AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Arkest frowned. “Do you wish to lose the use of your dominant arm, Commander?”
“Help my mate.” I gripped the foot of the bedframe tightly, and a cracking sound rang out.
Madr placed his hand on my shoulder. “Leave her to Arkest. He’ll save your mate.”
He tried to urge me away from the bed, but I shrugged him off. “I’ll remain with Rhoslyn.”
“I doubt she’ll know you’re here,” Arkest said. He examined the mark on her forehead and clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “This would explain why she’s unconscious.” He frowned at me. “If there’s bleeding in her brain, she may not ever wake again.”
“Do. Everything. You. Can,” I growled. The bedframe split beneath my fingers.
“You distract me.” Arkest’s lips thinned. “Either remain silent or go away. Leave me to heal your mate. You won’t help her by collapsing the bed beneath her.”
I pried my fingers off the wooden frame but remained where I was, watching intently as Arkest loosened the binding I’d wrapped around her thigh above the wound.
“Good job,” Arkest said, his voice lightening. “All that military training paid off.”
“It also paid off when I killed the three dresalods who attacked us on the street.”
“As you should.” Arkest lifted his hand, and his assistant wheeled the cart now holding a basin full of steaming water closer to the bed. He removed soft cloths from the medicine cabinet and waved for his assistant to lay his basket of herbs on the bed.
“My mate is a healer,” I said.
Arkest didn’t look up from where he carefully washed Rhoslyn’s wound. “Interesting.”
“We visited the herbalist today and my mate spoke of the properties of lindenmint.”
“Freshens the breath and protects the teeth, but I don’t see why you’ve chosen to speak of this unless you need a distraction—one our high prince has offered, and you should accept so you stop bothering me.”
“She said she discovered it has astringent properties.”
Arkest’s hands froze over her leg. “I hadn’t heard that before.”
“Could you place the herb on her wound?” Somehow, I hadn’t lost our purchases at the apothecary. I laid the bag on the bed, opening the top and pulling out the pouch of lindenmint. “There’s no harm in trying is there?” I cringed as blood continued to trickle from her wound. “She’s bleeding. If this can slow the flow, we should use it.”
“Pressure and the tourniquet you wisely used are the best means of slowing blood flow short of suturing a torn artery. I don’t believe this is arterial bleeding, however. It isn’t squirting but flowing at a steady pace. Venous, if I had to guess, which I often must do.”
“Let’s try some on your arm,” Madr said. “On that gash you dismissed that continues to seep and splatter on the floor.”
Before I could say anything, he plucked a clump of lindenmint from the pouch and pressed it against my wound. A short moment later, he lifted it away.
“You’re no longer bleeding, brother,” Madr said in amazement.
“It’s the lindenmint. Please.” I’d do anything to get Arkest to listen. My poor mate continued to bleed. How could such a tiny being survive if she lost that much blood? Her pale face told me she might not—not unless we could stop the flow.
“I’m not opposed to trying lindenmint,” Arkest said, following Madr’s lead. “I’ll grind it first and add boiled water, however, to make a poultice, not just stuff a clump of leaves against the wound.” He twisted his lips as he gazed at my arm, before turning back to Rhoslyn.
In no time, he’d made the poultice and laid it over her wounds. “I don’t wish to push it inside. We don’t know what else this herb might do, and now is not the time for testing.” His gaze caught mine. “But if this works, your mate may very well have saved herself.”
“She said she’s also noted lindenmint helps prevent infection.”
Arkest grunted. “Nowthatwould be truly amazing.”
He secured a bandage to the front of the wound, and we carefully rolled her, holding her in place while he tended to the exit wound in the same manner.
Even when we laid her on her back again, she didn’t wake up.
What if I lost her? I couldn’t bear the thought. I’d held back the words that would show her the feelings growing in my heart, because I felt my career and proving my worth was more important.
