Page 67 of Broken Hearted
He worked quickly draping the six or seven long strips of cloth over his arm. He then balled up some cloth so that it was about the size of the open hole in her shoulder. He was going to plug the wound with dirty cloth?
“Seraphina?” He approached her with a kind smile, but I could see the concern in his gaze as he looked at her left shoulder. I followed his line of sight and had to swallow a whimper. Her clothing was soaked in blood. No wonder she was so quiet. She was on the verge of losing consciousness.
My sister nodded at her name.
“I need you to lay down for a second while I dress your wound, and even though this is going to hurt, I need younotto scream. Can you do that for me?” He peered over his shoulder at the village, and I knew he feared retaliation from Elisana or the other witches that lived here.
My sister bit her lip and nodded.
I helped her lie down on the grass and then held her hand. “I’m so sorry, Seraphina,” I whispered, and my sister just looked up at me with wide terrified eyes. Adrien’s spy, whose name I had yet to learn, peeled her fingers away from the wound.
“Be strong for me, okay?” he told her.
She whimpered, and then he reached out, and he pushed the little ball of cloth into her wound.
Seraphina sucked in a breath and opened her mouth to scream but I clamped my hand over it. She moaned into my palm and my heart broke for her. The man then made quick work of wrapping the black strips of linen around her shoulder to hold the cloth plug in.
“Does she have any self-healing abilities?” he asked me.
I nodded.
“Okay, then we’ll keep an eye on it and pull out the plug so it doesn’t become embedded. It should keep her from bleeding out, though.”
“Thank you. What’s your name?” I asked him.
“Leif,” he said, and both Seraphina and I startled.
That was my father’s name. A pang of sadness entered my heart. I missed my family terribly, but it seemed that this was a sign that even from another world, my father was looking out for us.
I helped my sister up, and she swayed on her feet as we got her onto a horse with me.
“I need to get to Windreum as fast as possible and speak to Zane,” I told the men. And also Dawn and Zander who I was hoping would be with him.
He nodded. “Let’s ride west. We can pick up the train to Windreum in a small town I know of and maybe even find a healer there.”
Relief rushed through me. The train would shorten our travel and be easier on Seraphina.
Without any further discussion, we kicked our horses and galloped off into the night. It was hard because the farther we rode from Adrien, the heavier my heart got.
Would Elisana still want to marry him? Would she kiss him? Would he fall subject to her love spell again and I’d lose him for good?
The last thought horrified me and made me realize I wanted Adrien for myself. Forever. Yes, my parents’ divorce had left its mark on me, but that didn’t mean my marriage would end the same way. I had to change my thoughts about that and not let my fear stop me from having the life I wanted. And right now I wanted nothing more than to grow old with Adrien.
* * *
We rode through the night. My sister slept with her back against my chest and I kept her secure with my arms around her and on the reins of my mare. Her wound was closing and Leif said that we would need to pull the cloth plug out soon or risk it embedding in her skin and causing long-term issues or infection. But to pull the cloth out meant she would again be in danger of bleeding out.
We needed a healer, but we were in the middle of nowhere.
I looked up at the night sky and prayed to every star in it that my sister be spared. By the time we reached the town of Tarrin, where the train station was, it was almost first morning light. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw there was a large gathering of people on the platform waiting for the train to take them to Windreum. I had no idea when the train would arrive. It could be anywhere along the line between capital cities right now, but if there were people waiting, it meant it might come alongsooner rather than later. Hopefully sometime today, but in the meantime, my sister’s wound needed to be dealt with.
Leif helped me get her off the horse and then he peeled back the cloth, wincing slightly.
“What is it?” I asked, looking at the wound.
I could see my sister looked better. She had color to her cheeks, but I noticed a thin layer of skin had started to form over the packed cloth.
“Just leave it in,” my sister said, her voice stronger. “I don’t mind it.”
