long time.
Then she signed to Gideon.
One of the few signs she had learned.
Enough.
Gideon nodded.
Rosalie faced Silas.
“You spent my whole life teaching me blood was a debt I owed.”
She shook her head.
“It isn’t.”
The wagon rolled away.
A physician from Helena examined Gideon three weeks later.
Dr.
Samuel Mercer was younger than Rosalie expected and far less confident than Silas had ever pretended to be.
That alone made her trust him more.
He examined the ear carefully.
“The good news,” Mercer explained while Rosalie repeated his words onto paper for Gideon, “is that Mrs.
Rook was correct not to remove the metal herself.”
Rosalie glanced at Gideon.
He gave her a smug look.
She frowned at him.
Mercer continued.
“The fragment appears embedded near damaged bone.
Your recent infection attracted the larvae.
Disgusting, but probably temporary.”
Gideon read.
Then pointed at his ear.
