Page 60 of A Duke Under Her Spell
Felix continued with his preparations as swiftly as he could, remembering each ingredient and the quantity of each used. Once he had administered the garlic concoction, then he began making the willow bark tea that Marybeth had always given the Dowager Duchess to control her pain and fever. He was fairly certain that he over honeyed the tea, but his mother did not complain. She took her medicine, patted his hand in gratitude, and then fell back to sleep.
Taking a seat in the chair next to the bed, Felix watched over his mother. The Dowager Duchess slept fitfully, moaning and tossing as she slept. Felix’s heart went out to her. He longed to take away her suffering and vowed to return to Arkley Forest and shake some sense into Marybeth’s thick head.
I will not allow her to abandon us thus. It is one thing not to love me. It is another thing entirely to abandon an ailing woman in need. Marybeth simply would not do so. There is something else going on here. There is something greatly amiss.
A thought occurred to Felix that Lady Cordelia might have had something to do with Marybeth’s strange behavior. He wondered if perhaps they had encountered each other after the ball and exchanged words. Still, he could not imagine even that would cause a healer like Marybeth to abandon a patient. Felix’s anger began to fade, and he began to worry more about what must have happened to cause her to flee.
He felt ashamed for his prior thoughts of anger and had to fight the urge to mount a horse immediately and go after her in the storm. Instead, he kept busy caring for his mother and planning what he would say when he saw Marybeth again.
Perhaps an apology would be a good place to start. I am a weak man for doubting her as I have, but it is difficult to see reason when you have a letter such as the one she left in your hand and no other explanation.
His mother moaned his father’s name in her sleep, causing Felix a moment of alarm.Arthur… Arthur…
“Mother?” Felix reached out and brushed the hair from her face. A sheen of sweat lay upon her forehead, causing the wispy black tendrils to stick to her skin. Since her illness, tiny strands of silver had begun to weave their way through her ebony locks. Felix sighed and shook his head. He wished his father was there with them. He had always known what to do about any given situation and though he had prepared Felix well for many things in life, there was no way to prepare for what was happening to them now.
Mother’s fever has returned. We cannot do this without Marybeth.Felix left the room to request more water for tea. He was not sure how much he was allowed to give her on top of what he had already administered, but it was clear that the first dose was not working, or at the very least not well enough.
Did I mix it wrong?Felix found himself doubting everything about the care he was providing his mother. His normally sure manner was slipping under the tumultuous storm of uncertainty within brought on by Marybeth’s abandonment and his mother’s failing health. He knew that had it not been for Marybeth, his mother would have most likely died by now. Shaking his head, Felix squared his shoulders and determined to fight.
I will not allow Mother to die, no matter what it takes.
Chapter 27
Marybeth awoke to the sound of rustling footsteps within her croft. She opened her eyes and listened quietly in hopes that she had been mistaken. She desperately wished that the events of the last days had been naught but a dream. The footsteps came again, leaving no doubt that there was indeed an intruder. Marybeth scrambled from her bed and tiptoed over to the door that separated her room from the rest of the croft. She peeked through a crack in the wood to find a dark figure moving about.
Frightened, she was not quite sure what to do. On the one hand, she could confront the intruder and demand that they reveal their intentions. On the other hand, she very much wished to become as invisible as the air around her. The figure dug through Marybeth’s possessions, searching for something, for what she knew naught. The intruder moved toward the bedroom door silhouetted by the firelight, his form clearly masculine.
Marybeth looked about her for a place to hide and hurriedly scrambled under the bed. The door creaked open and two muddy boots appeared in front of her. She attempted to quiet her breathing so as not to give her position away. Her heart raced within her chest and she felt dizzy with fright. Thoughts of what had happened to her mother flew through her mind. Her palms sweat. The hair on her arms and the back of her neck stood up as a shiver passed down her spine.
The man moved around the room, but Marybeth was unable to see anything above the ankle of his boots. Her books and clothing fell to the floor in disarray. Whatever he was looking for, he cared not for the condition in which he left her croft when he was done. The man must have run out of things to toss about because all went still.
She held her breath in anticipation of seeing his face appear beside hers upon the floor.What shall I do? What shall I do?she fretted silently.Please do not look under the bed.She prayed, shivering in fear with naught but her scattered belongings between herself and the faceless intruder. She was more afraid now than she had ever been with the ghostly figure at Arkley Hall. At least at Arkley she had not been alone. Here she could die, and it would be weeks before anyone discovered her body.
Moments passed as Marybeth’s lungs began to burn from holding in her breath, then the boots moved away from her. The man walked out of her bedroom and through the croft’s front door. Hoofbeats heralded the man’s departure. Marybeth let out her breath in a rush of relief, as tears poured down her cheeks. Rising from beneath the bed she walked to the door and closed it, barring it from the inside. She had been so tired and overwhelmed by heartbreak that she had forgotten to bar the door.
How could I have been so foolish!? I could have been killed because of my own stupidity!
Marybeth put some water on to heat to make herself a cup of soothing tea. Her mind raced with all of the possible reasons the intruder could have had for ransacking her home. She searched the croft to see if anything had been taken, picking up her discarded belongings as she went. She found nothing to be missing.
It was not a robbery then,she thought to herself as she picked up what little bit of money and jewelry her grandmother had left her from the floor, where it had been slung into a corner. The deliberate nature of the man’s search, the way in which he had gone through all of her chests and drawers without taking anything, made it clear he was searching for something specific and had not found it.
What was he looking for? Who was he? Was he in league with the intruder at Arkley Hall? Or Lord Enfield? It cannot be the Earl of Bredon because I left him in Bath and did exactly as he instructed. He would have no cause to be here nor would he have had time to send word to anyone about me. Or would he?Her mind swirled with the possibilities.A random stranger perhaps?She shook her head at the unlikely nature of her last thought.
The man had seemed to be quite familiar with her home the way he had strutted through the croft without hesitation or misstep. It was as if he had expected her to be gone, as if he had known she should not have been in residence.
Lord Enfield would have had to have been watching me or had someone watching me for years to have known everything he knew about me and my family. Perhaps it was he or one of his servants or one of my brothers?
The thought of her own blood doing such a thing chilled her to her bones.He is not above rape. Theft would be a small matter to the likes of him, but what could he have possibly wanted?Marybeth looked down at the ring on her finger and took it off. She fought the urge to sling it into the fire, but instead laid it on the table.If it is the ring he wants, he can have it, but if it were would he not have taken more care to search my jewelry instead of tossing it across the room in such a fashion?Marybeth picked the ring back up and studied it.
The ring was of no consequence in form and worth. There was nothing extraordinary about it. A token of gratitude from a brother to his sister. That was truly the beginning and end of its value. Marybeth concluded that it was highly unlikely to have been a search for the tiny gem.I own naught else of value to anyone. I cannot fathom the man’s nefarious ends. What possible motive could he have had to violate the sanctity of my home?Marybeth’s heart flared with anger as she placed the ring back on her finger.
Pounding her fist against the table’s hard wooden surface, Marybeth vowed that should the man return she would get her answers.Next time I shall be prepared. Next time he shall answer to me, even if at my knife point.
* * *
Felix roused himself from slumber at the sound of his mother’s voice calling his name. Her fever had broken in the night and they had both finally been able to get some rest. Now it was morning and time to move on toward home. Light filtered in through the curtains, falling in stripes of warmth across his face as he sat sleeping in the chair beside his mother’s bed. Opening his eyes at her call, he found that the maid had brought food to break the fast before they set out on the remainder of their journey.
“How are you feeling, Mother?” he asked, reaching out to touch her forehead to ensure that the fever had not returned.
