Page 77 of Bloom
It wasn’t fair to leave him to save himself.
Once Father left, Jaime pushed his empty back. “I’ll be in the library again.”
“I know this must be boring, but I’m sure he’ll approach soon,” said Aleric.
“It’s not boring since,” Jaime said as Gautier stood. He kissed Zacharie before leaving the Hall. Zacharie stole a piece of leftover bacon from his plate to munch on while he continued talking to the young courtier next to him. “I like reading anyway.It’s hard to lug around a bunch of books when you're drifting. They take up too much room in the pack. I’ll see you in a bit.”
Jaime had started going to the library in the mornings to read. Aleric sometimes went to train alone or with a few of the younger men since Gautier never joined them. There were a couple of older men he preferred practicing with, and they always did it in the afternoon. Gautier would have to be pretty stupid to try to murder Aleric in the yard by the guardhouse. Guards were almost always either coming, going, taking a break, or training. Some often stood outside to talk and smoke a cig after their shifts before heading home.
Gautier would notice the habit, and while it would take a while, he’d surely try to approach Jaime. Maybe he’d simply say a few words here and there to seem innocent and gauge how Jaime felt about him with the nose-breaking incident behind them.
If Jaime was rather neutral but pleasant, Gautier might suspect that Aleric had told him nothing. After all, it was clear Aleric was ashamed, and if his Father didn’t believe him, why would Jaime?
Once Jaime was gone, Aleric took his time with his tea. He eyed Zacharie, who should have been with a man his age, like the one right by him. Idiot.
While the Hall gradually emptied, Aleric slowly finished his tea. When he finally pushed away his plate, he wondered if he should try a piece of toasted bread from the platter since he’d barely eaten a thing. It’d be cold and unappealing. No thanks.
As he went up the stairs, he hadn’t reached Olivier’s floor when he started to grow lightheaded. Also, since when had the stairs been so tiresome?
Nobody else was coming or going down, so he sat on one of the steps. What was wrong with him? He had a frantic moment as he tried to think if breakfast had been poisoned. The tea? Thehoney for drizzling over the flapjacks? A couple of bites wouldn’t do anything, and the other two had eaten full plates. They had been fine.
While sitting, his head felt better. It’d be stupid to poison up to three people at once and rather difficult, although not impossible. It would certainly be too suspicious. Maybe he was lightheaded because he hadn’t eaten, although he’d never felt like that before.
He needed to get up in case anyone saw him sitting on the steps. He could imagine Father later.Are you ill?Maybe he should go downstairs and get something from the kitchen. Nothing appealed to him when he tried to imagine eating a piece of fruit or whatever was easy to grab.
He peeked down, trying to see if anyone was coming. It seemed empty, and he heard nothing. Quite a lot were likely riding with Father or already elsewhere to do whatever they did with themselves all day. He’d lie on his bed for a few minutes and see how he felt.
If anything was wrong, he’d go see the wise woman before he dared to utter a word to the physician. Besides, he was probably fine. Not wanting breakfast wasn’t the end of the realm.
As soon as he stood and planted his feet on the landing, his head grew light, the railing blurred, and he grabbed the top. His heart thudded, and he made the mistake of looking down. The floor of the entrance hall below was too far away, and he wasn’t sure if he’d be sick as he broke out in a cold sweat.
“M’lord. Sit on the step. What’s wrong?”
The landing came back. When had Olivier come down? He didn’t remember how he’d gotten on his knees either. Blinking, he realized the physician’s face had a greyish tint.
“I think you fainted. You’re lucky you didn’t fall down the stairs.”
Aleric’s knees must have buckled. “I don’t remember.”
“What happened?” Olivier took his elbow as Aleric used the railing to stand.
“I think I got up too fast. That’s all.” Aleric pushed away his hand and sat on a step. “I’m fine. I need a moment.”
“Got up too fast? If you made it here from the High Table, that doesn’t make sense.”
“I mean, I sat on the step.”
“Why?”
Damn it. Aleric focused on his knees. “Can you go?”
“It’s not normal to faint. You should come to my room, and I’ll look you over.”
Fuck no. He’d be demanding Aleric take whatever bullshit for his constitution.
Aleric lifted his gaze to glare at him. “I’m fine.” Even though he’d broken out into a cold sweat. For that matter, Olivier was sweating too, and he wiped at his forehead as he tugged on Aleric’s arm with his other hand.
“I’ll help you up.”
