Chapter 18

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

H is heart was still thumping when Katherine’s eyes fluttered.

“Katherine! Katherine!” he barked.

But no amount of shouting stopped her eyes from finally closing, and a second later, her head lolled back.

“Nay. God, nay!”

Hurriedly, Domhnall pressed his head against her bosom. Relief rushed through him as he heard the beat of her heart. It was faint, but it was still there. Scooping her up, he ran back to the village at an unnatural speed. Only when he reached the houses did he slow and run like a normal man might. No one could know, even if it nearly killed him to curb his power. Katherine needed immediate help, but still, no one could know.

There were gasps from the villagers at the sight of him, and he heard men and women calling out, asking if he was all right. He ignored them all, just like he ignored the fact that his blood-spattered clothes, face, and hands, likely had people terrified at what must have happened.

Upon finding his horse where he had left it, he jumped upon the beast, and with Katherine held tightly to his chest, he thundered off in the direction of the castle. He pushed the horse as hard as it would go, praying that she would hold on until he got her to Enya.

Ye have tae mak’ it, Katherine. Ye have tae.

As the horse thundered on, Domhnall’s mind continued to race, torn between the need to protect her and the guilt that he might have failed her already.

What had she been doing in the village in the first place?

He didn’t know the answer to that, and nor did he really care. He just needed to get her to safety.

As he approached the gates, he yelled at the top of his voice. “Open the gates. Open the gates.”

He watched as the men on the wall hurriedly called out to the men at the gate, and a moment later, the gates opened, just in time for him to thunder through them.

Bringing the horse to an immediate halt, he jumped from the beast with Katherine still in his arms.

“Get me Enya,” he bellowed.

Several guards hurried away, while Domhnall ran across the courtyard toward Brianna’s cottage.

He thundered his fist on the door, yelling for her to open it. When she did, Domhnall wasted no time with greetings.

“Och, me God. What has happened?” Brianna gasped.

“I need a bed,” Domhnall demanded.

“In here,” the old woman cried, leading him through the cottage that was so small, he had to duck his head for fear of him knocking himself out on the wooden beams above him.

“I’m here,” Enya said, several minutes later.

She entered the room and immediately, her mouth fell open as she took in the scene. Katherine was now lying on the bed, and while Brianna was looking her over, Domhnall could only stand there feeling entirely helpless.

“Oh, God. What happened?” Enya cried, hurriedly reaching the bed.

“She’s injured,” Domhnall growled. “One minute, she was awake, the next, she wasnae.”

“She’s hit her head,” Brianna said calmly. “I can get her something fer?—”

“It’s all right, Brianna,” Enya said. “I’ll deal with this.”

Brianna looked from Enya to Domhnall and back again, before slowly nodding her head. “All right. I’ll leave ye tae it.”

With Brianna out of the room, Domhnall watched as his younger sister gently placed her hands on the bleeding wound at the back of Katherine’s head. She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths in and out. As always, the air went still as if sucked out of the room. A moment later, Enya laid Katherine’s head gently back onto the pillow and gazed down at her.

But Katherine didn’t move. Nor did she open her eyes.

“What’s the matter? Why didnae it work?” he demanded in panic.

Enya turned to look at him, placing a hand on his arm, she said, “It did work, Domhnall. The cut on her head is healed. Katherine is unconscious. We’re just going tae have tae give her time tae come out o’ it.”

Absently, she dropped her gaze, but suddenly, her eyes flew wide. “Ye are bleeding too,” she cried.

“I dinnae care. Look after Katherine. I’m fine.”

“I have, Domhnall,” Enya said determinedly. “There’s naething more I can dae fer her. Please, braither. Let me look after ye now.”

Reluctantly, Domhnall slipped his plaid from his shoulder and tore off his shirt, all while keeping his eyes firmly set on Katherine. The moment she woke up, he wanted to be there, and no matter what Enya had to do, he was determined to stay right where he was.

“It is a deep gash, Domhnall.”

Flicking a glance at his sister, he said, “Ye’ve healed such wounds ‘afore. Ye can dae it, Enya.”

Nodding, she pressed both hands on his wound and closed her eyes. Domhnall felt the familiar heat circulating through his body, for she had healed him many times, and after a few moments, she took a deep breath in and moved her hands away. He could see that the Gift took its toll, as Enya looked much more tired than when she entered the cottage. However, she said nothing about it.

