“Whoa,” he steadied himself, knocking down a nearby vase in the process. It smashed into smithereens across the floor.
“What is happening here?” Jacob’s concerned head peered out of his room which was just down the hallway. Upon seeing his brother in such an uneasy state, he rushed over to him. “Are you all right, Duncan?”
The Duke struggled to find his voice, the room swaying dangerously around him. “I... I’m not certain. Just a momentary weakness, I suppose. I’ve been feeling ill all day.”
“You’re not well,” Jacob stated the concern in his tone deepening. “You can barely stand up.”
“No, no, I just need to speak to the Duchess is all. I shall be fine in a moment,” Duncan persisted, his breaths coming out in labored gasps.
But before anything more could be stated, Duncan felt darkness envelop him, and he succumbed to unconsciousness, collapsing on the floor.
Sophia had just finished getting ready for dinner when she heard loud voices coming from the hallway. It was unusual for there to be any sort of activity outside at this hour, and she decided to see for herself what was happening.
As she stepped into the dimly lit hallway, she noticed a crowd of servants huddled together, exchanging anxious glances with their faces tense with worry.
“What is happening?” she demanded, concerned lines etching themselves onto her forehead. “Who is there?”
She could not make out who they were surrounding, but her intuition had a gut-wrenching feeling that something terrible had happened.
One of the maids, her eyes wide with concern, stepped forward. “Madam, it’s the Duke. He’s taken ill.”
Sophia’s heart skipped a beat, a chill of fear coursing through her veins. “Ill? How? What happened?”
“We are not sure, but he collapsed in the hallway,” she replied.
Sophia’s heart was beating so loud that she could hear it in her ears.
“A physician must be sent for immediately!”
Sophia rushed over to where the servants had been huddled and saw the unconscious body of the Duke being carried away by Jacob and one of the servants.
“He is being transported to his room until the physician arrives,” the maid informed her, sneaking up behind her.
Sophia watched as they carried him away, feeling helpless that she was unable to do anything at that moment. Her mindwas spinning, and she could not understand what could have happened for him to collapse like this.
He had been fine just hours before when they spoke. But then she remembered how he had been feeling strange then, too.
Could it be possible that the two were related?
“It’s best if we do not crowd him,” Jacob emerged from inside the Duke’s room moments later. “You may all leave. I am here with him.”
Jacob had not noticed that Sophia was standing right here with the crowd of servants. She dared not go inside, for she would not know how she would react upon seeing the Duke in such a state. Instead, she nervously paced the hallway.
“Duchess,” Jacob said, finally seeing Sophia once the crowd of servants dissipated.
“Oh, Jacob.” Sophia’s tone was colored with worry, and a panicked expression covered her features. “What has happened to the Duke? Were you there with him?”
“I am afraid I do not have any useful answers for you at this moment. We must wait for the physician to arrive to find out what exactly happened. I was in my room when I heard the sound of a vase breaking and stepped outside to find my brother in a woozy state. He then collapsed on top of the broken glass, leading to other injuries.”
Sophia let out a tortured gasp.
“But what is the reason behind this? I only know that he reported feeling strange in the evening,” she said, desperately trying to make sense of what had happened.
“Once again, I cannot say,” Jacob replied. “But it is the first time something like this has happened to him. He is of robust health. It is very out of the ordinary.”
“You mean to say that nothing of the sort has never happened before?” Sophia asked.
“Not to my knowledge.’
