“The Laird is injured, My Lady,” Faye told her as she hurried to her dresser to grab the earasaid she had worn the previous day.
Isla froze after Faye’s announcement. She blinked rapidly to process the words properly.
“The Laird is injured, My Lady. The healer tries to save his life as we speak.”
Oh, Heavens—
Tears instantly streamed down her cheeks, and her heart nearly failed her as she stood there. With trembling limbs, Isla managed to get in her earasaid, then she ran out of her chamber with the intent to get to Jack and be at his side like her life depended on it.
* * *
Hours later, the look on Moira’s face was not pleasing to Isla. Moira’s frown deepened with every passing second and it made Isla’s worry eat at her insides until she felt raw nerves arise.
“He is not better?” she asked as she paced the chamber.
“Pacin’ doesnae help me focus, My Lady,” Moira said to her as she lifted a bowl of herbs and poured it over the unsightly deep cut in Jack’s abdomen.
Isla wrapped her right hand around her throat and blinked back her tears. Elliot and Aideen had left the chamber hours ago to attend to the councilmen who were already clamoring for the Laird to be replaced by another leader as the Clan could not be left unattended to in these times, and Isla’s fury grew that the men Jack risked his life for every time did not believe in him.
“It is only hours since he was injured,” she said. “They already seek to take his Lairdship from him and give it to someone else.”
“It is only the order of thin’s, My Lady. The seat cannae be left unattended to for long. The Laird’s brother lives. It is tradition that he act as Laird in these times.”
“Jack is still alive.”
“Barely,” Moira said and met Isla’s gaze. Isla hated the look in Moira’s eyes. She had seen the look before when Moira treated some villagers who did not look like they had a chance of survival.
“I cannae say for certain that he will live through this. The wound is infected, and this means that the blade that cut him was poisoned.”
“Then we can make an antidote.”
“It isnae that simple, My Lady. We must find which poison caused this to make an antidote. It fears me that this is a poison I have never seen in my life.”
“There has to be somethin’ we can do.”
Moira began wiping the sweat off Jack’s face and Isla could not bear to watch so she turned away from the bed and squeezed her eyes shut.
Isla had been holding back her tears for hours, and now, she could no longer push them away, so she let them fall.
She wept silently as she stood there and wiped her cheeks with both hands before turning to Moira who now stood at Jack’s beside with a grim look.
“This is all I can do for him,” she said.
Isla moved to his bedside, and Moira left the chamber, so they were alone.
She took Jack’s hand and smoothed a hand over his hair. Her heart clenched painfully in her chest when she leaned down and brushed her lips over his.
His lips still burned with his fever and he murmured words that made no sense as he slept.
Isla wished she had access to the medicines of her time. With it she could save Jack’s life and make sure he did not die like the history books mentioned.
She loved him. Her heart could no longer deny it and seeing him fight for his life in pain like this only tore at her more.
Isla lowered her head to the bed and cried in anguish for there was nothing she could do to help him. She felt helpless, and she knew if Jack died then she could never leave this place with her heart intact.
Knowing he was alive and well would have been her solace. But how could she live in her own world when she knew he had lost his life?
It didn’t take long before she fell asleep while sitting on his side of the bed. It was a troubled sleep. Her chest would not stop aching and the tears kept streaming down her cheeks. But during the early hours of dawn, Isla felt a light hand graze her.