Page 25 of Saved By the Cruel Highlander
Is that the reason?
Holly didn’t believe in witches, but she’d heard talk of women who exerted greater control than others. Is that what was happening here? Did she and the Laird obey Cassandra’s instructions because there was magic behind them?
I must really have hit me head hard to be thinkin’ like this. She’s a healer, and that cannae be confused with witchcraft.
Cassandra stood by the bed, dipping a cloth in a basin of warm water. She brought the cloth up and dabbed it on Holly’s forehead before plunging it back into the water to repeat the task.
“What’s the other reason?” Holly asked.
“What do ye mean?”
“Ye said there was another reason the Laird listens to ye,” Holly reminded her.
“Aye, I did say that,” Cassandra replied as she dabbed the cloth on Holly’s head. The water in the basin had a very slight pink tint to it because of the blood. “It’s from the war.”
“The war?” Holly asked.
Cassandra’s face paled a little as if she had been the one to lose blood. “I’ve always been a healer. From the moment I could understand the world, I wanted to understand how to make people better. War is far removed from that. If someone doesnaelisten immediately, people die. Soldiers trained themselves to listen to me words, and I trained meself to command them like I was in charge.” She smiled sadly. “I guess I keep that in case we go back to war again.”
Cassandra looked down at the wet cloth in her hand and shook her head, emerging from her daze. She rinsed the cloth in the water and wrung it out with strong hands, before placing it beside the basin. Then, she picked up a dry cloth and dried Holly’s forehead.
“Ye’ve been by the Laird’s side for most of his life,” Holly said.
There must have been something in her tone, for Cassandra stopped what she was doing and looked at her. The edges of Holly’s vision were a little blurred.
“It’s nae like that,” Cassandra explained. “Ye are promised to him now, and that’s somethin’ for me to get used to, but there’s nay romantic feelings between Elias and me. He’s like a braither to me. Ye dinnae need to worry about that.”
“Nay, I wasnae…” Holly trailed off.
She wasn’t sure what she wanted to know by asking those questions. She barely knew the man, but she knew one thing clearly, even with the dull throb in her head. She wished there was time for him to kiss her before they had been disturbed.
“What was he like in battle?” she asked.
Cassandra stopped what she was doing again and looked at her. There was a note of compassion in her eyes.
“Ye’ve heard folk talkin’ in the castle?” she asked.
“Aye,” Holly replied. “Is it true?”
“Is it true?” Cassandra mused. She wrung her hands as she thought about it. “Heisa good man.”
Holly waited, but only silence followed. “Aye, but is he… ferocious on the battlefield?”
Cassandra looked past Holly, mulling over the question. “He fights like nay one. When he is on the battlefield, he looks almost invincible, and that’s a braw sight for any man under his command. To see yer leader run into battle afore ye and slay the enemy with each stroke gives ye bravery ye didnae ken ye had. It makes him a good laird, a man who’ll protect his people at any cost.”
“Someone told me that he bathes himself in the blood of his enemies,” Holly whispered with a shiver.
“Nay, he doesnae bathe himself with blood,” Cassandra returned, “but… I’ve seen him return covered in the blood of his enemies—our enemies. It’s a sight I both dinnae and do want to see. He looks like a different man covered in blood, but it’s nae often his blood, and that means we’ve nae lost him. Better for him to return covered in blood than nae to return at all.”
“Aye,” Holly whispered.
The small cut on her head felt insignificant as she heard about the trials of war. A shiver ran through her as she tried to picture the man who had held her on his lap covered in the blood of his enemies.
Sure, she preferred him alive over their enemies, but what was the cost? What sort of man was he underneath it all? No one had come out and said it, but it felt easy for the Laird to take another’s life, almost welcome.
“I admire ye for doin’ what ye’ve done,” Holly said softly.
Cassandra inhaled sharply through her nose and picked up the bandage. “Och, it’s only a wee wound to dress.”
