The Seahorse and the Spice 🪼🎩✔

21: Secret Devotion

Minerva
I smelled the soup as it cooked and sighed, for some reason remembering that scent from long ago. As I waited for it to simmer, I read another one of the duke's books that he had written himself. This one that he had made called 'The Rake and the Mother' was delightfully interesting. It was about a young maid in a duke's household that became his savior when he washed ashore his own lands and lost his memory. I didn't think the duke was a romantic!
"Milady, may I ask what you're reading?" a maid asked.
"Oh, it's a story the duke wrote."
"The duke? Our duke?"
"Yes. It's very well detailed and written smashingly. By the by, how come you can read?"
"My mother, the cook, used to be a governess but we caught hard times and so she had to move down to cooking. But she doesn't mind it too badly."
"I see."
"May I ask, Lady Cavensold, how you know how to cook stew? It is a poor man's dish after all."
"I truthfully cannot tell you why, Gretchen... I often wonder why I know a lot of things..."
"Mummy!" Xerxes yelled, running up to her.
"What is it, love?"
"Eadric shot me with his fire eyes."
"I did not! I was aiming for something else but it ended up hitting him. I didn't mean to do it." Eadric growled, looking at Xerxes angrily.
"Boys, you know what I've said about your gifts..."
"Yes, ma'am... Come on, X, let's go."
He didn't take Eadric's hand but he did go with him in the same direction.

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Bastion
I wanted to know why the duke thought we knew each other. It was strangely odd that he knew about my powers before I even knew him and he seemed rather comfortable with us even though we've never met... yet have we?
"What are you doing, Bastion?" X asked as he sat beside me.
I looked at him and smiled.
"I'm thinking..."
Xerxes looked at the manuscript in front of me and grabbed it, looking at the title.
"'The Ad... ventures?" I nodded at the pronunciation. "of the Bug and the Bee.'" He opened up the first page and frowned. "'The Adventures of Lord Piff and Arnold'... Hey, I'm Lord Piff!"
"What do you mean?" I asked, looking at him.
"I made a story about a bug and his name was Piff... and then someone said we should make him a lord..." Xerxes stared at the cover for a long time. "Duke Barma helped me..."
"What was that?"
"The duke helped me write my book... He said I needed more story so he wrote it down for me. Bastion, how come the duke has my book? How come I know him?"
I stood up, grabbing the manuscript.
"I'm about to find out."

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I walked up the stairs and into Duke Barma's room. I was going to give him a piece of my mind when I opened the door and heard him coughing horribly. In the daylight, I could see his body shaking with ever cough he did as well as it looked like he was in immense pain. He seemed to be having pain in his abdominal area because he scrunched into a ball after each deep cough and shook as if he convulsing but not at the same time. I watched him for a second, unsure what to do until he coughed harshly and I saw blood eject from his mouth. He couldn't leave him like this... I walked in and grabbed the rag from the wash basin that was at his side and wrung out the rag, dabbing his face of sweat and wiping off the blood. I did that a couple of time when the duke opened his eyes and watched me for a second.
"I want to understand what's going on but I won't bother you like this. I know how it hurts because I've gone through the same thing..." I put the rag on his forehead. "In fact, it seems that I may have been having this very problem not too many months back, am I right?"
He shivered but he nodded too and I smiled at him.
"As I said, I would like answers to this soon but I will not ask of them. However you were stuck with this fate, I am truly sorry. I will get Lord Higgaby to come and give you something."
I got up to get him something but he grabbed my hand.
"Wait..." he croaked.
I turned back around as he stared at me, tears in his eyes.
"Please... please don't leave me..."
I turned back fully as he shivered and coughed very harshly. I again washed out the rag and wiped the blood that was trickling down his face.
"Alright... I won't leave you."
He smiled just slightly, clutching my hand with all his body could muster.
I had to know what was going on. Why was he suffering like I used to when things changed the order of time? What was going on?