Love's Betrayals (The Extraordinary Life of Amy Winston Book 2)

by Liza O'Connor

  She sat up, realizing that she had never healed her Silent Three and Antonio of their injuries. She eased from her room and tripped over Brick at the door.

  He cursed and asked where she thought she was off to.

  “I never healed you,” she explained and insisted he lay back down while she healed his wounds.

  “Don’t you need light?”

  “Not really. Just put my hand on your wound.”

  Brick placed her hand on a deep gash on his arm. She winced at the wrongness. It was infected. “Brick, this wound is bad,” she whispered. “We need to go downstairs so I can cleanse it first.

  “It hurts like hell, I can tell you that. I got the whiskey here if you need it.”

  Ripping a piece from the skirt of her night gown, she soaked it in whiskey and gently cleaned the wound. Brick was very brave and contained his curses, so he’d not wake everyone else up. When she finished cleansing the wound, she had him lie down on his side as she willed the infection away. Once the poison was gone, Amy used her hands to hold the flesh together as she mentally mended it.

  When she finished, she realized that Brick had either fallen asleep or passed out. She tucked a pillow beneath his head, grabbed his whiskey, and tiptoed down the hall to Sam’s room. He was asleep in his bed. She held her hands slightly above him and opened her senses to his body. She could feel a terrible fatigue, but no wrongness. Realizing the fatigue was why she had managed to sneak in without him waking, she refrained from easing it and carefully snuck out.

  Tomas was not in his room, so she moved on to Antonio’s. His heavy breathing assured her he was in a deep sleep. She began at his head and moved downward searching for wrongness. She found a small gash on his shoulder. This wound was also infected. Tearing another piece of cloth from her gown, she soaked it in the whiskey and gently washed the wound.

  Antonio stirred but he did not wake.

  Once she cleaned the wound, she willed away the infection, then healed the cut.

  Continuing down, she sensed another gash on his thigh. To get to the injury, she had to pull the sheet down. In the pale light of the moon, she could see his naked body. The muscular beauty of his form took her breath away. One part of his body seemed very different than the Roman statues. The long probe jutting from between his legs was both larger and longer than any statue she had ever seen.

  A murmur that almost sounded like her name brought her back to her task at hand. The wound was on his left side, which meant she had to go to the other side of the bed and crawl over to reach it. The cut was very infected, and she could sense the poison moving into his veins. Tearing another piece of cloth, she soaked it with whiskey. Unable to find a sturdy place to stand the bottle she held it in the crook of her leg as she washed the wound.

  The cut was deeper than she’d thought, and the dirty blackness clung to the flesh. It took her almost an hour before she removed all the deadly substance and another hour to heal the infection. When she finished, she felt so exhausted she could barely keep her eyes open. She lay beside him and fell into oblivion.

  Chapter 28

  Antonio woke to the pleasant smell of whiskey and Amy. It took him several minutes to realize the wrongness of one of those odors. Opening his eyes to a bare leg and following the view to a whiskey bottle lying between her legs and her ripped gown pushed far onto her thighs, Antonio leapt from the bed as if it were filled with serpents. Grabbing his robe, he pulled it on and returned to the bed, torn between the desire to know exactly what he had done to her and the fear of ever touching her again.

  He removed the bottle from the bed and stared at her, uncertain how to proceed. He needed to know if he had ruined her, but he was terrified of her reaction when she woke.

  Seeing no way around the situation, he gently shook her shoulder. When she didn’t respond, he panicked. “Amy, please wake up,” he whispered. “Dear God, what happened here?”

  When he heard the door opened, he quickly covered Amy’s legs with his sheet. He looked at Gunter standing there as if he had never been stabbed at all. The giant old man approached the bed, showing no sign of discomfort.

  “Gunter, I can’t explain this. I haven’t a clue why she is in my bed, but I may have ruined her, her gown is torn…”

  “She’s unharmed,” Gunter assured him.

