Page 162 of Bride of Ice
“Damn ye, wake up!”
He applied pressure again and was almost ready to give up when a curious image popped into his head. An illustration he’d seen in Ian’s notebook. Instructions on making a ball out of a sheep’s bladder.
The sketch showed a lad blowing air into the flat bladder to inflate it.
Could such a thing be done with lungs?
He acted on instinct, ignoring the crowd’s murmurs of shock and disapproval. Bending close, he covered her mouth with his in a kiss of desperation and blew lightly between her lips.
Nothing happened.
Maybe it required more. He took a deep breath and blew with greater force. This time he felt her chest rise as her lungs filled.
The air came rushing back out.
He tried again.
The air rushed out once more.
With the third breath, he began to feel lightheaded. But he didn’t dare stop.
This time, as the air flowed out, she coughed awake, and her eyes fluttered open.
The last thing Colban heard was a great gasp of awe from the clan.
The last thing he saw was Hallie’s confused face.
The world went black, and he toppled over, unconscious before he even hit the ground.
“Is he going to be all right?” Hallie knotted her fingers.
Colban was awake, but exhausted from his ordeal, stretched out atop Morgan and Jenefer’s bed. Morgan, staring down at his right hand man, shared Hallie’s worry. Jenefer too looked on with fierce concern.
The healer, Bethac, an old woman with a cheery face, patted Hallie on the arm and gave her a wink. “Och, aye. He’s lost a good bit o’ blood. But the cut is clean and shallow.”
A linen bandage encircled Colban’s waist now. But Hallie had seen the nasty gash that cut across several inches of his abdomen. She’d let him squeeze her hand while he endured every agonizing stab of Bethac’s needle as she stitched the wound shut. She’d stared into his eyes, lending him her strength as sweat beaded his face and he clenched his jaw against the torment.
Bethac packed her herbs and tools into her satchel. “Colban alwayswasa fast healer. Weren’t ye, lad?” She gave him a fond pat on the cheek. “Ye’ll be good as new in no time.”
After the healer left, Jenefer bit out, “I only wish we’d caught the bloody villain who did this.”
Morgan sighed. “I’m just grateful no one else was seriously injured.”
Colban murmured, “I’m glad no one was killed.”
Jenefer and Morgan’s eyes locked pointedly on Hallie.
She squirmed uncomfortably. She’d already heard the tale numerous times from her siblings. How she’d looked like she was dead. How Colban had performed a miracle, breathing life back into her. But now she wanted to focus on Colban. And she’d just as soon forget how close she’d come to dying.
Colban, sharing her discomfort, murmured, “Hallie wasn’t killed. Not exactly.”
“The hell she wasn’t!” Jenefer said. “I saw it, Hallie. You weren’t breathing. ’Twas miraculous. If ’tweren’t for Colban, we’d be digging a grave for you right now.”
“’Twasn’t a miracle,” Colban protested. “’Twas science.”
Morgan smacked Colban’s shoulder with the back of his hand.
“For God’s sake, don’t argue the point, ye dunderhead,” he chided. “’Tis your savin’ Hallie and her ma that’s put ye back in good graces with the Rivenlochs.”
