“She’s hurt too. Can I lay her down? She’s bleeding.”
At that, the group turned, reanimating as they realized someone else was hurt, and Lia and Shona broke away, coming to hover by where I cradled Liora against my chest.
“Here,” Hilda murmured, directing me toward a worn leather settee near the hearth. “Lay her down there.”
I did, easing Liora onto the cushions. She grunted but didn’t complain.
Faelan looked up from where she hovered over Zara on another couch.
“Do you need me?”
“No, we’ve got this. We’ll let you know,” Lia said, and Shona nudged me gently aside, to murmur quietly with Liora. I grimaced as Liora tilted her head and revealed a sharp wound at the side of her head, just above her ear. Her hair was matted and thick with blood.
“May I?” I glanced over to see a man I hadn’t met yet, in hospital scrubs, come to stand by the chair.
“Where did you come from?” I asked, squinting at him.
“I’m Dr. Luch Carmichael,” the man said, bending over the settee.
“Wulver,” Liora whispered, her eyes going bright. “Thank you.”
I glanced in confusion between the two as they shared silent communication before it dawned on me justwhatI was seeing.
Luch had been with us down in the gully.
Just not in this form.
Before my mind could even process the wildness of it all, he pushed Liora’s hair gently aside and took a look.
“I’ll need to clean this up to get a better look,” Luch murmured. “Anywhere else?”
“I think just scrapes, a slice on my calf, and a really bruised backside,” Liora admitted.
Shona left and returned with a tin. Shona’s plaits were coming loose, her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes still a bit too wide from what we’d just seen on the loch.
“I’ve got a poultice that’ll help with the scrapes,” she said, already unscrewing a tin. “And a comfrey-and-calendula salve for the deeper cuts.”
“That’ll help.”
“And I’ve got a regular first aid kit if you want it,” Hilda said from behind her, brandishing a large plastic box.
Luch took the first aid kit while Shona crouched at Liora’s side, ordering her to roll up the sleeves of her jumper. I winced at the sight of the bruises already forming on her pale skin, and jagged pink scratches that looked painful.
Shona took one arm gently, rubbing it with a warm, damp cloth, then smoothed the cool green paste over the worst of the grazes. A fresh, earthy smell filled the air—crushed leaves and something floral.
“Oooh,” Liora breathed. “That’s nice.”
“It’ll sting less in a minute,” Shona said. “You’ll be scabbed now, but by morning, this should take a good bit of the ache out.”
“You did good, you know,” I said, leaning closer to her.
Liora’s gaze dropped. “Did I?” she whispered.
I wanted to shake her. Kiss her. Wrap her in blankets and never let anything sharp touch her again.
Instead, I squeezed her shoulder gently, thumb rubbing circles into the tense muscles there.
“You did,” I said quietly. “You were brave as hell.”