Will stumbled along and eventually he opened his eyes and found himself lying across a large bed. Voices were arguing in the hall behind him. “Why’d you put him in there? You should have taken him to the guest room.” That was Mark Nerrow’s voice.
“He was about to pass out. I couldn’t carry him. If you want to try, you can carry him down the hall, but he’s already bled all over the bed. There’s no sense in ruining two sets of bedding,” Laina responded sharply.
“Is he still here?” asked another young woman’s voice, probably his younger sister, Tabitha.
“What are you doing out of your room? I told you to stay there,” snapped their mother.
Mark interrupted, “Let me by. I’m going to move him. We can’t have him in Laina’s room.”
“For the sake of all that’s holy, Mark, leave him be!” snapped Agnes. “He’s had enough.”
“That potion he took healed his wounds,” said the baron. “It won’t hurt him. He’s just exhausted.”
“And he’s sleeping,” Agnes shot back. “After what he’s done for Laina he deserves better than to have you dragging him all over the house.”
You tell him, Agnes, Will thought with a faint smirk. He’d never really had a chance to get to know his father’s wife, or anyone in the family, to be honest, but he’d barely met Agnes before that night. Despite himself, he found he liked her.
He had always had an image in his mind of her as just another spoiled noblewoman. Since she was the woman that Mark had abandoned Will’s mother for, he supposed he should hate her, but he couldn’t find it in his heart to hold a grudge. She seemed like a genuinely decent human being. But I wonder what she’d think if she found out who I was? Would she still be advocating for my beauty sleep?
Chapter 10
During the night Will rose once to attend to certain bodily functions and discovered that someone had undressed him. He was forced to use a coverlet to cover himself as he worried that one of the ladies of the house might walk in while he was using the chamber pot. With that out of the way, he returned to bed. Before falling back asleep, he studied the decor. He’d expected it to be filled with luxurious furnishings, but the room was surprisingly plain. That wasn’t to say it was poorly decorated, but the style was minimal and tastefully done. It was distinctly feminine, but overall it gave him the sense that Laina was more concerned with function than superficial ornaments.
That ran completely counter to the impression he’d gained when she had visited Selene while he was in the army. Back then she’d seemed bored, and her only concern was shopping. Of course having a room that was modestly furnished didn’t make Laina a paragon of virtue. After all, from what Tailtiu told me she spends every evening running from house to house attending every party thrown in the capital.
That thought brought his fear and worry for his aunt back to the fore. He still had no idea what had happened to her. And what was that thing that went after Laina? The king had taken the remains back with him. Another question, why was the king there? Was he watching Laina as well, or was he hunting the thing that tried to kill her?
“None of it makes the slightest damned sense,” he muttered to himself. And that was just the start of it. Had he really been visited by Temarah? The part where he had left his body had been bizarre, but it wasn’t the first time something like that had happened. When he’d nearly died as a child after being bitten by a snake, he’d had a similar experience. It had been Arrogan who saved his life and who put him back in his proper vessel. He’d had a second brief experience while keeping the dam from collapsing.
And now this. Maybe it only happens when I’m close to death, he hypothesized, but that didn’t make sense either. He’d been in plenty of other near-death situations without leaving his body. Will considered consulting the ring, but he worried that someone might overhear the conversation. He’d wait until he got home.
Instead, he tried to see if he could do it again. Mentally he pushed and strained, trying to leave his body, but he failed. Then he tried relaxing and focusing his attention in the same way he had done in order to move when he’d been outside his body before. Something happened then. He felt a certain pressure, and for a moment it felt as though he was slipping free, but he snapped back into his flesh a split second later.
Will kept it up for several minutes, but his eyes grew heavy. It was late, and the regeneration potion had used up most of his strength. Before he knew it he was drifting once more into dreams.
Or rather nightmares. He found himself back in the atrium. Lognion loomed before him, whip in hand while a vast host of onlookers watched from the sides, jeering at him. He fought to get away, but a swarm of hands took hold of him, dragging him back to the statue where he was again tied in place. The whip whistled through the air, and he screamed, knowing the pain that would ignite in his back.
“It’s all right! It’s just a dream.” Someone was shaking him. Opening his eyes, he saw that it was the baroness. The look of empathy and concern on her features made him feel vaguely guilty, as though he had committed a crime or lied to her. You have, he realized. Lied by omission. How would she feel if she knew who your father was?
The sunlight was streaming through the window and the angle told him he had overslept; it was probably close to noon. He bolted upright in the bed. “I’m late to class,” he informed her.
“Worry about that later,” said Agnes soothingly. “After what you’ve been through you needed the rest. Your classes will still be there tomorrow.”
His head swiveled back and forth as he tried to spot his clothes, his armor, or his other belongings. He was still naked under the covers. “I should really be going,” he replied. “Do you know where my things are?”
“They’re being cleaned,” she answered primly.
Will frowned. “Even the armor?”
Agnes laughed. “You aren’t the first to wear mail. Andrew knows how to take care of your gear.”
“You didn’t need to do that,” said Will. He guessed Andrew must be the name of one of her servants. “It’s too much trouble. Besides, I just—”
She touched a finger to his lips to stop him from continuing. “It was covered in blood. Even the gambeson was soaked through. I’m sure you know what blood does to steel.”
Blood? He’d removed his mail before the flogging, and Darla’s quarrel had barely cut the skin of his stomach. Oh, the soldier… He felt bad when he thought about the man whose throat he’d opened. The fellow had just been following orders. If I’d surrendered immediately, he would still be alive. It’s not as though my stubbornness changed anything.
He looked up at Agnes. “Even so, I’m too much in your debt already. Let me replace the sheets and blankets…”