tastes vile, but it might help."
"Nay," Saidh muttered with disgust and lay back in the bed. It served her right for even considering taking the coward's way out . . . which was completely unlike her. Saidh was no coward. She'd stood fierce and proud in the face of her brothers' anger many times over the years, and couldn't say why this time was different. She wasn't afraid of Greer. No matter how angry he got, she kne
w, to the bottom of her heart, that he would not harm her. In truth, she didn't even think it was fear that she was experiencing. She just didn't want to see the disappointment and accusation on his face that she knew she deserved.
Saidh heard the men's voices coming from the hall and quickly sat up again. If she had to face Greer, she would do so upright. She'd rather have been out of bed and on her feet, but there wasn't time for that. She'd barely got into a seated position before the door opened and Greer led her brothers in. Every last one of them was there, she noted, and knew from experience that once her husband got done berating her, they would line up to take a turn at bawling her out as well.
She steeled herself against what was to come as the men walked to the bed, then gasped in surprise when Greer suddenly bent, tugged the linen and furs aside and scooped her up. When he then turned to carry her out of the room, she thought she understood. He didn't want to wake Alpin with his bellowing. She glanced over his shoulder, expecting to find her brothers all trailing behind, preparing to blast her. However, they had all gathered around the bed to talk quietly with Rory.
Perhaps they were letting Greer give her hell on his own before going at her, she thought with a frown and then glanced around as her husband turned into the room she had stayed in when she'd first arrived at MacDonnell. Greer strode inside, paused long enough to kick the door closed, then carried her to the chairs by the fire and sat in one, settling her in his lap.
Saidh raised her chin proudly as she waited for the scolding to start, only to gasp in surprise when instead he covered her mouth with his own and kissed her almost violently. She was just getting over her surprise enough to kiss him back when Greer tore his mouth away and pressed her close, muttering, "Thank God ye're all right."
"Alpin saved me," she breathed guiltily.
"Aye, and I'll reward the boy fer it too. He's a good lad," he murmured into her hair.
"Aye," Saidh agreed, guilt mixing with confusion now. "I thought ye'd be angry with me."
"I am," he growled, framing her face with his hands and pulling her back so he could meet her gaze.
Her eyes widened at the tortured expression on his face.
"But I'm so damned relieved ye're all right. When I found the crushed grass and raced back only to find ye missing, I thought me heart would stop in me chest."
