Aristocrat | ✓

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Marie and I were tasked with the duty of trying to make the Lord feel better before he had to attend to his duties. His fever had become worse after he had spoken to me, but at least he was eating everything that was brought to him and remained in bed as we told him to.

It felt odd not hearing the piano from the west wing play. I had almost forgotten about a time when all the Lord did was play it when he locked himself away in the drawing-room. Now he was bedridden and asleep for most of the day.

"The physician will be here by lunch," I said, putting a warm towel on the Lord's forehead. I was in his bedchamber, sitting on his bed as I tended to him. His eyes peeled open, and they stared at me as I kept pressing the cloth on his forehead.

"Lady Agnes will be coming with him," I added, relaying the message a letter from Axminster had given us. Marie had gotten one of the Lord's men to send a crow to the Count asking for help, and he said he had sent Agnes and her physician right away. The crow has only gotten to us faster than them on a carriage.

"Your temperature's going down," I said, watching as his eyes fluttered closed again. I got up, heading to cover the windows with their curtains before picking up the bowl of water and the rag. He was sick because he hadn't been looking after himself, so I didn't think they would do anything extreme like bloodletting.

"Don't go yet..." Lord Evenus said when I reached the door. I turned to find him sitting up in bed. His features were contorted in pain, and you could see the exhaustion in his eyes. I went back to him, dropping the bowl and rag on the side table before hugging him to myself. He felt like a kettle that has just been taken off the stove.

We sat in silence. I ran my fingers through his hair when I noticed that he had dozed off. He must have had a nasty headache. The way he clenched at his stomach and winched whenever he tried to sit also made me note that not going for food for days must have done something to him—ulcers probably, but they went away with time, so I wasn't too worried.

"Next time you lock yourself up I'm just going to walk in on you," I muttered into his hair, kissing his temple. My arms and back hurt from holding him up. He was a big man, and I was small and not physically active. His heaviness increased when he fell asleep and was no longer trying to hold his own weight.

When Troy wandered into the room, I had to put the Lord back in bed. It was difficult, but I managed to. I tucked him in again, before making Tory leave the room. Sick people shouldn't be around animals. It was easier for illness to jump from creature to man when they were sick.

"The physician is here," Marie told me when I walked into the kitchen with the bowl I'd taken upstairs. The water in it was now cold, and so was the rag that was soaked in it.

"Where?" I asked, emptying the bowl of water into the basin before squeezing the rag dry and wiping my hands clean.

"He's in the drawing-room with Agnes," Marie said, and I nodded, knowing that she wanted me to take them upstairs.

"I'll go talk to them," I said, leaving the kitchen for the Lord's common room. Like Marie has said, Agnes was there, and beside her on the settee was a slender man with a clean-cut beard and red curly hair.

"Good evening," I said, walking up to them. "I'll show you upstairs," I said, before trying to pick up the physician's bag, but he got to it before me. I frowned a bit.

"No need," he said, making me look away before leading them out of the common room. As we climbed up the stairs, I could hear Agnes and the physician whispering to themselves. It didn't look like it was about Lord Evenus because Lady Agnes let out a low laugh. They seemed to get along well. It was also one of the few times I had ever seen the Lady flustered.