Page 241 of Historical Hotties
But Domnall let it go. There was no point in harassing his father over it. Rotri seemed moderately convinced that their interference would work in spite of the lack of the document, but Domnall wasn’t so sure. He, too, hoped it would be enough.
They would find out soon enough.
Westminster Palace loomed ahead, sitting on the banks of the Thames like a great, rambling beast. The spires of Westminster Cathedral could also be seen, shrouded in the faint smoky haze that hung about London these days. Smoke fromcooking fires, from dust, clouded up in the hair and created a layer of murk that clung to the entire city. Sometimes, the breezes from the ocean to the east blew it out, but today was not one of those days. Everything looked smoky and dirty.
But that wasn’t what had Domnall or Rotri’s attention.
That enormous cathedral up ahead did.
They could only hope they were in time.
*
“Are you awake?”
Caledonia wasn’t entirely sure that she was. She thought she might have been dreaming. She’d been staring at an unfamiliar ceiling for an indeterminate amount of time before she heard a soft, deep voice ask the question.
Are you awake?
She recognized the voice.
Her heart began to beat a little faster.
Slowly, she turned her head and the hammers started. Hammering her skull, her brain, her eyeballs, and even her teeth. Everything seemed to hurt.
Her hands flew to her head.
“I think I am dead,” she muttered.
She heard a snort. “You are not dead, though you might wish you were, given the pain you are now experiencing.”
She grunted, eyes scrunched closed. “Nay, Iamdead,” she said. “Send every physic in London to me now, please.”
“You think that multiple physics can cure your ache?”
“I think it will take that many to carry my giant head out of this chamber for burial, because it feels as if it weighs more than a horse.” She peeped an eye open, catching sight of Thor as he came into view. “Why are you grinning at me? Where am I?”
His big arms were folded over his chest as he gazed down at her, a hint of a smile on his lips. “At Westminster,” he said. “I did not know where you were staying in London, so I brought you here. This is my chamber.”
Her other eye popped open and she stared at him a moment before lifting her head slightly and looking around at what was genuinely a grand chamber. The ceilings were soaring, the walls paneled and painted, and five enormous arched windows were overlooking… something. She couldn’t see what was beyond the windows, but she could hear men and birds and the sounds of a morning.
She laid her head back down again.
“I do not remember coming here,” she said, closing her eyes against the surging ache.
He unfolded his arms and moved to the edge of the bed. “I am not surprised,” he said. “That drink you ordered was… powerful. It put you to sleep.”
She put her hands over her eyes. “It has never done that to me before,” she said. “I usually tolerate it.”
“Not this time.”
She uncovered one eye and looked at him. “Did you poison me?”
He shook his head. “Of course not,” he said. “When did I have the chance?”
“I do not know. I do not remember.”
“What is your last memory?”
