Prologue~Ch. 1~Ch. 2~Ch. 3~Ch. 4~Ch. 5~Ch. 6~Ch. 7~Ch. 8~Ch. 9~Ch. 10~Ch. 11~Ch. 12~Ch. 13~
Ch. 14~Ch. 15~Ch. 16~Ch. 17~Ch. 18~Ch. 19~Ch. 20~Ch. 21~Ch. 22~Ch. 23~Ch. 24~~Ch. 25~Ch. 26~
Ch. 27~Ch. 28~Ch. 29~Ch. 30~Ch. 31~Ch. 32~Ch. 33~Ch. 34~Ch. 35~Ch. 36~Ch. 37~Ch. 38~Ch. 39~
Chapter 40
Jessica swayed slightly in place, suddenly feeling extremely tired.
“Healing takes a great deal more energy than any other kind of magic,” Alexandre advised her quietly. “You’ve depleted your reserves.”
“Now you tell me,” she muttered.
Gareth arrived with his armful of sticks, a resentful look on his face from having been sent on such an errand.
“You’re just in time,” she told him. “I want to get this leg wrapped up before the boy wakes up again.”
He sniffed disdainfully, but watched closely as she chose four of the straightest sticks and wrapped them to the boy’s injured leg.
“What are you doing?” he asked, curious in spite of himself.
“It’s called a splint,” she said absently. “It will hold the injured part of the leg immobile so the bone can knit back together properly.”
Kieran was just beginning to stir as she finished, which was a good thing as a small crowd was converging on them. In the lead were two guardsmen, not royal guards but regular palace guards. Hurrying in their wake were a portly man and woman dressed in rough homespun, and behind them one of the pages.
“We’ll take charge ‘o the brat,” one of the guards said.
“You most certainly will not,” Jessica replied, rising to her feet.
“Stealing the king’s apples be a hanging offence,” the second guard said.
There was a gasp from the woman joining them. “He meant no harm, he’s a good lad he is!”
“The law’s the law.” The first guard was obviously puffed up with self importance.
Jessica felt the need to take him down a peg or two. “There was no stealing done here, the boy fell out of the tree and injured himself; we stopped to help. End of story.”
“An’ what were he doing up there in the first place? Stealing the king’s apples, I say.”
“Did you never climb a tree just for the fun of it?” Jessica looked him up and down. Judging by the size of the belly hanging over his belt, probably not.
“’Tis the only reason the likes ‘o him have for being up there,” the guard said stubbornly.
While Alexandre would have loved to see Jessica best the guard verbally, he could see she was fast running out of patience and feared she might lose control of her magic along with her temper. “Perhaps, my lady, we should request my lord Ewan to intervene on the boy’s behalf. Even were you not his honoured guest, I’m sure he could deny you nothing.”
Jessica shot him a look. It took a moment for what he said to sink in, but when it did the guards began to babble.
“Honoured guest?”
“No, no, no. No need to bother his lordship. If you say there were no crime done then we’ll abide by your word, my lady.”
“No need to mention this to his lordship at all.”
“Fools,” Gareth mutter as they hurried away. At the same time Jessica muttered, “Jerks.”
They looked at each other and laughed.
“Oh, my poor baby!” the woman wailed, falling to her knees beside Kieran. He was fully awake now and though pale didn’t seem to be in pain. He was, however, in danger of being smothered as his mother clutched him to her ample bosom. The man stood clutching his hat in his hands.
“It appears the boy’s injury was not as great as we’d feared,” Alexandre said to them. “He’ll need to stay off that leg for a few days, and keep the splint on for perhaps two weeks, but he’ll be climbing trees again before you know it.”
“We owes you a debt,” the man said gravely. “They’d a hung him for sure, they would. You saved our boy and we won’t be a forgettin’.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Jessica said.
“This here be Addison,” he said, drawing the page forward. “He be Kieran’s older brother. If ye be needing aught in the way of help, ye can send him to fetch me. I be Reece the Tanner.”
By this time Kieran was sitting up and squirming under his mother’s attention. Reece gently scooped the boy up in his arms. Now that he was no longer in pain and his parents were close by, Kieran lapsed into shyness.
“Here,” Gareth said suddenly, handing Kieran something that Jessica couldn’t quite see. “I’d say ye earned it.”
Kieran grinned, and wave at them as he was carried away.
“What did you give him?” Jessica asked.
“An apple,” Gareth replied with a grin.
“There’s hope for you yet,” she told him.
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