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He studied his fork and sniffed its contents, but couldn’t detect any aroma past the heavy scent of ham. He placed it back onto his plate and felt his stomach begin to churn. It wasn’t that he was going to be sick; he just realised that he had eaten something laced with Laudanum and it was too late to do anything about it. The room began to darken as a thick fog descended.
“Damn you, Edwards,” he snarled.
Rather than climb out of bed and ring the bellpull as he wanted to do, he lay down. He had no choice. The room swirled, and his eyelids grew too heavy to fight.
Seconds later, he was fast asleep.
An hour later, he was blissfully unaware of the silent figure that crept back into the room and removed the tray.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Later that night, Petal crept into the master’s bedchamber to complete her final chore of the day in an attempt to avoid any further confrontations. She wasn’t keen on giving Edwards another opportunity to accost her unless she absolutely had to.
Besides, she wasn’t in any fit state to argue with anybody. She was tired and hungry because she had missed dinner this evening. It wasn’t that she minded reading to Sir Aidan, far from it, but she was now starving and felt out of sorts.
Her personal discomfort was immediately forgotten when she entered the room. It quickly became evident that something was dreadfully wrong. The master was thrashing around on the bed, bathed in sweat, and mumbling incoherently beneath his breath.
Petal hesitated. She knew that Rollo should be informed but something made her hesitate. When Aidan cried out and began to tug ineffectually at the sheets, she hurried toward the bed instead. She was no nurse but had recently started to doubt that Edwards was either, and Rollo had already retired for the night.
“It is alright,” she soothed.
Aidan fought the thick fog that threatened to suck him under. He could hear her; the woman who was hidden within the swirling shadows. But he couldn’t see her; Petal. Where was she? He tried to call her, but couldn’t manage anything more than a mumble.
“It’s alright,” she murmured gently as she stroked his sweat-bathed hair away from his face.
“Try to wake up for me,” she coaxed when he didn’t immediately respond.
She frowned and sensed there was something abnormal about his inability to wake up. A glance around the room revealed nothing untoward, but she knew, deep inside, that something was amiss.
“Aidan, can you hear me? Come on, wake up for me,” she demanded gently but firmly.
“Petal?” he croaked as he fought to open his eyes.
Aidan was so very thirsty and physically trembled. He felt as though he had just run a long distance but that was a ridiculous notion because he was lying down.
“Can you open your eyes?” Petal prompted. Thankfully, he had stopped thrashing about, but she still wasn’t convinced he was alright.
“Petal?” Aidan fought the thick swirling mists that threatened to suck him under, and latched onto Petal’s voice. He knew that if he could just reach her, everything would be alright.
“I am here. It’s alright.” She touched his forehead, but he didn’t feel as though he had a fever.
What’s wrong with him?
She wished she had some sort of training to be able to know what to do.
“Petal?”
When Aidan finally did manage to open his eyes, he found himself staring deeply into Petal’s eyes. Something shifted between them. The swirling fog immediately receded, and his room came into focus. Staring at her as though she was manna from Heaven, he reached up to touch her, entranced by the sight of his fingers moving against his cheek.
“Are you alright now?” she asked softly.
He nodded but still looked so lost and confused that she couldn’t deny him anything he asked of her.
“What happened? What took you so long?” he grumbled. He knew he had been waiting for her, but she hadn’t turned up like she was supposed to. “Why didn’t you come?”
“I was busy in the kitchen,” she replied gently.
“What?” Aidan asked with a frown.
