Page 31 of A Healer for the Ruthless Highlander
Leana shook her head. “I daenae ken… I’m still considerin’ all possibilities,” she murmured, noticing that she had made a ring out of the weeds and some small yellow flowers.
“It’s pretty,” Valerie remarked.
Leana handed her the ring, and Valerie tried it on, beaming.
The scene reminded Leana of home, of her childhood springs. She remembered making flower rings and wreaths for her sisters when she was a little girl. She missed them terribly, and Valerie’s sweet, innocent face reminded her of them so much.
“Thank ye,” she sighed. “For now, I’ll have to dig a little deeper into Hunter’s past to find out what is makin’ him ill.”
“Do ye think it could be a very dangerous disease?” Valerie stopped mid-step, and Leana could see the fear on her pretty face.
It’s the same fear that Kenneth has. They all think they’re goin’ to lose Hunter.
“I think it’s complex, but I also think it has a cure. I just have to figure it out.”
“I hope ye can. He’s been like this his whole life,” Valerie mumbled, twisting the ring on her finger. “And it would be nice to watch him play and run, and make mischief like any other child.”
“Aye…” Leana trailed off.
Eventually, they turned back and retraced their steps, heading for the Laird’s private gardens. Leana believed she might findflowers there. Some of them had medicinal properties—though not everyone knew that.
“Ye say he’s been like this his whole life?” she asked suddenly.
Valerie nodded.
“But what exactly has his life been like?”
“What do ye mean?” Valerie asked curiously, still playing with the ring.
“I mean…” Leana bit her lower lip, considering a new possibility. “What was Hunter’s childhood like? Was he always locked up, for example, or did he have a lot of health troubles since he was born?”
“Och, nay,” Valerie answered quickly. “Kenneth is very protective of him—to the point of bein’ overprotective at times.”
Aye, I’ve noticed that…
“Is that so? For some reason, Kenneth sometimes seems more like his faither than his braither,” Leana muttered.
A mischievous smile spread across Valerie’s lips, her eyes twinkling. “Are ye askin’ me about me cousin because ye’re tryin’ to guess something about Hunter’s life, or because ye’re tryin’ to justify those blushes ye get every time ye see him?” She giggled.
Leana scoffed and bumped her with her shoulder. “I daenae care about Kenneth,” she declared. “What I want is a better understanding of their past. That will help me understand the origin of Hunter’s illness.”
“How?” Valerie asked curiously.
“Some diseases are carried in the blood,” Leana explained calmly. “They are passed from parent to child.”
“Like eye color or hair color?”
Leana nodded. “Exactly. So, for example, if Hunter’s father was sickly, his youngest son could have inherited his condition. What was the previous Laird like? How did he and Hunter get along?”
As they spoke, they wandered into the Laird’s gardens, rummaging through the vegetables, fruits, and flowers.
Some plants were not only delicious but also very useful as medicine. Red onions, along with honey and radishes, would soothe Hunter’s cough considerably. Their taste could be a little unpleasant and pungent, but Leana knew how to prepare them so that the boy would not reject them.
Next to her, Valerie bent over a small bouquet of wildflowers. She seemed to hesitate whether to answer Leana’s question, but she finally made up her mind.
Her lips parted, but before she could utter a word, a huge dark shadow fell over her.
“Lass, ye’re nae here to gossip with me cousin. Ye’re here to heal me braither,” Kenneth said in a tone that hovered somewhere between a threat and a warning.
