“I assume I’ll need to be here to tend Lord Gavin?”
The Seneschal nodded. “And Judah, as well. But you’ll be with Lord Gavin during the caning. You can treat his wounds as they occur. He can’t be drugged, because the guards will no doubt report what they see to Lord Elban, and Judah must seem aware of what’s happening. We’ll do it as soon as Lord Gavin begins to awaken. That’s another reason we have to do it today; he will do whatever he can to stop the caning, so he’ll need to be restrained, and I don’t think he’ll let that happen if he’s fully conscious. You and I will bind him ourselves. I can see that you find this situation distasteful. Rest assured that I do, as well. If there were another option, I would take it.” Then, as if to himself, he added, “A few more weeks and it might not have mattered.”
“The shock might kill her,” Nate said coldly. “It might kill both of them.”
“You’re here to prevent that.”
No. That wasn’t why he was here at all. He was there to take care of Judah, to help her find her power and untie the knot Mad Martin had wrought. “How will Lord Gavin react when he’s put through all this pain because of her?”
“It will remind him of lessons he learned as a child, which he would do well to remember, anyway. But that’s none of your concern. Do you want to examine her before she’s caned?”
Nate gritted his teeth and said that he did, and they went back to the rooms where they’d started. The girl lay on a tiny cot in a dusty, windowless room off the grand state bedroom where the Tiernan slept—surely with the young lord, now that they were betrothed, and what must that be like for Judah, to lie alone in a cold bare room meant for a servant, while mere feet away the two more fortunate highborns took as much pleasure in each other as they liked. The bond would transfer pleasure as well as pain, but secondhand pleasure would not be the same. No wonder she had been driven to find her own. He hoped she had found it.
He still hated the stableman, though.
He checked Judah’s eyes, pulse and reflexes, just as he had Elban’s son’s. Aware of how he handled her more gently; aware, too, of the smoothness of her skin, the warmth of it. Whatever she and the stableman had been doing when she was stricken, she was fully dressed now, if barefoot, so he could not find out for sure if she was pregnant. He could feel her abdomen, and did; but the Seneschal was watching, and unconscious as the girl was, Nate didn’t want to undress her in front of him. He hoped she wasn’t—Derie wouldn’t like it—but even if she was, she might not be for long after the caning. Nate had seen it happen before.
When he had done all he could for her, the Tiernan pale with worry and wringing her hands in the doorway, the Seneschal said, “Do you have everything you’ll need, or do you need to return to the manor?”
“I can make do with what I have now, but it would be better if I could get a few things.”
“Then do so,” the Seneschal said. “But be fast.” With a nod to the Tiernan, he left the parlor. Nate moved to follow, but before he could, Lady Eleanor stopped him.
“Magus,” she said. “A word, please?”
Her voice held the faintest unsteadiness. Nate liked the girl well enough but found himself impatient; she probably just wanted more of the contraceptive sachets. He filled his voice with a deference he did not feel. “Lady, I’m sorry. I did not bring—”
Her blue eyes went to the door the Seneschal had so recently passed through, and she stepped close to him. “Never mind that.” The unsteadiness was gone. Her words fell quick and sharp. “There’s a courtier named Firo. He’s a friend—sort of—of Judah’s, and of mine. When you leave our rooms, turn right instead of left. There’s a staircase halfway down the corridor. He’ll be waiting for you on the landing.”
“Lady,” Nate said, “time is of the essence, for your betrothed and for Judah.”
“This is for Judah,” she said, insistent. “Please.”
Something in her face was urgent and human, so he nodded. Outside, the corridor was empty. He turned right instead of left and found the courtier as she’d promised, lounging indifferently on the