“Aye,” Malcolm answered after a moment. “She’s always healed.”
“They had to have done something. That’s the only reason she would not have healed right away. I can’t help her, not here, but the Druids at my castle can.”
Malcolm stood. “Then take her. Now. I’ll deal with things here.”
“I need something to cover her with.”
Malcolm rose and returned a moment later with a cloak in his hands. It took both of them to get it on her, and then Fallon lifted her in his arms. Her head fell to his shoulders and her eyelids fluttered.
“Larena,” he said. “Can you hear me?”
“Fallon,” she whispered.
“Aye, I’m here. What happened?”
“W … Warrior.”
Fallon clenched his jaw. “Did he mean to kill you?”
She shook her head. “D … d…”
“Deirdre?” he supplied.
She opened her eyes and gave a single nod.
“God’s teeth,” Malcolm cursed. “How? How did she know?”
Fallon shook his head. “Deirdre is very powerful. There are many ways she could have learned of Larena.”
“Get her out of here now,” Malcolm said. “I’ll check the corridor.”
“No need.” Fallon walked to the balcony. “I’ve another way.”
Fallon had transported himself several times since he first learned he could, but he had never tried it with another person. He looked down at the garden and found a secluded spot hidden by bushes. A heartbeat later he had released his god and they were standing in the garden. Larena was asleep once more, and he feared that this time she wouldn’t wake.
Fallon couldn’t take the time he needed to make little jumps. He had to arrive at the castle immediately. He hugged Larena to him and concentrated on his castle and the bailey. It was going to take everything he had, but he would get them there. There was no other choice.
All of his powers swirled around him, making the ground move beneath his feet. Larena’s arm tumbled to her side and her head fell back, exposing her neck.
“Nay!” he bellowed.
Chapter Twelve
Lucan heard the bellow from the great hall. He knew his brother’s voice as well as his own. Lucan jerked to his feet from his seat at the table and rushed into the bailey to see Fallon kneeling with a woman in his arms.
“By the stars,” Cara said as she joined Lucan at the door. “She’s covered in blood!”
Lucan bounded down the stairs and ran to his brother. Fallon kept whispering something over and over into the woman’s hair.
“Fallon,” Lucan said slowly. He’d never seen his brother look so … lost. Lucan glanced up to find Galen and Ramsey beside him. Whatever was wrong with the woman, they had to get her out of Fallon’s arms to aid her. “Fallon, look at me. Fallon!”
Finally, his brother glanced up, his dark green eyes clouded with grief. “I didn’t save her, Lucan.”
“Get out of the way,” Sonya said as she shouldered her way through the men. She reached to touch the woman, but Fallon jerked her away. “Let me see if I can help her, Fallon. I will not harm her.”
Fallon’s face was grim as he let Sonya place her hands on the woman. “Her name is Larena Monroe. She’s a Warrior. Another attacked her, but I don’t know why she isn’t able to heal.”
Lucan took a step back at Fallon’s words. A female Warrior? His glaze slid to Galen in question. Galen shrugged in response. Lucan had thought only males were Warriors. But whoever this Larena was, his brother cared for her greatly. Because of that Lucan would make sure they did whatever it took to save her.
Sonya slid a small dagger from her boot and cut away more of the material covering Larena’s wound. She leaned down and sniffed before she reeled back. “
“What?” Fallon asked before anyone else could.
Sonya sighed and touched Larena’s forehead. “The Warrior must have dipped his claws in
“Oh, God.” Fallon’s face had lost all color. “Is she…?”
“Not yet,” Sonya said. “But we must hurry. She’s lost a lot of blood, and if we don’t do something quick, she will be gone from us forever.”
Fallon didn’t loosen his hold on the woman as he climbed to his feet. Lucan started to help him, but Fallon shook his head. “Nay, brother. I’m taking her to my chamber. Send Sonya there.”
And then Fallon was gone, using his power to jump to his chamber.
For a moment no one said anything. Lucan swallowed and turned toward the castle. The haunted look in his eldest brother’s eyes was one he had never seen before, and it unsettled him.
“A female Warrior,” Cara whispered.
Lucan looked at his wife. “I had no idea that was possible.”
“Deirdre will want her,” Galen said.
Ramsey snorted. “Deirdre will stop at nothing to have her. What I don’t understand is why a Warrior would try to kill Larena. We all know Deirdre must have sent the Warrior for Larena, but not to harm her.”
“True enough,” Lucan said. “We may never have the answers unless Sonya can work a miracle and save the woman.”
Cara leaned up to kiss his cheek. “I’m going to help. I have a feeling Sonya will need me. And Fallon will need you.”
Lucan waited until Cara was inside the castle before he turned to the two Warriors, Galen and Ramsey. “Find the others. Let them know about Larena. They need to be aware that an attack could be coming soon.”
“I’ll see to it,” Galen said, and walked off.
Ramsey folded his arms over his chest, his gray gaze sliding from the castle to the gatehouse.
“What is it?” Lucan asked.
“An uneasy feeling,” was all Ramsey said. “Go to your brother, Lucan. I will patrol the area.”
“Don’t go alone.” He waited until Ramsey lifted a hand in response before Lucan took the stairs three at a time and hurried into the castle.
His home had felt empty without his brothers, even with all the Warriors and another Druid around. It was good to have Fallon return. Then he recalled the look on Fallon’s face when he’d come upon him in the bailey.
Fallon had looked the way Lucan imagined he would look if he were holding Cara’s dead body in his arms. It sent chills down his spine. Fallon had just recovered from his thirst for wine. What would happen to him now if this female died?
Ramsey walked from the castle to the burned village, his eyes trained on the sky. He had hoped a message, or more importantly, a messenger, would have arrived bynow.
He wanted to know Deirdre’s next plan, and he couldn’t do that without his spy inside her mountain.
With every day that passed, Ramsey worried about his friend being discovered. They had made a pact while chained together in Deirdre’s mountain that one of them would leave while the other stayed to spy.
It had worked for over a hundred years now, but how much longer could they continue to deceive Deirdre before she discovered she had been duped?
Worse, Ramsey knew his friend would never survive once Deirdre learned of his deeds. And his friend was a good man.
Ramsey sighed. He should have been the one to stay behind. He had known it then, and he knew it now. It seemed that the instances he saw his friend grew more and more scarce, and there was always the doubt in his mind that his friend had switched sides and was now spying on them.
