He sighed, moving to her side of the bed within arm’s reach. “Who owns this estate? A viscount? Why are you here?”
Her look snapped up to him. “Oh, I suppose you do not know. This is—was Viscount Friellway’s estate. I speak of the eighth viscount, not the current one. I have lived here at Weadly Hall my whole life. My father was the viscount’s most trusted advisor. The viscount was like an uncle to me—more—he was our family. But he died five weeks ago. He was killed. And then my father. And now Brianna is so close to…” Her words slipped into silence as her eyes dropped to her sister.
“So who is in charge of the estate now?”
“The viscount’s brother—he is the new viscount, the title, the estate are now his—he has let us remain here. But he left for London soon after his brother’s death.” She looked up to Garek. “I have not seen him in weeks and he left Mr. Sneedly in charge. Mr. Sneedly is his cousin.”
“He calls you Lily.”
“Without my permission.” Her head shook, her eyes closing. “I have only known him a month. It is a privilege that was taken, not offered. He has taken everything from me.”
“What else has he taken?”
“He dismissed everyone. Every last servant. There is no one I know here now. People move in and out of this room and I recognize not a face. They bring food, tend to the fire, but they avert their eyes. Do not speak. I have nothing, no one from my life, except for Brianna.”
She looked up to Garek. He had moved closer, his hand was under her elbow, holding her steady. She hadn’t even noticed him doing so, but now prayed he wouldn’t remove his hand and let her drop.
“This was my home, Garek. My home. It was happy. And I have lost everything. Everything except for Bree. She is all I have left. And she is not even here. I am alone. Alone and I am sorry I did not tell you the truth of the position I was in, but you were the first person that…”
“That what?”
“That has looked at me with…compassion. I have been alone, drowning in looks of pity, looks of lechery. But you—last night you looked at me and genuinely wanted to help me—or so I thought—or so I wished—or maybe I just put that upon your face because I needed it so badly, someone to care.”
Stopping her words, she realized the complete spectacle she was making. She pulled her elbow from his hand, only to find he was right about her exhaustion and she swayed.
Her palms went down to the bed, propping herself upright as she bent over, her chin on her chest. “I am sorry. I do not wish to put all of this upon you—it is not right—these are my problems and I had no right to bring you here. To involve you. I will still pay—”
“I will stay.” His low voice cut her off.
It took a long moment for his words to forge into her brain, and when they did, she sank, landing on her heels, her forehead burying onto the bed. Relief ran through her body so raw it turned her muscles to jelly.
His hand came down, landing on her shoulder. “I will stay, Lily. But only if you will sit and eat something. Sleep.”
She craned her head upward to him, her temple resting along the bed. “You will? And Brianna?”
His cheek cocked upward, almost into a cringe. “I will do everything in my power to make her well. But I need to first truly assess your sister’s leg. I cannot promise anything—cannot promise miracles.”
Lily nodded.
Miracle or not, what was standing in front of her was hope.
Hope she had not had in a very long time.
~~~
His fingers crinkling the edges of the vellum, Garek stared at the half-legible scrawl of his oldest friend, Joseph Tangert. The ink on the last two lines of the letter was thicker than the rest, as if the quill had split, and they were the ones Garek read over and over.
After numerous denials, I was finally allowed to see him for five minutes. Your uncle is holding well, considering the situation. Though I must suggest you conduct your business with post haste.
A deep breath, and Garek carefully folded the note, slipping it in along the back edge of his leather satchel. His uncle was fine. For now.
Garek looked about the room Mr. Sneedly had shown him to in the opposite wing of the house.
Barren but functional. A small bed, now rumpled, a wooden chair, a flickering fire in the fireplace. He had slept in much worse. Yet after only two hours of sleep, he had awoken, sprawled there, staring at the shadows chasing across the white plaster of the ceiling. Maddening, but usual, as he rarely slept for more than a few hours at a time.
