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“Where is he?” came the dowager’s voice and Jenny sat up. “What happened?” she demanded when she entered, her eyes wide with worry.
“He has a fever,” Jenny answered.
A haunted expression passed over her features. “Oh, no.”
“What is it?” Her heart clenched painfully in her chest.
“His father died of a fever.” She stepped toward him, peering. He had been calm for a while now, too calm, in fact. “It started small but quickly became something else. He lost his senses.”
Jenny did not want to hear this. “Nicholas does not have the same fever.”
“We cannot be certain.”
“I refuse to believe it.”
The dowager studied Jenny for a moment. “How long have you been in this room caring for him?”
“The entire day,” she murmured.
“And I take it you have not eaten a bite in all that time.” When Jenny neither agreed nor disputed, she added, “You should eat and rest. I will watch him.”
“I don’t need to—”
“I will not have you falling sick because of your stubbornness. Go.” Her tone brokered no dissent.
Besides, Jenny was too distraught and exhausted to argue. She went to her bedchamber and flopped onto the bed, feeling helpless. What the dowager had said about the fever that had killed Nicholas’s father frightened her. She couldn’t lose Nicholas now.This is not fair.
A knock sounded at the door. “It is Sarah, You Grace. May I come in?”
“Yes,” she called.
Her lady’s maid walked in with a tray. There was a full meal on the tray but Jenny was only able to stomach some soup and a bit of bread. “You must eat more,” Sarah urged.
“I am not hungry. I need a nap.”
“You need sleep.” She removed the pillows that Jenny did not need and prepared the bed for her.
A nap was all Jenny intended to have but she did not wake until several hours later when the fingers of dawn were streaking the dark sky with colors. The dowager was asleep in the chair by Nicholas’s bed while he lay still. She went to him, sitting down beside him and touching his forehead.
His body was still very hot. She brought the bowl of water to her side from the dowager’s and began to cool him. Where he winced before, now he remained completely calm. This terrified her but she carried on with her task. “This is the scariest part,” the dowager said.
“I thought you were sleeping,” Jenny said.
“I was. This is the scariest part,” she replied. “The life is stolen from them when they go completely still. It happened to his father and his father's father, my husband.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Jenny took his hand and clasped it in both of hers, squeezing.
“I am telling you so you can prepare for the worst.” The dowager released a heavy sigh.
Jenny froze. Then her eyes snapped up at the woman on the other side of the bed. “What?” Her voice was brittle. “Why would you think of that?”
“I have seen this before and I want you to be strong.”
“I am strong enough,” Jenny snapped, shaking with anger. “If you do not care because you have Ernest to continue to the Seaton line for you,Ido because Nicholas is my husband and I care for him.”
“He is my grandson and I care for him, too. I want you to understand a possible reality.”
“Don’t you dare!” Jenny’s voice shook. “Nicholas isnotgoing to die. He will make a full recovery and I would like it if you leave me alone with him now.”
She needed someone to support her and the dowager had brought her this. Jenny regretted calling her. Nicholas shuddered just then and his eyelids began to flutter.
