Page 94 of A Torn Allegiance
Kristoff talked with the Sumter butler while Marc walked at Hayes’s side. Servants hurried past to care for the horses, and Hayes was led to his bedchamber, his brothers entering close behind him. “What is wrong with me?” Hayes said as he lay down on the bed.
“I don’t know, but it reminds me of Father’s bout last year. You clutched your heart, and you’ve been twisting your arm around at your shoulder all day like it bothers you, just as he did,” Marc said.
Hayes considered him with growing concern. “What more needs to be done in this infernal country before we can return to ours?”
Kristoff took off his boots, waving off Hayes’s man for the moment. “Nothing that Marc and I can’t handle.”
“Which is?”
Marc spoke again. “We will get to the bottom of this group and Lamo-reaux so that we can pass along the information to the British admiral. And then we will know better how to address it in Oldenburg.”
A servant then talked with Marc at the door, and his brother returned. “I’ve received news. Lamoreaux is heading to Scotland. He’s going to host a meeting of dissenters and Napoleon supporters up there. Those from other countries will join, and they are planning a coup of some kind.”
Hayes sat up too quickly. His eyes clouded for a moment, but then he steadied. “When does he leave?”
“He has left. He left the impression he wished at the phaeton races and then carried on. I have a bad feeling about this group.” Marc rubbed his face. “This isn’t the best timing, but I’ve been getting word that they have reaches in more places than we expected. Manchester is a hotbed of dissatisfaction. There are plenty in England who could fall prey to his lies. And Scotland even more so, I hear. Everly is using the land disputes and the Clearances as one way to ensnare the Scots.”
“We must go after him,” Hayes said.
“We?” Kristoff raised both eyebrows and shook his head. “You have to rest. When this happened to Father, he was abed for weeks.”
“I am not Father, and this is obviously a milder version. I feel fatigued but certainly not enough to be abed for weeks. I can rest in the carriage.”
Kristoff shook his head, but Marc nodded. They shared a glance. “He will only fester and worry here,” Marc said. “It might be the better option for him to just be about, doing something.”
“Then, may Mother forgive us. Let us pray he is well by the time we return to Oldenburg.”
“I will be, Brothers. I’m not an invalid. Just simply”—his heart clenched again, this time with sadness, but it pounded mercilessly against his chest—“broken. Perhaps for other reasons.” He clenched a fist to his lips to stop their quivering. “She would have been a most excellent queen.”
Kristoff lowered a hand onto Hayes’s shoulder and squeezed, the gesture filling Hayes with reassurance.
“We will get everything in order and find the best roads to take.” Marc turned to leave but paused. “Have you considered that perhaps she truly does care for you?”
He closed his eyes. “If she does, it is not the strong and enduring love I so desire but a weak whimsy, suffered to change and sacrifice by the cares of others.”
Marc opened his mouth, but Kristoff shook his head, and they both left the room. Hayes was left to himself, hand on his heart. How could he have been so naive? Why would a family he’d never met before coming to England take such a sudden interest in him? He should have known. Their questions, their suspicions, all made sense now. What a fool he’d been.
His thoughts whirled around him, but the fatigue soon overtook them, and he lay back and closed his eyes.
Gentle hands and an efficient-sounding voice woke him. “He is well.”
“Enough to travel?”
“I believe so. His heart rate is normal, and he seems to have slept off his fatigue. Looks like he is waking now. Your Highness, can you hear me?”
Hayes opened his eyes to a pair of kind gray ones. “Yes.”
“And how are you feeling?”
Hayes’s chest was sore. That was the best way to describe his feelings, but otherwise, his mind had cleared and nothing hurt like it had. “I am much improved.”
A man who must be the doctor handed a sachet of powders to Kristoff. “Administer these once a day. They are to strengthen his constitution and aid in his recovery.”
“And you think he will be well?” Kristoff asked.
“I do. Every one of my patients who has suffered greatly from bouts of the heart has a much worse, lingering case. This is probably a warning for him, however, to take less upon himself, allow for travel and rest, and to be more aware of his own needs.”
Marc approached the bed. “If we are going to leave, we must go now.”
