Chapter 22

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

I n the infirmary, the healers Aine and Broccàn were already working hard, dealing with casualties from the fire, most of them also suffering from smoke inhalation and the occasional small burn. Arne wanted to barge to the front of the queue, but Raven would not allow it. She insisted she was no more deserving than anyone else and made him put her down in the hallway outside the infirmary along with the others waiting to be seen.

"Ye breathed in yer fair share of the smoke," she told him when he coughed along with everyone else. "Ye need tae get checked out as well."

"I'm fine," he argued, then broke out coughing again.

"There, ye see? We'll wait and get seen together, all right?"

"All right," he conceded, but he felt he had won a small victory by at least managing to persuade her to sit in one of the chairs provided as they waited, hovering over her protectively all the while.

They waited patiently until Broccàn, the tall, good-looking healer with intelligent green eyes, came to see them.

"I can hear ye both coughin' well," he said with sly humor as he listened to their breathing with his tube made of hartshorn. He nodded. "I cannae hear anythin' tae suggest long-term damage tae yer lungs, but it'll take a few days tae be sure. Ye're both young and strong. If all's well, the effects of the smoke should go away completely in time. Until then, take it easy and dinnae dae anythin' too strenuous. Stay warm and dry. I'll give ye some tea tae drink that will help expel the muck from yer lungs and soothe yer throat."

"Thank ye, Broccàn," Arne said when the healer handed him a packet of tea to take with them. "We're grateful fer yer help."

The healer's green eyes sparkled as he looked at Raven and smiled. "I'm honored tae treat the hero of the hour. Lady Raven, that was a very brave thing ye did back there, savin' the wee lad."

Arne had to smile to see how the compliment went straight over her head. "Have ye seen Billy? Is he all right?" she asked at once.

"Aye, he's coughin' as well, of course, but I think he'll be fine. His ma was in here with her brood, singin' yer praises," Broccàn replied.

Beneath the black soot, Raven smiled. "Thank the Lord he wasnae badly hurt. I'll go and see him when I have the chance. I'd like tae see how he's gettin' on." Once again, Arne secretly admired the modest way she turned away the handsome healer's attempts at flattery.

He remembered she was impervious to such nonsense. In the past, he had reveled many times in the knowledge that she only had eyes for him despite the attention her charms drew from other men. He realized then that losing that sense of security of relying on her love for him, had been one of the most difficult things he had struggled with when she left. And he had been struggling with it all over again since her return.

He put his thoughts aside as they bid Broccàn goodbye and left the infirmary.

"I'm tired," Raven said as they took the stairs slowly down to their landing. "I suppose I should go tae me chamber and rest."

"Nay, ye're comin' with me," he told her in a voice that brooked no argument. "I'm keepin' an eye on ye just in case." That was true, but he also felt a lot closer to her than before, and he wanted to be with her. In fact, he felt strangely happy, as he had when they had been at the waterfall.

She looked a little surprised when he insisted on ushering her into his chambers instead of her own. "Well, all right. I can keep an eye on ye too then," she replied, giving him an impish smile that melted his heart a little more. "In fact, I'll make us some of that tea Broccàn gave us. We both need it. This way, I can make sure ye drink it. Give it here."

She held out her hand, and Arne placed the packet into it. He paused to watch her as she crossed the large room to the fireplace, where a low fire was burning in the grate, making the room pleasantly warm and cozy. He walked over to join her and lit a spill from the fire before lighting the lamps on the mantel. He turned them up full, casting a warm, yellowish glow over everything.

Seeing her by the hearth, he suddenly recalled the previous night, when she had walked in on him in the tub. His groin twitched, and he wondered if she was thinking of it too. But if she was, she showed no sign. She merely bustled about, filling the kettle from the water jug and then hanging it over the fire to heat up for the tea. Now and then, one of them would burst out in a coughing fit.

Arne sighed, glad the drama was over, for he too felt tired, yet also strangely content. He walked about aimlessly, kicking off his boots and discarding his sword belt. Suddenly, he caught sight of himself in the long looking glass next to his wardrobe. "Christ, I look a sight," he said, starting to laugh. "Come over here, Raven, and get a look at us."

She stopped what she was doing and went over to stand next to him.

"Oh, by the Wee Man! What a sight," she agreed, laughing as they inspected their bedraggled reflections, each rubbing at the layer of sooty smuts covering their skin and clothes. Full of mirth, their eyes shone out like bright gems from beneath the filth, their smiles flashes of white.

"I look like a burnt crow," she said laughingly. "Nay, a burnt mad crow," she corrected herself, lifting up hanks of her wildly disarranged black hair. Cinders fell from it like black snow, and when Arnie shook his long hair, more fell to the rug.

"Well, if ye're burnt crow, what does that make me?" he asked, starting to cough from too much laughing. Raven instinctively reached up and patted his back until he stopped and got his breath, while at the same time, looking him up and down with a mischievous smile.

"I'm nae sure," she said in a teasing tone, "but whatever it is, I wouldnae like tae meet it in a dark alley."