“I’ll send for Lady Madelyn,” Gavin said hoarsely.

Greylen couldn’t speak, he only nodded in reply and held Gwen more closely. Gavin came back mere moments later. “No one’s about,” Gavin assured him as he held the door. Then followed again as Greylen took the stairs to his chamber.

Greylen sat on the chair in front of the fireplace and waited for his mother. She must have been close by, for she appeared just as he settled. She placed a cup to Gwen’s lips, which Gwen drank with no prodding. Gwen sat unflinching in his lap as his mother stitched the wound on her forehead. His mother began looking for other wounds, but Greylen only shook his head, silently informing her there were none to be sewn.

She left as quietly as she had arrived, brushing her hand across Gavin’s shoulder as she passed him where he stood outside the chamber doors.

Finally hearing the latch click into place, alone with his wife, Greylen gave in, his roars of agony filled with despair. He was so lost in his own sorrow that he would later find out the battle being waged beyond his chamber.

That of Gavin’s own battle as he beat his head upon the back of Greylen’s door for each bellow that escaped his commander’s lips. Of Isabelle’s pleas as she knelt by her husband’s side, begging him to stop. He would learn that it continued for so long that Isabelle finally collapsed at Gavin’s feet, jarred awake hours later when Duncan lifted her into his arms. He was told, his sister’s last memory as she was taken away was the sight of her husband standing sentinel at her brother’s door. His door now marred with Gavin’s blood.

Greylen didn’t know how long he remained on that chair with Gwen in his arms, but the defeat that swept through him that morning was something he had never experienced before. He had no idea what happened in those hours that they held her, only that she was badly beaten and so traumatized she still couldn’t speak.

He finally placed her on their bed and crawled in beside her, holding her in his arms. She slept deeply from the potion his mother had given her, but not peacefully. She trembled and cried out, caught in nightmares he’d not been able to awaken her from.

Hours later, he called for Gavin. He had to find out what happened during the time she’d been held. His mother had already given Gwen more drink to ease her pain, but ’twasn’t her body that hurt. Her mind was broken. He tried to find a spot where he could place his lips, just one tiny spot where he could give her comfort.