Chapter 27: Barefoot

Isla Gault stood at the iron gate in a thin cotton dress with frost on the grass around her bare feet.

Two guards held the gate half open and neither of them knew what to do.

She had her arms wrapped around herself, and her lips were blue.

"Thea Corvane?" she said, when I came running across the yard.

"Yes."

"I'm sorry. I couldn't think where else." Her teeth chattered. "Please don't tell my father I came."

I took off my coat and put it around her shoulders without touching her skin.

I could not have said why I was careful.

My back knew before I did.

"Come inside," I said. "Can you walk?"

"I walked from the road."

"That's four miles."

"I didn't want the car to wake anyone," she said.

She took two steps and her knees folded.

The guard caught her by the elbow, and I took her other arm.

She weighed nothing at all.

Ewan met us at the foot of the stairs in his shirtsleeves.

He took one look at her feet and said, "The healer. Now."

"Stay out of the room," I told him. "She's frightened enough."

He nodded once and stayed in the passage with his back to the wall.

The healer came in her nightgown, with her apron thrown over it and her leather bag already open.

She sat Isla on the edge of the bed with a blanket, and put a mug of hot milk in her hands.

"Tell me where it hurts," she said.

"Nowhere. I'm only tired."

"How long?"

Isla looked at the milk.

"Since June," she said. "Since the blessing."

I did not move.

The healer glanced at me, then back at the girl.

"May I look at your back, dear?"

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