Thus it was that she made her way upstairs and into her room, taken by a burst of energy and excitement as she looked forward to the coming days...only for that energy to drain from her in an instant as the room began to turn and her legs gave out from under her.
What is...
She could not say what happened next. She found herself on the ground, dizzy and fading quickly. A sharp pain erupted in her right side. She cried out, gasped for air but could hardly breathe. She tried to climb to her feet, but the pain crippled her again. Florentia let out another shout for help, and then...darkness consumed her.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“We should be arriving soon,” Hudson said to Elias as he looked out the window of their carriage, recognizing the landscape in a way that surprised him, seeing as it had been years since he’d been here.
“I know it,” Elias responded simply, not sparing so much as a glance in Hudson’s direction. He sat with his hands resting on his lap, head turned in the direction of the window, even if didn’t appear that he was looking outside.
“Do you remember the last time we were here?” Hudson asked with a sense of growing frustration. “What has it been? Five years by my count.”
“Something to that effect.”
The frustration grew steadily, and Hudson had to work to contain his annoyance. “How things have changed since then. Five years but it feels like a lifetime. To look at us now comparedto then, I would hardly recognize us. Boys...” He chuckled. “Pretending that we were men.”
“That is one way of looking at it.”
Hudson narrowed his eyes on his brother, a pointless exercise as his brother was doing everything he could to not look at or even acknowledge Hudson’s existence. Ordinarily it was Elias who had to work to force conversation between the two men, going above and beyond to squeeze responses from Hudson because without such strain he knew that Hudson would happily travel in silence. Elias always hated silence.
Today had been different.
For twelve hours the two men had traveled, in comfort as there was no great rush because their purposes for traveling this far north did not acquire their presence until tomorrow. Twelve hours, and perhaps a single minute of conversation had passed between them.
There had been a time that Hudson would not have minded the silence. Never one for idle chatter, he might have used the time to prepare for what tomorrow was sure to bring, or to read, or to have a nap. Anything but committing to long hours of banter and suffering under his brother’s good humor and joke making. But times had changed, and with them, so had Hudson.
It wasn’t that he wished to spend the entire trip in conversation. It was more the fact that the last time he and Elias had spoken, they had left things on strained terms, and Hudsonwished to move on from this little argument they seemed to be having because he did not wish to waste mental exertion on matters which, to be perfectly honest, were none of his brother’s business.
Why do I even care what my brother thinks? How it makes me feel? Why do I have this desire to prove to him that I am right in this, and that he should be on my side? I don’t… no… I do not care…
Hudson cleared his throat and tried again. “The trip was longer than I remember it being. I daresay the driver took us on the scenic route.”
“I doubt it.”
“Or perhaps the roads have gotten worse...” He looked outside again as if to examine the roadway. It was well into the evening now, too dark to see much of anything, but he frowned and exhaled sharply. “It certainly feels a little rockier than times past.”
“Perhaps. Perhaps not.”
Hudson narrowed his eyes at his brother again. A part of him thought to just leave it, certain that come time Elias would get past this ridiculous tantrum he was throwing and that would be the end of the matter.
Yet Hudson also knew that he was feeling guilty, and that as much as anything was why he so desired to be proven right. The way he had treated his wife these past few days was abhorrent. His stomach squirmed as he remembered how he had behaved, but if his brother was to come around to his way of thinking than maybe that would make everything better?
I need him on my side in this. Without Elias, and now that Florentia hates me, I have no one. Once I might not have cared, but my wife saw fit to change that side of me. For the better, she might say. Personally, I can only see the downside.
“So, this is what I am to expect from this week, am I?” Hudson said. “My younger brother throwing a tantrum as if he was some sort of child.”
That did it. Elias stiffened at the insult, jaw clenching, lip curling in distaste. Still staring out the window, Hudson watched closely as his brother fought within himself to continue what was a clear plan made to ignore everything Hudson said. At the end of the day Elias and Hudson were still brothers and Elias, like Hudson, could not sit by and do nothing as his name was slandered freely.
“I am not throwing a tantrum,” Elias growled, still refusing to look at him. “It is a protest. Entirely different by my estimation, and well justified.”
“And that, brother, is a record set today for the most words you have bothered to string together. Well done.”
He snarled at Hudson. “You should talk! Frankly, I am surprised you even noticed my silence. I’m wondering now who you are and what you have done with my brother.”
“I might say the same of you,” Hudson shot back coolly. “Getting you to shut up is where I often struggle. Who would have guessed that trying to coax you into conversing would be such a difficult task.”
“Did you stop to think that maybe I simply do not wish to speak with you?”
