“This one here,” he mumbled, his voice weak.

Reid opened the door, practically dragging him into a sitting room. A doorway on either side made her pause.

“Left,” he murmured.

She ushered him through the doorway, noting they’d entered his bedchamber. When he sagged against the bed, Reid hoisted his feet onto the mattress so he could stretch out.

“I want to see.” She needed to make sure he didn’t have a wound serious enough to warrant disregarding his request not to send for a healer.

Colbert peeled his shirt up, revealing a nasty red line near his rib cage. Thick blood oozed from it.

“That’s a knife wound.”

“How do you know?”

She didn’t bother to answer. “It needs to be stitched.”

“I had stitches. They must have broken when Finn jumped on me.”

Hurrying to the bathing chamber, she searched around until she found a bucket. She filled it with water, then grabbed two towels. Rushing back to the bedchamber, she shoved one of the towels in the bucket and sat next to Colbert on the bed. Wringing out the wet cloth, she carefully cleaned around the wound, trying to better assess the situation. There weren’t any lines indicating an infection. “How deep is the wound?”

“Deep.”

As she suspected. “Has it been treated?”

“Yes.”

Now that she’d cleaned the area, she took the dry towel and pressed it against the wound, trying to stop the bleeding. “Since Finn caused the stitches to open, you should have another dose of medicine for infection.”

He nodded.

“And it needs to be stitched again.”

He closed his eyes, clearly frustrated.

“Tell me where I can find a healer.”

Reaching out, he grabbed her hand. “I told you no one can know about this.”

She opened her mouth to argue, but he squeezed her hand, silencing her.

“Get Dexter. He’ll know what to do.” He opened his eyes, pleading with her.

Not wanting to waste time arguing with him, she asked, “Where is he?”

Face drawn in pain, he still managed to smirk. “Where do you think?”

“The military compound?”

“Correct. Look at you…already knowing so much about your fiancé.”

If he could tease at a time like this, he should be okay while she retrieved Dexter. Reid squeezed his hand in reassurance before hurrying from the room.

After exiting the palace, she sprinted across the lawn, past the lake, and to the building of offices Colbert had pointed out earlier. No one stood guard outside the main entrance, so she threw the door open and rushed inside.

A man sitting behind a desk peered up at her.

Before he had a chance to say anything, she blurted out, “I must speak with Commander Dexter. Immediately.”

“He’s in the training yard running drills.”

“Is it that way?” She pointed down the hallway straight ahead.

“Jem,” he called.

A young man stepped into the hallway. “Yes?”