Perception ✔

29 Rigor & Rest

I awoke long enough to perceive an old man snapping his satchel closed before leaving my bedroom. Whatever he muttered behind the closed door, Edmond gave no response.

For this past week, it was common for Edmond to enter after the doctor left and sit in a chair across from me, watching me without speaking.

The tips of his fingers touching, he sat in deep thought for a long length of time. Today, there was no sitting and steadfast contemplation. Instead, he brought overcooked soup, the only thing I could keep down, and mashed it even further.

His scowl worried me.

After pulling the chair close, he used the spoon to motion for me to sit up.

I thought to argue that I could feed myself, but I didn't dare cause trouble. Not with how awful I'd been to manage the day Cinderella departed. Something came over me then, a wild fury that brought me to a state of blind desperation and panic.

Once I finished the soup, he presented me with a small morsel of bread. That I took and ate without trouble.

It was when I drank the last of my tea that he spoke. He explained how I'd been in a fever for the past few days. I'd lost some weight, but he was confident I would gain it back. He apologized for not arriving home, but I concluded that wasn't his fault. Because despite his hurrying to inform the authorities about the stolen horse he'd spotted, they'd locked him up until they could look into it. Even at their sluggish pace, they caught the thief who immediately confessed. But they still had to make certain Edmond wasn't in 'cahoots' with him.

It was by luck that he made it home when he did. It was more of a miracle. I must have lost my mind resolving to hold a gun on royalty. But after I considered that awful prince's actions, I concluded I wasn't the only one crazed. Finally, he told me of the state of things and Prince Archibald's brother's obsession with this land—with me.

"Somehow, he's heaped all the blame onto you. He acts as if you were the one to punch him unconscious."

I listened in silence.

That couldn't possibly be all.

It wasn't.

The prince's mother echoed her son's complaints and added her own colorful version of events.

"All invitations that this house previously received...have been rescinded."

Of all this news, this one hit me hardest. Those two weren't just coming for me—they were after my children.

"When are you leaving?" I asked him. I needed to be back on my feet before then.

"Why don't we leave together?" he offered.

I fell back against the headrest. Was he asking for us to run away? We were in our thirties.

"Your daughters are getting older. They'll study or court. With such a bad reputation as yours, it'll hamper their chances of marriage. Going...silent for a time may do some good. And there are places in this world—places were couples such as you and I are not all that strange."

My cheeks heated. "I haven't the money," I complained.

"I'll sell Eze's estate. The title won't do me much good. People see what they see, but if I can get a good price, we could live quite comfortably." He touched his fingertips together yet again, making a steeple. His voice softened as he said, "We'll marry there and settle."

His method of proposing be forgiven, I was interested. More than interested.

I was transparent enough that he could read me. "I suppose the answer to when are you leaving is...whenever you want us to. But I'd like to do it quickly," he said.