They Left Her to Bleed, So She Healed the Untouchable novel · Chapter 10 of 24

Chapter 10: Digitalis

Susanna's POV

The lab report came in by satellite at dusk.

Foxglove, a heavy dose, enough to stop a heart before morning.

Ben read it aloud in the mess tent with his hand flat on the table, and then he went very quiet.

"Take it to Halverson," he said. "Not to the sheriff, not to the producer. To him."

"Why him?"

"Because he's the only one on this ridge who isn't scared of the Brantleys."

I walked up to the old ranger lodge on my crutch, in the dark.

The sealed bag was in my pack, and the tin of salve was in my pocket.

Keir opened the door before I knocked.

He had been waiting. His coat was off and his sleeves were rolled, and the scars on his forearms were bare to the firelight.

"You read it," I said.

"Ben called ahead."

"She tried to kill me, Keir."

"Yes."

"And you're going to tell me to wait."

"Yes." He took the bag from me and set it on the mantel without looking at it. "A thermos she'll say you filled yourself. I want her holding it, on camera, with everyone watching."

"That could take days."

"It will take as long as it takes."

I should have argued.

Instead I looked at his hands.

"Your hands," I said.

"They started at noon."

"It's night."

"I know what time it is."

I sat him down on the edge of the bed, because the lodge had one room, and I took out the tin.

I did the left hand first, and then the right.

He watched my face the whole time.

"Term one," I said, when I was done. "Hands only."

"That was the rule."

"That's what you said." I screwed the lid back on the tin. "You told me I'd have to break my own rules."

"They're my rules."

"Then I'm breaking yours."

I set the tin down on the floor.

I stood between his knees, and I took his face in both my hands.

He went rigid, and I felt his breath stop.

"It hurts," I said. "I know it does."

"Not with the salve on."

"Then take it. Now."

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