Joining by Johanna Lindsey Page B

fainted, not because of the pain, which she could withstand better than most, but from blood loss. Since she was hidden under Wulfric’s cloak, neither of them could see just how much blood she had continued to lose.

Fifteen
    “What is taking
the castle leech so long?” Wulfric asked.
    “Mayhap the fact that I did not send for him,” Jhone said quietly in answer.
    “That should have been the first thing you did when you arrived. See to it now.”
    Milisant tried to open her eyes to see them, knew they were standing nearby, but simply could not muster the strength. Her senses were still spinning dizzily. There was a ringing in her ears that made hearing difficult. She needed to sleep, she knew, to regain her strength, but the burning sting on her arm kept her from succumbing.
    “Do you bring him, I will bar the door,” Jhone told the knight. “He can do naught for Mili that I cannot do. Faugh, look at her! She has lost so much blood already, she cannot afford to lose any more.”
    “Nonsense—”
    “Think what you like, but it has been our experience, my sister’s and mine, that leechingmay do fine for certain illnesses and infections to draw out the poisons, but for simple injuries and clean wounds, we have never seen them improve the condition. More like, the bloodsucking they do worsens it. Besides, my sister hates leeches and would not thank you for being responsible for bringing them, when she is too weak to tear them off of her.”
    “I do not seek her thanks, merely her recovery,” Wulfric said stiffly.
    “Then leave me be to tend to her. Do you wish to be helpful, tell my father that it is a simple wound and Mili should be fine after a few days of rest.”
    A moment of silent indecision, then, “You will inform me if aught changes with her condition?”
    “Certainly.”
    “I wish to see her when she awakens.”
    “As soon as she agrees to see you.”
    There was a snort, then the order, “I do not ask for
her
permission. Summon me.”
    The door closed behind him rather loudly, proof of how annoyed Jhone had just made him. Milisant still could not manage to get her eyes open, to make sure he was gone. But she did manage to part her lips.
    “Do not … summon him,” she whispered.
    Jhone’s gentle hand came immediately to her brow, and her voice was soothing by her ear. “Shhh, you intend to sleep for nigh a week. He would not be so churlish as to disturb your sleep.”
    “Would … he … not?”
    Jhone
tsked.
“I will see that he does not. Now,brace yourself. ’Tis lucky you did not wake for the stitching, but I still need bandage you.” “How many?”
    “It took six stitches,” Jhone said, understanding the question. “I was careful to leave no puckers.”
    Milisant would have smiled if it would not have cost so much effort. Jhone would hover over her until she was well, she did not doubt.
    She was almost asleep when it occurred to her to ask, “Did they find him?”
    Again Jhone did not need to ask who. “Nay, not yet. Papa was directing the search when I left the clearing. He is furious, Mili, and rightly so, that one of our hunters could be so careless.”
    “’Twas no hunter … or accident,” Milisant said as the last of her strength gave out. She slurred the rest. “Someone wants to see me dead.”
    “Wulfric has placed guards outside the door—nay, do not look alarmed. ’Tis not to keep you in, but to keep everyone else out.” Jhone was whispering, as if those guards could hear her and would be reporting every word. “He took to heart what you said.”
    Milisant sat up in bed, where she had spent the last three days. They were beneficial. If not for the pain on her arm, she was feeling almost normal.
    “What I said? What did I say?”
    “What you told me the day it happened,” Jhone explained. “That it was no accident, that arrow hitting you. I repeated this to Papa—while Wulfric was present. They both agree withyou. ’Twas too soon after that first attack for