Keegan rushed to Rodrick and Damon, helping to scoop up his brother. There was still too much red, and they needed to get him to the healed as quickly as possible or?—
No. Keegan would not even let himself think it, but there was no denying the gravity of the situation.
“Keegan…” Damon’s voice was a ghost of its former self.
“Shh,” Keegan urged. “Save yer strength. We’re gettin' ye to the healer.”
Rodrick eyed Keegan across Damon’s fallen head, his expression devastating in its seriousness. Keegan just shook his head. They would not entertain that notion. Damon was making it off this battlefield safely, and they would restore him to full health.
He couldn’t lose another one of his family to Magnus’s plots. He just…couldn’t.
“I have him, Rodrick. Find Willow. Melissa and Lilith. I need to know of their safety. Understood?”
There was a hesitation, but then Rodrick nodded. “Aye.”
Without a further word, he sprinted ahead of the laird, and Keegan hurried with his brother toward the healer’s room.
Nae a one of ye. I’m nae losing a one of ye.
29
“Does it seem quieter outside? Has somethin' happened?” Lilith’s voice was a desperate whine, and Willow shook her head, sighing.
“I daenae ken, Lilith. It isnae like I have any more experience with battle sounds than yerself.”
Lilith and Melissa eyed her, the surprise on their faces very obvious. Willow released another heavy breath and slumped down into the chair she’d been going in and out of since Keegan left.
She’d managed to get dressed to a degree—opting for her shift and stays with only the arisaid to cover her shoulders—but Willow had been a pacing wreck since the moment this all began, and even though she’d tried to gain more information from Lilith—and even Melissa, who could have seen something on her trip here—there was nothing to ease the worry that gnawed at her spine.
“It could be verra good, indeed, Lilith.” Melissa smiled, patting Lilith’s hand as they sat next to each other on the bed. “We shall just have to see.”
“Ugh,” Willow grumbled, and the women in the room with her eyed her again.
The optimism grated on Willow’s nerves. She was finding it far too challenging to be sunny right now, and her usual outlook on life—facing the darkness with a smile—was severely lacking.
But she shouldn’t be taking it out on them.
She ducked her head, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I apologize. I…I am concerned. Ye are provin' to be the more poised one, Melissa.”
Keegan’s sister stood up from the bed and walked over to her. Holding out her hands, Willow stepped into the offered comfort, and Melissa squeezed both her arms as she laid her head against her sister-in-law’s chest.
“It will be all right, Willow. I have seen me brother pull himself out of far worse scraps than this one.”
Then, Lilith’s voice sounded to Willow’s left, and she knew her sister had come over to offer her support as well.
“We are here with ye, Sister. And…” She sighed, and Willow could hear the change in Lilith’s tone. “I am so terribly sorry thatI have caused all this to happen. There are innocent people here, and they could be…”
The words didn’t finish. They all knew what Lilith was getting at, and there was nothing to be said for it. It wouldn’t make the pain or guilt or reality of the situation change.
Instead, they all just stood there, holding each other in the silence of the room. The room where, only an hour or so ago, Willow had given herself to Keegan—and realized that she loved him desperately.
Knock, knock, knock.
Willow flinched, looking to the door along with Melissa and Lilith.
“An attacker wouldnae knock.” Melissa nodded at the door. “Go on.”
She hurried to the door, flinging it wide to reveal the laird’s man-at-arms.