Besotted (The Fairest Maidens #3) - Jody Hedlund Page 0,25

against the door, Aunt Elspeth jumped with a yelp. Aunt Idony turned pale and clutched the table. And Chester was off his bench, weapons out of his belt and in each hand before anyone could take a breath. I, too, rose and stared at the door, praying it was only a rare woodcutter passing by.

A fist banged against the door again, louder and more urgently.

“Who is it?” Chester inched closer to the door.

“I am a lowly woodcutter in need of a healer for my injured friend.”

Aunt Idony moved forward, but Chester held out a hand to halt her. “There is no healer here.”

“Please. He was attacked by a boar and suffers greatly.”

Aunt Idony moved toward the door again, but Chester shook his head fiercely and then faced the door. “Go away. We cannot help.”

Silence filled the space. Chester was using discretion the way Sir William had taught him. However, if someone was truly in need, I couldn’t abide the thought of sending him away.

“I shall see to him,” Aunt Idony whispered, clearly feeling the same way I did.

Chester held up a finger, bidding us to give him another moment.

“Rory?” came my name from the lips of the man outside.

The blood drained from my body in the same instant that everyone looked at me, alarm on their faces. The voice wasn’t familiar. I had no idea how this man knew my name. Was this some kind of trap set by Queen Margery to lure me out of the cabin?

“Rory!” he called again. “Please! Kresten needs help.”

“Kresten?” The name slipped from my lips before I realized it.

“Yes, he’s been attacked by a boar and badly wounded. Please. Help.” The desperation in the man’s tone told me this was no trap. Kresten was hurt.

How badly? My pulse spurted with a new fear. I’d never witnessed the damage of a boar attack, but I’d heard Chester’s tales and knew of the maiming and damage a boar’s tusks could wreak. If Kresten wasn’t speaking and had lost consciousness, then the injuries must be substantial.

I started across the chamber only to have Chester block my way. “We need to help him,” I hissed.

“How exactly do you know Kresten?” Chester’s face had hardened to iron, and his eyes flashed with accusation along with disappointment. Both Aunt Idony and Aunt Elspeth watched me, awaiting my answer.

Part of me wanted to hang my head in shame for deceiving my friends, but at another urgent knock against the door, I straightened. Maybe I’d made a poor choice in wandering away from the cottage and meeting Kresten. But now that it was done, I couldn’t stand back and allow him to needlessly suffer and die.

“Open the door.” I met Chester’s severe gaze with one of my own.

“No.”

I’d never exerted my authority over Chester’s before, hadn’t wanted to lord myself over him. But at this moment, I could only think of Kresten outside, bleeding and possibly dying. I lifted my chin and spoke words I’d never thought I would to Chester. “I command you to do it.”

Something in his eyes wavered.

I pushed around him and stalked to the door.

“No, Rory.” He grabbed my arm.

Holding the handle, I paused and looked at his strong fingers gripping me. “Unhand me.”

He didn’t budge.

Aunt Idony approached and laid a hand upon Chester’s arm. “You must do as she says.”

“We don’t know who is out there—”

“Chester.”

He dropped his hold. I nearly trembled at the prospect of defying my protector, and yet I lifted the latch anyway. I was doing the right thing in aiding a hurt man and would not deny him the care he needed out of fear of the repercussions and danger it might bring me.

I swung the door open wide, letting the candlelight fall upon a tall young man with a lean face and dark bushy beard, a stranger who peered at me with frightened eyes. He was holding up another man who was leaning heavily upon him, his head down and overly long brown hair hanging in disarray. Blood saturated his hose. Even in the growing dusk, I could see a gash in his flesh where his hose had ripped away.

I held my breath. Was this Kresten?

As though hearing my unasked question, the injured man lifted his head and peered at me through the strands of his hair. Though his face was pale and his muscles taut, the handsome features belonged to none other than Kresten.

He fought to curve his lips into a smile. “I know—you didn’t want—to see me again—but I couldn’t