Page 50 of Married to the Highland Devil
Duncan didn’t want to think of anything else but her right now. He would find the one responsible for this and make them pay.
When he arrived at the castle, Matthew and Arran stood in front of the drawbridge. They saw him approach and spurred into action as soon as he drew closer to them.
“Duncan, what happened?” Arran asked as Duncan dismounted and lifted Amelia into his arms again. He carried her into the keep while giving our orders.
“I need the healer right now. Bring him to my chambers and have men scout the entire castle and moors for anyone who looks suspicious. I dinnae ken who did this, but I must find them.”
He had reached the stairs now, and his sister ran out of her chamber when he climbed to the first landing.
Yvaine paled the second she saw Duncan and Amelia. “What happened?”
“Someone shot her,” Arran answered while Duncan hurried towards his chambers.
Once inside his bedchamber, Duncan set Amelia on the bed and grabbed his washcloth.
“Take a deep breath, Amelia,” he whispered to her, noticing the sheen of sweat on her forehead and her paleness. Her eyes now had dark blotches beneath them, and she was panting.
“I feel sick,” she complained. “I feel…” She did not finish her sentence before she coughed out blood.
“Poison,” Arran said, and his announcement made Duncan’s stomach tighten into knots.
The arrow is poisoned.
Amelia kept coughing up blood, and Yvaine hurriedly brought another piece of cloth to them.
Duncan pressed a hand to Amelia’s shoulder then pulled out the arrow with force, and she screamed.
“It’s all right,” he crooned while pressing a cloth to her wound. “It’s all right.”
Amelia sobbed now, and her head lolled back, so she rested on the pillows.
“I need the healer!” Duncan yelled again, his fear spewing over every other settled thought in his mind.
Elijah rushed into the chamber a second later, and Duncan stepped away from the bed, so he could begin treating Amelia. Duncan sat by her side and held her hand tight.
“There was poison in the arrow,” the healer said to Duncan then picked a knife. “I need to cut through the wound.”
Duncan did not think he could watch this scene. His heart already hurt, and seeing Amelia’s tears made him wish he had not taken her out of the castle at all today.
“Are ye certain ye want to be here for this?” the healer asked him again.
Amelia was barely conscious now. Her lips were parted, but all Duncan could hear from her were weak breaths.
“Do what ye must to save her,” Duncan pleaded. His stomach was rock hard because of his terror, and the racing of his heart made his chest ache.
He pushed back the tears, and he flinched when the healer brought the hot blade to Amelia, tore the fabric of her earasaid, and cut through her injured skin with it.
Amelia howled in pain. Her nails dug into Duncan’s hands, and he could not look, so he buried his face in her hand and held on tight as she cried.
Soon, she lost consciousness, and Duncan did not know which was more terrifying.
Hearing her cry out in pain or her silence.
It took some time for the healer to clean up the wound then he applied a salve there and administered the antidote.
Dahlia came into the chamber with warm water and a clean washcloth when the healer left.
“I’ll clean her,” Duncan said to the girl, and everyone else left the chamber, so he could peel off Amelia’s clothes and clean every inch of her sweaty body with the damp washcloth.