Restless and giving up on the bed, he had lit a candle to look at the letter—reassurance that this detour from Farlington would not do harm.
The letter hidden away, Garek threw on his linen shirt and black trousers, and stepped out of the room, candle in-hand. He moved through the grand home as quietly as possible.
He wanted to check on Brianna again, for when he had left her hours ago, her breathing had been steady but shallow. Draining her wounds had improved her leg, but Garek still could not tell if she languished because of the bloodletting, or because of the infection from the cuts on her calf. Cuts that should have started to heal weeks ago but still looked nearly as raw as the day they happened.
Garek stepped into Brianna’s room. The fire had died down to low embers so he held the candlestick high. Two lumps in the bed.
Toes light on the floorboards, he walked to the bedside. Brianna was still flat on her back, unmoved from how he had left her with her left calf now above the covers, the wounds freshly drained, cleaned, salved, and wrapped in linen. The coverlet draped over the rest of her body, up past her chest, with her arms lying limply on top.
To the right of Brianna on the bed, Lily was in a blue robe, curled on her side, her face toward her sister. She had one hand on Brianna’s upper arm, her breathing even and light. Her bare feet stuck out from the bottom of the robe, and Garek wondered if they were frozen. A definite chill had seeped into the room without the blaze of a full fire.
Garek moved to the side of the bed where he could reach Brianna without disturbing Lily. He set the candlestick down on the side table and his fingers went to the side of Brianna’s neck, noting her pulse. Still weak. The back of his hand to her forehead told him she was warmer than she had been hours ago after the leeches were removed. A small encouragement.
He pulled back, moving down to Brianna’s injured leg, but his weight creaked a floorboard.
Lily instantly flew upright, her eyes wild around her until she saw his face. Her hand went to her chest, her shoulders collapsing in relief.
“Lily, I apologize,” Garek whispered. “I did not mean to wake you. I was just checking on your sister and I did not expect you to be in here.”
Lily’s feet curled under her backside as she waved her hand in the air. “No. It is not a bother. I do not sleep well and am easily roused.” Her fingers went behind her to rub her toes.
“Do you always sleep with Brianna?” Garek bent over Brianna’s leg, pulling back the linen wrapping to check the cuts. For as much pus as he had removed earlier, large swathes of her skin had already re-swelled. He could feel Lily’s eyes intent on him.
“I do. I am afraid…afraid if I leave her…”
He glanced up to her. “She will pass?”
Lily nodded. “I do not want to miss it if...” Her words choked off. “I am afraid it will be like it was with my father. He was alive one moment. And then the next time I saw him, he was dead. Just gone. I did not get to say goodbye. Did not get to hug him, bury my cheek on his chest, just one last time.”
Garek reset the linen and looked to her as he stood straight.
Her head bowed as she wiped away a tear sliding down her cheek. “I am sorry. I do not mean to cry. They demand I do not cry. Please do not tell Mr. Sneedly. I try. But when I am tired I…I cannot stop my mind.”
He stared at the top of her head, her brown hair loose around her face, shielding her from him. She looked tiny. Fragile. A mere wisp o
f the woman that had banished Dr. Rugbert from this room hours ago.
Garek had to fight the stark urge to go to her, to collect her in his arms and cocoon her from everything this place had brought down upon her.
He had only known her for one day, he reminded himself. One day, and he was already too invested in her.
“I will not demand you stop anything you need to do, Lily.” His voice came out rough, surprising himself as his chest tightened, her obvious pain cutting to his heart.
Far too invested.
To avoid watching her, witnessing her anguish, Garek walked around the bed, going to the fireplace and placing two split logs onto the glowing embers. He grabbed the fireplace poker, absently jabbing at the bark of the logs until they lit.
The fire climbed, sending warmth into the room, and Garek turned back to Lily. “Come, sit, Lily. Warm your toes while I finish with your sister. They must be freezing.”
Wiping the corners of her eyes, she looked over her shoulder at him. “You have more to do?”
