Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 99593 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 498(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99593 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 498(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Color surged to her cheeks despite her pallor, and anger flared in her exhausted eyes. “You think I’m ill because I carry another man’s child?”
“You were not eager for my touch before,” he accused. “Now you lie willingly in my bed. Should I not question why?”
She shoved weakly against his chest. “I obeyed every demand you made of me concerning the consummation of our marriage. I accepted failing you, of not being desirable enough for your manhood to rise to see the deed done. But since your return home your manhood has been anything but flaccid and still you refuse to consummate our vows. I am still the virgin you wed and if you did your duty, you would find the truth for yourself.” She took a breath. “And I come to your bed now because” —she shook her head— “I stopped hating you enough to try.”
The shock of her words froze him. He didn’t move. He couldn’t speak. The shame of his accusation coiled in his gut. And the thought that she didn’t hate him was a revelation he never expected.
The door opened with a rush, and Brenna hurried in with her satchel.
“She’s taken ill,” Torrance said, his voice clipped as he lifted his wife in his arms and carried her to the bed to gently place her down on it.
Brenna stood beside the bed, seeing Esme’s pale face and feeling the clamminess of her skin. “Could you be with child?” she asked, brushing a strand of hair from Esme’s damp forehead.
Esme hesitated. Her gaze swiftly going to Torrance, uncertain, fearful of how to respond.
“There’s a chance,” he said before she could answer, though the words tasted bitter.
A knock sounded, and a young servant stepped inside, pale and out of breath. “My lord, I was sent by cook to tell you that one of the kitchen lads has taken ill too. Retching something awful. He admitted to taking a bit of the dried meat from the morning’s meal. The same meat you refused but Lady Esme ate.”
Torrance’s head snapped around. “What?”
The servant spoke quickly. “He said it was set aside for you, but since you didn’t eat it…”
Torrance remembered it then. He had refused the dried meat. It wasn’t to his liking. Esme was surprised, claiming it was always a favorite meat of his for breakfast.
His eyes shot back to her pale face. “She wasn’t meant to eat it. I was.”
Brenna’s eyes widened. “Poison?”
“Treat her for it… now,” Torrance ordered, rage simmering just beneath the surface and without another word, he turned on his heels and stormed from the chamber.
Someone had tried to kill him, and his wife had nearly died in his place.
Someone would pay.
Torrance’s boots struck hard against the flagstones as he entered the kitchen. The scent of salt and spices lingered, but it was the tang of fear that filled the air as the cook and kitchen servants scrambled to bow.
“My lord,” the cook stammered. “We—we heard Lady Esme took ill—”
“You set aside dried meat for me this morning,” Torrance snapped, his gaze drilling into the older woman’s face. “Who prepared it?”
“I—I did, my lord,” the cook said quickly. “I always do. That cut was from a new batch, smoked and salted as usual. No different—”
“It was different,” Torrance growled. “It was poisoned.”
The cook’s eyes bulged. “Poisoned?”
“It would explain why one of your own is retching his guts out because he stole some of what was meant for me. My wife ate some. She could have died…. still could.” The thought infuriated him and frightened him.
The servants shrank back fear causing them to tremble.
“Lots of people had hands on that meat,” Una said, stepping forward to defend the cook.
Torrance advanced a step, his fury barely restrained. “Did you?”
“Nay,” the cook said. “Una never laid hands on it.”
Torrance glared at Una. “Then you will be the one to find out who touched that meat. From the moment the animal was slaughtered to the moment it reached my table. Every hand. Every eye. Every moment.” He cast a deepened scowl at everyone there. “Answer Una’s question honestly so she can find the culprit, or you all suffer for it.”
Heads bobbed nonstop.
“I will see it done, my lord,” Una said confidently.
“And quickly,” Torrance demanded. “In the meantime, every one of you will stand in front of me and taste every bit of food that is served before it passes mine or my wife’s lips.” He pounded his fist on the table, the sliced kale and cabbage on top bouncing from the force. “Someone will suffer for this even if I find out it was nothing more than carelessness.”
He stalked from the room, jaw tight, fury boiling. He had almost lost her, feared he still could. And whoever had come for him would soon learn just how dangerous it was to fail.