“What is this?” Gabriel demanded as the healer turned and stared at him with his eyes popping open.
“Have ye all lost yer minds? He cannae be in here like that,” the healer growled.
“I’m nae leavin’,” Gabriel said as he shuffled to the chair beside Elena’s bed and grabbed her hand. He was shocked to find it so cold and pale.
“Stay wit’ me, my love,” Gabriel mumbled as he battled against the sleep that so wanted to take him.
“What is wrong wit’ him?” the healer asked as Gabriel heard heavy footsteps stop beside him. His side ached as he felt fingers poking and prodding his side.
“Get him to the infirmary,” the healer demanded. “Have Isobel down there to help. I cannae leave Elena’s side.”
“I’ll go,” Anna said as she stepped forward. Although the people around the room started to blur together, Gabriel knew it was Anna who came forward.
“Do ye remember the tea Elena made for Darragh all those months ago?” the healer asked Anna as Gabriel found himself rising from the chair.
Put me down. Unhand me ye fiends. I’ll nae be moved. I must stay. Ye cannae take me from her.
“Gabe?” Elena’s voice was so faint and soft that it was nothing more than a breath against his ear. Gabriel’s eyes widened as he spied Elena looking at him. It was clear she was just as delirious as he was and in pain.
“She wants me,” Gabriel managed to say as he noticed Elena’s hand twitching. Desperation washed over her face as Anna walked him out of the room against his will.
“How long since ye were poisoned?” Anna asked Gabe as she moved with haste down the hall with the servants holding him for her.
“Poisoned?” Gabriel mumbled as if the word was foreign to him.
“I’ve seen that marking on Darragh remember?” Anna said. “Who did this to ye?”
“Vincent,” Gabriel answered.
“What?” Anna’s eyes widened as shock streaked across her face.
“He killed Darragh for namin’ me the Baxter clan’s successor,” Gabriel mumbled as they reached the infirmary. “Vincent dinnae think Darragh made a good choice.”
“Then it was Vincent who poisoned him all those months ago too,” Anna said more to herself than to Gabriel as she busily made the concoction of rosemary and lemon peel. “The way the poison is seeping through yer veins, tis the same way it was on Darragh.”
“I’m sorry,” Gabriel said as he fell back onto the cot. Somewhere above him, he heard Elena screaming. The sound pierced his soul like a javelin. He shot up wanting to go to her, but Anna’s mere touch caused him to crash back into the cot.
“Is she goin’ to…” Gabriel couldn’t finish his sentence. He didn’t want to believe something like that could happen to Elena. Although it wasn’t uncommon for the mother to die, he never thought in a million years it would happen to Elena. Now he understood her fears. It was this moment. Guilt stabbed him deeper than any blade could.
“I have to go back to her. I promised her I’d never leave her,” Gabriel said as his eyes welled with tears.
“I have to dress yer wound and draw the poison out of ye. Ye have to get better first, then ye’ll never have to say goodbye to her again.”
Gabriel tried to shake his head, he tried to move his limbs and climb out of the cot, but his body refused his orders. Elena’s cries grew louder as Anna dressed the wound on his side. Her hands trembled with each new bout of screams.
“If I cannae go to her, ye must,” Gabriel said as he fought against his eyes closing. Sleep was so close and so welcoming that he wanted to give into it. He wanted nothing more than to dip his toes into the warm forgetting waters of slumber, but knew if he did he may not want to wake.
“I cannae leave ye,” Anna said. “Ye tried to help me. Ye tried to make my husband a better man. But he couldnae be changed.”
“Anna,” Gabriel gasped. “Please, there is nothin’ ye can do for me here. Ye’ve binded me well.”
“Drink this first,” Anna said as her fingers slipped under his head and held it up for him. “The tea will help stop the poison from spreadin’. It was Elena’s concoction that saved Darragh all those months ago. And I ken it’ll save ye. But ye must drink.”
Gabriel sipped the tea until there was nothing more. As Anna laid his head down, somewhere high over his head, he heard another cry, this one faint and fresh. His heart filled as a smile drifted over his lips.
“Go,” Gabriel mumbled. “And report to me what I will find should I wake.”
“Yer goin’ to be fine,” Anna promised as Gabriel slipped into sleep.