  “We can’t be sure of that. I can’t wake her!”

  Gunter yawned. “The colonel says she’s fine. She’s just sleeping. One of those bastards used a dirty knife on you and Brick. You both had nasty infections. Yours was evidently very bad. She worked on your thigh for nearly three hours and then fell off to sleep in utter exhaustion. Nothing happened.”

  “He’s certain?”

  Gunter yawned again. “The colonel doesn’t require sleep anymore. He watched over her the whole night.”

  Antonio sat down on his bed in relief and then jumped back up. “I’m going to grab some clothes and change in your room if you don’t mind. I’ll move her when I get back.”

  “Let’s just set her in the right direction,” Gunter suggested as he leaned over and picked her up. “We’ll frighten the girls if we barge in their room this early in the morning.”

  “Gunter! Your back! Set her down and let me do that,” Antonio insisted.

  “Go get dressed. My back is fine.” He smiled at the grown lady in his arms. “Hell of a talent, Lil Bit’s got.” Carrying her to the other side he laid her down and covered her with the sheet.

  Antonio stared at her beautiful face so peaceful and happy in her sleep.

  Gunter had to order him out of the room before he could break the trance she held over him.

  Chapter 29

  Amy woke to Antonio’s smiling face. He sat on the edge of her bed. She placed her hand upon his thigh and closed her eyes.

  “Amy, what are you doing?”

  “Shhh,” she whispered and shifted her hand searching for any sign of wrongness. Unable to find his injury from the night before she shifted her hand again and he quickly pulled it away from his leg.

  His eyes sparkled with more than just joy as he softly spoke. “I was never harmed there.” She blushed as she realized her hand must have neared his groin. “I couldn’t find your injury anymore. It was about here on your thigh.”

  “Yes,” he agreed. “But that was not where your hand was.”

  She pulled her hand from his and placed it on his thigh again. “It was a very bad infection. Poison had spread into your veins. It could have killed you, Antonio. Why did you hide it from me?”

  “It was not intentional. To be presentable, I had changed pants when our skirmish was over. In honesty, I had forgotten about it until I returned from delivering the cargo, and by then I was too exhausted to care.

  “Well, you should have cared, because by this morning you might have lost that leg. I don’t know what was on that blade, but it made both you and Brick very ill. Had I not woken up and remembered you had not been tended, this could have gone badly.”

  “I’m sorry. I had not expected such low tricks from former King’s men. I’m beginning to think I was too easy on them. Hopefully, the captain will toss the bastard that did this overboard.”

  “Tomas!” She threw back the sheet and ran from the room, ignoring Antonio’s call to wait. She entered Tomas’ room and saw him sprawled across his bed, either asleep or dead.

  Placing her hand upon his chest, she determined he was alive. Before she could extract her hand, he pulled her across him and pressed a knife against her throat.

  “Tomas, it’s Amy,” Antonio cried out as he entered the room.

  Tomas opened his eyes and dropped his knife, cursing Amy a blue streak.

  Amy ignored him as her hands searched his body for wrongness. He yelled at her to get out, but she ignored him. Finally, Antonio lifted her from the bed, and with an apology to Tomas, carried her out.

  While she did not mind being carried in Antonio’s arms, she had not finished her search.

  “Tomas is
fine, except for a heart attack, which I am now suffering from as well,” Antonio fought the anger within him. “Amy, you must never approach a soldier in his sleep. We are trained to kill first and wake up second. Promise me you will be more careful.”

  “I will, but in return I want a promise that all of you will disclose your injuries, even if you think them just a scratch.”

  “Agreed.” Having resolved their differences, he moved on to happier topics. “Gunter is up and about this morning, looking fit as ever.” He set her down by her door and stroked her hair. “What you did last night was a true miracle, Amy. A wound like that is almost always fatal. While Gunter isn’t afraid of dying, he did not want to die from a coward’s blade. That was why he was so angry and ill-tempered. It was the worst situation imaginable. He feared you would take his death as a failure on your part. There was no honor in dying at the hands of scum, and he resented it greatly.”

