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I’d never gotten sick with four other people in the other room before. Truthfully, I was mostly left alone by myself when I was ill, but this is different. Why was I so weak? My clothes arrived the next morning, along with my herbs, and Truett brought them to me. Charlie sat on the ground next to me, rubbing my back. Freddie braided my hair, and every so often, Oliver insisted I sip water, although I really didn’t want to drink anything.
“Will any of these help you?” Truett’s voice sounded so serious. He opened the box so I could see my herbs.
I knew which ones would, potentially, help. Whatever I ingested really did a number on me. I was pretty sure it wasn’t the flu. No one else got sick, and I doubted I would be alone if a virus caused the problem.
My hands shook, and I stared at the case. Okay. I needed to think. Had to make myself concentrate. Which ones will help? There was nothing to do but try one at a time.
When I woke up knowing I would puke again, it dawned on me that nothing I had been doing for the last hours, in terms of herbs, had done a thing.
With my head pressed against the toilet, I listened to the sounds of my husbands talking outside the room. They hadn’t slept, and I was inclined to tell them to go away. They couldn’t do anything for me, and it had to be awful to watch.
I lifted my head. “Would one of you come here?”
It was hard to talk. It almost made the nausea worse, but I had things to say. How long had I been puking? I wasn’t sure anymore. Days? Weeks? I had no idea.
All four of them poured into the room. I likely looked disgusting, but none of them winced when they stared at me clutching the toilet.
“Number one, I think you should all get some rest.”
Oliver looked at Charlie before he turned to me. “Are you really thinking about us right now? We’re fine. We’ve been sleeping in shifts.” Did they? I hadn’t noticed. “Don’t waste any energy thinking about us.”
I sighed, happy to put that aside. “I need one of you to take down a dictation. I want you to send it to Jayne. I’ll do a second one for Hannah, and you can send a copy of that to Caroline, just change the name.”
Lazy on my part, but maybe I could be forgiven, considering the circumstances.
Freddie nodded. “Okay. But why?”
“I want a chance to say goodbye to my sister before I die.” I should probably write to my parents, too, but maybe not. Perhaps it would be better for Jayne to tell them? Maybe that is less cruel. “None of my herbs are working. Let’s face it, I’m not getting better. There is only so long I can sustain this, and my feeling is, it’s not much longer.”
Truett nodded, his face serious but his eyes ablaze with something I couldn’t read. “This is exactly how Sadie died. I know not one of us has said it, but it has to be the wasting disease. This is just how she died, and I have to believe, Sloane, if this is happening to you, then it is because we are being punished.” He looked down. “We’ve done our best, but perhaps we are not deserving of you. I am so sorry that you are suffering.”
I didn’t believe that was how the universe worked. Why would whatever fates had stuck me with them—with all my so-called power—now just kill me off to punish them? “You didn’t particularly want me. I don’t think they would pick me as the punishment. Besides, I don’t think that’s how this all works, anyway.”
In front of my eyes, I saw a vision of the red creature with the horns. It wasn’t a vision, not like the ones I had with the guys—which might kill me in that moment. Instead, I could see him looking at me again, as though we were back in the ritual.
“We do want you.” Freddie pulled me against him, and I groaned, but didn’t pull away. For the moment, I wasn’t puking, at least. “We want you with us always. It is killing us watching this happening to you, Sloane. What can we do? Which herb should we try next?”
His words bounced around in my head. There was no cure for the wasting disease. No herbs helped. It was so rare, most healers would go their entire lives without seeing it. But for me to die of the exact same malady as their last wife? That made no sense. None whatsoever. No other women there simply caught the wasting disease. There were plenty of servants running around who were absolutely not sick.
The guys were not sick.
I blinked. It was so hard to think, like my head was in a fog.
That isn’t a symptom of the wasting disease.
“There isn’t an herb for the wasting disease.” I pulled my head up. It took a lot more effort than it should have just to hold my head up. “All I’ve had to eat was the food the first night. Since then, you guys have given me broth.” Really disgusting tasting broth, made for the sick. And water. “There is no cure for the wasting disease,” I repeated to myself, but it was like I had to make my head work again. “But there are herbs that can help with poisons.”
Freddie jolted and Oliver knelt. “I know you don’t always think well of us, Sloane, but we would never poison you. We…we have come to care about you a great deal. You belong with us. You are ours to protect, ours to keep. We didn’t think we wanted another wife, but we do. We want you. All of us feel that way.”
I reached out to cup his cheek. “I don’t mean to imply you poisoned me, but someone did. Bring me my herbs. If the concoction I make works, we’ll know. But don’t tell anyone. Not a soul. Not a servant. We’ll wait. If I recover in the next few hours, we’ll know. And then we’ll have to…I can’t think that far right now. Just give me the herbs.”
I had to get to work. With shaking hands, I pulled out the charcoal. There were a few things to do, but I hoped they worked.
Hours later, I lay on my stomach on the bed. The fan above kept the room cool, and Charlie rubbed my back. I had taken off my top during the poison treatment when I overheated, and I didn’t even care if they saw my breasts at the time. I’ll feel embarrassed later, if I live that long. At least I’m not puking anymore.
I lifted my head to look at him. “It worked.”
“We know. Despite evidence to the contrary, we’re not idiots, so we’ve devised a plan to see who poisoned you and how. They’re off spying right now. We’ll figure it out. In the meantime, I got this water myself. No one else touched it, so please, sip.”
