Page 52 of Enamored
I broke our connection and strode to the door. I threw it wide open and glared at the soldier. “Please assemble supplies so that I may doctor Maxim’s wound.”
The guard bowed his head. Although he was working for Rasmus—of that I had no doubt—he would still do as I commanded. I was, after all, his sovereign. And I wouldn’t let him or the others forget that fact.
I left the door wide and returned to Maxim, guiding him down onto the stool. “Take off your cloak.”
He hesitated. “’Tis but a surface wound.”
“We shall make our escape plans as I bandage your wound.”
With a nod, he shed his garment, revealing the blood-soaked tunic underneath. Before I could speak again, Lis ducked inside. “I’ll get you a salve and linen strips.”
Her father came inside after her and was followed by one of the guards, who took one look at the low ceiling before he backed out and stood outside the door. He was close, but we’d have some ability to communicate without him interfering.
I didn’t want to trust Maxim after the way he’d betrayed me. But at this point, I needed help if I had any hope of reaching the king.
I caught Maxim’s gaze and raised a brow. Did he have a plan for breaking us free from the soldiers? And if so, what was it?
He cocked a brow back at me. Then he glanced overhead to the dozen or more bunches of herbs. I could see him jump from one to the next, silently naming and assessing the properties. His attention halted on a small bundle in the corner.
Valerian root.
The plant was known for its sedative abilities. Was Maxim considering giving the soldiers some? If so, how?
“A tonic of Valerian root mixed with various percentages of monkshood or belladonna or another similar herb you have will do nicely to ease the pain.” Maxim spoke casually, but it was direct enough that Lis halted in her rummaging through a cabinet.
The young woman must have understood Maxim’s meaning. She shot a glance in the direction of the guard waiting outside the door before she focused on the cabinet. “I have just the thing.”
Maxim had no need of a painkiller. But if we laced the warm drinks for the guards, then we might be able to disable them.
“I’ll heat more mead.” Lis’s father limped toward a cask. “Then you can warm yourself while you’re waiting.”
I wasn’t sure if he’d also understood Maxim’s intentions, but he busied himself with drawing more mead and setting it to heat above the hearth. Meanwhile, Lis clipped some of the Valerian and placed the herbs in a mortar. She added a pinch of several other herbs from crocks within the cabinet. With a pestle, she ground the mixture into a fine dust. Then she crossed to her father and offered the mixture to him.
They made a show of adding some to a mug of steaming mead before Lis handed it to Maxim. All the while, they slyly divided the rest into several other mugs before adding mead.
Maxim pretended to sip his as I finished staunching the flow of blood and then cleaning his wound. Maxim had been right; it was nothing more than a surface cut. He was clever enough to ensure Halvard’s sword sliced his flesh to cause profuse bleeding but not deeply enough for stitching.
While a part of me was aware of his tunic pulled up to reveal his chest, another part was too anxious over the circumstances to give his physique more than a passing thought. After I bandaged the spot, Maxim lowered his garment, then grimaced, making sure the guard at the door took full note of his discomfort.
“How much longer before the herbs dull the pain?” Maxim asked.
“Soon,” Lis answered. “Perhaps a few minutes.” She had finally discarded her hood, giving us a view of her features, and she was elegantly beautiful, with golden red hair and green eyes. I felt as though I’d seen her somewhere before, although I knew not where.
I swept my gaze over the room, searching for another exit, even a window. If the tonic didn’t work on the guards, we needed another plan.
Lis cocked her head toward a ladder that rose into the upper loft of the house, the living quarters. Was she suggesting we leave via the upstairs room if need be? Perhaps climb out of an upper window?
I nodded. This woman and her father had proven themselves trustworthy so far. “I cannot thank you enough for your hospitality.”
“I’m honored to serve you.” The older man added several more cords of wood to the fire, and the flames sparked to life. “I only wish my dear wife were here to see you, a princess, in our humble home.”
“I am sorry to have missed her.”
The man stood back from the hearth and placed a hand over his heart. With his gray hair and weathered face, the man appeared old enough to be Lis’s grandfather. “She’s been gone nigh five years, and we miss her every day. Don’t we, Lissy?”
“Very much.” Lis crossed to her father, took his hand in hers, and squeezed it.
The guard outside the door tipped up the last of his cup of mead, swallowing the warm brew. Perhaps he hadn’t been as cold as I’d been. But he’d relished the chance to chase off the chill remaining from the cold night.
