And Mahrree knew that, too. She never would have been so brave on the platform in Pools, or even Mountseen. And it’s not as if she’d ever be bold enough to enter the forests. How can one be dangerous without courage? No, underneath it all she was timid and wary and that was exactly the way Perrin wanted her—
Most dangerous woman.
Maybe it was because Hogal was still in the room that the improbable words insisted on mashing themselves into his brain. He tried to shake them loose as he looked at her perfect lips pursed in worry. How could she possibly ever be dangerous? What in the world could that mean?
No. No, Hogal must have gotten it wrong.
Although Hogal never got things wrong.
Perrin decided not to think about it anymore. Besides, something more immediately worrying was about to happen.
Mahrree took a deep breath and said analytically, “So, I suppose it could be worse.” But her tone suggested she’d never seen anything so terrible in her life as the roughly stitched gash. She placed some of the thick cloths around his wound. “Then, um, we’re to pile the snow on it, a few inches deep,” she said in an almost passable imitation of the surgeon, if her voice hadn’t been quavering. “The cold numbs the area while also controlling bleeding and swelling. We’ll do it again before you go to sleep tonight—”
She accidentally brushed one of the thick black-threaded stitches, and he flinched.
“I’m so sorry!” she whispered, the last of her detached pretense vanishing.
“Mahrree, shall I—” Hogal started, but Mahrree shook her head.
“No. No, I can do this. Thank you, Hogal. My husband, my responsibility. So,” she said trying to calm her voice, “do we put the snow on in layers, or just as one clump?”
“I’m not sure,” Perrin said, his eyes squeezed shut in anticipation. “Perhaps just plop it all on at once, so you don’t have to look at it anymore. It will probably all feel the same to me.”
Hogal gently scooted Jaytsy to the far side of the bed, making sure her thumb stayed in her mouth so she’d remain asleep.
Mahrree nodded a thanks and plunged her hands into the bucket to pull out a mass of cold icy snow. “At least you got injured during the Raining Season, when we have all this snow.” She winced as she dropped it on the jagged injury.
Perrin writhed and arched his back.
“I’m so sorry!” Mahrree gasped.
“No, just cold!” Perrin gasped back. “Really, it’s good, it’s good.”
“If you say so,” she whimpered, putting another handful on his back and smoothing it to cover evenly.
He squirmed and shut his eyes tight, a strangling noise coming from his throat.
“What is it?” Mahrree whispered frantically.
“Leaking. Down my side. Tickles,” he breathed. “Wipe it up!”
Mahrree broke into a relieved grin and took an unused cloth to wipe the melted snow that the dam of cloths failed to retain.
“Thank you, my darling wife,” he whispered.
“Anything for you!”
Hogal patted Mahrree on the arm. “I think you’ve got things here. I’ll see if Hycymum needs a taster,” and he shuffled off to the kitchen.
Perrin’s shoulders relaxed as he grew used to the freezing sensation numbing his back. With Hogal gone, it was easier to push aside what his great uncle suspected about his family. For a moment he could even ignore the idea that it was the “most dangerous woman in the world” he trusted with his injury.
“How are you feeling?” he asked Mahrree.
“I’m all right,” she assured him, wiping up more melting snow that trickled down his ribs. “How are you?”
“It’s not as bad as it seems. I should be able to get up and walk around tomorrow. Help you a bit.”
“Don’t need to,” she said. “My mother and Tabbit cooked enough for us for days and Mother also did the washing, so we can rest here and enjoy watching Jaytsy destroy the house.”
He chuckled quietly. “You know, I was thinking that under different circumstances, this would be rather romantic. Our bed on the floor in front of the fireplace . . .” He turned slightly and raised his eyebrows suggestively at her.
She giggled. “Your back incapacitating you, our daughter here, my mother and your great aunt and uncle in the kitchen . . .”
“So, you do want to argue?” he said in the low rumbling voice that he knew always drove her to distraction.
But sometimes, a woman simply won’t be distracted.
“How can you be thinking like that at a time like this?” She chuckled as she continued wiping.
“What else should I be thinking about?” he asked, trying to avoid the many thoughts clogging his mind.