Page 78 of Bloom

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“No.” He’d go to the library. “I’ll find Jaime. Leave me alone.”

“You don’t need him.” Olivier straightened as Aleric yanked his arm away. “It’ll take a few minutes, and you can go to your rooms to rest afterward-”

He cut off, and a bead of sweat dripped down his forehead. He made a strange noise before grabbing his chest.

What if a sickness was going around, and he’d caught it too? Then he realized how ridiculous that likely was since they hadn’t been near each other in a while, and nobody had been ill.

“Get-get-” Olivier cut off.

Aleric remembered the symptoms of a heart attack which would explain the greyish pallor, the sweat, and the way he was clutching the railing.

As he sank to his knees, Aleric drew up his legs and slowly stood on the first step of that flight. He didn’t grow dizzy even though he still didn’t feel his best.

“Get someone,” gasped Olivier. “Anyone. My chest…”

There wasn’t much to be done for a severe heart attack, and the victim either recovered or died. Sometimes, they had one later. It was supposedly more likely after the first according to a book he’d once read. Besides, when the physician is ill, who is supposed to take care of him?

It was hard to tell if Olivier was about to die with his ashy face.

“Aleric, get Lord Gautier-he can ride to one of the physicians in Côte.”

“Why would I get him?” A cruel and amazing opportunity may have fallen into his lap. Letting a man die like that was wrong, but it was wrong to work with another to kill, and he’d be a fool to let the chance go. “Why Gautier? There are a bunch of other people here. Oh, wait…you’re his lackey. Pity he can’t save you now. I hope it was worth all the money he’s surely paid you. What else has he promised?”

Olivier stared at Aleric who still wasn’t moving, and he seemed to be struggling to catch his breath and think of an excuse as to why he’d said Gautier out of everyone living at court. “I-” His breath sawed in and out of him.

“No denial? Or does your chest hurt too much to talk? I imagine a heart attack is quite painful.”

“Please…”

“I don’t like people who try to kill me,” Aleric whispered. “I’m sure most don’t. What were you going to give me in your room for my constitution after fainting? Hmm? You tried to poison Jaime, although that was mild. You poisoned me after I was injured and nearly killed me.”

Breathing raggedly, Olivier stared at him with his mouth open before he fell forward, and Aleric backed up a couple of steps.The physician pushed on the floor with one arm like he could force himself back up before he went limp.

“If you're still alive later, I'll see what you’ve got in your cabinets and force poison into you. Bastard. I guess I got my wish because you’re dying, and it looks painful.”

“Aleric-”

“Fuck you.”

“Please…get…”

“No.”

Olivier made a strange noise, and his back rose with a short breath. Fell. The next rise was barely perceptible.

Aleric listened for any slight sound from the man. Another movement. He didn’t seem to be breathing anymore. He’d read heart attacks can drag out, some cause nearly instant death, and others are rather fast without the sudden death. Olivier seemed to have followed the latter. Aleric dared to lean over and touch his neck, seeking a pulse.

Nothing.

He wasn’t sure what to do now. He’d never killed a man, and while he hadn’t driven a weapon into him or done anything directly to him, it wasn’t like killing a rabbit, a deer, or a boar.

The last time he’d seen a dead body, it had been Fleur with Father weeping over her. A day before, Florence had passed. Mother nearly a month before.

He couldn’t pretend he felt sad, although he wasn’t happy either. It was more like…he wasn’t sure. He’d let a man die.

A sound from below made him jump, and he went to the other side to look down where a glint of silk caught his eye.

“I think Olivier had a heart attack! Come quickly.”