“My Lady, are you all right?” The Duke finally reached her, dismounting from his horse at once and rushing to her side. He extended a hand for her to get back on her feet.
“I am quite all right,” Deborah said, but her expression betrayed her. She was wincing and rubbing the side of her arm with unease. “Has the boar gotten away?”
The Duke blinked at her twice, amazed at her tenacity. “You have just fallen off your horse, and yet you are still determined to complete the hunt?” His tone dripped with both awe and concern.
“Yes.”
Deborah tried to prop herself up yet again but fell back on the forest floor.
“Please, take my hand,” the Duke insisted.
She sighed as if battling some inner dilemma and then finally took his hand, getting off the ground and back to her feet.
“Come. You should not be walking in this state,” he said, leading her to a nearby tree and sitting her down underneath it.
She opened her mouth to protest, wanting to remind him of the boar, but the sharp stinging sensation on the back of her elbow shut her up again.
The Duke’s eyes widened in horror as he finally caught a glimpse of her injuries.
“We must get you checked at once!”
“Your Grace, as I told you before, I am not as delicate as you may think.” She winced, still stubbornly holding on to her resolve.
“Yes, you have proven your strength,” the Duke continued. “But the reality is that you have a large gash down your arm that is bleeding, and it is not safe for you to leave it untreated.”
His eyes searched around the perimeter, and thinking quickly, he expertly spotted some nearby herbs.
“In fact, I know exactly what will help,” he said, before rushing over to collect a bunch of herbs nearby.
Deborah noticed that the Duke did not even flinch at the sight of blood. Instead, he took charge of the situation immediately and went looking for a solution.
When he returned, he had a reassuring expression on his face.
“These are healing herbs, and they will help stop the bleeding if applied correctly,” he explained.
“I am aware,” Deborah replied, impressed by his knowledge.
“Nature has its own remedies, and it has the power to heal all wounds, only if you just know what you are looking for. Now, I need you to take a deep breath for me. This will only hurt for a moment,” he promised her.
She nodded, getting the feeling that she was in safe hands now.
“First, I need to clean the wound so that you do not develop an infection.”
The Duke took out a flask from his riding bag, then grabbed Deborah’s arm to wash away the blood. His touch was delicate enough to minimize any discomfort, but firm enough to say that it belonged to someone who knew what they were doing. Deborah felt a strange sensation as soon as he touched her skin.
She felt pain at her wound being touched, but also a kind of pleasure, since it was the Duke that was doing so. She felt a spark when his thin fingers came in contact with her skin, and she looked the other way, scared that he would catch on to what she was feeling on the inside.
“I am sorry,” he murmured. “I hope that does not hurt too much.”
“It is all right,” she said hurriedly, still not willing to meet his gaze. “You may grind the herbs in a paste and then apply them on my wounds.”
He nodded, doing exactly what she had told him, and then a few moments later, Deborah let out a sigh of relief as the cooling sensation of the healing herbs masked her pain.
He continued to press the herb-coated cloth against her wound, his touch both gentle and confident. “Hold steady, My Lady. You are doing very well.”
Finally, he tied the cloth against her arm.
“There,” he said, letting out a sigh of relief of his own. “Is this all right for you?”
