“Shh, be still, I will help you,” she chided gently. “Twill only start the bleeding up again if you move about too much. There is but little I or Mistress Greene can do but to clean the wounds and give you something to help build back up your strength.”
Sterling allowed her then to assist him, feeling like a helpless child even if he did manage to make his own way out into the free world once more. He watched her, still dressed in her hag’s garments and face paint. She was tender with him, soft spoken, as pie’s crust was coaxed open with one of Nelly Greene’s pewter spoons. Groggily he recalled other times when she had been so and he was surprised at how much he still longed for such.
He looked away then hoping to change the direction of his mind and hazy glance roamed over the room‘s interior, all too familiar to him, and soon he found himself wondering how he had even managed to get to where he now found himself. He lifted his head slightly from the embrace of silk pillow casings, eyes closing tightly in grimace, as first offering was brought to his lips. Still despite the discomfort, the small spoonful, tasted far superior to many a feast that he could remember.
“Slowly Captain, I know you are hungry,” Lilly scolded once again. He refrained from nodding in reply and allowed her to continue to feed him, good eye, now, never leaving her face. If he had felt better he would have marveled that his lover and the old hag were one in the same.
“I have sent Mistress Greene’s maid for the doctor. You are in much need of mending. And then I think it best you remain here and rest as long as it is safe.”
“Sally has gone then?” he finally spoke. Pewter spoon hesitated minutely in its travels, as Lilly wondered just how intimate he had come to be with Nelly Greene’s household.
“She will return with haste, I hope,” Lilly answered as she shifted in her seat to exchange meal for drink. Before she could, she felt his hand upon her arm and she resumed her proper seat to look down upon him.
“Lilly,” he whispered. “Thank ye. Ye put yerself at great risk to help me. I do not deserve such from ye. Still, know that I am grateful.”