The Rakehell Regency Romance Collection Volume 2(186)

"Where could you have had such a thing made, Will?" her sister asked, her brows knitting.



"The word ‘druid' means someone with ‘oak knowledge.' Perhaps that is the ultimate any druid can hope to understand. Love. If that is true, then I shall be a wonderful wizard, with my beloved here by my side," he said, before bowing to Vevina.



"Will, what are you talking about!" Vevina gasped in terror.



"Now go over to the hearth. Pick up the oak stump, and when I tell you to, throw it onto the fire and step out of the way quickly."



"But-"



"Do it!"



"What are you doing? What are those?" she gasped.



Will had opened the box and now took out two objects which were even more blindingly bright than the gold torc around his neck. He slipped one bracelet on his wife's arm, and told his sister, "Get ready."



She gripped the log because she really didn't know what else to do, and placed it nearer the fire.



Will slipped the second bracelet on his wife's wrist, then grasped the large rib from the roast and hung it suspended over her naked body and began to murmur.



Then he looked at his sister. "Now."



Vevina heaved the log into the fire and jumped back. She tumbled to the floor on her hands and knees with the blast which rocked the chamber.



The room trembled and the flames shot straight out of the hearth, setting the entire bed on fire.



"Will! My God, Will!"



She could not see Elizabeth at all as the footboard of the bed and the curtains were engulfed. Hard as she tried, she could not crawl across the room toward them.



She could see Will's form flickering like a flame for an instant, but the light was so bright she had to shield her eyes.



The fire was almost blinding, the roar deafening. The room was now almost black apart from the burning bed, the moonlight which had streaked the floor only seconds before now eclipsed.



Then she opened her eyes once more, and all was still. Still, normal, silent, almost untouched....



She crawled to the bed with agonising slowness, and saw at last her brother and Elizabeth.



She gasped in terror, "My God, Will, what have you done!"





Chapter Twenty-five



Will smiled at her as if nothing unusual in the least had just happened.



"It's all right. Help me get the bed changed before anyone comes up."



Elizabeth was looking at both of them, her eyes open. Will gently pulled out the food tube, and Elizabeth gagged and spat onto the scorched sheets.



"It's all right, love. We'll get you all tidied in a minute," he said gently.



He lifted her despite having only one good arm, and walked across the room despite his broken leg. He carried her into the bathroom and sat her in the tub. Then he checked the temperature of the water, and let the tub fill as his wife lay there with her head resting against the back of it.



Vevina was already stripping the sheets off the bed, and stuffed them and the cut chemise into the fire. She looked at the footboard, the mattress, the bed curtains. There was not so much as a blister of burnt paint, a mark on the fabric.



No, apart from the sheets and the fact that Elizabeth was now awake, the only other thing that had changed in the room was Will.



"My God, Will, what have you done?" she asked again more gently, though her violet eyes were still wide with disbelief.



She stared at his hair, as silver as moonglow, his face as unmarked and undamaged as it had been before the war.



"It's all right. I'm fine. We're all fine. Come, help me get this cast off my leg."



"But it's broken!"



"Take it off, please."



She unwrapped the bandages holding the splints in place. He put his weight on the leg and stood. He took a few paces forward to test it and nodded. Then he said, "The shoulder next."



She removed the gauze and started with fright. His shoulder was as unblemished as a newborn's.



"Now come help me wash Elizabeth. The tub will be just about full."



She followed Will into the room. Together they scrubbed her from head to toe. Vevina would have taken off the odd gold bracelets her brother had put on his wife but he insisted, "No. Leave them."



She nodded, and turned her attention to the girl's hair. She was in two minds about touching her head, and looked more closely at the stubble. It was then she noticed there was no hole any longer from the doctor's surgery.



She lathered Elizabeth's scalp carefully, noting two silvery streaks extending from her brows toward the back of her head. But her hair had been jet black, had it not?



Once she was rinsed, Will lifted Elizabeth out of the tub and held her on his lap as they dried her.