“Oh, yes,” Edith let her know. “He merely has to ask the king for a favor and it will be granted.”
“Really?” Fable asked. The king? Could he bring her to visit the king’s castle? She wondered if the walls were really made of gold as believed amongst the poor. If so–
“The king is in his debt. The duke saved his life three times.”
“What? Wow! Is the duke a soldier?”
Edith nodded proudly as if it were her son she was bragging about. “The people of Belstead have an odd way of speaking.”
Fable agreed and they both laughed. Fable continued to eat while Edith told her all about the striking Duke of Colchester and his mean sister, Lady Prudence.
“Miss?”
“Hmm?” Fable’s eyelids felt heavy and her stomach felt on the verge of eruption.
“You don’t look well.” Edith said and pressed her palm to Fable’s forehead. “Oh my, you’re burning up.”
“I need the toilet….the…um…a bucket. Edith, hurry, please.”
Edith disappeared for an instant then returned with a bucket and shoved it in front of Fable’s face. And just in time.
Later, after Edith washed her down and cleaned her up behind a curtain. Fable fell into a deep sleep. She dreamed that her rescuer, the duke, came to the kitchen and lifted her from the thin bed. She even dreamed that he held her close to his chest, cradled in his arms while he climbed the stairs.She’d never felt so safe in her life. When he entered through a few doors and set her down on a bed of clouds, she knew he was going to let her go. She clutched his coat. “Don’t leave me,” she whispered into his shirt.
She woke several hours later, more disoriented than before. Where was she now? She pushed herself up on her elbows and looked around the room lit by hearth fire and candles scattered about on wooden tables. She was no longer in the kitchen, but someone’s…bedroom. And oh my, what a bed it was! It was at least queen-sized with four thick wooden posts and a wooden frame around the top. She saw loops to hang curtains, but the loops were empty. There were layers of wool blankets covering her, along with a fur skin. There were three wardrobes in polished walnut. Paintings hung on walls that were lined with bookshelves. It was very cozy. Was it the duke’s room? More like one of the royal rooms in the king’s castle. She’d never seen anything like it. She’d certainly never slept in such a majestic bed.
Her dream flashed in her mind. Had it been a dream? She was still trying to decide when the duke stepped into the room with his nose in a book. Earlier, he’d worn a coat, waistcoat and cravat. Now, absent of all three, with his shirt unbuttoned at the throat, he looked more like a brainy rogue than a duke. When he looked up from what he was reading, his gaze, eclipsed by his inky hair, went immediately to her and his feet stopped moving.
“You’re awake,” he said, his voice like a rumbling drum in her ears, through her blood.
She nodded and sat up. “How long have I been asleep?”
“Seven hours,” he told her, closing his book. “The physician had ordered no solid food. Do you remember him saying that?”
Oh no! She’d eaten a lot! He looked angry–which was only slightly different than his impassive resting face. There was nothing warm or soft in his eyes–which were black as coal, by the way.
“No. I’m sorry I don’t remember that.”
He raised a doubtful eyebrow. His lusciously full lower lip needed very little provocation to pout. “Well, I can understand that. Your mind wasn’t in the right state to follow instructions. It was Edith’s respon–”
“It’s not her fault. I convinced her to feed me.”
“Two whole chickens, a duck, and a fish?” he asked incredulously.
“Three fish…and six eggs,” she corrected quietly, looking at her fingers. Why lie to him? He seemed like a decent guy. He hadn’t left her, after all. “I wanted to stock up on protein,” she told him, still not looking up, “so that after I left here, I wouldn’t starve so quickly.”
He didn’t say anything for a few torturous seconds. She glanced up to find him looking at her, his book forgotten in his hand at his side.
“You don’t know how to take care of your body,” he pointed out in a dispassionate drawl. “Your assumption made you very ill. You said you weren’t here to start trouble.”
She let out a little laugh of disbelief. “I wasn’t trying to start any trouble.”
“But you did. You troubled the physician, Edith, and the cooks. Are you a liar as well as a troublemaker?”
She ground her jaw and her hands balled into fists on the bed. “Why are you trying to push my buttons?”
For the briefest of instants, she thought he looked amused. He took a step closer to the bed and the chair beside it. “What does that mean? What buttons? And why would I try to push them?”
He certainly knew how to insult her. He took enjoyment in it. Well, let him. She was quickly beginning to form a new opinion of him. “Forget my buttons, and forget what happened in the kitchen. I was simply trying to look out for myself before you see me out.”