Domhnall glanced down at his healed side. “Ye see. I told ye, ye could dae it.”

Enya nodded and then moved to the dresser where she lifted a bowl of water and a cloth. His skin was still stained with blood, even though there was no sign of the wound, and gently, Enya took the cloth and washed the area. When she had finished there, she took his hands, one by one, and washed the blood from them too.

Domhnall sat there and let her. He didn’t much care what he looked like or whose blood he had on his hands. His eyes remained on Katherine, his mind torturing him with his failings.

He hadn’t got there in time. A husband was supposed to protect his wife, and he hadn’t done that. It was his fault she now lay there unconscious. She had been injured because of him.

Enya moved from his hands to his face. No doubt, there was blood splatter there too, but he didn’t care about that either. He was too busy worrying about what might happen if Katherine took a turn for the worse. Enya had only ever healed wounds. And as she had said herself, there was nothing more she could do for Katherine.

What if the damage caused was too much? What if she never woke again?

Now sitting on the bed beside her, he looked down at Katherine’s pale form with a fierce gaze, his heart pounding with an unfamiliar sense of helplessness. All his strength and his speed were useless in this circumstance, and as he sat there, the same overwhelming guilt he felt about his parent’s deaths overtook him.

“Why was she even there?” he murmured. “When I left, she was in the castle. If she had just stayed here…”

Behind him, Enya had been clearing away the water and cloths, but now she lowered herself onto a chair on the other side of the bed. He didn’t care that he could feel her eyes boring into his soul. He just wanted Katherine to wake up, to be all right, to not leave him, as his parents had.

“Domhnall,” Enya said softly. “What is troubling ye so?”

His eyes widened at her question, for he thought it quite obvious. Jerking his head toward Katherine, he said so. “Are ye blind?”

“I ken Katherine is injured,” she said, speaking calmly in an attempt not to rile him any further. “I suppose, I am just confused. Last week, ye couldnae tolerate being around her. In fact, it was me and the others who had tae encourage ye tae even talk tae her. Something has changed, Domhnall. Ye’ve changed.”

He took a long breath in and let it out again slowly. Enya was pulling back the layers he used to protect himself. Ordinarily stoic and strong, it was the first time in a long time he was willing to even acknowledge he could be vulnerable, never mind show it. And yet, there he was, feeling powerless.

But what was he supposed to say? He didn’t know where to begin to explain what had changed. She was right, of course. Something had definitely changed, but until that attack, he had not taken the time to see it, to recognize it. Now, though, as he sat there, gazing down at Katherine, not knowing if she was going to come out of this, all the confusion had fallen away, and he could see it all so clearly.

“She’s nae longer just an obligation or a pawn in the political game the king started,” he whispered. “Something has happened tae me. She has done something tae me. Something I cannae ignore any longer.”

“When ye say, she has done something tae ye, what dae ye mean?” Enya asked softly.

Domhnall shook his head. “They’re nae the right words. Maybe it’s more the fact that her presence, her being here has done something tae me.”

He sighed again, struggling to figure out how to express what he was feeling. Feelings were something he had bothered little with. Or had he just pushed them so deeply within himself since his parent’s death that they were now too hard to find?

If that was the case, Katherine had certainly done more than he previously thought, for just by being her beautiful, innocent self, she had lit a spark in him that had been doused for years.

Catching Enya’s expression of surprise, Domhnall smiled, but without mirth. “Ye cannae believe yer braither can feel,” he said.

Enya shook her head. “It’s nae that. You’ve always been able tae feel, Domhnall. But since Maither and Faither died, I think we’ve all struggled tae express ourselves. That being said, ye were never one tae talk about yer emotions even before that happened.”

“It’s nae the manly thing tae dae.”

Enya rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Aye, ‘o course it isnae. But whether it’s manly or nae, ye’re only human, just like everyone else. Ye may have extraordinary powers, but ye still feel.”

Yes, he did. It was just easier to pretend he didn’t. Katherine’s presence had made that more difficult than he might have imagined, and in that moment, as he gazed down at her full of worry, all those emotions he had suppressed at his parents’ death were flooding through him. The worst part was, there was not a damned thing he could do about it.