Chapter Twenty-Two
Mary didn’t know what to do with herself. She couldn’t sit still, and she couldn’t concentrate on anything, so she was reduced to pacing the room and throwing pillows to the floor in fury. Then, because she couldn’t stand disorder, she’d pick the pillows up again and put them back where they belonged, frantically brushing imaginary dust off them.
Her frenzied pacing was interrupted by a low, urgent rapping on the window.
If Jarrod thought that was cute, he had another think coming.
What did he even want with her? What kind of twisted game was he playing with her? She didn’t know what was a lie and what was the truth.
Ready to give him a piece of her mind, she stomped over and yanked the window open.
But it wasn’t Jarrod. It was Constance and Briony’s husband…dragging Briony between them. Briony’s eyes were glazed over, and her head was nodding. Drool ran down her chin.
They climbed inside quickly. Briony stumbled and fell into Mary’s arms, and Mary held her up as Frank scrambled to scoop her up. He carried Briony over to Mary’s bed and laid her down gently, propping her up with pillows.
“You said you’d help us,” Frank said. “I need to hide her here, at least until the drugs wear off. Your chambers are the only ones on pack property that nobody is allowed to search.”
“How did you even get her out of the hospital?” Mary asked, astonished.
“I went to the maternity ward to visit a pregnant friend,” Constance said. “Frank’s an electrician. As soon as I went in, he shut the power off and sabotaged the backup generator as well. He also shorted out the electronic door lock system so all the doors opened. There are no windows in the hospital, so with the power out it was pitch dark. I made my way to Briony’s room and managed to smuggle her out in the confusion.”
“Wow. You’re like a ninja.”
“I’m motivated,” Constance said grimly. “If we can get answers for her, we may be able to get answers for me too.”
“I’ll watch her for you,” Mary said. “I’ll call you as soon as she’s coherent.”
Mary, Regina and Angela spent the next couple of days babysitting Briony. Whatever drugs she’d been given were powerful indeed. The first day they had to spoon feed her soup, and watch her to make sure that she didn’t choke.
Regina and Angela were invigorated by this new challenge. Regina asked for extra food at her meals, and then brought it to Mary’s room so they could feed Briony. When the Enforcers came knocking, wanting to search Mary’s room for Briony, as it was the last place they hadn’t searched, Angela flew out into the hallway in a highly convincing snit, yelling at them to leave poor Mary alone because her heart was broken. Which was actually true.
By the third day, she was starting to come around, although she was still dazed and weak.
“My baby,” she said to Mary, as Mary sat down next to her with a lunch tray. Her voice was thick and blurry. “My son. Where is he?”
“Your husband and your parents are taking care of him. Eat this sandwich,” Mary said, holding a plate up to her.
Briony slapped the plate away, and the sandwich fell to the floor.
“Not that baby!” she yelled out.
“Briony. Calm. Down. And keep your voice down,” Mary said in low, urgent tones. “I don’t know if there are any servants out in the hallway close enough to hear you, but the Enforcers are looking for you. You’re wanted on murder charges. You killed that nurse and tried to kill the baby!”
“No, I didn’t!” Briony stared at her in shock. “I didn’t try to hurt the baby. There were two nurses there. I killed the one who stole my child. The other nurse ran out of the room holding the baby.”
She buried her face in her hands and started to cry. “I’ll never see my son again. He’s gone! They stole him from me, and I don’t know where they took him!”
“We’ll find him. We’ll figure this out,” Mary promised. Her mind was whirling. If Briony was telling the truth, and in her right mind, then that left another mystery – where the hell had the replacement baby come from? And why would anybody swap out babies?
“I’ll never find him…my baby’s gone…” Briony wailed.
Mary smacked her on the arm, hard. “Are you going to sit there and cry or are you going to help me figure this out?” she demanded.
Briony sucked in a long, shuddery breath and then she nodded.
“Tell me exactly what happened,” Mary urged her.
“They tried to give me some medication which was supposed to keep me calm during my labor. I refused it and they got really agitated. I think it was meant to dope me up so I wouldn’t argue when they tried to take my son. Right after I gave birth, they tried to grab my son away, before I could even hold him. I’d told them that I changed my mind and I didn’t want him to go see the Mage, but they weren’t listening to me. I grabbed my son and held him and scented him. Then one of the nurses jabbed something in my arm and I got dizzy, and they snatched him away and ran off.” Hair rippled on her face, and her fangs jutted out. Her words turned to snarls.
