Chapter Twenty-five: Heart of Gold
Deirdre knocked on the door to Rohan's chambers, a bowl in her hands and strips of fabric draped across her shoulder. She heard a quiet moan from behind the solid oak door. "Come in." rasped the voice.
Deidre walked in and set the bowl on the table and placed the bandages next to them.
"What do you think you are doing?!" she demanded.
Rohan was caught red handed trying put a shirt on near the wardrobe.
"I'm trying get dressed." he winced.
"Well don't!" she commanded, ripping the top from his hands. "You shouldn't even be out of bed!" she scolded.
"I won't just lay about all day!" he insisted.
He gasped and grabbed his side, staggering. Deirdre caught him before he fell outright. She led him back to the bed and made him sit down.
"You will if I tell you to!"
She inspected his injuries. His knife wound was bleeding again slightly through the bandages at his side.
She scowled at him, shaking her finger. "You see what you did? The wound has reopened because you decided to try and get up too fast! You need to stay still for a few days yet and let your body heal!" she lectured.
Gently unwrapping his dressings about his chest, she began to reapply Cathbad's healing powders and potions.
Rohan cried out in pain.
Deirdre winced. "I'm sorry, Rohan, but it has to be done."
"I know," he said, grinding his teeth. "Just be as quick as you can."
The astringent liquid burned like acid against the open wound. Rohan lay propped up against the pillows with hands fisted tight in the bed linens. He was trying very hard not to cry out as Deirdre tended him.
Finished with the medication, she tenderly wrapped fresh bandages around the knife injury, but opted to leave the rest of his chest bare. The bruises on his rib cage were starting to lose their dark purple color and fade to a less sickening yellow. Her gentle fingers slid across his middle as she finished. Rohan quaked at her touch.
"I'm sorry," she said. "Am I hurting you still?"
"No! No, no. Just...shivering, is all."
"Are you not warm enough?" she asked.
No, I'm plenty warm, he thought.
"I'm fine." he said.
Deirdre knew that this whole situation had the potential to be uncomfortable, so she decided to just play at normalcy. Otherwise, she didn't think either of them would be able to get through it.
"Did you and Angus get things...straightened out?" she asked, folding his shirt and putting back in the wardrobe for him.
Rohan laughed. "Yes, he straightened me out all right! Tell me, when did our Angus become so...astute?"
Deirdre paused.
"The day he sold the hut both of you shared." she said softly.
"He did what?!"
So much for avoiding big issues, thought Deirdre.
"About a year after you...left...he went through everything and sold the hut to a local villager. He brought everything that he kept up to the castle and started to live in a room near the royal guards' chambers. It was very...scary."
"What do you mean?" he asked curiously.
Deirdre sat down beside him. She took a deep breath and tried to explain.
"It's hard to describe." she said. "He was his normal self some days. He would torment Cathbad, steal from the kitchens, all the 'Angus' activities we know and love, and yet at other times he would become very quiet. He would not say a word to anyone. He just went and trained with the swordsmen, or sat around in his room. Ivar was very concerned about his mental well-being. It was almost as if he was two different people."
"How can he be two different people at once?"
She smiled sadly at him. "He was you."
Rohan raised a disbelieving brow. "Angus was me." he repeated.
Deirdre rolled her eyes. "Of course he wasn't you! He just...had tobecome you. I think he felt that he had to take your place, in a way." she clarified. "Everyone looked up to Draganta. He was Kells' defender! I think Angus tried to carry on what you started. You are both so different. In fact now that I think about it, he lightened up a bit once you came back! I mean, once Donovan was in the picture."
He nodded. "That makes sense. He must have felt that with the treaty, a protectorate role wasn't needed for Kells anymore."
"You shouldn't have left, you know...we could have..."
"I know what I should have done, Deirdre," he interrupted. "But I was afraid to do it."
"Afraid to do what?"
Rohan turned his head from her. Knight of fire and great courage, indeed! He couldn't even look her in the eye!
"I should have told you. I should have told you that, that...Maeve. She was, well, is...my mother."
Deirdre turned his face to hers. "That doesn't change who you are, Rohan." she said.
Rohan was baffled. "How can you be so sure? How can I be sure? It's her blood flowing through my veins."
Deirdre brought a finger to his lips and silenced him, then let her hand fall to rest on his warm, bare chest.
"But it is your heart." she whispered. "Yourgood, kind, and noble heart! And this heart beating inside of you can filter out any malice or hate left in her blood."
Rohan brought her hand to his lips and kissed the inside of her palm as a tear spilled down his cheek.
"I should have told you from the moment I met you that I loved you, Deirdre."
Note: I just had to give them this moment, we were all aching for it, were we not? I must pat myself on the back for some of the lines in this one, it was almost inspired! lol. As promised, I came back from class and saw six reviews, so I posted. I may be evil, but I still have a sense of honor! hahaha.
I see how it is now, the only way to get constant chapter-by-chapter reviews is to hold the story hostage! maniacal laugh Let's go for about 15 reviews, because I haven't really started on the next chapter yet. That ought to give me some time. And with the Holidays coming later this week, I should be able to crank a couple more out soon. Thank you Loyal Reviewers!