Page 83 of Bane of the Wild Hunt

“I’ll warm some water for her to have a bath. Do you have any Ichor of Airmid? I can make tea and a paste to help with infection. And a tincture of Dian’s Breath will alleviate her pain and swelling,” Carrick suggested.

“She is human. Will our medicine be safe to give her?” I asked him apprehensively.

“We will give her a small dose to start, just to be safe, but witches use many of our herbs in their magic.”

“Then perhaps you could bring some of the Bairnwort as well in case she desires that,” I added, referring to the remedy that prevented unwanted pregnancy. I wasn’t sure whether Nuala was even able to ovulate while in such a malnutritioned state, but I also knew that humans were supposedly very fertile creatures. “You will find all of my herbs in the trunk next to my saddle rack,” I added.

Carrick’s brows merely wrinkled at me, and he did not leave right away.

“Is the Bairnwort fresh? What possible need could you and Aodhan have for Bairnwort?” he asked, and my eyes widened at him in disbelief at his naive question.

It was simple. I was a very powerful and rather virile male who did not want children running amok with my power in their veins. So contraceptives were a must when I fucked females. Which I liked to do quite frequently. But I was not about to explain to my tenderhearted and stringently monogamous uncle that it was common for me and Aodhan to invite lots of other people into our bed. Carrick just would not understand.

“You should not ask questions when you already know you will not like the answers, Uncle,” I chastised him.

“Indeed,” he muttered and then turned quickly away as if he already had an inkling of my meaning.

“Lots of warm water, Carrick,” I stressed before he could leave. “We will change it a few times,” I explained, and he nodded mutely before departing the chamber.

I looked back down at the frail little witch and slowly sank down on the edge of the mattress. I was uncertain if I should be so close to her while she was unconscious and undoubtedly feeling vulnerable, but I could not seem to pull my gaze away. There was something so compelling about her even whilst she was inert and frail. A power long dormant that was beginning to hum under her skin now that it was free again.

“I can feel you watching me,” she told me hoarsely after many long moments, startling me near to death.

“You are awake,” I said once I had caught my breath.

“I have been the whole time,” she admitted, still not bothering to turn her face away from the wall of the tent.

“Then you know I want to bathe you. Is that alright? You are very weak, and I will need to help you, but there is no need to feel shame or fear. You are safe,” I swore, even though I knew the promise would mean nothing.

She finally turned her head up toward the tent ceiling but neither of her swollen eyes opened.

“I have no shame left. It is you who will be ashamed if you try to help me,” she warned me.

A heavy sorrow filled my heart at her desolate words, but I was sure to repress it before it could emerge into my face or affect my voice.

“I will do my utmost to care for you respectfully.”

Nuala finally turned her head in my direction. Only her amber eye opened fully enough to meet my gaze, and it was impossible to tell what she was thinking.

“I will not hold you to it.”

I was not sure how to respond, but thankfully I did not have to. Darragh informed me through our bond that he had already arrived with everything that I’d asked him to retrieve for me.

“I will be right through those curtains, and I will return momentarily with a bathtub,” I advised her before I rose. She did not respond, merely turned her face away again. “Watch over her,” I told Éadrom, who still had not moved from his place at the foot of my bed. The vargr’s green eyes were on me, but there was not so much as a whisper of him in my mind anywhere.

I looked back at the broken female lying on the bed and stepped back as I realized that I was thelastperson who should be trying to help her. I never managed to help mylover overcome the trauma of his past, and now my vargr was suffering, and I had no idea how to help him either.

I quickly repressed a flare of anguish that threatened to overwhelm me and slipped into the main room.

Darragh was standing in the middle of the tent and looked around at the broken furniture. There was a deep basin for washing laundry at his feet which would be a little cramped for the witch, but it would work just fine. There was also a white-and-blue Feurin dress and a pair of cream-coloured slippers inside the basin.

“That was fast,” I commented as I approached him.

“The basin is mine, I want it back, and you owe me tenóirfor the dress and shoes. I just picked the first thing off the rack,” he admitted as his silver eyes drifted toward the curtains behind me and then back over my dirty armour. “Dare I ask what this is about?” he asked as I reached him and picked up the laundry basin. I saw him wince out of the corner of my eye when the scent lingering on me from Nuala reached him. “Kur’s bollocks, Rian, yousmell!”

“I have acquired a new recruit, and she needed a bath,” I explained simply.

“You went alone?” he snarled, and Carrick snorted at the fire where he was steaming Ichor of Airmid leaves and warming a large cauldron of water with his magic.

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