“I would like to remove the pus building upon her calf again.”
Lily nodded, scooting off of the bed and stepping past him to sit on one of the matching damask-covered wingback chairs angled to the fire. She promptly held her feet straight out, toasting her soles close to the fire.
A half hour later Garek had tended to Brianna and resettled her leg. He blew out the five candles he had lit for light, looking over the bed to the fire.
Nuzzled into a corner of the chair, Lily sat curled up, her toes now gathered under her robe. She had been silent since she sat down. Garek couldn’t tell from his angle if her eyes were closed, but he presumed she was sleeping.
He debated for a moment on whether to wake her so she could crawl back into the bed, or to just let her sleep in peace.
Choosing the latter, he picked up the one candle still lit next to the bed and stepped lightly to the door.
“How is she?”
Garek turned back, walking deep into the room and stopping opposite the chair Lily sat in. His hand went to the top of the empty wingback chair next to him, rubbing the cloth as he looked down at her. “It is a good thing her body is still fighting—still fighting the infection.”
“Can I help her at all? Help you? I have wanted to do something—anything for her since it happened, but I do not know the slightest thing about wounds such as these. And Dr. Rugbert was insistent I not go near her leg.”
Garek’s jaw tightened. “Insistent with the back of his hand?”
She waved her fingers, unwilling to answer. “He is gone, that is what matters. And I want to help—I want to do something worthwhile, not just stare at her as I have been. I have been helpless, and I hate that about myself. I want to know how I can help her pain. Can you show me?”
“It is…messy.”
“I do not care. Please. She is my sister.”
He relented with a nod. “I can show you. Next time I drain her leg, I will teach you. And I will show you how to mix the salve and the herbs for pain.”
“Thank you.” Lily’s arms clasped over her belly, holding herself as her head shook. “You have done more for her in one day than that blasted idiot Dr. Rugbert did in thirty.”
“You are still angry with him?”
“Yes. But even more angry at me. I could not rid him from this place by myself. I should have been able to, but I had to depend on a stranger to do so.”
She looked to her sister on the bed. “Bree could have done it. She would have just made it so. But I…I did not know what to do, and it took far, far too long to stop him.” Her eyes whipped to Garek. “And I never even did do it—you did. If not for you, he would still be here, his suckers all over her body.”
“Do not minimize yourself, Lily. You were the one that brought me here.”
She sighed, her gaze going to the fire. “I just never imagined I was that weak. My life—my life was so easy before this. Carefree. I had never thought of myself as weak—we were the Silverton sisters—bold and bright and vivacious. But it was easy to be that way when there was money…love…comfort surrounding me. There was never a need for me to show my spine. My father, Brianna, they took care of anything and everything uncomfortable.”
Her head tilted as her look travelled back to him. “It is just one more loss to add to the list—who I imagined myself to be. The reality of my weakness is not nearly as becoming.”
“I believe the stone abbey would dispute you on that statement. You are aware you swing a mighty hammer?”
She chuckled, the firelight sending a sparkle into her blue eyes. “Thank you. Truly. You did not need to stop last night. You did not need to come back here with me. You did not need to stay. You did not need to do any of it, but you did. You are the one with an admirable spine.”
With an uncomfortable half-smile, Garek grabbed the poker, flipping the logs, and then moved backward to sit on the chair opposite Lily.
“Why did you stop last night?” she asked.
“At the abbey?”
“Yes. I do not know any sane man that would have come upon me and stopped.”
Garek shrugged. “I have never encountered a woman swinging a hammer, attempting to destroy an entire building in the middle of the night. And I imagine I never will again. A smart man does not stumble upon a scene such as that and dare to question why it was put in front of him. That is fate. The smart man just gets off his horse and does what is demanded of him.”
“So I could have just demanded you work on the abbey while I watched?” The corners of her eyes crinkled in mischief. “Demanded you kick Dr. Rugbert out? Demanded you heal my sister? And do I get to make demands from here on? I have a list. It is long.”
