Page 41 of Adoringly, Edward
“We’re not blaming you,” Barnaby said in a frustrated growl, kicking the edge of the table. “You are one of the only people with access to the poisoned elixirs. Who else has access?”
“I don’t know.” Cedric ran a hand down his face. “Clara does. She often administers them herself. She gives them to me to give to Lord Beaumont.”
“And…” The physician leaned forward in his chair with his elbows resting on his knees. “Has his current doctor not picked up on the change of ingredients?”
Vivienne gasped. “You’re not saying his doctor…”
The man pressed his lips together. “I’m not casting blame at anyone. We’re only finding ourselves a list of suspects.”
“I told you,” Cedric protested, “I would never harm him. He’s my friend. I never questioned him once when he skipped his last few doses. Wouldn’t you think I’d be more insistent if I were to blame?”
“When was his last dose?”
“This morning,” Barnaby answered this time, running a hand along his jaw. “He wanted it to help make him sleepy because he was in a lot of pain.”
Oh, my dear Edward.
The doctor nodded gravely. “To be unnoticeable, the dosages would have to be increased in small increments. If his body has been accustomed to higher and higher amounts of arsenic, consuming it again after a short break would have more dire consequences.” He gestured to Edward’s unconscious form. “This accounts for his most recent episode, more severe than the others.”
She clasped her fingers together, praying to the Mother Goddess. “Will he live?”
“It’s…hard to say right now. His lung needs to heal, and I hope it will be able to heal on its own with a bit of rest. We’ll take one day at a time. Keep him out of his home until we find out who is responsible for the poisoning.”
Finally, the man opened the door. “My staff will take good care of him. No one will enter the room without my permission.No one will administer anything to him without my permission.” He looked at her as he reassured, “He is safe here. But he needs rest and medical care. Everyone needs to leave. Especially you, Your Ladyship. It isn’t appropriate—”
Vivienne shot to her feet and interrupted him. “I’m his fiancée!” she cried, only wishing she had a ring to show a commitment to him. “He proposed right before his episode, and I have accepted. I will not leave his side.”
Doctor Clark frowned, appearing unconvinced.
“It’s true,” Barnaby said, backing up her claim whether or not he actually believed it to be true. “I was witness to it. Let her stay with him.”
“Very well. It would do him good to have a loved one by his side while we rid his body of the toxins.”
One at a time, everyone filed out of the door, but Barnaby stopped in the doorway, glancing back at her and lowering his voice. “We need to find out who did this. I will involve the authorities, and I hope to investigate the matter quietly to prevent the one responsible from covering their tracks before we find them.”
“What can I do?”
He smiled, though it didn’t cover the worry in his eyes. “Keep him alive. I know firsthand how a beautiful lady can keep a man’s heart pumping on his deathbed.”
She stared at his retreating back, recalling the gossip she’d heard around the castle. Barnaby’s horse had thrown him off a cliff and he’d hit his head, losing his memories at the time. Ivette, his now wife, had nursed him back to health and helped him recover his memories.
Two nurses entered the room and tended to Edward. Taking his vitals. Checking his breathing. Ensuring his comfort even in unconsciousness. Vivienne continuously held his limp hand,keeping a finger over his disjointed pulse to reassure herself he still lived.
And when what seemed like hours later that Edward stabilized enough for nurses to check in periodically rather than constantly, Vivienne finally released a long, slow breath filled with relief. The doctor had reassured her that if he stabilized and didn’t worsen, he had a high chance of surviving the attempted murder.
Finding herself alone with him for a few minutes, she braved the action of stroking his dark hair down to his stubbled cheek. She caressed his skin over the coarse texture, admiring how handsome he looked with a bit of scruff, as she’d only ever seen him clean shaven.
The dim light of a cloudy afternoon fell on his pale face, illuminating the way his chest rose up and down, uneven as if one of his lungs could only take in so much air compared to the other.
She scooted her chair closer and took his cold, limp hand in hers, pressing a tender kiss to his palm. “Don’t you dare leave me, Edward. Stay for me. For us.” She rested her other hand over her belly, hoping with all her might that they could one day be a family.
But he remained silent, his eyes closed and his chest rising and falling with each disjointed breath.
She recalled his episode and the terror of watching it unfold. It had been an extreme case. She knew that. But to watch helplessly as someone she loved suffered? Should Edward survive the attempt on his life, she would subject herself to watching him suffer for the rest of her life.
The thought created a pit of heartache within her, but she would stay by his side always. And she would suffer with him. Because she loved him.
And if he doesn’t love you?an anxious voice whispered in her mind.