  “It would have been a horrible death for him and I would have been devastated had I not seen he was hurt and allowed him to die while I treated ungrateful, cowardly, ill tempered, poor excuses of King’s men. It would have been the worst of all possibilities imaginable.”

  He pulled her into his arms and held her to him. “What I need you to do now is to get dressed. You are far too provocative in your current state. Then I need you to assess the men and tell me if Brick and Gunter are fit for hard riding.”

  “I don’t think Nicolas is fit to travel yet,” she warned him.

  “No, but it is an excellent day to move Sicily. It will take the general most of the day to discover his men are gone and perhaps an additional day to gather new ones.”

  “But to send Sicily to the estate without Nicolas could be risky. I believe Mrs. Cole liked Sicily, or at least that was what Nicolas said. Unless he is there to turn the housekeeper against her, she might escape.”

  “We believe we have the matter covered, but I would like your opinion. The London doctor has written to the town’s doctor, describing the situation in great detail. Nicolas recalls the town doctor being a gossip and believes the information will quickly spread to Mrs. Cole.”

  Amy laughed. “Dr. Harmon is the worst of gossips. Sicily’s head will not have rested upon a pillow before he is at the estate ensuring everyone knows the details of the letter.” She looked up at him. “When did you think of having the doctor write a letter?”

  “Yesterday as matters unfolded so well when Nicolas returned to the house. He played the part of a loving husband who was not yet ready to face the fact that his beloved wife was completely mad and a danger to all. The doctor was very frustrated Nicolas would not put her away, having a keen appreciation of the cunning and the strength of the insane. He has supplied us not only with a letter, but stronger drugs and a jacket that was developed specifically to constrain the person without harm.” Nicolas explained how the long arms of the jacket kept the person’s arms crossed and wrapped around their sides. “It’s quite an ingenious invention, although I believe with a bit of rope I will be able to improve upon it.”

  Her hand reached out and grasped his hand. “How long will you be gone?”

  “Two days…three at the most. However, Nicolas needs to return to his house and continue his normal routine as soon as possible. There should be no further danger. Ann says she believes the general will not pursue the issue further.”

  “But you said you were moving Sicily to avoid his men,” Amy countered.

  “Well, first I prefer to take advantages when they come, secondly, I always prepare for the worse, and finally, while I do not believe the general will make any attempt to harm Nicolas, I believe he still would like to possess Sicily.”

  “Possess…you make her sound like a piece of jewelry.”

  “He may think of her as such, given he has spent substantial money to obtain her. You see, it is not just Nicolas that she has sucked dry. There are several gentlemen in the ton, the general being one, who has ‘loaned’ substantial sums to the seductress.”

  “Where does it go? While she spends frivolously, I cannot see the value of my uncle’s estate in her purchases, and certainly not if others are supporting her as well. She must send the money away somewhere.”

  He smiled. “I had come to the same conclusion. It is no doubt going into the same black hole her father used, but I, nor the Metropolitan Police, have been able to find where that is.”

  He kissed her on her forehead. “Now get dressed and evaluate the men’s health.”

  “Aye, aye, Colonel, sir,” she teased.

  Amy went to her room, where she was interrogated by her friends as to where she had gone so early in the morning, and what had happened to her night gown. They, of course, assumed the worst and she had to tell them everything before they calmed. Only when the story ended with Antonio kissing her chastely on her forehead, did Catherine stop crying and Domnika cease her plotting of Antonio’s death.

  Chapter 30

  Amy happily declared Gunter and Brick completely well, and laid her hand on Sam, easing the remains of his fatigue, ignoring his insistence he was fine. When she had refreshed him, she smiled and kissed his cheek. “You are most fine.” She then grimaced at frowning Tomas. “I’m sorry about this morning.”

