“Hah, you even have pretty feet. Wriggle those toes for me.”
Gritting his teeth, Brandth did as instructed.
“Good. Good.” A hand patting him on the shoulder in reassurance. “It’s a good, clean break. There will be pain, there will be discomfort. There are those here hurt much worse than you, facing a much longer road to recovery, so…”
“Suck it up?”
“Ah, smart along with being pretty.” That cracked rough chuckle of amusement sounded again. “If only I were five years younger.”
Five? Brandth was the one to laugh this time, wincing, the throbbing in his head beating away at him in a steady grinding manner.
“Don’t you worry, drink my special elixir four times a day for the next few days and you’ll start to feel like your old self again.”
“I tasted one of your special elixirs, it was like licking the floor of a stable.”
That chuckle again, followed by another shoulder pat. “No one said getting better was fun or pleasant. Besides, I always know when my patients are on the mend, when they refuse one of my elixirs and can deal with the pain on their own. What say you, Lordling?”
Brandth gasped, air trapped in his lungs as pain bolted through his entire body, red hot, with vicious claws sinking into his every fibre… and all from a slight tug on the bindings wrapped around the boards on either side of his lower limb. “Good…. Heavens…. Bring on the elixir.”
“And that’s why they call me the Master Healer.” Crowed his ancient companion.
Panting, Brandth breathed through the pain until finally it receded like a wave back into the ocean, as long as he remained very, very still and no one touched his cruddy broken leg roughly. “You are truly gifted madam, I would not steal your valuable time away from those more needy. Why, I would even incur another day under healer harridan’s supervision than waste another minute of your precious time.”
“Healer harridan…?”
“You know the one; no nonsense, occasionally a little heavy on the sarcasm. Not above treating me like a recalcitrant boy in short pants.”
“There’s no one… I assigned Perri to watch over you yesterday.”
“That’s the one. Sounds like an angel… well, at least when she’s speaking to others. Acts like an agent of the devil himself to get her way.”
“Really?” Curiosity edging the Master Healer’s tone. “How… interesting.” A loud moan interrupting their conversation, followed quickly by a man’s reedy voice calling for the Master Healer. “Looks like I’m needed. You just rest, Lordling. Someone will be along with your medicine and breakfast soon.”
Lying there, blind, Brandth had little to do but listen to the staff bustle around him, tending to the other patients. He quickly established there were at least nine present, including himself. Several suitors from the hunt who had incurred injuries. A young female child with a fever accompanied by hovering worried parents. A man of indeterminate age with burns, thanks to his job as a blacksmith. And three teenagers, a boy and two girls, who had severe rashes due to inadvertently brushing past black thistles whilst they’d been out hunting rabbits yesterday.
Idly, Brandth wondered where Talac was. His friend should have made an appearance by now, to check in on him. Maybe even fetch him a glass of water, as Brandth was getting thirsty, and now that he thought about it, his stomach rumbling in agreement, he was feeling rather hungry. Although he couldn’t really imagine Talac in the role of nursemaid.
Given his growing thirst and hunger, Brandth would even welcome the not so gentle attention of the Master Healer, or even the brusque Perri, who didn’t seem to like him for some insane reason.
Everyone liked Brandth, he was gifted that way. And yet… Healer Perri had given the distinct impression that she found him rather trying. Perhaps because he’d taken a little too much delight in provoking her yesterday. Which he blamed on the pain. He vowed he would be the picture of angelic good grace if she appeared this morning. Especially so if she brought him breakfast.
Brandth promised himself he would be on his best behaviour should he encounter Healer Perri once more. She would find him a new man… if only she would appear and bring him some food. His stomach issuing yet another rumble. Cruddy hell, how did a man go about getting fed in this place?
* * *
Resisting the urge to rub at her bleary eyes, Perri perused the slim pickings remaining on the breakfast tables. Ah, there, scooping up a stone fruit bar before slipping an apple into the pocket of her skirt for later. Expertly she unhooked the fastenings at her collar that held her scarf in place over her face, taking two quick bites of the bar to quell her immediate hunger.
From the gossip circulating it seems she’d missed a rather exciting morning in the great hall. A challenge no less. Darnation, she had no one to blame but herself for her late rising… although, for some strange reason she felt the urge to pin her restless night on the annoyingly too handsome, thinks he’s funny, Lord De’Luca.
No, that would give the man and his already bloated ego way too much credit.
Making quick work of the stone fruit bar, Perri brushed away any crumbs before refastening her scarf. Finding herself checking the fastenings twice, like some nervous schoolgirl. She was being silly. It was a habit when there were suitors present on the grounds of the Lair.
She wasn’t afraid of the suitors reaction to seeing her scars, no, she was apprehensive about what might happen if news of a hideously scarred woman residing at Gloomenthrall reached… his ears, and what he might do with that knowledge.
Come for her? And if he did, the bigger question loomed, what would she do if she set eyes on him again?
A child of about eight came to a screeching halt beside Perri, panting a little, slapping a message into her hand before filching an orange from the banquet table, gifting Perri with a gap toothed grin before racing off in the direction he’d come.