He laughed. “Let us not go crazy, Lily. I do appreciate that I was asked on all of those accounts, rather than told. And now I am properly frightened of the list you are sitting upon.”
“As you should be.” She smiled wide, her body relaxing into the chair. “I like pretending you are a friend from childhood, Garek.”
“You do? Why?”
“It gives me comfort—even if it is imaginary.” Her hands dropped to her lap, her fingers playing with the frayed edges of the linen bandage wrapped around her palm. “I like that you call me Lily…it has been so long…so long since someone has said my name. Bree, my father, the viscount—even to hear the servants say Miss Lily. But not now. Now all I hear is Miss Silverton, and I do not even turn my head to that. Mr. Sneedly may call me Lily, but it is so far from right that I strike it from my ears.”
She waved her hand, dismissing the sadness that had crept into her voice. “I just wish it were actually true—that you were a childhood friend. Silly, I know.”
“Not silly. And if it is any solace, as long as I am here at the Weadly Hall, it is true.”
“It is.” She smiled at him, warm, genuine, and Garek could feel himself getting lost in the sparkle in her eyes.
“But heaven forbid Mr. Sneedly discovers differently—that I lied.” She sighed, rubbing her forehead. “I am entirely anxious to leave this place. Anxious for Brianna to heal so we can move from here.”
“Can you leave your home that easily?”
“Yes.” Her answer was immediate, no emotion. “This place bears no resemblance to the home I once knew. Mr. Sneedly took care of that quite handily.”
“Where will you go?”
“I do not know. I believe Papa’s estate was quite healthy, but I do not know the specifics. I know we have adequate dowries. I have been waiting for Brianna to wake, to tell me, to decide. Papa included her with everything about the Silverton estate and holdings, but I know nothing. Bree will have a place for us to go, a plan. I have just been waiting.”
“That has been hard?”
“Yes.” Her eyes left him to stare at the fire. Moments passed before she looked to him, her sweet voice raw. “She will wake, Garek? You will make it so? She will heal?”
Sheer, desperate hope burned in her eyes.
Garek knew he should kill it, or at least temper it, as the dark veins spreading up Brianna’s leg told him she was far from surviving. But he couldn’t do it. Couldn’t be the cause of Lily’s face falling—of hope deserting her and leaving her alone with the desperation.
He nodded, meeting her clear blue eyes. “I think she will, Lily. I think she will.”
~~~
“Is this right?”
Garek looked up from the mortar bowl where he crushed herbs for more salve. Lily had just set salve on the top two of Brianna’s cuts and was starting to unfurl the strip of linen wrap around her sister’s leg.
“It is,” Garek said, watching Lily’s eyes concentrating on Brianna’s leg. Her hair pinned back in an upsweep, tendrils fell from the backside, brushing Lily’s neck as she moved.
A full week he had been sneaking glances at that profile, and he was still startled every single time at her beauty. A natural beauty she did nothing to flaunt. Nothing to bolster. She was far too concerned for her sister to give attention to such trivial matters.
“Please, would you mind?” She looked to him, apologetic smile on her face as she held up the linen in her hand. “Just your hands to oversee, not do.”
With a nod, Garek set the pestle into the mortar and moved across the room to stop directly behind Lily. “You know what you are doing, Lily. You need to trust yourself.” Nevertheless, he bent, his arms settling around her as he laid his hands along the back of hers and aligned each of his digits to her fingers.
She nodded, her hair tickling his cheek. “I know. You trust me. But I do not trust me. Ever since I wrapped it too tight that once and her toes went blue, I have been nervous. Your hands feeling what I am doing are a comfort.”
Lily started wrapping Brianna’s leg with the strip of linen.
“A touch looser.”
Lily let out a sigh, her hands relaxing under his. “Yes, I can feel it, now.” She circled Brianna’s leg with the cloth several times.
Marquess of Fortune: A Lords of Fate Novel Page 4