Not Marked

This is Part I from the Dia­log between Jamie and Claire after the Witch Tri­al, Part II is Truth…

The whole Scene

“It won’t—” he began, then hes­i­tat­ed, “I mean, the cuts are not deep. I—I think you’ll no be…marked.”He spoke gruffly, but his touch was very gen­tle, and reduced me to tears once more.

“I’m sor­ry,” I mum­bled, dab­bling my nose on a cor­ner of the plaid. “I—I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I don’t know why I can’t stop crying.”

He shrugged. “I din­na sup­pose anyone’s tried to hurt ye on pur­pose before, Sasse­nach,” he said. “It’s like­ly the shock of that, so much as the pain.” He paused, pick­ing up a plaid-end.

“I did just the same, lass,” he said mat­ter-of-fact­ly. “Puked after, and cried while they cleansed the cuts. Then I shook.” He wiped my face care­ful­ly with the plaid, then put a hand under my chin and tilt­ed my face up to his.

“And when I stopped shak­ing, Sasse­nach,” he said qui­et­ly, “I thanked God for the pain, because it meant I was still alive.” He let go, nod­ding at me. “When ye get to that point, lassie, tell me; for I’ve a thing or two I want to be sayin’ to ye then.”

All rights for the Pic­ture go to the right­ful owner Starz
Excer­pts and Quo­tes by Diana Gabal­don from “Out­lan­der“
I own not­hing but the editing