“Ye can be on yer way, Cousin.”
There was no point in asking anything of him, whether Leo believed him or not. Everyone was a suspect for now.
He sat on the edge of the bed as Effie braided the loose strands of Beatrice’s hair. Her resilience astonished him.
“She’ll be happy that ye did that for her,” he said, and she nodded.
They let the silence settle between them, listening to Beatrice’s breathing and hoping it would get stronger.
It was hard to keep Effie away from Beatrice’s bedside, which concerned Leo almost as much as the traitor in their midst. He could see the tight worry on the girl’s little face and how she thought that Beatrice would die if she left her alone.
“I’ll stay with her, Effie,” Eloise said, pulling her into a hug. “Beatrice willnae be left alone for a single moment, I promise ye this.”
“But will ye stay with her all night?” Effie asked. Eloise nodded. She and Leo exchanged glances.
After Shona put Effie to bed, Leo crept back into Beatrice’s chambers to see Eloise and Violet both sitting up with her. Eloise was sitting next to her on the bed, a book open between the two of them. She was reading out loud, as if Beatrice could hear her.
“Do ye think that’s helpin’, Eloise?” he asked.
Violet waved her hand at him. “Let her be, Leo.”
“I think she can hear me,” Eloise said. “If nae, it’s somethin' for me to do to keep me mind off of it.”
Keep yer mind off of it. Off of Beatrice sweatin’ and shiverin’ in bed, poisoned by some snake I’ve let into me garden.
“We’re happy to stay with her if ye need to get some sleep,” Violet offered.
Leo took a seat by the window, shaking his head at her suggestion. Sleep wasn’t coming easily to him at the moment, as it was.
I mightas well stay awake.
“Do ye think the poison was actually meant for her, Leo?” Violet asked, lowering her voice as if trying to make sure Eloise didn’t hear her. “Maybe it was meant for ye.”
“Whoever did it soaked her shawl in arsenic. They kent who they were targetin'.”
“But who would want to do this to her?”
It wasn’t really a question. At least not one that Violet expected a solid answer to. She was watching Eloise on the bed, reading to her pale, unmoving cousin, watching the worry and anxiety that came with the failing health of a loved one.
But the culprit remained a mystery. Leo’s first thought had been Patrick, though he figured that unlikely. Men like him didn’t plan and plot and soak shawls in poison to render their daughters nearly lifeless. Men like him struck out like blind snakes, snapping at whatever came into their path.
“She’s strong, Leo,” Eloise rasped, her teary eyes never leaving Beatrice’s pallid face. “She willnae go easily.” Her hands brushed a curl of auburn hair from Beatrice’s forehead. “She’s never been one to do so.”
Leo shook his head. “Let’s nae speak about that.”
It was awful enough without considering what might have happened. All of that had run through his mind the second the healer confirmed his suspicions. There were so many people celebrating, so many people placing gifts on the table and shifting the boxes around.
“She’s makin' noise,” Eloise gasped suddenly. She closed the book and sat up on her knees to stare down at Beatrice’s still face. “I heard it. It was just a groan, but I heard it.”
Violet reached down and took Leo’s hand in her own, letting out a quiet sigh of relief. “She’ll be all right, Leo. She’s going to be just fine when she wakes up. Ye’ll see.”
Aye, she will be. But whoever did this to her is going to suffer for it.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Beatrice remembered snippets from the days she was lost in a poisoned stupor, like a dream she had walked through. A woman’s face she didn’t recognize floated over her, smearing salve across her throat and assuring her that she would recover from this.
When she finally lifted out of her muggy, mushy state and was able to sit up on her own, she felt powerful in a new way.
