Page 95 of Heart of Snow
“Not sure. Not sure.” There was a series of snapping. “But until I know what it is, I must ask you to leave the sickroom. Your father would not have me jeopardize your health.”
Felipe would leave? But I hadn’t had the chance to talk with him.
I willed my eyes open, blinking hard against the bright sunlight streaming into the room. “Felipe, wait.”
He took a knee by my side, prying my hand off my stomach to hold it in his gloved fingers.
“She wishes me to stay,” he told Vesalius.
“Send for her maid if you fear leaving her comfortless, but I beg you, do not invite the emperor’s wrath against me. I protect youandmy position by insisting you leave.”
I spoke Felipe’s name again, but through my swollen throat, it came out a hoarse whisper.
“Rest, Margaretha. I’ll be back as soon as I sort this out with my father.” He lifted my hand to his lips but stopped himself, settling for a soft smile that didn’t quite mask his worry. Giving my hand a quick squeeze, he slipped out of the room.
As soon as Felipe left, Vesalius shoveled his arms beneath my back, pushing me upright. The room spun, and a wave of nausea not to be combated took over, but Vesalius was ready with a bowl. I vomited violently, my whole body shaking from the strain.
Vesalius handed me a clean cloth and moved to dump the vomit out the window while I wiped my nose and mouth. When I dropped my hand in my lap, I froze in fear. The cloth was red with blood.
“Vesalius.” I held up the bloody rag for inspection.
He nodded. “Blood was in the vomit too. I have a strong suspicion you’ve been poisoned.”
He moved around, babbling, snapping—always that infernal snapping—but it was muted, faraway. Almost underwater forhow vague and muffled he sounded. My mind was still twisting around the notion of poison. When could it have happened? I’d been eating in my chambers the last day. It had to be someone close to me. Hette? She’d fetched food from the kitchens. Maybe she’d taken a bribe? Yet, Ilsa had served me. Belinda had been handling my food too. But that was too extreme an idea. She was both sister and mother to me. The very notion of Belinda plotting my murder was too ridiculous to believe.
Vesalius pushed a cup in front of my face. “Drink this.”
“What is it?” I gripped the cup between trembling hands, taking a tentative sip of the rank concoction.
“A purgative.”
I nearly spat the medicament in the poor physician’s face. “I’ve already emptied my stomach. Twice. Surely whatever poison was there has been expelled.”
“We must be certain.” He guided the cup back to my mouth. “You must purge everything to minimize the poison’s absorption in your vital organs.”
Setting the cup to my lips, I tried not to breathe as the sludge tipped toward my mouth. But then I stopped, putting the cup back down. “What good will this do?”
“It’s to clean out your—”
“Not the purgative, this effort at clearing the poison. Even if it’s successful, I don’t think I’ll have strength for traveling until a few days hence. In the meantime, I must eat. What use is it to clear my stomach today when the kaiser’s determination and resources make an endless list of assassins ready to feed me poison tomorrow?”
Vesalius seemed confused. “Why should the kaiser want to poison you?”
“You don’t invest much time in gossip, do you?” I gave him a weak smile. “The prince has asked his father’s permission to marry me.”
Another wave of nausea hit, and I grabbed the bowl from the table, emptying my already empty stomach and staining the bowl with more blood than bile.
“Lie down,” Vesalius urged, putting aside the bowl to lay a cloak over my shivering frame.
My foolish marriage scheme was the cause of all this. A marriage I never intended to enter.
“I d-don’t even want it.” My teeth chattered.
“It will help the shaking,” he answered as if I spoke of the cloak.
“No, the marriage. I must speak with the prince and tell him I will n-not marry him.” If he informed his father I’d changed my mind, maybe the kaiser would call his bloodhounds to heel.
The doctor ran both hands down his beard, straightening his whiskers. “I doubt the kaiser will let his son near you now.”
