Page 96 of Dark Seduction

He came to his senses. He parried her blow effortlessly and ran past her steed to Claire. He knelt as the sounds of battle died behind him. “Claire!”

She was unconscious and bleeding profusely, dangerously. He saw that the sword had gone through most of her shoulder. There would be no way to save her arm if she lived, but the rate at which she was losing blood made her survival questionable. She needed someone who had the power to heal her with ancient gifts. He roared for his brother. “Aidan!”

Royce jumped from his charger, running to him. “They’re gone. Do ye have the page?”

“Aye. Get Aidan. Get Aidan here now!” Malcolm shouted at him, cutting off a long piece of his leine. She was turning white from the blood loss. He bound up the wound, aware of his hands shaking. She could not die!

Aidan leaped off of his black steed. Malcolm looked up and saw the fear in his half brother’s eyes. “Ye heal her,” he warned thickly. “Ye find the power an’ ye find it now!”

Aidan knelt. “Get away from me,” he said tersely, putting his hands on her wound. “Ye be a distraction I dinna need!”

Malcolm did not want to leave Claire. He stood, staring at her, unable to believe that this was happening. Fear made it almost impossible to think. He only knew he could not lose her. Not now, not like this. Not ever.

Aidan was sweating now.

Malcolm looked up at the heavens above and prayed. He prayed to all the old gods and, afraid they would not listen, offered them his own life in return for hers. Surely they would accept such a bargain! Then he looked down at his half brother. “What happens?” he cried. He could not find calm, no matter how he might try.

“I can feel her life,” Aidan said tersely. He finally glanced up. “She be weak, Malcolm.”

“Ye feel it returnin’ or leavin?” Malcolm demanded furiously. He knew how weak Claire was!

Royce seized his arm and pulled him away. “Yer fear doesna help him.”

“It be returnin’ to her,” Aidan said harshly. “She doesna need me. She be healin’ herself. I can feel her force. Malcolm, she has power.”

He felt no surprise. He had been suspicious of who she was from the start. Malcolm knelt and took Claire’s hand. As he did so, he felt her life, weak but steady, flowing in her hand, around his. He tried to sense her power and slowly, he began to feel it, soft but strong, a clean and good white life force, so oddly familiar.

Aidan pulled the soaking red linen off her arm. He laid his hand on the wound. “She’s nay bleedin’ now.”

As Aidan sat with her, his hands on her, Malcolm held her hand. He felt her pulse becoming stronger. Relief finally began.

Royce squatted and clasped his shoulder.

Malcolm looked at him.

“She’ll need to stay at Awe fer a few days,” Royce said. “I’ll take the page to Iona.” He hesitated. “I willna ask if ye’ll stay with her.”

“Good.” Malcolm wasn’t leaving Claire until she was well on her way to recovery. He reached into his brat and handed Royce the rolled-up page. Royce stood, his expression turning hard, and a moment later he had vanished into thin air.

Claire murmured his name.

Malcolm leaned over her. “Lass!”

Her lashes fluttered but her eyes did not open.

Aidan sagged to his hands and knees, his hands and forearms covered with Claire’s blood. He was deathly white. “Get her inside. Ye can move her now,” he gasped.

Malcolm realized Aidan had used his own power to heal Claire, so much so that he had made himself weak. He was dumbfounded. He signaled to the men surrounding them. “Help yer lord into the keep,” he said sharply.

“I be fine,” Aidan snapped, but he remained on the ground and did not appear to be capable of getting up.

He was a pigheaded man, Malcolm thought grimly. He knelt and lifted Claire gently into his arms. More relief made it hard to breathe. Two men had helped Aidan to his feet and he stared.

Malcolm gave in. “Thank ye.”

Aidan nodded. “Ye be welcome.”

CLAIRE REALIZED she was in a fluffy feather bed. Floating on down, she smiled dreamily, wondering whose bed she was in. Maybe she was dreaming, she somehow thought, as her own Doctor’s Choice mattress was far firmer than this. Sunlight poured into the room. But such bright sunlight was nonexistent in Manhattan. Claire blinked, confused, and saw unfamiliar, crude stone walls that bobbed around her. Her shoulder hurt, the throbbing ache deep and intense. Then she realized that she was in someone’s arms.