Page 40 of Married to the Highland Devil
He was sleeping soundly now, but he still grunted and murmured words no one could understand.
“Arran is a good friend of his,” Yvaine answered, her voice muffled by her sobs. “They are very close, and I fear he might have been taken in their battle.”
“The men will find him,” Elspeth assured them. “I shall go give the order. They shall leave no stone unturned.” She rose to her feet. “Thank ye, Amelia… I shall return shortly.”
“I will stay with him,” Amelia offered. “You two should go take care of anything else. He is in good hands.”
She heard the chamber door close behind them before she turned towards Duncan again and ran her hands up his body till she touched his cheeks.
He’s alive, and he will be all right.
Her entire body sagged with relief, and she let it flow through her so she calmed down.
His mother’s story about his father trusting the wrong people and incurring debts came to her mind again.
Is this what he needed my dowry for?
Amelia hated that she did not know the full story, but she needed him to get well first before she could ask a thing. She touched his face, trailed her fingers over there, and finally exhaled to ease the tension in her lungs. She did not want to stay angry at him.
Not after I almost lost him.
Her tense muscles had slowly started to relax when the door suddenly burst open, and a heavy thudding sound followed by the heavy grunts of a man made her scream with all her might.
18
Duncan heard the crash and jerked away, but the slice of pain in his side prevented him from lurching right out of the bed and into action. He heard Amelia’s scream then she stood up and moved forward a little.
Duncan glanced down, following her path, and saw the bloodied man on the ground. The thick red of his blood seeped onto the floor and spread out.
Arran.
“Arran!” Duncan yelled with the rest of his strength now. “Guards!”
He did not know how his friend had made it past the guards to the healing chambers unnoticed, but it did not matter now.
“Guards!” Duncan yelled again, and three of them showed up at once. They lifted an unconscious Arran off the ground and carried him into the chamber.
“Send for the healer,” one of them said to the other.
Amelia still stood rooted to one spot as the guards hurriedly rushed out of the chamber again. Duncan could barely see her now because his vision had blurred, but he still needed to make sure she was all right.
“Amelia,” he called, and she spun around to look at him. “Dinnae be startled. That is Arran… He made it back alive.”
She dropped to his side on the bed, and her hand fumbled around till he held her.
“I am right here,” Duncan managed to say again before the tantalizing drift of darkness claimed him again.
It was a restless sleep, and the pain allowed him very little oblivion from his reality. Each time he slid in and out of consciousness, Amelia was by his side. Sometimes, her head lay on the bed, and other times, she was watching him, her eyes teary and face red because of her tears.
When he finally opened his eyes again, it was dark outside, and he spent the first few seconds staring into the night sky before he looked around the chamber.
A dim fire lit up the place, and Duncan noticed the pots and vials on the table by the bedside. Damp cloths hung loosely on the chair, and the guard sitting there had dozed off a bit too.
Amelia was nowhere in sight, and Duncan tried to sit up on his own, but the pain humbled him and forced him back on the bed.
“My maither,” he said, and that drew the guard’s attention.
The man rose to his feet and bowed. “My Laird, thank heavens yer awake.”
