Baroness of Blood

TWENTY-SEVEN

Though Peto lay in his bed, cared for by servants as if he were as helpless as his infant son, his mind was sharper than ever. He determined the means used to poison him, and that Ilsabet had undoubtedly laid the trap. He'd also decided Jorani was the only person who might know the antidote for the poison.

If he'd had a way of communicating this to Lieutenant Shaul, he would have done so, but though Shaul had tried to find some means of knowing if Peto could hear him, the baron could not respond.

Peto was thankful that, though Shaul thought him unconscious, he brought Lekai to the bedside every afternoon. Once Lekai fell asleep on his chest, lulled by Peto's breathing, the faint sound of his heartbeat. Peto slept as well, hardly surprised to dream of Marishka.

Five days passed between his attack and Ilsabet's return. She came directly to his room, kissing Lekai who lay beside him, taking his hand. He could not see her expression but was certain there were tears in her eyes as she asked Shaul to explain.

Shaul did. Ilsabet gripped Peto's hand harder as she listened to how he'd become ill, recovered, then fallen into this near-death. "If it hadn't been for Gid-den, I never would have suspected poison," Shaul said, and explained how the man had died.

"Why did you imprison Lord Jorani? From what you've told me, he probably saved my husband's life."

"But refused to do more."

"Stimulants in large quantities can kill as surely as any poison," Ilsabet countered. "You might have given him a chance to find an antidote."

"He said he didn't recognize the poison."

Ilsabet's hold on Peto's hand relaxed somewhat. He could feel her inwardly rejoicing. Of course Jorani had to know what poison she'd used, Jorani had taught her-or had the pupil moved past the teacher?

"You might have given Lord Jorani a chance," she replied sharply. "You may have made my husband's condition worse."

"I'm sorry, Baroness. With you gone, I wasn't sure what else to do. Forgive me for saying the obvious, but Lord Jorani is the only person in the castle with the knowledge of how to poison the baron."

"That isn't true. I have that knowledge," she said.

Peto gave her credit. Her candor undoubtedly allayed any suspicion Shaul might have of her.

"And the room you discovered is not as well kept a secret as you would think," she continued. "Lord Jorani's servants may know of it. Any who could read could learn what they had to know, particularly in the months Lord Jorani was in Sundell. You did what you thought was best, but please, have Lord Jorani released immediately. Then, as soon as he is able, have him meet me here so that we can confer on my husband's condition."

Peto heard the lieutenant leave. He was alone with his wife.

He felt his weight shift as she sat beside him on the bed, felt her fingers rest on the side of his neck as if checking for a heartbeat. "You can't see or move or speak, but you can hear me, can't you, Peto?"

He could feel her breath on his ear, smell her perfume. She'd worn the scent that had intoxicated him in the beginning. It had the same effect now. The horror of how she taunted him, and how easily she could continue to do so, made his pulse quicken.

"Of course you can," she said.

He could feel her laughing, feel her body shake, though no sound came from her lips. Instead, a teardrop wet his cheek. She'd been crying when she'd spoken to Shaul. What a marvelous touch.

"I'd intended to kill you, you know," she went on. "But this is so much better. You can't be moved, lest the strain kill you. Let your mother have Sundell. I'll rule Kislova in your place, and my child will inherit both."

She placed her palm over his mouth, thumb and index finger pinching his nose shut. She held it there for just a moment, then pulled it away. "I could kill you just that easily. There'd be no sign of a struggle. I could kill Lekai just that easily…"

An empty threat, he knew. Without Lekai, the Obours would have no control over Sundell.

"… and I will if you ever make an attempt to communicate with anyone. If you're very good, I'll bring the boy to see you every day. Perhaps you could have the same nursemaid. I don't have to ask if you understand. Of course you do. And you'll remember, I'm certain of it."

She kissed him, deeply, passionately. Only then did he hear the footsteps in the hall, Shaul's embarrassed cough. Ilsabet moved away from him, talking to Shaul in quiet tones until Jorani joined them, coming immediately to Peto's side, bringing the musty dungeon smell in his clothes.

He lifted one of Peto's eyelids and examined his pupil. Peto managed to glimpse his smudged face, the stubble on his usually clean-shaven chin, before Jorani closed his eye again. "It's good you kept his eyes shut. Otherwise, he might recover and be blind. He's been this way since I left him?" Jorani asked.

"Exactly," the lieutenant replied. "Sometimes I think he can hear me, that he understands me, but it's probably just wishful thinking. He does seem calmer when Lekai is with him."

"Calmer?" Ilsabet asked.

"I don't know how to explain it, Baroness. It's as if the illness has formed a bond between us."

A bond of affection that was always there, Peto thought. A tear leaked from the corner of one eye. He hoped that no one noticed.

Shaul left soon after. As soon as they were alone, Jorani got up from the bed.

"Did you do this to him?" he asked Ilsabet.

"Is there an antidote?" she asked, instead.

"To the web? You know there isn't. He'll lie like this for the rest of his life. If he's fortunate, it won't be that long. Why did you do it?"

"I promised it to my father before he died, but I'd never expected vengeance as perfect as this." Peto heard her pacing, her footsteps stopping close by his bed. "Do you know that he can hear every word we speak, can feel heat and cold and pain. Look! He's crying. And I'd been foolish enough to think that death would be the perfect revenge."

"Do you think Janosk would have wanted all the deaths that led to this?" Jorani asked. His tone held no persuasiveness, as if he knew her answer already.

She sucked in her breath, the angry sound Peto knew all too well. "I could have done worse. I still can," she said, then left the room, her hard soles clicking on the polished wooden floors.

Jorani remained, moving beside Peto, taking his hand and squeezing it. "I lied to her. If I thought there were no hope for your body, Baron, I would end your life out of mercy. I may have to do that someday, but first let's try to wake you."

Jorani opened Peto's mouth. The same bittersweet taste as before filled it, carried on a scant spoonful of elixir. Peto swallowed. Minutes later he felt a tingling in his hands. He managed to move a finger before all feeling left him. His heart pounded as if it were about to explode. More, he wanted to scream, more.

As if hearing him, Jorani said, "More would kill you. We must go slowly." He sighed. "Ilsabet does not yet realize the price she's paid for this act. Though it's little comfort to you, I'm sure, I doubt she'll be pleased with the news I have for her. I'll return tonight with another dose if I'm still alive."

As he walked down the dark hall toward Ilsabet's chambers Jorani paused at the top of the stairs. Someone had left the carved doors open, and afternoon fog rolled into the lower halls. He'd never seen the river fog so thick in daytime before. He paused and started down the stairs toward the doors. But as the tendrils curled around his feet, he felt a sudden, terrible chill, and retreated, moving quickly down the hall to were Ilsabet waited for him.

She had bathed and changed in his absence, into a simple dress such as she had worn for their lessons not so long ago. When she saw him, she wrapped her arms around his neck. He gripped her wrists and pulled them loose, vowing to never let her so close to him again.