Page 48 of Savage Reckoning

“My summons,” I murmur, quickening my step. It doesn’t do to keep Jack waiting.

Gabriel matches my pace.

I slant a glance up at him. “I’d prefer it if no one knew that we… you know…”

“I thought you didn’t want me to lie for you.”

“This is different. My private life is just that—private. I prefer to keep things professional.” I’ve never had a relationship in the time I’ve been here, and I see no point in complicating matters now. “What happened just now was a one-off. A… a mistake. It won’t happen again.”

“If you say so.” He treats me to a lop-sided grin. “You’ll have to work on keeping your hands off me, then.”

I whirl on him. “My hands? It was you who—”

“Careful, sweetheart. We have an audience.” He nods over my shoulder. “Gentlemen.”

I spin around again. Aaron and Jed are approaching from the direction of the dungeon, deep in conversation.

I plaster on my game face. “I gather we’re needed in the hall.”

Jed and Aaron fall in beside Gabe and me. We climb the front steps together and enter the castle to find everyone else already assembled around the great oak table.

We all find our seats, and the chatter quiets. Jack’s gimlet gaze is on me.

“Mitchell’s dead,” he announces.

I incline my head. “I see. You can’t be surprised at that.”

“Can’t I? I expected him to last a bit longer. We hadn’t done with him.”

“He lost a lot of blood,” I point out, perfectly reasonably.

“Not that much.”

“And there was the trauma of what you did to him.”

“It’s what you did that interests me, Doctor.” His tone is deceptively soft. “What did you give him?”

“I tended his wounds, as you will have seen.”

“And?”

“And I gave him something to counteract the shock. He would have died otherwise.”

“He did die. I repeat, what did you give him?”

“Morphine,” I reply.

“You put him out of his misery. How thoughtful.”

“I gave him what was needed to stabilise his condition.”

He strokes his chin thoughtfully. “Well, dead’s pretty stable. I’ll grant you that.”

“It was a delicate balance,” I assert, not for the first time in the last few minutes. “He was very weak. It was impossible to predict exactly how he would respond.”

“I said, no pain relief.”

“I know. Gabriel said. It wasn’t pain relief. At least, not only that. His organs were failing from the shock, and I did what I thought was best for him. You would have lost him anyway.”

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