Page 81 of Highland Jewel
He shoved the door open and charged in. On the far side of the chamber, Maisie lay on a table. Her eyes were closed. She lay as still as a stone, her face bloodless. Isabella leaned over her with Morrigan at her side.
Niall was caught in a nightmare. This wasn’t happening. His feet dragged as if through deep sand as he moved toward her. Someone said something beside him, but he couldn’t hear the words. There was a pull at his elbow, but he shook it loose. He saw only Maisie. And the blood. Her dress was soaked. Everywhere he looked, there was blood. At the table, he tried to reach for her.
“Don’t!” Isabella’s shout was sharp enough to snap Niall into reality. He stared down at her bloody hands as she pressed on the wound.
“Out, Niall.” She turned and ordered someone behind him. “Get him out of here.”
“My wife…”
“Mysister!” Isabella’s face was as pallid as Maisie’s. He saw tears on her cheeks. “I am a physician. You must trust me to save her.”
Cinaed pulled at Niall’s arm, trying to muscle him back, but his body wasn’t his own. His will kept him anchored in place. His wife lay there dying.
“I can’t go. I can’t lose her.”
“Trust her,” Cinaed ordered. “We’ll wait just outside the door. You must let her work.”
Niall didn’t know if he was pulled or pushed or carried, but he found himself staring at the closed door. His eyes burned, and a raw pain wracked him. He turned to Cinaed. The Highlander was a wavery image before him.
“Can she? Can she save her?”
He felt Cinaed’s reassuring hand on his arm. “Isabella has saved my life several times already. She’s a rare physician and an extraordinary surgeon. Maisie cannot be in better hands than hers.”
He closed his eyes and turned toward the wall. He banged his head hard against it, as if he could numb his mind to what had happened to Maisie. Or maybe this was a nightmare. Perhaps in a moment he’d awaken from it, and all would be well.
She wasn’t prepared. She didn’t know about the danger lurking at the castle. He’d thought he was protecting her by keeping everything a secret. He still didn’t know who unbolted the door to his cell the first night they arrived here. He had his suspicions, but no proof. An enemy lurked under their noses, and she didn’t know any of it.
He pressed his forehead against the wall and prayed that when he opened his eyes, Maisie’s face would be the first thing he’d see. Her golden hair would be spread over the pillow. She would lift her head and rest her face on his chest and smile at him.
He opened his eyes. The wall. The closed door. The drops of her precious blood on the floor.
Grief quickly turned to anger. Niall started to pace. Someone had done this to her. They’d gone after Maisie intentionally. “She was stabbed. Did anyone see it?”
“They’re looking. Lachlan is tearing the castle apart,” Searc answered. “They’re looking for anyone who might have seen something. Or someone with blood on them.”
The little general was pale and perched on the edge of a bench. It struck Niall that this was the first time he’d ever seen him sitting still.
Auld Jean shuffled into sight, followed by two servants carrying pots of steaming water and a basket of what looked to be linens. Cinaed immediately opened the door for them, but he put a hand out to stop Niall.
“We wait here, my friend.”
“I need to be with her.”
“Isabella will stab you with the same knife she pulled out of her sister if you break her concentration,” Cinaed warned. “I know my wife. You can help Maisie more out here.”
“Who found her?” Niall asked, swinging around to Searc.
“I don’t know. I heard the shouts and ran down.” He ran a weary hand down his face. “There was already a crowd. The lass couldn’t have been lying there for too long.”
Auld Jean came out, and Cinaed stopped her.
“Anything?” he asked.
The old woman shook her head and turned to Niall. “Yer angel opened her bonnie eyes fer just a wee moment. She wants her wedding ring.”
Her ring.
“Her ring.” He needed to repeat the words to focus. The last time he’d seen it, she’d left it beside the washbasin in their bedchamber.