  “Don’t do that ever again,” Tomas snapped, still angry.

  His warning prompted everyone to know what she had done, and when she confessed she had done the same to Sam and Antonio, she received a severe scolding.

  Having already promised not to do it again, she resented the lecture and cut him off mid-scold. “Well, don’t make it necessary in the future. Three of you had wounds that would have killed you, but you never said a word to me.”

  “I was planning to let you see it this morning,” Brick said.

  “That’s good. Waiting would have probably cost you your arm, but I still could have saved your life.”

  Brick gulped and pulled his arm to his chest as if protecting it.

  “But Gunter you would have died while I was doctoring those worthless soldiers in the other room. If you have no thoughts for yourself, how do you think that would make me feel? I would have never recovered from that, Gunter. Never!”

  Gunter nodded and grimaced. “I’m sorry Lil Bit. I thought there was nothing you could do.”

  “Allow me to decide what can be done. I have this skill; let me use it to keep you all healthy and well.”

  Gunter frowned. “When you use this skill, does it harm you in anyway?”

  “It tires me, but there is no harm done to me.”

  “You are certain?”

  Her hands set upon her hips. “You still doubt my ability to sense the health of a body?”

  “Not of this body, but can you do the same to your own?”

  “Yes. I would know if using this gift was harming me. It does not.”

  Gunter smiled. “Then I’ll be bringing you my smallest ache, for I haven’t felt this good in years.”

  Chapter 31

  Amy wished she could do as much for Nicolas. However, the damage to his heart could not be healed; perhaps if she had been there the moment he collapsed, but not now.

  “Did you tell Domnika what I told you?” her guardian asked as she pressed her hands to his chest and strengthened the healthy parts of his heart, so they might compensate for the damaged part.

  “Yes, now let me concentrate,” she scolded.

  “Amy, this is important. How did she react?”

  Amy sighed and gave up on healing him. There wasn’t much more she could do anyway. “I’m not sure how she took the information, and honestly as her best friend, I am not comfortable telling you anything unless she asks me to do so. I’m sorry, Nicolas, but Domnika’s emotional well-being is far more important to me than yours.”

  “I would want it no other way,” he assured her. “I have betrayed you, countless times in ways that will impact you the rest of your life. I’ve no doubt that Domnika has been your best friend since the day you arrived at the sc
hool.”

  Amy choked at the inaccuracy of his statement. “Actually, Domnika and I were not friends at all. She had taken an intense dislike to my insufferable cheerfulness. However, I did see potential in her and pursued the matter relentlessly.”

  “I am not surprised you saw her potential. She is a magnificent young lady.”

  Amy warmed to his words. He seemed to have turned back into his old self, but could she trust the change was permanent? And even so, there were strong obstacles in the path of him and Domnika. “You have the potential of being a good man, but you are still a married man, Nicolas. If you wish to begin to change yourself into the man you should have been, then start by doing what’s right instead of what you want. Doing what you want has not served you well.”

  “What Sicily wanted is more the case.”

  “But you wanted Sicily and you chose to do whatever necessary to keep her happy. If you won’t accept your part in what happened, how will you ever become a better man? You seem to think that all you need to do to become a better man is to rid yourself of Sicily. That is not the case, Nicolas. You have to rebuild yourself. You have to prove to everyone that your word can be trusted, that you will care for others more than yourself.”

  “Isn’t that exactly what got me into trouble: caring more for others than myself?”

  “No. Your actions have been completely and utterly selfish. All you wanted was the pleasure that Sicily could give you. You stopped caring about everything else. If Sicily were an opium drug instead of a woman, you might see the truth easier. But because she is a woman, you attempt to cloak all your selfishness under the honorable name of love. I am certain a man addicted to opium ‘loves’ his drug just as passionately, but I believe we can agree when he lies and steals to love his opium, that there is nothing honorable or generous in his actions.”