Tears of pain welled up in Benia's amber eyes as she straightened her skirts and tried to move her leg. A fresh arc of pain shot through her limb, forcing her to abandon the attempt. She muttered a phrase of frustration and anger in her desert dialect and slapped a hand down hard on the nearest of her scattered parcels. It couldn't be happening! Not now. Not when it was so important for her to be mobile. She tried again at moving her injured leg.
Just then, two strong hands took hold of her shoulders and lifted her off the leg, setting her back down again more comfortably on the floor. She looked up in horror, half-expecting to see the hooded man from the courtyard. To her surprise, her eyes landed instead on the face of the Man in the Doorway, as she had come to think of him, the Ranger she had suspected of slipping her the red stone.
"With one filled with such grace as to dance, you need to be much more careful," his deep voice chided her.
Gently, he took hold of her ankle.
Nervously, Benia tried to jerk it away, which only brought a new jolt of pain and fresh tears to her eyes.
"I just wish to see if you broke it, m'lady. Fear me not," he told her, still speaking softly to her as though she were a child or a frightened mare. She looked up at him and, for an instant, his blue-gray eyes and her amber ones locked. Instinctively, she relaxed.
"There was something on the stairs," she murmurred. "I lost my footing."
The Ranger nodded. "We'll have to get this boot off. Can you help me, m'lady?"
Benia flushed crimson, but nodded. It was hardly seemly to be sitting there on the floor with a strange man pulling her boot off, but she knew he was right. The boot had to come off. She grit her teeth, determined not to whimper or cry out. It was painful, but between the two of them, they finally manged to work the boot off without cutting the leather. The ankle had already swollen to a tremendous size and had gone a deep shade of violet.
For a moment, the Ranger gently prodded the soft tissue of her ankle, before shaking his head. "I'm sorry, m'lady. It appears to be broken. We should send for a doctor."
"No doctor," Benia said softly. Doctors were expensive. She had just spent the majority of her remaining money on provisions for a journey that would now not be taking place. She didn't know whether to be angry or relieved about that part of it, but she knew that if she wanted to keep a roof over her head, a doctor was out of the question.
She looked up again into the Ranger's blue-gray eyes. "But I forget myself. You have been so kind. The least I can do is introduce myself. My name is Benia Nightshade. I am forever in your debt, kind sir." She smiled and raised a hand to wipe a tear of pain from the corner of her eye before it broke free and ran down her cheek in a streak of black kohl.
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