Page 6 of Miles

I was the first to admit how much my cousin and I and the rest of the clan owed her, but that didn’t give her permission to pity me.

Resentment bubbled dangerously close to the surface.

Alan spoke for me, shaking his head before replying. “It didn’t look good, however.”

“Why don’t you wait a minute before declaring the girl’s life over?” I snapped.

His eyes flew open. “Ach, I meant no disrespect. I’m only commenting on the good doctor’s assessment.”

“We don’t want to see anything happen to the poor lass,” Dallas added in an attempt to smooth things over.

“And she jumped? This was purposeful?” Gate looked around, waiting for an answer.

Dallas glanced my way before answering. “Aye. It looked purposeful.”

“We don’t know that.” Why was I jumping to her defense? And why did it seem as though they all expected me to?

“Lad, none of us are trying to sully the girl’s character,” Alan argued. “It’s none of our business why she acted as she did. But let’s face facts, just the same. She didn’t slip and fall. She didn’t even scream, as one would if they were caught unawares. She stood there long enough for us to notice her.”

“As though she were weighing her options,” Dallas added.

A sick certainty revealed itself. Yes, she’d done it on purpose. She had tried to kill herself. There had to be a reason why she would go to such extreme measures. What if she were gravely ill and wanted to avoid the pain and indignity that would soon become her life? What had I done by prolonging things? Was our blood strong enough to heal her, if that were the case?

It was an excruciatingly long wait.

Mary passed through, as did Bonnie.

I barely registered their presence, even when Bonnie tried to insist I go and bathe myself instead of sitting vigil outside the operating room.

I didn’t reply, and Gate led her away.

When the door opened, I was on my feet in a flash and had to stop myself from taking Phillip by the shoulders and demanding what had taken so long.

There were dark circles around his eyes, and his color was considerably more gray than it had been prior to starting in on her.

“It will take a little time,” he announced. “I believe the emergency has passed. The bleeding has stopped.”

I breathed a sigh of relief, as did those around me.

“However,” he continued, “there was a great deal of damage done to her right side. Crushed ribs, punctured lung, and the arm and leg both broken in several places. I’ll not be able to set the limbs until the damage to her side heals, as she needs to breathe without drowning in blood. It could take a day, maybe two. Until then, she’ll need constant attention—should she start to aspirate blood, I’ll need to know immediately.”

He looked at me, his eyes sharp and knowing. “I would feel much better about this if she were in a hospital.”

“What happens if you take her to one, and they wonder how her internal injuries are healing so quickly?” I asked, thinking fast. “Wouldn’t that raise a red flag?”

“Yes,” he admitted with a frown. “It would. Once I used dragon’s blood, there was little hope of her being treated by outsiders.”

I could nearly taste the relief on my tongue, as though it were a real thing. There was no explaining my need to keep her near. I only knew I had to. She couldn’t be left to the rest of the world, where anything might happen to her. She was too fragile, delicate, in need of protection.

“I can set up a schedule for anyone who’d like to volunteer their services,” Martina offered.

Phillip nodded. “Good. Once the lung has healed, I’ll be able to set the limbs. She’ll need to be unconscious throughout all of this—the pain would be too much for her to stand, otherwise.”

Mary approached. “We have the drugs for that, don’t we?”

“We do. It’s a good thing you insist on being so well prepared,” he replied with a tight, tired smile. “I’ll transport her to the nearest available room, and we’ll set her up there.”

He disappeared again, this time with Mary at his heels.

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