Tears burned my eyes all over again, but I fought them back and swallowed hard as I nodded, knowing they’d do Luc no good now. “H-how do you know how to do all this?”
She pulled supplies out of her bag. “My father’s a doctor.”
Marco huffed. “She’s too humble. She’s a doctor as well. And a better one than her dad.”
Felicity frowned Marco’s way, then looked back at me. “I’m not licensed in Italy.”
“She still practices, though,” Marco said.
“Now and then,” Felicity said to me. “Most of the people I help get out of the Entente are in need of medical attention. I’ve got plenty to keep me busy. Have faith, Natalie. I’ve dealt with this before. I know what I’m doing. Luc’s going to be okay. I promise.”
I didn’t want to think about anyone else having gone through this. And since I couldn’t quite find my voice yet, I just nodded and pressed my lips against Luc’s forehead once more, thankful that Felicity and Marco were on our side. If I’d been left alone with him in his condition...
I pushed the fear aside and told myself we were safe now. They couldn’t hurt us anymore. I believed it. I had to believe it, because I wouldn’t accept any other outcome.
Marco moved around the bed. And as metal clinked and the two began working on Luc’s wounds, I closed my eyes, rested my cheek against Luc’s soft hair and focused on Felicity’s words.
Have faith...
I did. I would. In us.
Because us was the only thing that mattered.
Whatever drugs Felicity had given Luc had kept him asleep as she and Marco had cleaned his back, stitched his wounds, and covered the raw skin with bandages.
When they were done, Marco helped me move Luc into a better position on the bed. We were both worried about him waking again and becoming agitated, so I sat in the middle of the bed and leaned against the headboard with a pillow propped on my lap so Luc could lie between my legs with his cheek resting on my thigh.
He didn’t wake when we repositioned him, but he startled a couple of times, so I ran my fingers through his hair and whispered sweet words to reassure him, and it helped.
Marco and Felicity had left me after Luc was situated. I wasn’t sure what they were doing but I suspected they were cleaning off Luc’s blood. Just the memory of all that blood...
I closed my eyes, leaned my head back against the wall as I sifted my fingers through Luc’s hair and willfully banished the image from my mind. I knew I’d never be able to, though. Seeing Luc strung up like that as they whipped him like an animal, hearing his agony intermixed with my sobs...
It would all forever be engrained in my mind like a movie reel set on a loop. Along with every other wretched thing the monsters in his House had done to him in that room.
A soft knock sounded at the open door, and I opened my eyes and lifted my head from the wall as I glanced in that direction. Seconds later, Marco stepped into the room wearing a fresh white button-down rolled up to his elbows.
“Hey.” He nodded at Luc between my legs on the bed, his voice low. “How’s he doing?”
“Still sleeping,” I said softly.
“That’s good.” He crossed to me and held out a glass. “Here.”
I glanced at the two inches or so of golden liquid and wrapped my hand around the glass. “What is it?”
“Whisky. Well, I think you Americans call it Scotch whisky.”
I lifted the glass to my lips and took a large swallow, then coughed, wincing in the process so I wouldn’t wake Luc. “Oh my God, that’s strong.”
Marco raked a hand through his thick dark hair as he chuckled and leaned back against the small two-drawer, built-in dresser under the windows. Perching his weight on his hands at his sides, he said, “It’s good stuff. From Fee’s family’s distillery. Drink it all. You need it.”
I wasn’t in the mood to argue with him. I tipped my head back and swallowed the rest, this time managing only to wince as it went down.
Marco took the glass from me, then set it at his side as he went back to leaning against the dresser. “You did good, Natalie.”
I wasn’t sure what he meant. As I looked back down at Luc and toyed with his hair again, I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. “I don’t feel like I’ve done anything good.”
“I know,” he said softly, “but you did. You kept him calm. Fee and I wouldn’t have been able to get him stitched up without you.”
“The drugs would have kicked in eventually.”
“He would have fought them. He doesn’t like that drugged-out feeling. He doesn’t like how it takes away his control. You kept him centered. You’re the only person I’ve met who’s ever had that effect on him. That’s why it’s important you keep doing what you’re doing. This is just the beginning, you know. I wish I could say it was over, but I know Luc. And I’ve a feeling things are gonna get pretty rough before they can even start to get better.”
Agony clawed at my throat as I looked down at Luc. I knew what he was getting at. Not Luc’s physical pain, but the emotional turmoil he was going to have to deal with once he came out of this drugged haze.
I blinked back the misery and forced myself to meet Marco’s gaze. “Can’t you just take us away from here? Somewhere they can’t find us? Where Felicity took Dante?”
“I wish we could.”
“You can.”
“No. We can’t.”
His words were firm, but his tone was gentle, and even though all I wanted to do was rant and rage at the injustice, I knew it would do no good.
“They don’t care about Dante. But Luc...” He glanced at Luc sound asleep and immobile draped over my lap. “They’ll scour the ends of the earth for him. Fee talked to her father a few minutes ago. He negotiated with the Grand Duke for time to let Luc heal at Felicity’s family home in Scotland, but, Natalie, he will have to go back and face them eventually. There’s no getting around that.”
I couldn’t think about that now. I couldn’t think about anything but making sure Luc was okay. I looked down at him and brushed the hair back from his perfect face.
“I know about the deal you made,” Marco said softly.
My chest seized. Wide-eyed, I looked up at him as a new horror swept through me. “I—”
“It’s okay.” He held up a hand. “You did the right thing. The only thing you could. I didn’t bring it up to scare you. I mentioned it because you need to know that you have to follow through with that deal. Once Luc is healed, you have to get him back to Italy. He won’t want to go. It’ll be up to you to make it happen.”
The pain of a thousand daggers stabbed into me, lancing my chest. No, I knew I couldn’t defy the Grand Duke, but I couldn’t betray Luc either. And forcing him back to that...to those monsters who’d raped and tortured him...would be a betrayal in his eyes. He’d hate me forever if I made him do that.
“I...” Tears burned my eyes all over again. “I don’t know how to make that happen.”
“You’ll figure it out. When the time is right. Natalie, you know how important Luc is. Not to them, but to us. We need him. He’s the only one who can fix this fucked-up House. Gio won’t do it. Dante can’t do it. His uncles, anyone else waiting in the wings... they’re all worse than Antonio Salvatici. There’s no one else but Luc. That’s why it has to be him.”