Abducted [W&W Book 3]

Chapter 44

Ildri went straight to bed and slept deeply. She did not wake up until late in the morning, when Keziah shrieked, "Bloody mess, bloody mess!"

Ildri tried to ask Keziah what was wrong but could not move her jaw. The previous day's events came flooding back. She groaned, then realized that she could hear a knock under the parrot's excruciatingly loud voice.

Ildri leapt from her bed and threw on her dress before leaving her bed room and opening her main door. One of the general servants stood waiting and said, "Lord Wildwood would like to see you now, he is in the library."

Ildri tried to talk and was again reminded of the fact that she could not. She really hoped that the ridiculous potion had worn off. She nodded to show the servant that she would go directly there and she made her way out the door.

Ildri took the fastest route to the library, not the least reason that she was hoping to avoid running into the angry housekeeper. She could feel a sick emotion in the pit of her stomach just remembering the things that she had said. Please let the potion be worn off!

She pushed open the library door and found Lord Wildwood sitting with his wife in a couple of the chairs that were scattered around the room. "Good morning," Lord Wildwood said.

Ildri felt a slight shiver run through her and her jaw unhinged itself. "Good morning," she said.

"It seems that you're back to normal," he commented. Lady Theresa smiled.

"Yes, it does. Thank you, my lord."

"No, thank you, Ildri. That potion was extremely helpful. I'm glad that the effect was not permanent, however."

"Me too."

"You're probably hungry, perhaps you should go and get something to eat," he suggested by way of dismissal.

Ildri nodded and left the room.

* * * * *

Ildri recounted her adventures in potion making to chef over her late breakfast. Chef sounded suitably sympathetic and Ildri began to feel a bit better.

Kallie arrived at Ildri's rooms a short time after Ildri finished her breakfast. Because Kallie was a good assistant they made a decent number of potions before Ildri sent Kallie away early in the afternoon. Ildri was still exhausted from the day before. Ildri had only a small amount of tester potion remaining and would have made more but for the fact she was missing one of the ingredients.

Ildri would need to go and collect more star flowers, which was about the last thing that she wanted to do. She had seen their unopened buds since she had returned, so it would be easy enough to find the flowers even in the dark, but with the rumours of war it was far too dangerous to leave the castle walls.

Except that she needed the bloody tester potion.

There was no getting around the fact that she would have to venture out into the dark forest around Wildwood again at night. The last time she had done that she had been abducted. But she had not been hurt in the end and she had met Ty. And anyway, the odds of something like that happening again had to be phenomenally low, even with war.

So Ildri decided to take a nap since she was tired anyway. She lay down on her bed and fell promptly to sleep.

* * * * *

When Ildri woke up the sun was sinking behind the trees outside her window. Keziah was hopping from perch to perch seemingly randomly and not paying Ildri any attention. Ildri noticed that Keziah did not have any food left in her dish, although she still had plenty of water.